So Gong Dong

The seafood tofu soup is yummoz.
Can’t go wrong with the tasty banchan. Writing about it just makes my mouth water! Service has been great for us here but my only complaint is it’s so tiny that makes me feel like packed sardines.

I wish I had good things to say about this place, but my whole experience was just pretty terrible all around. A couple of my friends had been craving soondabu, so we made our way over for dinner on a Sunday night.
The restaurant is *tiny.* We had a party of seven, so it was hard to accommodate us. I wouldn’t recommend coming with a large party. Luckily, there were two tables open next to each other and we didn’t have to wait to be seated. Needless to say, it was a pretty awkward meal seeing as half our party was sitting back to back. I was willing to make the best of it because we were HUNGRY.
The food was alright. I enjoyed the kalbi and the seafood pancake, which had a nice crunchy texture in all the right places. The meat jun was not so great — soggy and not very flavorful, a real disappointment. It was a waste of $ 15.
The real reason I won’t be returning is the service. They ambushed us right after we sat down — expecting us to know what we wanted to order — and then dropped the check off as we were eating. My friend tried to order a few more dishes, and our waitress asked if we wanted it to go. No… We want to eat it *now.* The two women we interacted with were just really pushy and wanted to turn our tables so bad.
Cue the arrival of our last two dishes. After a few minutes of eating, one of the women comes back and explains to us that we need to leave soon. She says it’s a small restaurant and they need us to get out because they have other parties waiting.
I just couldn’t believe how rude the whole experience was. Our party dropped $ 130 at this place, and it definitely was NOT worth it. Even if the food was the best Korean food on the planet, I would never come back here on principal because WHY would anyone pay to get treated like this?
Save your money and go somewhere else.

I remember this restaurant at a couple different locations, despite that, the food is still awesome. I checked out this place after my mom asked for good Korean food and this place didn’t disappoint.
Apparently we ordered more than we could eat. We both had the tofu soup combo which is a great deal. I had mine with the seafood pancake and mushroom soup and my mom had the bbq chicken with kimchee soup. We also ordered that kimchee mochi thing (can’t remember the name) which was a lot and excellent.
Location is easy to find, parking may be a little difficult (street), prices are reasonable, and service was exceptional. Check this place out next time you’re craving Korean food!

Lunch special all the way! Soondobu with egg is genius! This is the first and only place I’ve had it with an egg. Usually it’s not that hard to get a seat but they are constantly busy. Super lucky for us and good for the restaurant.

Wow, is all I can say about they hidden gem! My wife and I stumbled across this place while making a run to Walmart (right across the street) and were so impressed we came back 2 more times during our stay.
The seating is limited, so its best to go during off times i.e. 2 – 4 ish. But even if you have to wait it is well worth it. Even if you have never been to a traditional Korean restaurant you must make this place a stop on your list. Obviously the soft tofu soup is a must, but all of their combos are great. The best, in my opinion is the sea food pancake or the meat jun. Both are amazing and with the soup you are so full you won’t eat for the rest of the day HA!

Really good food. The tofu soup is the bomb. It’s kind of small, though, so it can get busy. Not a fan of metal chopsticks, either.

We had some really good soft tofu and banchan for dinner at So Gong Dong. The restaurant is very small, and we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table to open up for us. The soft tofu selections included a few things that I’m not used to at tofu places, including spam and beef intestine. I was torn between getting the spam or the beef intestine, but I went for the intestine since I had already eaten plenty of spam on the trip.
The banchan included shiitake mushrooms, kimchee, bean sprouts, and some sort of green leafy vegetable (similar to Chinese ong choy). Sadly, it did not include fish cake or fried fish. While the banchan was a bit on the small side, it was still very tasty, with exceptionally good kimchee and mushrooms.
The soft tofu itself was very good, and the beef intestine was very tasty and chewy. As far as I know, I don’t think I’ve had beef intestine before, but it was really good, and pretty much indistinguishable from pork intestine. The intestine itself seemed to have been thoroughly cleaned, as there was no off taste at all. The tofu soup itself was very flavorful and spicier than «medium spicy» that I’m used to in California. (The waitress did not ask for my preferred spiciness when I ordered)
Overall, the meal was very good and very reasonably priced. I would definitely visit again the next time I’m in Honolulu and craving soft tofu.

This place is my go to spot for soft tofu soft. The prices maybe a little on the high side but it’s so worth it!
The service is great the ahjummas and ajusshis there are so kind. They will cater to you if you need anything.
The food, like I said, is the best! I always get the seafood combination and kimchi pancake. They also have lunch specials which is way more affordable and also worth buying.
Quick tip, I think they use tea infused iced water. So if you’re not into that, let them know or bring your own. But over all this place is great!

Great quality Korean food. Whole in the wall place but their soups never change in taste over so many years. Great for lunch time fun!

