Bontobagi

Mommy liked her galbitang. The sulungtang was one of the worst I’ve ever had. Good selection of banchan but slow service (it was a busy day and they only had one ajumma waiting on guests)

Erm… Located in the HK mart on the side — this place is a little dirty (tables and menus a little sticky) already not a good feeling to be there when the place isn’t too clean. But hey, all good. Sat there looking at the menu, came here for Soon Du bu, ended up trying the winter special: Korean pork bone soup with potato (literally ONE piece of potato) AKA Gamjatang.
I’ll be honest. My tastebuds are very wide and open, but when it got to me, for me, it smelled like dog food. I wanted to throw up cause of the smell, but sucked it up cause I told myself this is a speciality and I dared to order it so I should give it the benefit of the doubt and try it out.
So, I did NOT like the broth, but i tried not to breath too much while I ate and the pork itself was tender and delicious.
Banchan was OLD, i wonder if you don’t eat it do they reuse? I’m guessing yes.
Not much service at all.
$ 14 (food, tax, tip).

this place is more of a «gets the job done» kind of place. I was SUPER hungry when I got here. so ordered a yookaejang, dwenjang jjigae bulgogi combo and a donkatsu. everything looked good when it came out. banchan was pretty standard but they seem to make their own kimchi and kkakddooogee but it was too fresh. like they just made it an hour ago. kimchi was biting into fresh cabbage.
my kids didn’t really like the food. the bulgogi wasn’t «like you get at the restaurants daddy». tasted like it was fry panned.
I won’t come back. the food is just TOO mediocre.

Five stars because of the food and the price. Fantastic value. They give you like 6 – 7 free appetizers while you’re waiting for you soup. I challenge you to find another supermarket with a better Korean restaurant.

Service is okay, but when I was standing there and ready to order to-​go, 2 waitresses just kept back and forth seems like they were so busy, and not helping me. It is quite expensive, compare to K town, and somewhere at SGV. However, it does not taste as its value at all! May only go back if I am shopping in the market.

As the other reviews have mentioned, the employees here are straight up all attitude and rude. Instead of welcoming what little customers they get, they seem annoyed that you’re there. Lady working up front straight up snapped at my mother and walked away from our table, and so we canceled our order and did the same. It’s like they WANT to be out of business. STAY AWAY.

Big Warning, dishonest on food and service!!!

If you looking for Korean food this is the place to go. I order ahead of time and pick up. Now they have fry chickens in this location also.

WARNING!!! The food was terrible. The place had flies all around. We had one spoon that was not completely clean. Customer service was terrible, its on the expensive side for the quality all around. The short ribs had a lot of fat, the soup had hardly any flavor. I’m very disappointed was hoping this was going to be the spot to go. Would never ever go back. I should have asked for my money back. Unlike them I have some pride. If you go don’t say I didn’t WARNED YOU!!!

It’s okay, food was pretty bland. My boyfriend and I made a better meal at home for cheaper after going through the grocery store.

Since I can’t always drive down to K-​town, I wanted to find a decent Korean place to eat in Glendale… and this is it!
This is inside of the HK market (quite convenient to shop after you eat) which has plenty of parking. For not being in K-​town, the food and price is not so bad! The dishes range from ~$ 10-​$ 20 depending on what you are getting, so comparable to K-​town.
I’ve had the mool nang myun (cold noodle soup) which is refreshing and generously portioned– noodles cooked to the chewy texture I love with plenty of veggies. Definitely satisfies when I can’t go down to Yu chun :)
My favorite Korean soup is Yu gae jang (spicy beef soup) which definitely is something work getting again here. It is not painfully spicy or salty which I like so I can devour the whole bowl (which is HUGE BTW).
My husband’s fave is the octopus stoneware bowl dish.
They give plenty of banchan (side dishes) and service is pretty quick. Definitely satisfies when you can’t trek down to K-​town :)

