Kiwajip

I came back here this afternoon, it’s still closed!!! OMG — beware, everyone!

They used to have this really good dumpling soup, but the cook must have changed the recipe because the second time I tried it– it definitely didn’t taste good.
Service is decent. They don’t clean up the tables immediately after customers leave so it does feel kind of messy when you first walk in.

the chairs and tables were disarrayed when i looked inside kiwajip earlier this week. there’s a sign that they are «remodeling» the completion date was left empty.
the phones are still operational.
will check back.

I eat a lot of korean food. I even went to korea to eat korean food. Needless to say, I love korean food. However, being around Fremont you don’t have very many choices. Most of the good korean restaurants are in Santa Clara area. Even so, Kiwajip is the best korean restaurant in this area. Much better than that place near Tea Station in newark. The food is much more flavorful and reasonably priced. It’s not THE BEST korean restaurant out there, but for the area that it is in, it’s the best choice to goto if you feel like korean.

Food is good and reasonably priced. I’ll definitely give it that. The dol sot bibimbap was on point with great sizzle making the rice nice and crunchy on the sides. The bulgolki was cooked well and tender, and I love the mini plates of goodness.
However, the particular Sunday afternoon when I went there. I was so confused. I think the owners were giving a feast for friends and i kept seeing them go in and out of the kitchen, but NO one would help us. They always gave eye contact too and just sat with their guests. This one woman who seemed to be manning the cashier and service was all over the place and there were really only 2 other people sitting in the restaurant.
I’m a pretty patient person, but I truly felt ignored. We were so ready to walk out, but I think the lady could sense my sister’s impatience and mine that started growing and she took our order.
After we got our food, everything was all better. And my tummy lived Happily Ever After.

this place has become a quick favorite of mine. once i’ve established a favorite, it’ll be hard to convince me to try a new place because then i’ll need to reset my palate with the good sh*t.
the restaurant is tucked in the corner of a plaza and not easy to find unless you know what you’re looking for. so DON’T BE DECEIVED if there are not many patrons dining. THE FOOD IS GREAT! the inside has fixtures that resemble asian-​style roof shingles and walls painted with persimmon tree and cherry blossoms. very cute! one huge advantage this place has on other korean spots is that it is extremely well ventilated! you know you can’t deny that most ppl leave with their clothes infused with the smell of char/​smoke.
today’s meal was galbi and kimchi chigae. our meal came with rice and sides of potato in some sweet sauce, bean sprouts, kimchi, spicy pickles, spinach, and japchae. galbi was absolutely delicious; a little on the sweet side but i preferred it that way. kimchi chigae is a little too spicy for my poor tongue that has no kind of tolerance, but it was worth setting my mouth on fire. DELISH!
service has been inconsistent by the same person; she’s extremely nice but not very attentive at all. the food is worth it, though, because it’s not like she’s rude or mean.

I went to this Korean restaurant with a friend of mine. The place is really small but has a nice feel to it… as another review said… its cute. The lady who works there when I went was very generous with the food and nice to us and even gave us some extra bone soup for us to try. I enjoyed the food very much and have gone here about 5 times since I moved to Fremont. Its an excellent local joint so check em out!

It’s ok for this area. They don’t have a lot of competition.

i think this place changed owners because the last time i went there the kimchi didnt taste the same, the bbq was bland and i didnt recognize any of the people working there. I was really disappointed the last time i ate here. the side dishes didnt taste right. i dont know something was missing in the food i just dont know what. The barbeque lacked flavor and did not look apetizing at all. korean barbeque should be sweet, tender, juicy with some caramelization on the meat in contrast to the crunchy sour spiciness of kimchi. You wont find that here. you’re better off eating at sorabol at the mall, seriously.

I can’t say that Kiwajip is the best Korean restaurant I have been to, but I’m very glad I have a place right by my house with pretty decent Korean food.
This restaurant is small and in a rather awkward location, however it is right next to a Korean market and has a very «home-style“feel to it. Everyone else that was eating there was Korean, and the ladies that run it are nice, grandmotherly types. I ordered a rice dish (I forget the name) that was very much like a fried rice, with shrimp and green onion in it. It was pretty good, but not what I was hoping for. My friend ordered the bi bim bap, which is supposedly so good she swears by it. The little side dishes were all really good.
I will definitely come back, if I am having a craving for Korean food and don’t feel like going too far.
Update: I went back and am so glad I did. This place is actually really good now that I know what to order. Well, actually I don’t remember the exact name of what I get, but it is basically a vegetarian version of bi bim bap. Since I am a vegan 90% of the time, I ask for it without the egg. It is sooooo good– a nice big bowl of fluffy, steamed rice with all kinds of grilled veggies on top, along with all the little side dishes (also all vegetarian) for $ 10.99?! What a deal! The service is excellent too. It also helps they are just a few doors down from a Korean market that carries great desserts, if you feel inclined to indulge your sweet tooth. I now come here a couple times a week, and will probably continue to do so as long as I live in the area.

Came here today with my husband to have some Korean BBQ… well I thought it was one of those Korean «cook at your table» sorta place. It wasnt, no biggie we decided to eat there anyway.
I decided to get the Jap Chae (Clear rice noodles seasoned with garlic /​sesame oil /​black pepper and served with sliced beef, onions, carrots. Although it was served hot it was still tasty. Im used to the cold version of this dish. It would have been good cold and some cooked spinich would have been good as well. Husband got the Chicken Bulgolgi. He wanted it spicy but it wasnt even though it looked like it was. Being he’s a white boy in a Korean restaurant, they were probably being easy on him. lol
Each of those dishes averaged about $ 15. The side dishes were the usual Korean items… kim chi, soy bean sprout salad, seaweed, pickles and other items (sorry I dont know the Korean names to them)
They serve a small metal bowl of rice to eat as well.
I just wish that some of the items on the menu had more translation to it as I wasnt sure on what some of the items were.
Nice friendly people work here. Id go here again. Its nice to know a good Korean restaurant is only 5 min away from home.

