Kaju Soft Tofu

This is our go to tofu place. Service is usually quick and the soup flavor is the best in town. The only gripe I have is parking is not great in the plaza, but luckily we eat dinner early so it’s usually not bad if you can beat the dinner rush.

This place is very delicious and hopefully healthy with the tofu and all. Maybe not as to how many times I eat there but the Service is great, ambience is nice but sometimes when the place has plenty of tables, they sit you down next to the only people there which is a bit weird.
All and all if you have not tried this place, go!

I come to this location a lot. The food is good. i wish they added a little more salt to the tofu broth and maybe if the bulgogi pieces were a bit larger id give it a five star. Aside from that this place is still very tasty and good authentic food. The banchan (side dishes) are very tasty unlike other places. I recommend others to check this place out.

Mediocre service.
I used to come here when I was younger regularly, but as of the last few years, the service has been starting to move downhill.
I came here around 6:00PM on a Friday night, and there were 3 waitresses taking care of 5 tables (including us).
We waited for awhile (long enough to use the call bell without feeling guilty) so we could order. A waitress looked over and continued what she was doing until we had to push the button a second time. We ordered our meals, and then the waitress remembered to ask us what drinks we wanted. All our food came out except the rice, but when the rice did come out, they said it wasn’t ready yet. So we were just sitting there waiting for our rice to cook in the stone pot on our table. The service was slow, but I saw 2 waitresses looking at one of their phones soo I don’t know what happened.

3.5 stars. Good tofu soup in the area. I came here at 1:30pm on a Friday for some lunch with a friend. There were only a few other tables.
I ordered the Seafood and Beef Tofu Soup (spicy). It had shrimp, clams, oysters, and beef. I really liked the oysters in the soup. I might try the kimchi and oyster tofu soup the next time I am here. I did not think that the spicy was very spicy, but it was still good. I thought that the broth of my soup was good, but it’s not as flavorful as some other places I’ve been to… like BCD or Cho Dang. I will be back to see if it’s better though… this place is much closer to my work than BCD.
The parking in this plaza is always difficult during the day. Every time I come here for lunch I have to spend a few minutes finding a parking spot.

Eh. Most tofu houses are the same… Side dishes and menu for the most part. I’m not really fond of this place tho. The fish they serve with the side dishes are very SMALL… The tofu is too mushed up and they are pretty cheap when it comes to the rice. I was there today with two of my friends… They only brought out two rices.
If u want more quantity, go to Koba Tofu Grill off of Culver instead.

This place used to be my favorite for tofu soup, maybe 10 years ago, but now not so much. I think they’ve sort of declined over the years, with weaker flavors, but it ain’t bad though and I still come here occasionally. The tofu soup is a bit inconsistent in flavor. They also don’t have as much business as they used to years ago, but sometimes that’s a convenient plus when other restaurants are packed. I don’t tend to eat the banchan, but I kinda like the sliced fish cake one. Their tofu soups are served less hot temperature-​wise than I prefer (for cooking the egg). Their spicy levels are manageable, I usually get spicy but I used to get extra spicy and it wasn’t crazy spicy or anything. Kaju is a bit stingy with the rice though compared to most places, and it’s usually 2 people per pot of rice.
⁷⁄₁₀ Decent

I like this place and their tofu. Their bibimap is good. I like the two women who run this place, they are pretty nice. I do have a hard time with parking and sometimes service can be a bit slow but overall I still really like this place :)

The service could be pretty slow but if you flag down the ladies, they will be more than happy to help you.
My fav is the mushroom tofu. It has lots of shiitake mushrooms in it and very yummy.
Minus is that sometimes they don’t give you the rice in the clay pot. The best part is the crispy rice so it makes me sad.

Service was good. The soft tofu soup was good, but lacking a little spice especially when we requested for spice = medium. The complimentary side dishes were good. Felt like with 6 people, they should have given us a little more. Beef bulgogi and BBQ ribs were good. Portions are slightly smaller. Overall, not too bad.

