Dong Yang Oriental Food

I go to Dong Yang quite often to dine and shop. Like so much. I think I was Duchess at one point? This review is SO overdue, but seriously, did you read the other reviews here from elites? SO clever, hilarious and informative. I’m useless here!
But anywho, it’s not like that will shut me up of course. So I know a lot of earlier reviews refer to mean service but I think that has changed in the last few years. I’ve never encountered anyone unpleasant here yet.
Here’s a list of my favorite dishes:
— Galbi (grilled beef short ribs, cut on the bias): The best I’ve had in the cities!
— Seafood pancake (pancake… with seafood.)
— Bulgogi (marinated beef, also available in pork but get da beeeef)
— Japchae (sweet potato noodle stir fry)
— Ddeokbokki (spicy rice cake): I love that they add other fixings like sweet potato noodle and fish cake
I’m indifferent about:
— their soups; tofu one could have been more flavorful and the seafood noodle soup was a little too fishy for me
— black bean paste noodles. I only got these because I saw Anthony Bourdain eating them in Korea and I would follow him off a cliff.
Their shop is adequate and I usually end up trying new snacks, like their version of Bugles, which are sweet, salty and spicy. I love bugles already but I mostly bought them because they said, «Teenager’s Party Time» on them. Such great marketing!

Dong Yang is my favorite Korean place in town. I go here for the seafood pancake and kimchi jiggae. The pork burlgoki is also good but it’s greasy. The banchan is good too except sadly the kimchi. It tasted fishy with no fermentation today (I like my kimchi with more bite). What’s great about this place is that it’s all cooked by ajummas. I’m a little sad though that they moved to a number system to call out orders instead of yelling out the Korean dishes like they used to. Guess that’s easier for others so I get it, just lost a bit of its charm. Be warned that this place is often very packed. Remember to bus ur own dishes & grab ur own barley tea up front. This is still the best Korean in town & a fav of mine.

Went on a Saturday and found the place very busy. The restaurant area is tiny and the tables are crowded together, so the place becomes full pretty quickly. They are quick though, so tables rotate fast.
The menu has the usual Korean dishes and I ended up getting the bibimbap in the stone bowl, while H got the fish egg soup. My dish came with banchan, my husbands one should have come with banchan too, but they had run out of dishes so they told us to share. It was plenty of food, so it’s not like we needed more, but still we should have gotten those sides. Still not sure how I feel about it.
As often is the case for Korean food, I ended up liking the sides more than I like the dishes. I will say that my bibimbap was pretty good with perfectly crispy rice on the bottom. My husband soup was also good, but it does taste very very fishy. Too much for me. Beware if you are not a fish lover. Also, we shared the dumplings, that were very fried, very oily and very garlicky, but for all of their oil and garlic, quite tasteless.
On the way out, we picked up some kimchi from the store and a couple of other sauce to use for cooking at home. Supermarket seemed well stocked with mostly Korean products, however I don’t cook Korean so am not a good judge of the assortment.
Anyway, food seemed authentic and banchan was among the best I had, but main dishes flavors were a bit unbalanced and ended up falling a bit flat.

My favorite Korean amongst the few places I’ve been here in the Twin Cities.
The deli is sneakily set in the southwest corner of the grocery store, small and set-​up with a few booths and tables. Available for self-​service are condiments (soy sauce, Sriracha, salt, etc), Styrofoam cups for water which sat at a tower at a counter with view into the kitchen, The menu consisted of about 20 meals, numbered for easy ordering, and I grabbed a table while my husband ordered.
The table was sticky, looked like it hadn’t been wiped down properly since the last customer, but I already knew what I was getting into upon choosing to eat a deli inside a grocery store, so shrugged it off and sat anyway.
Food was good, quickly done and was nothing spectacular but well enough that the pair of us ate everything we’d been given – although that could be attributed to the portion size, which was a bit lacking. We’d gotten a kimchi stew and galbi to share. As always, the meal came with rice and a few sides, of which I only really remember the kimchi, fish cake, and pickled bean sprouts.
The kimchi stew was piping hot, served in a steaming hotpot and smelled delicious. Gently spicy broth (but that’s relative for I love spicy), filled with tofu, eggs, kimchi (of course!), other vegetables. We were quite satisfied with it.
The galbi was well cooked, served on a bed of onions on a hot plate, but only arrived with about 6 or 7 ribs (counting per bone). For $ 14, it was surprising but was flavorful enough I shrugged it off and ate everything, including all my rice.
I’ll definitely be returning.