Okay their horrible customer service supercedes their good food for me.
Just went again. Ordered a simple dish for $ 8.99. I pay at the register and she charges me $ 9.90. Sucks im good at math, because tax is 9%. Multiply that by 8.99, its roughly 81 cents or so, so my total should be 9.80. Sure 10 cents is nothing. But the principle of either trying to jip me out $ 0.10 or not knowing how to do math is still unacceptable. But whatever. I dont say anything. She gives me my change…
Then she says: «leave tip on table.»
LMAO what? She doesnt kindly ask, she tells me to leave a tip. Also, FOR WHAT. The service hadnt changed since i was last there. No one checks on you, no offers a refill of water, nothing. They just give you your food which you ordered and subsequently paid for.
After paying $ 20 for the $ 9.90 meal, i kinda oblige and just leave the ten cents on the table. Still blown away that i was told to leave a tip.
So i leave ten cents and she musta been watching me cuz i heard her say «oh my god.»
I leave and she follows me out the market and says «HEY! Here. I dont want this. Its no good.» And she walked away angrily. SMH @ this place.
I understand some workers are paid less and rely on tips… Idk what the case is for this place, but a tip is a tip. Youre not entitled to extra payment. Earn it. Greet your customers. Smile every now and then. Offer a refill. Cuz i got none of that and consequently, you get no tip.

2 ½ stars. This is the small restaurant in the supermarket. Service and the food were just ok, I think it’s on the expensive side considering the price is a restaurant price but it’s really just a food court sort of setting.

It’s not the best, but it’ll do!
PARKING: shared with grocery store
SERVICE: we didn’t receive utensils until our ban chan came, but otherwise, service was decent. the restaurant wasn’t too busy, so the korean auntie was socializing with another patron.
FOOD:
–ban chan: decent variety, but the portion size was very small. i didn’t want to ask for another serving because it probably would have arrived after our food.
–spicy cold noodle: this seriously hit the spot and even had a slice of korean pear in it! i would say its as good as the ones i had in Korea, but it doesn’t take much to construct (noodles, sauce, bits of meat). I wish it had a TAD more beef, but meat is more of a garnish than the main event in korean dishes.
i’d be back if i were shopping at HK market, but otherwise, there are better korean restaurants elsewhere!

Located in the HK Market, Bontobagi is a hole in the wall restaurant that serves authentic Korean food. I was surprised that my spicy beef tofu soup was full of rich flavor unlike many of the Korean restuarants in K-​town. It actually tasted much better than what BCD serves. Even the banchan dishes were really good, especially their kimchi and radishes. I look forward to returning here as there was no wait to get my food. They even have a few lunch specials which is perfect if you work close to the immediate Glendale area.

My cousin & I both got food poisoning, from this place, I should had known better not to eat at a place w/​a B score, I was so sick missed work, haven’t felt like that in awhile… And it’s expensive for what u get… Not going back

Randomly came in here for lunch with the hubby.
The Bimibab was pretty good, great flavors but the rice was a little on the mushy side.
The «Spicy» Tofu Soup was not spicy at all, and the broth was pretty light. It was filling, but it didn’t quite satisfy my tofu craving.
Not bad for a restaurant inside of a market I guess.

The little restaurant at HK Market —–
It’s alright. Kinda … dirty? The table was most definitely sticky and the floors a little dusty…
But the food was sufficient and good for a low-​key, eat-​in-​the-​grocery-​store dinner after work. We had cold noodles and beef soon du bu. Mediocre, but what do you expect?! Happy that they were still open haha.
Cold noodles were ok. Wish there was more protein in it. Soondubu was as good as it could be from the grocery.
I just came to try it out, in the small chance that this could be my next favorite hole in the wall.

Thanks to one of the Unilocalers I got to discover this awesome restaurant in, who knew!?, HK Korean Supermarket! I’ve been to the market b4 but I had no idea there was such a great eatery in the place. Nestled in the corner to your right b4 u enter the actual market area.
I ordered Beef Soup with dumplings and rice cakes. Perfect meal on a cold day like this. The soup isn’t spicy like Soontofu. So, I dumped kimchi vegetables that came on the side into the soup and made it even yummier! I wasn’t cold anymore after I finished my meal. I highly recommend this place when u come to the market!

Definitely a hidden gem, as other Unilocalers have already expressed. It’s in the far right corner of HK Market, and I’d never eaten there or really noticed its existence despite regularly patronizing the market for Korean groceries.
My coworkers and I ordered the soondubu (I think it was called «spicy soft tofu soup» on the menu). They didn’t ask us our spice preference as they do at soondubu places, but I didn’t mind since I usually order spicy anyway. I ordered beef, and it was indeed spicy, but not unbearably so. In addition to small pieces of beef, it also contained shredded beef, and the soup base was very flavorful — it reminded me of yookgaejang.
They have other dishes including bibimbap, but I’d probably order the beef soondubu again next time since it was so good. :)