Th is is a cool and cozy spot. Great for a quick bite on a nice corner off keamoku. Most prices are mid-​10s. I had a pork belly and kimchee dish. The meat jun looks amazing. Tried my mate’s dish of bubbling soup with a fresh egg… was gpod, but my pork belly was better.

Hands down, my favorite Korean restaurant!!! How I wish they would expand their little restaurant, but I guess the size makes it seem like a family own restaurant and that’s okay. We need to keep family restaurants alive.
The Korean ladies are such sweet hearts, they always welcome you and smile. Always bowing their heads. It makes you feel superior, LOL! Sometimes there will be a wait, because of the very limited space but it’s totally worth it.
They have a deal, I believe it’s from 50 – 60 bucks for a whole lot of food which I think can feed more then two, even though it’s a dinner for two it seems like it’s meant for three! It comes with Korean pancakes, Kal bi, fish, crab, their awesome soup with the egg you crack… I’m having a brain fart, I can’t remember what it’s called… But all I know is that his place is awesome! I don’t mind coming here every single day! :)

Second time’s the charm! I was lucky to dine here without any wait around 12pm on a Sunday. The service was prompt and as courteous as you could expect from a Korean joint. We split the seafood pancake + kim chee soup combo for about $ 20, and added an order of the bbq spicy pork. The seafood pancake was impressive! It had huge pieces of calamari and was thicker than most other k-​pancakes I’ve tried. The kim chee soup was okay, I guess I expected more of a spice kick but the flavor was still authentic and not too salty. And lastly the food of the gods, spicy pork. I mean, really, could you expect anything less than perfect? The barley/​corn tea was a nice complement to all the salty foods. I hope to venture here again, hopefully with the same parking and wait time luck!

Seafood pancake and tofu soup. YUM. The only drawback here is the limited seating. There is often a list of people waiting to be seated, and I am often on that list. The guy who runs the front end of the restaurant is super attentive and kept us posted over and over on when we would be seated, gave us menus to peruse, and even took our order while we were waiting outside so the food would be ready when we got seated. After about 20 mins, we got seated and 2 – 3 mins later, food arrived. Super smart way to function when you dont have many tables to begin with. The food was really good, I would definitely return.

For a long time I’ve been searching for soondabu comparable to the small Korean restaurants such as BCD Tofu House located in Cali. And at last I’ve found my go to place! They even serve the same iced tea. I usually get the seafood soondabu (shrimp, mussels, and clams), which is the bomb dot com. So much flavor unlike other places I’ve been too. Plus it comes with free side dishes and a raw egg, which makes it 100 times better. I have yet to try the mushroom soondabu!
Last time we decided to try something new and ordered the hot stone bibimbap, barbecue chicken, kalbi, and dubboki. All were good but I still prefer the soondabu over everything else. Their combos (soondabu & meat or seafood pancake) is the way to go!

I was craving for korean cold noodles and found this place on Unilocal.My bf and I ordered the combination soondubu+bulgogi and a bowl of the cold noodles. And oh boy, was that meal amazing!
First, I loved the side dishes, particularly the warm potatoes. The seaweed and bean sprouts were also pretty good. My bf didn’t like their kimchi as it was more fermented than he liked, and I don’t eat kimchi at all.
This place is known for its soondubu, and it was pretty good. It’s as good as my favorite tofu soup place back home! I didn’t like the bulgogi though. I didn’t really like the flavor and the meat was dry.
It was my first time having Korean cold noodle, and I thought it tasted great. It had a slice of apple instead of pears. The noodles were chewy, and the broth was perfectly sour/​salted. My bf’s Korean and he claimed that this was «the best naeng myun (cold noodle) I’ve ever had.» So… it must’ve been pretty good!!!
Later when I told my friend from Hawaii about this place, she told me this is her go-​to place for tofu soup :)
Highly recommend.

Instead of going with the cheaper option (chodang), my bf and I decided to check out so gong dong because of all the positive reviews for their soondubu. Now, being Korean definitely has its perks because my mom actually makes a mean soondubu at home and a pretty good meatjun. But I can’t ask her to make that for the two of us every time we have a craving; thus the search for soondubu.
Personally, I feel like $ 15 for meat jun is really high. Although the meat jun was good I don’t think it was worth $ 15. I wouldn’t return just for that. My favorite meat jun is still young’s kalbee in aiea.
As for the soondubu, we ordered one to share and my pick of the night was the gopchang soondubu (beef intestine). The intestine was really clean, which is important otherwise it’s gross and smells bad. I know lots of people like the egg inside the soup but I personally don’t care for it. It leaves an «eggy» aftertaste in the soup, which I don’t like. I know it’s traditional in a lot of places but our family rarely cooks it like this so I prefer no egg. The soup was pretty decent for $ 9 but I would be satisfied with the soondubu from chodang for cheaper.
The parking was a little ridiculous but since we ventured here after 9, the small shared lot in the back had a few stalls. I would never attempt to park in the lot during the day though… yeech.
Also, I called to ask if they were still offering the late night combo special meat jun + soondubu (same one they have for lunch) and the woman on the phone said they were. However, when we got there we were told they no longer offer the late night special. So if you saw on older Unilocal reviews/​pictures, they only offer the combo at lunch! It’s a bit expensive otherwise…
The service was prompt, side dishes were good, food was decent. However, it was a bit pricey, parking was junk, and chodang would have sufficed in my honest opinion. Two meat juns and a soondubu came out to $ 46 with tax and tip which is fairly more expensive than our normal dinner costs…