Best Place Ever.
A couple weeks ago, during the «Heat Wave» that swept through California, I worked out at the neighborhood 24 hour fitness on a Saturday afternoon. After getting my fitness on, and going back into the fancy Honda portable oven, I thought… «I know what would be great for this sweat and heat! Tofu Jigae!»
I’ve been to Kiwajip once before I believed, so I figured I’d come back again.
I actually had a much better story to share, but I won’t share it here.
I will say their banchan was excellent, the kimchi jigae was… average.
I’d come back, but it probably wouldn’t be at the top of my list.

This is a nice, friendly, neighborhood Korean place. I usually get the dul sot bibimbap, which is pretty good. The banchan change occasionally but the potatoes are very tasty, so I usually get a couple servings of those (banchan are the included side dishes/​appetizers, and you get free refills). Their menu is a little different from most places, including Korean tonkatsu, but you’ve got your standard bibimbap, bulgogi, etc. There are some pricier items that I assume must be more special, but I haven’t dared try them yet.
The staff members are very nice, even when we came in last Friday at 8:30 (they close at 9 PM).
Now if I could only remember that it’s rude to pick up the bowl in Korean etiquette! (Well, that’s not a worry with the BURNING HOT AND HEAVY stone pot dishes, but I can’t seem to overcome my instinct to pick up the darned rice! Oh well, they haven’t thrown me out yet.)

YEA! A lunch without co-​workers! On these days i like to indulge myself in things that the co workers probably wouldn’t dig too much, ya know? I like them to work with but for eating i’m gonna venture a guess that most of them aren’t going to enjoy kim chee, garlic and dried fishies for lunch… these are folks that ask for sweet and sour and soy sauce when we have Thai…
I rolled into the parking lot looking for the noodle place that was there before, ZaZang or something but it was gone and replaced with Kiwajip. Kiwajip doesn’t serve noodles like ZaZang, they serve traditional Korean chi-​gae (sp?) «soups» and bi bim bob rice bowls etc.
I ordered the lunch special vegetable and seafood che-​gae, medium spicy. The order comes with 8 panchan dishes with the usual kim chee, dried fish, potato, fish cake and pickeled daikon… and some other stuff i can’t remember, and a bowl of rice.
the soup was on the salty side but good. It was a little thinner than what i’m used to compared to LA Tofu. And i didn’t notice any seafood in the soup???
The service was fast and friendly. The panchan dishes were on the average side but i would say satisfying for a lunch time korean fix.
I would definitely come back again, but not because the food is fantastic, but overall, relatively satisfying and friendly.
The meal was $ 11 plus a tip.
They take visa /​mastercard.

Came here for lunch the other day because we had to roll to the rite aid for some shopping and decided to try some place different instead of the LA tofu house on decoto…
Clean, friendly\attentive service, and good food. Wasn’t overly impressed with the kimchi chi gae because just not enough flavor (kimchi flavor, spicy) for shemustbeobeyd… I had the spicy chicken which was OK. loved the small plates that were included. seems like a pretty good value .
mom\pop kinda place. I like to support mom\pop places esp. if the food is good.
overall not bad, i give 3.25. may come back and try the panchan, pajun.

This is a dependable neighborhood Korean place. The lady who runs the show is very friendly, and the service is quick. Décor is nothing fancy, and the air-​conditioning needs a boost, but overall the dining room is clean and comfortable. The kimchi chigae was good, and the portion was huge for $ 9.95. As reported by derrick — the panchan is very good, and they bring a nice selection. Note, they don’t have a liquor license yet, so your drink choices are limited to Coke, Sprite, caffeine-​free Diet Pepsi, tea, and water. If I could, I would rate this 3.5 stars — worth a return trip to…

Update ²⁄₀₉: Probably a change of ownership as the panchan was definitely not excellent as it once was. Also, my soondubu did not have a trace of gochucaru, rather it was just a bland stock with chili oil. The tofu itself seemed too soft.
I did see rabokki on the menu as well as jjol myun so perhaps they can make ddukbokki with jjol myun for me…
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Excellent panchan! I haven’t had panchan this good in a while, I greedily asked for seconds! The napa & daikon kimchi were really good. Service was friendly in the bare bones décor. I loved the Dduk man du guk (rice cake & dumpling soup with green onions). The Bul go gi bok um (sauteed thin beef w/​veggies) was just ok. Maybe we’ll try pork next time. It’s easy to miss this place, right off of Mowry in a hidden alley to your right.
Update: 7÷6÷07 The Dduk man du guk broth has changed to a plain beef broth, or was it chicken? I didn’t like it as much this time around, but the first time it had a savory seaweed flavor. I wish they kept it the same.

I believe this use to be a «Za Zang» but I guess the location isn’t that great? It’s located next to a tiny korean market that is the size of a bedroom. This restaurant opened up maybe a couple months ago and the owner lady who served us was super sweet. It wasn’t too packed when we went, probably 35% of the restaurant was full.
I had a big bowl of yu keh jang (spicy beef stew) and it was spicy but not too spicy where I had to stop eating. There was probably enough to feed two people but my piggy self finished the whole thing anyway. Hey, I can’t help it if it’s a cold outside and I need to keep warm!
All the side dishes were fresh.