Really good food. I thought it was kind of expensive $ 30 for lunch, no beverages. Ordered dumplings, bulgoki, and bibimop. My favorite was the bulgoki and the dumplings were excellent. I’d pass on the bibimop next time. It was okay. Hubby never had Korean food before and he really liked it. The rice was great!!!
I thought everyone there was nice. It was quiet. Some Korean music might have been nice. Not much English spoken, but it works just fine, everything has a number.
The market is very fun. Great prices. Of course we bought some kimchee. I love it! And some spicy ramen.

This review is only for their restaurant inside the super market, I have never shopped at this super market.
I have only had the bibimbap here and it is very good, probably the best I’ve had in Minnesota. The price is reasonable and food is great quality. As is typical and even adds the experience somewhat, the workers barely speak English and almost had a hard time taking my order. The only downside is that there is somewhat limited seating and the space is somewhat cramped with lots of tables, so it can be hard to move around if there are a lot of people there.

This review is solely based on their restaurant hidden inside this grocery market.
Walking into this place, all you see and assume is this is just a typical Asian grocery market with an abundant variety of ramen and udon cup noodles– conveniently located at the front of the store. Near the back, however, you’ll see a little restaurant on the left side of the store. You can tell how authentic this place is by how they only ask you to orders based on a specific corresponding menu number, and them writing the translated menu item down in Korean. (They also have three lovely cooks in back that would constantly chat in Korean regarding orders and prepping food that needs to go out– they «mean» business guys.
Now off to their menu. The menu can be a bit distracting at first since it has a huge picture of the item (warning: try not to drool) Once you’re done gawking, you can proceed to read their brief description of the item conveniently below its picture and begin to order with the cashier once you’re ready.
On any given day, my eyes and stomach would target the meat option items, and of course, I would order Kalbi (beef short ribs) and bulgogi (thinly slice marinaded beef, cook to perfection). Today however, I chose number 13 (seafood tofu stew) and number 17 (seafood pancake). Their seafood tofu stew was excellently-​flavored and piping hot when you retrieve your item from the counter (they’re a self-​service place). It had an ample amount of seafood from baby mussels to baby octopuses. The one exception here is that I didn’t have an egg to crack into the stew but overall it had great flavor and a perfect amount of spice (I can tolerate pretty hot stuff so this would be a 2 out of 5 heat for me). I would scoop a spoonful of rice and dip that in the broth picking up some goodies along the way before I take a bite (if you’re sharing then be creative or you can say «SOL» to the person you’re sharing this with– it’s that good, but germs are okay too, I guess…)
The seafood pancake was pan-​fried to a crisp and had great chewy texture but was not overly oily. If you don’t like scallions/​green onions however, then this may not be for you because they load that stuff up in their pancakes. The pancakes do come with a dipping sauce that tastes like sweeten soy sauce with sesame «sprinkles» on top (it was a bit too salty for me as a sauce, however so I did fine without it.)
Along with our food order, you get a bowl of rice (I believe one per item order, since I received two bowls today). I also received several banchan which included fish cakes, bean sprouts, cabbage Kim chi, and this yam tofu cake thing (not my favorite).
Overall, the price here is as good as it gets for great quality Korean food, and if I didn’t live so far away I would consider going here more often.

DY is very casual, back of a restaurant, far far away from the rest of the city. Had a hell of a time looking for it since I passed parks and elementary schools to get to it. Korean cafeteria style food, pictures of the food on the wall. Whatever ingredients they miss they just go get it from the market (my grilled fish, they picked it out of the freezer and defrosted it wtf, still tasted good). Self serve water and take home boxes. Funny story: when I went there the lights went out for the entire store and they started lighting candles for the tables this elderly korean lady went «mood-​o» (mood lighting). Good experience, not a bad spot to catch a quick bite.

Sushi was delicious and the service was great! Took a little while to find, but the food made up for the wait. I will definitely come back.