Small space, BIG flavors.
You gotta love Korean food, whether it’s traditional kimchi soup & rice, tofu soup, bibimbop, hot/​cold noodles, Korean BBQ. I mean really, who doesn’t love it? It’s full of spices and deliciousness. Are you drooling yet?
My friends and I all ordered different types of tofu soup, kimchi pancake, and naengmyun (cold noodle). All of the tofu soups were absolutely delightful with twists in flavors depending on the type of the tofu soup. The kimchi pancake was luscious. The width on that thing is amazing. I’ve never seen a pancake so damn thick! More food! Hahahaha
It was SO good, seriously, order the dang pancake! Every. Single. Time.
The noodle was surprisingly good as well. Really well seasoned and refreshing!
I wish the restaurant itself was a bit bigger but lucky for us we had made a reservation beforehand so no wait! It is very tiny– there are only about 7 tables, maybe. So either make a reservation or avoid the busy hours if you don’t wanna wait forever.
Great place for good ol’ Korean!

This little hole in the wall is an awesome place to get your soondubu (tofu soup) fix! Parking is on the street or in the little mall next door. The restaurant itself is tiny — however, the turnover is pretty quick. I’ve been there for lunch and dinner, and it’s never too crowded and I’ve never had to wait longer than 5 – 10 minutes.
SDG is infamous for their tofu soup! They have a variety of choices, but my personal fave is the Mushroom. Their soups come out piping hot with a fresh egg and delicious ban chan (sides). SDG also has great combo special for an affordable price.
Did I mention free WiFi?! Score! Perfect for personal meetings when you need to get things done. However, I suggest you focus on the delicious food and your family/​friend/​date instead of using that WiFi! Enjoy the food and the moment! (:
Happy eating!

Ding Dong.
Enter: So Gong Dong
Thanks to the remarkable recommendation of a fellow Unilocaler, we both found ourselves here on a recent weeknight for some «comfort food» before heading home.
PARKING: Very, very challenging. It’s practically street parking in this part of town, just fyi. I don’t think there’s a designated parking lot/​area for this restaurant. If one is near desperation for parking, I daresay park at Walmart across the street at your own risk.
SETTING: The restaurant is not that large. It may seat about 20 people at most. Located on the corner across from new Flagship Walgreens that is being built.
FOOD:
*Soon Du Bu: There are different types listed on the menu, and though I wanted to order the kim chee version, I chose the original in the end. When the soup is served, be careful and mindful… it’s very HOT. Crack your egg in the pot, stir it well to mix, and then dig in. On a «cold» Hawaii night, this is sure to be comfort food at its best. Hot, warm, spicy, comfort soup brimming with tofu, meats, clams, and mushrooms. Just delicious
*Seafood Pancake: Simply outstanding. This was the perfect dish to complement the soup. Good portion easily shared between two or more people. The pancake is laden with generous pieces of shrimp and octopus. Though its served with sauce, it really isn’t needed as the dish is flavorful on its own. Recommended.
SERVICE: Pretty good. The ladies are very friendly and all smiles. We were given enough time to look over the menu, and our server returned with sides and utensils in a timely manner. She checked on us throughout the meal and water refills were continuously provided.
BOTTOM LINE: Good food. Decent prices. Good service. Parking is tough in the area, but don’t give up… it’s worth the effort.

Unilocal to the rescue…
About a month ago, I received a message from a California Unilocaler (Gene G) inquiring about my thoughts or recommendations for Asian cuisines. We exchanged several emails and finally arranged to meet IRL with our respective spouses. We were flexible to meet them at their convenience and ended up here.
We all ordered the soondubu combination meals. Gene and his wife ordered the seafood soondubu and kalbi short ribs, my husband ordered the «original» pork soondubu and meat jun and I ordered the mushroom soondubu with seafood pancake. All of our meals were delicious, as usual. However, my husband’s meat jun was overdone, dry and burnt. We also noticed that the iced barley tea was very watered down yet still refreshing on this hot day.
Service was still efficient and friendly and the restaurant is clean. They even offer free WiFi!
We parted from the restaurant happy with having made new out-​of-​state Unilocal friends who trusted me and Unilocal enough to meet IRL.