I used to come here a lot for soondubu, but not so much these days. Parking is always a disaster here since it’s always crowded. However, my brother and I were craving bibimbap and decided to try this place out. I must have mixed up the menu options between here and Kaya, but we ended up eating here anyway.
We came through for a late lunch around 1pm and the place was just emptying out. Upon looking at the menu, there’s not much variation aside of tofu soups and its combination meals. Since we weren’t really feeling soupy, we ordered the spicy octopus bibimbap, fried dumplings (mandu) and seafood pancake (haemul pajeon).
As soon as we ordered, the banchan arrived to the table quick! Since we were starving, we started on the fried corvina fish. I usually don’t get very far with this, but I ended up eating all the meat around the bone. It’s fried and served whole, so some deboning is required if you want to eat it. Banchan was fair, but a bit minimal.
The seafood pancake arrived first with a dip on the side. The edges were crisp and the seafood was pretty dispersed throughout. Each bite had shrimp or octopus, so this was really nice.
The spicy octopus bibimbap came out sizzling hot, but I love to let it sit for a few minutes before stirring in the gochujang or pepper paste. The more time the rice sits in the pot, the crispier it gets if the stone pot is hot. The bibambap overall was pretty filling and mild. I was hoping for a greater kick, but my brother managed without a problem, even though he’s relatively sensitive to spicy foods. It also comes with a bowl of broth to sip in between bites, or cleanse the palate. I dunno. You get a small bowl.
Overall, food is okay if you choose not to get soondubu, but selections are incredibly minimal. They definitely put more focus on their tofu.

Like other Unilocal reviewer I wasn’t impressed with this location. The tofu soup wasn’t very hot and the kalbi ribs were just okay. I like the one inGarden Grove better.

This place gives you so much taste and flavor. The service and all is pretty good, but it took a long time for the food to come out even though there wasn’t a lot of people. The best menu I recommend is the Mushroom Tofu Soup. It might sound sound gross, but it tastes so good that my whole family almost cried. It’s similar to BCD but I like BCD more just because they have more banchan and better tofu.

I lived in Korea for the past three years and I’ve been back for about a month now. Korea has a lot of great places with great service, but there are quite a few places with atrocious service as well. That being said, Kaju Soft Tofu has the worst soft tofu I have ever had AND ridiculously rude server ladies that should just stay at home.
We walked in around half past 8 and there were two other occupied tables, both of which had their food. We were seated promptly, but had to wait quite a while before anyone came to attend to us. After deciding on what to order, we waited a good five minutes for someone to come, then I rang the bell. Saw someone look at our table after hearing the bell, but she looked away and proceeded to stand there. Pressed the bell after another minute, and she looked up again and did nothing. She must’ve decided to finally do her job because she grabbed three half full cups of water and finally came to our table. We ordered three different soft tofus, one of which was requested to be extra spicy. When the orders came, the spicy tofu was conpletely white with zero heat. We tasted it to make sure, then told the server that there must have been a mistake. The first thing she said was «You need to taste it.» We told her we had already done that. «Are you sure?» She looked very annoyed as she took it back into the kitchen. Ten minutes later, the tofu was back. Still no spice, but somehow, the curry tofu we ordered had transformed into their veggie tofu. Then she brought out a small dish of red pepper flakes which she practically tossed onto the table. When we asked about pouring hot water into the rice pot, which has always been a given at any other place that I’ve been to, she scowled and said most people like to eat the toasted rice hard.
Sometimes, bad service is tolerable if you are rewarded with great food. Irvine Kaju Soft Tofu does NOT have food that makes up for their service. The side dishes were salty and the soft tofus lacked flavor. You’re better off buying a soft tofu packet at Zion Market and making your own at home.

In my last rating the food at this resturant was good and the service sucked! We recently went back and the prices have skyrocketed, the food quality has gone down and the service sucks even more! On our recent and final visit we were sitting next to a father and daughter. They were Korean (we knew this because the father spoke to the waitress in Korean) and she was the same waitress we had. She was so friendly and attentive to them it was sickening. She asked them if they wanted more Kim Chee, refilled their water and teas. It took them 15 minute to give my wife a cup of hot tea after asking three times. The waitress didn’t once ask us if we needed or wanted anything else, No refills, No Kim Chee, NOTHING!!! She wasn’t even nice when she tossed our bill on the table.
If you are not Korean I recommend you don’t go here — EVER!

