Shin Toe Bul Yi

TL;DR: it’s the first Korean restaurant I’ve been to where nothing tasted good. Don’t come. Pricey esp considering its quality.
My roommate and I ordered beef short ribs, seafood pancake, spicy stir fry rice cake and beef dumpling and egg soup and the bill came out to a whopping 78 $ after tips.
The small dishes managed to be bland yet salty. Seafood pancake was all batter, overshadowing the seafood to a point where we really wondered if we mistakenly ordered plain pancakes. Rice cake, short ribs and soup all tasted off to me — perhaps it’s their uniqueness. Grease is a big theme of this place if that’s what you are into. You can still taste dishwashing detergent on their cups.
I think this place survives because it’s one of the few Korean restaurants in the neighborhood. That said, my roommate told me she knows a few friends that like this place. Maybe my taste buds were off because I had a really bad headache when I came here, but I won’t give this place another try since it managed to become the worst Korean food dining experience I’ve ever had by far.
(Service was fine and fast, and we got a few pieces of grilled cod on the house)

Although the meat they serve is delicious, they dump a bunch of veggies and other stuff into the dish leaving a very minimal amount of the good stuff. Their opening hours and service is rather odd too, but thats not really something that I am factoring into my score.

By the look of the storefront, you wouldn’t think this inconscpicuous place would have such great Korean food. Tried this place with friends on a Thursday evening at 6:15 pm and there was no wait. Cozy tables and chairs inside make you feel like you’re inside someone’s living room. We got the seafood pancake, a soup (I forgot what), and the infamous fried chicken wings.
— Seafood pancake = yum and they didn’t skimp on the seafood! Wish they had oyster sauce or Hoisin sauce on the side, it would have been perfect
— Soup: Got it mild, great with the rice
— Fried chicken wings = amazing crunch!
Would definitely hit up this spot again.

My gosh. Korean BBQ at its finest. I think this is my go to spot for sit down dinner when someone ask, «What do you want to eat?» Fair warning though, this place is small, so you are bound to wait outside the door :(Once you get in and seated, my gosh do they stockpile your order whether its the sides pancakes, the mouth-​watering chicken, or soft-​tofu soup. I miss it already and can’t wait to go back haha

I got the bulgogi lunch take out which is $ 10, comes with rice and a bunch of Korean side dishes. The bulgogi meat was top notch and cooked properly. The sides were typical.
The only negative thing was that the bulgogi sauce was a bit tasteless which is probably healthier. I wish they had the side dishes I liked though!

Came here with a big group of friends, and my experience was pretty good! The lady servers that helped us were so friendly and helpful. I split an order of their fried chicken and a dumpling soup/​mandu guk.
Contrary to the chili icon right next to the fried chicken. It was not spicy at all and was quite delicious! It wasn’t too oily but I think our order with something soupy helped balance that out for me. We also had a grilled fish side dish, and that was good. So many dumplings in the soup but we cleared it.
I also like how it’s decorated and the furniture. It has a homey feel, and I’m already craving that chicken again.

Year of 1999, I was fresh off the boat from South East Asian, lived with my sister on 32^nd Taraval Avenue. She took me for dinner @ Shin Toe Bul Yi. It was the 1^st time I tried Korean food and fell in love with it. (The best korean food in my own opinion in the Bay Areas)
Moving Forward, year 2015 have my own family. Going to Shin Toe Bul Yi always a treat for us. We love and enjoy the food so much, my older one (3 Years old) Love the fried chicken.
Food: 5 stars in my opinion (our favorite battered fried chicken, japchae (Korean clear noodle), Bulgogi (spicy pork), Plain Korean Pancake (Damn it, I am drooling now), Spicy tofu soup (Its on the house WOOHOO), Korean spicy ricestick with octopus, and the Mackerel fish.
Parking: Little bit hard (Street Parking)
Service: The waiter is friendly and she will notify you that most of the foods are extremely hot. (she would remind people with the kids be cautious with the hot foods), She’s fast worker and really responsive) 5 stars with the service.
This place is always pack, expect waiting for at least 20 minutes during weekend especially dinner time. (But trust me it’s worth the wait).
My Tips: Beat the crowd by come during early lunch or early dinner.