One of my Twin Cities favorites!
Yes, this is located in the back of a Korean grocery store. So, hole-​in-​the-​wall ambience, check.
Yes, there are signs written in Hangul, and ahjummas cooking behind the ordering wall and talking to each other in Korean. Authenticity, check.
And yes, when you order that short rib dish and dolsot bibimbap, they come to you sizzling and delicious on stone cookware, served with various banchan side dishes. Flavoring, spot on and check.
Disclaimer, I have not been to Korea (yet!), but I can honestly say that back in the good old days, Dong Yang was my first experience that made me feel like I was sitting in a tiny restaurant somewhere in Seoul.
Back then, the signs below the food menu were not yet translated in English, and the woman at the counter would stare at you angrily if you had the audacity to try and order in a non-​Korean language.
Times have certainly changed (for the better) and as long as the food is still good, I’ll always come back.

Café in the back turns out some real tasty hot stone bowls.
The grocery store has some great dumplings and potstickers in the freezer section to make at home, and man are they cheap! Also a good spot to pick up some Shin ramen.
Whole place has a pretty strong fish odor.

Protip: don’t come here for Sunday lunch, place is packed. Instead, try to escape your office for a weekday lunch. Dong Yang’s been written about plenty before, so I’ll just say that I rotate between the dolsot bibimbap (stone bowl of rice) or soondubu (soft tofu soup — which they will gladly adjust for spiciness levels)…and yes, they will include banchan in your to-​go order. The real value added? The seafood pancake — I have yet to see such glory in any other Korean restaurant in any other city. Here, it’s cut into square pieces and really hard for a group to finish as an app because it’s so massive. This place is by far the best Korean restaurant in the Twin Cities.

I’d have to agree with a lot of people on here, Dong Yang has got to be the one of the best Korean spots in the Twin Cities.
Although it is located in the back of the grocery store, this place has some of the most authentic Korean food I have ever had. Super simple… you go up to the counter (better know what you want too), order, they give you a number, grab a table, and come grab your food that’s on trays when you’re called. Like a lot of people said, these workers aren’t the friendliest but the food is so worth the one minute you’re face to face with them.
I am obsessed with their side dishes, I need to know how to make them!

Definitely a Korean hidden gem in Minneapolis.
Nice staff and very delicious & authentic food at a reasonable price! This place is like a little food court in the back of dong yang grocery store, and never knew that their food would be this goooood! And it’s self service– you order your food and you get it from the front when they call your number~
I had spicy pork and spicy noodle (jjambbong) and omg their jjambbong is the BEST in town, I swear! And their spicy pork was really good as well. Their portion is huge– my bf and I are pretty big eater and we were not even able to finish them all!
Dong yang is not all about their food cafeteria, but their grocery store! I buy a lot of groceries here too. They have bunch of asain groceries especially Korean and Japanese. This store is pretty clean and organized! The prices are cheaper than other Korean grocery stores in the twin cities, I believe.
I have to say It is the best Korean grocery store in Minnesota.
Can’t wait to go back grocery shopping and eating there!

Talk about a hidden gem. A diamond in the rough.
If Kara hadn’t sworn by the food here, I never would bothered with this place.
I don’t cook oriental food and I never would have expected there to be a small restaurant dishing out some absolutely delicious Korean food in the back of the store. Dong Yang looks a little dirty and smells a little ass-​y, but much like an Ogre, you have to peel the layers to get to the … other layers.
Bad example, but it makes sense when you put their bulgogi in your mouth.
The bulgogi was some of the best I’ve ever had, the seafood pancakes were amazing, the dumplings gave me a boner and the jap chae was delicious. The kalbi was good, but I’ve had better.
The only thing none of us cared for was the spicy pork bulgogi. It was so bad that no one really gave it a chance and Suzanne and Kara took it home but not without the look of «Ohhh, god, do I have to?»
The squid stirfry was okay but I wouldn’t order it again. The dok bukki was tasty and new for me. I could see myself really enjoying this after giving it a few more tries and getting used to some of the textures.
The service was fine. I mean, I wouldn’t fuck with any of them because they seriously look like they’d have no problem cutting you. But don’t be an asshole and I think you can leave wound free. And it helps reading reviews and knowing what to expect before you go. You can’t read 10 consecutive review that say the service is brash and then expect it to be different when you get there. Sorry, princess, you’re just not that important. Now pay for your food and get the fuck out of my way. There’s fish pancakes that need to be in my mouth.

