House of Orchid

This place is CLOSED!

If I can rate it a negative I would, overpriced for Korean food, didnt taste that great, I couldve made my own bulgogi bought from Zion, pre marinated, that would’ve tasted better.
ANDworst of all. I got this horrible food poisoning from them, that lasted a week or so and pretty much ruined the whole week, including my GRE test. A visit to this place costed me about 200 bucks
but I guess it’s not a bad deal since I got salmonella from the chicken bulgogi

Greet food at a great price. I will write more details when I have time.

Ordered bulgogi. It was nothing special. The portion was pretty small… $ 11 for one small plateful.
It looks like a small family run business since the one waitreess that was there was a teen.
Cold Bori cha (barley tea) was served. Since bf and I went through 2 glasses of it, she left the pitcher at the table, which was nice.
I’d give this place 2 ½ stars since it’s between: Meh, I’ve experienced better and A-​Ok.

I Tried this place for lunch recently and was a bit confused. They had a Teriyaki chiken lunch special– and since they also featured sushi, I thought maybe they served Japanese food. Not so much– rather, it was a Korean interpretation of Teriyaki chicken. Not to say that it was bad, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I also had Bulgogi– this time I was expecting Korean, so no surprises here, but the portion was quite small and some of the sides were bland.
The rice and the house hot sauce were both fantastic– hence the third star.
Hint: don’t spend too much time studying the live fish in the tank…

This place is horrible! First of all, the décor is awful and old. There is this funny smell in the restaurant… fish? We ordered a couple of sushi rolls b/​c it was ½ off, but big mistake… agree w/​other Unilocalers that it is almost inedible. I ordered the hot pot fish soup and it was disgusting. I picked at it & took it home thinking it needed to be «fixed»…ended up trashing it. The bulgogi doesn’t taste like bulgogi at all… at least not good bulgogi… looked like they seasoned carne asada. I usually love all of the sides you get at korean restaurants but I didn’t enjoy these.
Bottom line is that this place is not good. Don’t waste your money… unless you want a bad, bad food experience.
I had to go grab some frozen yogurt after eating here in order to get something yummy in my mouth!

Wow! Great service! Right when we walked in the owner gave a high-​five to my hubby which isn’t typical greeting from an older Korean gentleman. They were eager to please us and even gave us a free appetizer which my sister’s hubby called an a Korean gummy bear (not sure what it was but it had a chewy texture) and a free yellowtail sample dish. Can’t complain with free accompaniments. And as far as the panchan, I was pleased. We had about 10 – 11 different items, each of which I enjoyed. Also, the waiter was quick to refill the barley tea which i love… I chose the chicken bulgogi and added the kimchi stew for an extra $ 3 which was well worth it. I really liked the kimchi stew and it’s sourness. My sis, on the otherhand didn’t. But all the better because I got her leftovers. My sister’s pork bulgogi was really good. I preferred it over my chicken bulgogi. The hubby wasn’t really hungry so he had a ramen. Nothing special about the ramen. My sister and her hubby ordered 4 or 5 different rolls since they were 50% off. They weren’t bad but they were just average. I’d definitely come back for some more bulgogi and stew…

House of Orchid is a place run by Korean folks who thought it’d also be a good idea to branch out into sushi. This doesn’t exactly execute well in practice. The sushi bar at the restaurant is so small that there is no seating at the sushi bar, only at tables.
Wanting to try both their Korean dishes and sushi, our hero ordered two rolls and a stone bowl bugolgi for lunch. After the 7 types of banchan arrived, the owner came around offering all the diners samples of uni on rice. It was a nice gesture to offer free samples to all his customers, but it tasted like they were trying to get rid of old inventory. The best of the banchan was the rice noodles; otherwise, everything else was fairly average and the kimchi wasn’t aged very long for a deeper flavor. The Alaskan and spicy tuna rolls were also not too fresh and the quality was poor. Not much can be said for the bugolgi bowl, except that the sizzle was better than the steak, so to speak.
Perhaps our hero ordered the wrong items, but everyone else’s food looked a whole lot better in terms of the Korean dishes on the menu. The salads here looked ridiculously enormous and the sizzling BBQ meats didn’t look too shabby. However, for what he ate, our hero wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to anyone he liked.
PROS:
— Really nice and prompt service.
— 50% off most sushi.
CONS:
— The sushi is almost inedible. The rice is hard, the fish isn’t fresh, and rolls stick together too much and taste fairly bland. No wonder all sushi is half off!

I just came back from Korea a few weeks ago and the most memorable dish there was definitely the soybean noodles. (kong gook-​soo)
While the soybean noodles at House of Orchid may taste and feel a little foreign to the uninitiated, any soybean noodle lover will appreciate the thick traditional-​style noodles with a wholesome soup that took me aback and reminded me of my exceptional meal in Korea. The soup (which is the key to great soybean noodles) was perfectly textured-​not too watery, not too thick. Though the subtle creamy taste of the soybeans do not command the attention of your taste palettes, it is far from forgettable.
I have been to HoO fives times now with a different dish each time. And although the Japanese dishes fare above average, they REALLY pale in comparison to the quality of the Korean food here.
Highly recommended for a genuine Korean dining experience.

If you love korean food, you should check out this place! They have a wide variety of korean food. My favorite there is the seollung tang. I’ve tried seollung tang at many different korean restaurants and by far, this place had the best. They also serve sushi as well. If you go now, they have a special where certain rolls and sushi’s are 50% off. The cheap prices and good food makes it hard to resist going back.

It’s a widespread belief that good Korean restaurants are hard to come by unless you’re driving around in Koreatown, Los Angeles. As a Korean boy who has grown up eating Korean food (most of which has been awesome, mind you), I have come to believe that this notion is, for the most part, true. I have been disappointed far too many times at Korean restaurants in San Diego that are either 1) incredibly overpriced, 2) use way too much MSG and/​or sugar in their food, 3) taste plain bad, or 4) all of the above.
None of these descriptions, however, apply to the House of Orchid. Nestled within a small plaza on Convoy St., House of Orchid is a small, homely restaurant that is by no means ‘flashy’, especially in comparison to its neighbors. Upon entering the doors of House of Orchid, however, your attention will be directed to an eclectic menu, which contains items ranging from the casual (i.e. ‘ddukboki’ — spicy rice cakes) to the more traditional entrees (i.e. ‘agu-​chim’ — steamed monkfish). Since its opening, I’ve been there three times, stomach smiling each time, and some of my friends have even gone three times this week. Obsessive and quite possibly eating out much more than deemed appropriate for rough economic times such as these… I guess this depends on the wallet of the consumer. Nonetheless, they emerged as happy campers each time and that’s what’s so great about House of Orchid: after enjoying an authentic Korean meal amongst good friends and family, it’s enough to make one forget about whatever may be going on and just have a good time.
Simply put, great prices, good portions, an authentic Korean flavor, and a friendly environment are what characterize House of Orchid. It is definitely a place to be discovered if you’re looking for Korean food that is both delicious and affordable.