How come I will give this restaurant 5 star, this restaurant make me admirable. At first, I with my girl friend come here there was full house. After about 20 minute we got the seats and we ready for the order early. We order the seafood pan cake and the stone rice bowl. When the foods coming, she give us the tofu soup on the house and one white rice. The food was tasty. Second, there only one server for full house. She can handle all the table. For this, was make me admire. Third, we got the check, there only $ 28.25. The food already make us very full so I like this place food not expensive. For next time’ I will come for try the deep fire chicken, cause I see next to us table order the deep fire chicken was good!

They have the best lunch specials for a decent price. I recommend the spicy pork which includes rice and some sides such as kimchi and cucumbers.

We love this place! A great neighborhood spot that is a little cheaper then what you might find on Geary, but just as good. They have the best fried chicken I have had in SF!!!

It’s time to update my review. Really like this place. Though I moved out of the neighborhood, I come back often not for the food but also for the atmosphere. Nice authentic Korean food as always. (Though I believe the owner probably Americanizes the menu a bit). The classic rice noodle could have been spicier lol
The staff are all very friendly.(I believe it’s a family business). I like the owner a lot. She is super nice and hard working. Everyone I come by, I would try to say hi. Anyway, if you ever come visit sf, you definitely try this place out!

This is the kind of unpretentious, incredibly delicious neighborhood restaurant that I save up my appetite to fully enjoy on weekend nights.
Everything we’ve had there (Jap Chae, Seafood Pancake, Fried Chicken) have been fantastic, and come with a generous and interesting selection of ban chans, rice, and complimentary tofu soup for dinner.
Service is always warm, and the décor is actually quite nice and welcoming inside, even though it’s pretty non-​descript from the exterior. Go there, go now!

This place is not cheap and given the variable quality of the dishes, we will likely not return. The one good dish was the fried chicken; but they also threw in pieces that were mostly bones. The seafood pancake was the worst. Very gluey, and burnt on one side. The bibimbap had only a few pieces of beef and the vegetables had no seasoning. The non-​Kim chee panchan also lacked flavor.

I’ve been here a handful of times but never for dinner, so this is reviewed for lunch only.
The thing about this place is that they only do takeout for lunches. Once in the past I’ve been able to order something for «takeout» but eat it in the restaurant out of the takeout box, and I’ve seen other people do that. It was probably their way of not having to clean plates and utensils for their short lunch hours. But recently it doesn’t seem like people dine in here at all for lunch, so maybe now they just straight up don’t want people eating here until dinner.
They have a lunch special menu which is a lot cheaper than their regular dinner menu. I believe everything on it is just under $ 10, whereas prices for food for dinner start getting into the double digits, typical of what you would see at other places. The food I’ve tried here is decent, but not something you’d rave about. Just recently I had the kalbi lunch special, where the meat didn’t taste like it was marinated well. But it wasn’t as chewy or difficult to eat as I’ve had at other local places, so at least that was good. Also, because of the takeout policy, the banchan they give is limited to whatever they can fit into the smaller sections of the takeout box. Don’t expect a lot of variety here.
It’s hard to gauge how busy this place actually is during lunch because it’s takeout only so the only people around are just people waiting for their food to be ready. And I always get really thrown off by the size of this place when I walk in because the way the mirror is situated, it makes the restaurant look twice as big as it actually is.

Some dishes are really good like 53 (calamari with veg and something that seemed rice cakey) on the menu, but others are mehh. We ordered soup and made sure to request «extra spicy» but we didn’t get extra spicy and the soup had no flavor.
The service was ok they were nice, but bc the place is so busy you can tell they’re a bit flustered. That’s all okay! I will deff come back in future.