This reminds me of high school. Not that it is the cafeteria style (though it does); but, I went to a predominantly white school and some of the kids used to ask me «the token Asian,» to say some stuff like soy sauce, ling long my ding dong, yang yang yin yang.
I said it with a smile and I smiled thinking about it though now it might not be politically correct. Whatever. It’s kids in high school. Plus, no one could say ling long my ding dong as awesome as me.
I grinned when I heard the name «Dong Yang.» I could imagine our bunch having so much fun with it but all of us were pretty into the food. We ordered a truck load of food and we almost ate it all.
Kara was surprised to find out Korean food is one of my favorite cuisines, thanks to my oldest friend Tina and her family who are Korean. They fed me and still continue to feed me some amazing Korean dishes. Her mom used to give me fresh homemade kimchi by the tub. It’s awesome and tasty alternative to yogurt for good bacterias.
The restaurant was tucked inside a small grocery store. It’s tiny and it’s packed with people. There were lots of families and kids which was not conducive for cursing, and there’s no alcohol, which is conducive for us wanting to curse.
Suzanne, Kara, and I started with dumpling, seafood pancake, and spicy rice cake while waiting for Sam and Jenny. The dumpling was amaze and I thought it was kimchi mandoo or filled with kimchi but it was filled with pork and napa cabbage. The seafood pancake was just delicious! The rice cake or dok bukki was okay. Some of us who tried it the first time thought it had a weird texture. I preferred it deep fried or crispier; so, this one wasn’t my favorite.
Kalbi and Bulgogi were the reason I love Korean food and they were fantastic! They were charred and hot and tender. I was missing my soy vinegar but I still enjoyed every bite a lot. The banchans were not bad either. There were only five but they were five I like (two kinds of kimchi, sprouts, pickled radishes, and fish cake strips). The Japchae or stir fried sweet potatoes noodle was a tad wet for me but tasted really great. Once I drained the noodles from the juice, I loved it. It was a little spicy from black pepper and packed with sesame flavor.
The spicy pork bulgogi and the squids were meh. The squid was super spicy and very tender, but there was too much garbage filler in the stir fry and not enough squid. The pork was just too oily and it just lost to the bulgogi.
I read Keith S’s review that it reminded him to Mitsuwa. Though it didn’t look the same nor close in size, I kinda got that vibe. I bought several things at the store and when paying, I was getting some singles out to pay for the four things I picked up. The lady said $ 18. I was like come again. «$ 8?» And she repeated $ 18. I was like wtf did I buy? Turned out, one can of red bean I bought was $ 8 itself. Shit!
I also saw on the reviews that the ladies that cook the food were kinda mean. I believe that. I lived with a cooking Asian lady for 18 years, my mom. She was scary. They were bitchin’ in the back as I was ordering and they were smart enough to put the one Korean lady who knew how to smile to take order and deal with customers. I asked if everything ok and she said shyly that they were tired of cooking as it was close to 7:30 when they would stop taking order. Suzanne and Kara seemed to miss their wrath; however Sam and I had a little piece of it especially when there was a mix-​up with his order. We heard foreign language that probably translated to fuck this and fuck that, but we just stood there. Sam said quietly to me. «Don’t leave me…» It was hilarious!!!
We had a great time and we ate a shit ton of food. We slipped in some sexy talk here and there but for the most part, we ate and ate. It has never been a dull time with these group of friends, especially with a little dong yang involved.