Same as BCD (although Kaju has sliiiightly less fresh banchan…) and service is so-​so. (One grumpy lady in charge, but our waitress was really fast.)
However, I want to point out the spiciness level in Kaju did NOT disappoint. Unlike BCD, the highest spiciness level is actually REALLY REALLY spicy. Very very satisfying if you love all things spicy!!!
For reference: two orders of soondubu ended up $ 23, without tip. Plus unlimited banchan… Gotta love that fish cake.

Mom and I came here for a late dinner because it was one of the few options around here. It was completely empty when we walked in and were quickly greeted by someone coming out of the kitchen.
It’d been years since I’ve been here just because I prefer other tofu places and this place doesn’t have the best rating. However, I have to say, the food was pretty tasty. This included the banchan, fish and tofu stew. We also ordered a seafood pancake that was reasonable priced (but thinner) — that turned out to be pleasant as well and not as greasy as some other places make it.
Mom and I both ordered the pork intestine bowl. We were both pleasantly surprised when 1.) it was actually available (most places are usually out or do have it anymore) and 2.) there was plenty of intestine in it. Stinky, spicy yumminess!
Banchan could have been more plentiful but I loved that the kimchee was truly spicy. The fish was anemic but delicious. I left the head for mom to chew on.
Service was kind of meh. Even with two ladies and only one other table of 5, we were mostly neglected and had to wave them over for things like more iced water, tea for the stone pot rice, had to scrape our own stone pot, etc.
Good food but service should have been better given the lack of other customers.

I found a contender to Kaya for serving a kickass soondubu in Irvine. The soft tofu stew is served piping hot on a stone bowl with a copious amount of seafood ranging from shrimp, oysters, and clams, whilst pieces of meat can also be found if getting the combination. Seafood only or meat only are available for those with dietary restrictions. The very orange soup is paired well with rice especially if it’s spicy. Don’t worry, spice level can be adjusted according to your preference and because I always like some heat, spicy was just right for me. Make sure you add the raw egg to the stew right away so it gets cooked.
Eating Korean food is not complete without some meat so we got the TOFU + BULGOGI combo for $ 17.95 (dinner rate). It’s unusual for me to enjoy the sweet marinade of this type of meat so imagine my pleasant surprise as the carnivore in me devoured this with justice. It goes without saying, the seasoning was money. I’ll even say it’s one of the better bulgogis I’ve had in a while.
Another combo was in order to feed 3 people: TOFU + OCTOPUS CLAY POT it is ($ 19.95 dinner rate). This time, we got a mild spice level for the soondubu which was still fantastic in flavor. Their octopus bibimbap on the other hand was underwhelming. It was very poor in the taste and visual department, while the rice was too wet that I didn’t get any of the toasted factor that I’m always looking for even after trying to overcook it in the hot stone bowl. I salvaged it with some gochujang which I’m glad was a minor help somehow. Kaya got this one down so skip it here if you can.
Their banchan spread is another story. With a variety of about 8 different plates and 6 of which were outstanding, not to mention the endless refills, I have no words to describe my love for their sides that I would come back for that reason only even if everything else was a fail. Such isn’t the case though because I am a big fan of their soondubu and bulgogi, too. As far as service goes, it was on point with the ajummas working the floor. Two thumbs up!

This tofu place is alright. The side dishes were tasty but the little fish that usually comes with it was very small and kind of dry. There was barely any meat on them (and I got two).
I ordered the clam tofu and when it came out the texture was a bit different than other tofu places. The tofu was mashed so it was all small chunks and was kind of blending into the soup. The flavor was not bad but it was kind of weird how mushy it was.
Other than that the place isn’t so bad. It’s extremely close to my house too so I might consider going more often to get my tofu fix. The prices are the same as other tofu places too.

Their spicy is not spicy and their soup stock is a bit watery. The flavor is okay, but they definitely skimp out on the amount of meat they give in the tofu soup.
Seafood pancake is pretty good however, and would be a good dish to share with your table.
Service is okay, since they do have the push-​button to request for immediate attention. Good thing about this place is that there is never any wait… or is that bad??? Hmm…