Honestly, I was actually trying to eat at Toyose, especially since it’s been a few years since I’ve eaten out of the garage, but the wait was long and with a long drive back to my parents’ house, we had to compromise. My friend recommended Shin Toe Bui Yi, which is also in the Outer Sunset, and quite the hidden gem. It’s definitely busy but it’s nice to stumble upon a restaurant that doesn’t have a long wait or too many issues with parking AND has good food.
We got there around 8, and we didn’t have a wait. The side dishes were solid and plentiful, and they gave us a hefty piece of broiled fish on the house. We ordered the fried chicken, a tofu soup, and a rice cake and vegetable dish. I didn’t really think the fried chicken was anything special, but it was comparable to other Korean fried chicken I’ve had. I felt like it was missing something, but it was still good. The tofu soup was good and not too spicy. I always like rice cake and I thought it was well done here; it was chewy and served with glass noodles and some vegetables. The place is great and it’s now on my list of places to recommend.

I called to place a rake out order. The lady told me it’s too busy and will not take orders. What?! It’s 5pm only. And when I asked if I can order and pick up later on she hung up on me. How rude.
By the way. Don’t get the beef short ribs. It’s not edible. You will chew forever.

Pretty standard prices for a Korean restaurant. Just dont come here when it’s rush hour; saw the line when we left and there was a crowd in the cold… lol Thankfully, I came in with a friend and there was a space conveniently for 2! If the price is high at this place, expect a large portion (except for soups and bibimbap ’cause portions for those are fixed). This place is super cramped because they maximized the space for more people to fit which is fine by me. Rush hour must be a pain in the butt. The waitress is really sweet and I was teaching my friend some Korean phrases which included ‘hello’ and she came over because she thought we were calling her over OTL. so embarrassing.
The bathroom is pretty grimey but it doesnt phase me; as long as it works. Just wish they had a hook so I can hang my bag or jacket.
On a different note, isnt this place called Shin Toe Bul Gi or naw? It’s been 2 months since I’ve been so idk.

Despite the tattered store front, don’t let the exterior deter you. Shin Toe Bul Yi is among one of the hidden gems in the outer sunset area.
Some of the noteworthy house specials to try would be:
* Fried Chicken– breaded and fried to perfection, crispy layers while maintaining all that juiciness on the inside with every bite. We ordered it because we saw it practically on everyone else’s table. Aside from the usual drumstick and thighs, this dish also consisted of what seemed to be a whole chicken.
*Seafood pancake– usually NOT one of my favorite Korean dishes, but this was surprisingly well executed. Crispy in texture, not too doughy, and was loaded with seafood. The house sauce served with it really complemented it as well.
* Broiled mackerel — complimentary– a WHOLE mackerel super moist and soft in texture, seasoned to perfection. Plus, it’s FREE. Deal– sealed.
This was definitely a carb –loaded feast for my friends and I. In the midst of gluttony, the 3 of us also had jap chae, spicy rice cakes, spicy seafood tofu stew, and I’m sure there’s a couple more items I don’t recall or rather not disclose, but I have nothing, but praises to sing for each of those dish. SF isn’t limited in its Korean restaurants, but I must admit Shin Toe Bul Yi is one of the top ones on my list.

We had one of the worst meal in our lives here.
Beef broth was gamey. I know it’s «beef broth» but even the Safeway beef broth tastes better.
Steamed monk fish was disgusting. You cant really tell you’re being served monk fish because it’s buried under mountains of bean sprouts. It also comes with mystery fish parts that taste like soap.
The only good thing (thank God) we had was bbq ribeye.
They worst part of our awful meal was the wait. There was only one girl serving 20+ people. She was doing one hundred things at once. We got served but that’s it. Nothing got refilled. We couldn’t ask her what was that mystery awful thing in our monk fish. We got a cup with lipstick on it and had a hard time to get her to gives a new cup cause she was serving 20 other people. She was very quick to bring the bill though.
If you see people waiting outside, it’s not because this place has great food. People are waiting outside because there is only one server serving other 20+people and doing one hundred things at once.
We are not coming back here!