Just like any other good man, I nod and do whatever my lady says, even when the details of the situation are elusive (all the fucking time).
«Want to go out for Korean on Friday?»
«Sure.»
Flash forward, McFly.
We’re sitting in the car (I still have no clue where we’re actually going) and Jenny tells me to double check the directions.
«Dong Wang.»
«…What the fuck, Dong Wang?»
«Just look it up.»
«Who arranged this?»
«Kara.»
My brain:
MOTHER FUCK, SHE DON’ SENT US ON AN APRIL FOOL’S SCHLEP TO A WEENIE STORE.
Jenny:
«And it’s Yang, not Wang.»
My brain:
… remain skeptical.
My brain continued to glitch when we walked into a grocery store. I felt simultaneously confused and comforted by the sheer amount of dried noodle bowls, packets and cups that lined the walls on our way to the back.
Much like El Burrito Mercado (and other places I’ve never been because I’m whiter than a baby harp seal on the cover of an REO Speedwagon album), you can shop, eat and gawk in awe at shit you never knew existed all at the same time.
I can only imagine how gluttonous we must’ve appeared to the surrounding tables, because we went for gold. Triple bypass, chest-​clutching gold.
The ladies in the back were both adorable and terrifying; my order was messed up (I got bulgogi instead of tofu stew) and I was corrected like a wounded pussy when I reluctantly went up to say something. ‘Okay, sounds good!’ is a fitting response because your ass gon’ get torn up otherwise.
Since I’m not the first spelunker to the hole, I won’t go into too much detail about each individual dish, but I will say that the BBQ pork sucked and was covered in far too much weird tomato-​pasty sauce.
The bulgogi, seafood pancakes, dumplings, beef short ribs, japchae and banchans were all kick your ass amazing.
I could’ve taken or left the squid stir fry as it seemed one-​note to me, but I was so satisfied with everything else that it just became a backdrop.
When our meal came to a close, I was tempted to buy a gallon sized drum of kimchee and two armfuls of assorted ramen. I didn’t… this time.
Soon.
Very soon.
I can still taste that japchae and I want more.

Going to eat dinner at Dong Yang felt a little bit like we were transported to the high school lunchroom, except the conversation was about sex and we were eating food that actually tasted good.
Highlights!
*THE BULGOLGI! — tasty, savory meat strips. I could eat this on a train, I could eat this on a plane, I could eat this with Bobby Flay, I could eat this every day! (I don’t know what that means. I think all the meats made me delusional.)
*Japchae — I learned from Kara and Lu that this is made with sweet potato noodles! This was tasty, y’all.
*Trying the fish cake — I don’t eat fish and this wasn’t half bad. Sam said it felt he was eating memory foam, I’d go with a yoga mat.
*BANCHAN! You can’t go wrong with kimchi, beans (were they mung beans? Were they soybeans?), rice and radishes
The womp womps:
*Short ribs — sad, right? Normally I love these grilled meat slabs the most. I thought they were okay. The bulgolgi was infinitely better. But tossing the bones onto another table was so fun and made me feel like a caveman.
*BBQ Spicy Pork — skip it. It’s boring.
We were expecting to get yelled at by the sassy old ladies who do the cooking, but we escaped their wrath. However, come 7:15 they stopped cooking and by 7:30 we were made to feel like we should be getting a move on.
While I was there i picked up some tasty snacks like mochi, Hello Kitty strawberry puffs, apple gummies and spicy potato puffs.
Korean food craving fully satisfied. …except who wants to go back tomorrow? :)

I like going there to eat. My favorites are Beef Ribs, Grill Mackerel, seafood pancake and BBQ beef.
Delicious Food!
Make sure to ask for your order number, because orders are given by according to your order number! ;)

Ah-​non-​say-​oh! Say what, hello! You craving Korean, we’ll this is in my humble opinion the best in town. Tried the others in St. Paul, Minne, and burbs. Your bang for your buck and taste buds will thank you here.
Thumbs up:
–Taste so good, can’t go wrong, flavor profiles are there AND they don’t skimp on the sides.
–Decent $$$ compared to everywhere else.
–Good ol’ hole in the wall gem, hidden in a Korean grocery store.
–Fast service
–Plenty of parking in lot
–Still hungry there’s a grocery store connected to it
Thumbs down:
–Don’t come here for the C.S.- it’s hit or miss, but that’s OK it’s like a fast food set up for delicious Korean food.
–Not much space, not good for groups
–They close on the dot at the time they close, no ifs, ands, buts about it. Come 15 minutes before they close and you will face the unpleasantries of you are late Mister!
Tips: Don’t down your rice, no free refills.
Buy a beverage at the grocery store and enjoy with your meal.
Self service, clean up after yourself!
Enjoy come again!