Koreana Tofu House

Aw man! I can’t believe this place changed from Gaesung to Koreana. I loved this restaurant because they were the only place that had the dduk gook with the tiny tapioca-​shaped dduk (supposedly NK style). :(Their restaurant was super clean and had very friendly and professional service. They had really good banchan as well. I’m going to have to re-​visit this newly established place to make sure it’s still as delicious as it used to be (sure looks like it still is by the pictures!)

When we came in here for a late lunch on Saturday, we were the only ones in the place, which was a tad unsettling. However, the quality of the food soon dissuaded any uneasy feelings I had initially.
The banchan spread consisted of seven dishes: not the largest variety, but each of the dishes was pretty solid. A small cup of miso soup was also included, which was unremarkable but pleasant nonetheless.
We chose two selections from the BBQ section: The Bulgogi ($ 13.99 for dinner/​weekend lunch) and BBQ Chicken ($ 13.99 dinner/​weekend lunch). I really enjoyed the bulgogi, which was tastier and more tender than most other bulgogi dishes I’ve had from other Korean places. The chicken consisted of dark meat pieces (which I prefer) that were also very tender, although it had a heavier black pepper taste that I thought was a tad strong.
Service was nice: the waitress refilled our tea several times and offered to replace banchan dishes that we had finished without us asking.
I’ve yet to try most of the many Korean places along El Camino, but you shouldn’t hesitate to try out Koreana, especially for the BBQ.

My one stop shop when I’m craving Bibimpap or SoonTofu. The food is authentic and tastes great. The service is great and the Korean couple that own this place are very friendly (even to Non-​Korean clientele). The serving size are decent too, so overall a great place for a regular evening meal.
The last time around I ordered Daeji Bulgogi — and while it was good, it wasn’t great. The Soontofu here is awesome.

The portions and prices were just right in my opinion. Came here one night rather late I’d say for dinner and they welcomed us sincerely. Got some spicy beef soup dish, spicy pork bbq and my girlfriend ordered some kimchee soup.
Their assortment of free small side dishes isn’t anything to rave about but the food we ordered was delicious anyways! The pork was flavorful and tender, the onions weren’t burnt or anything. The soup was yummy too, not too spicy and had enough kick to hit you in the back of the throat. The food came out piping hot which I love, because it lets me know I won’t get food poisoning, lol.
The service here is good, the lady helping us was warm, inviting and just downright nice. She checked up on us frequently and appreciated my thumbs up when she as how the food was. I have no idea is maybe she’s part owner? Anyways this place is good for some nice home-​y Korean food. The place is very clean and comfortable to sit in, the people are great and the food is good.
Will definitely be back to try that ramen dish, lol.

Love that I can walk over to this restaurant when I’m having a korean craving. Tofu soup is very flavorful. Dol sot im bim bop is yummy and crunchy, only thing is that there’s not enough meat. Service can be slow, but they are very sweet.

My favorite Korean BBQ place.
It’s clean. It’s not crowded.
They have my favorite side dish: their potato is just beyond heaven. We always ask for more and more when we eat there.
Recommend: All the Korean BBQ menu! It would be $ 10.99/dish for lunch and $ 13.99 for dinner.
The waitresses here are old but they are nice. Although they dont really understand English, they help us as much as they can (because most of the time we are the only customers there). The owner is always there too. She offered us some of their new dish one time when we visited. Super nice place.

A while back when at another Korean restaurant, the owner told me there were over 40 some odd other Korean Restaurants along the strip of EL Camino here. Wow. So in my quest to try and hit up all of them Koreana was on the list. Spicy pork, tofu soup, seafood pancacke, galbi/​rice cakes all hit the spot. My co-​workers were anything but Asian but as a pretty soild rule, when you demonstrate to someone you will eat their food it is a quick doorway to being accepted by their culture. We feasted and felt at home.

Seven of us went here for lunch today. One Korean tofu soup aficionado and several other trusted eaters. Yes, the venue is very nice once you get inside.
Three of us arrived 30 minutes early, so we asked that they bring out the banchan (little side dishes) before the food. The waitress said that they wouldn’t do that, so we ordered the seafood pancake.
When the banchan came out, we were underwhelmed. There were not very many (7) and they were not very good. The seafood pancake was good, but was shaped like a pizza and served in a pizza pan. I liked it, but several others thought it was only OK.
When the rest of our party showed up, we ordered several things to share. This threw them for a loop, as most of the dishes were not made to share. There were a surprising number of English /​Korean /​Vietnamese translation issues while ordering. The dishes were fairly expensive for Asian lunch ($ 8 – 13).
Opera music played all during the meal. I thought that was strange.
When the food came, I was surprised that they actually got the order correct due to the earlier language problems. The food was not spectacular. The daily special (BBQ beef with veggies and rice flour noodle things $ 12.99 normally 17.99) was strangely Americanized. The seafood tofu soup was bland (were asked for «medium» not «flavorless») and had 2 shrimp and a mussel (not oyster, as described).
BBQ beef short ribs were OK, nothing special. There was an interesting veggie dish, but it had a raw egg on top, which turned off our vegetarian.
Our Korean food expert expert says that the SDG Tofu House down the street is 100 times better and a little cheaper. And for BBQ, Jang Su Jang, also more into K-​town, is the best around.
But I’ll save those reviews for another day…

Surprisingly authentic, tasty side dishes. You can always predict how well their dishes will come out based on the attention they place on the sides. Kongjang (dried/​marinated bean), miyuk (seweed), and fish cake, as well as the usual spinach, bean sprouts, and kimchi were good. Thoughtful ladies kept replenishing the dish they thought I liked based on how fast I was eating it (guess they had their eyes on me but I didn’t notice).
My mom was a little disappointed that the oil from the grilled (not fried) mackerel wasn’t drained completely, as is possible when you grill the fatty fish. Still, I find this dish average (not great but not bad) among the Korean places. There’s only one other place I know that brushes them with miso to minimize the fish smell and drips off the fat while grilling…
Tofu house ladies recommended woo gu ji and galbi tang as dishes they do well there, but my mom and I were craving spicy soup and seafood so we ordered the seafood tofu soup. The essential flavors were there (not just chili powder in this version) and it was cooked long enough to develop without overcooking the shrimp, mussels, oysters, and clams I found in it. I’ve had bad, bland, or overly MSG-​supplemented tofu soup in the past, and this wasn’t it. I don’t know what I was missing since I haven’t tried this place with the awesome former chef, but I’d rate this place satisfying as long as you stick to what they’re good at. The ladies were nice enough that they might just tell you if you ask — maybe better to do in Korean…

I thought you could never go wrong with korean tofu pots but I was wrong. Had a seafood tofu pot there a couple months ago, and did NOT like it at all! The only thing I could taste was the korean chili powder. I couldn’t taste the flavor of other ingredients. I probably won’t go back there again.
However, I have to say that the place is pretty nice and clean compared to other korean tofu pot places.

Food was pretty decent in my case. I had the BBQ chicken and really, you can’t screw that up. Portion was great and in general food was tasty. Service was lacking. They ARE very polite, just not attentive. These type of places are not usually my thing, I simply came to meet two other friends who chose the place. I would come back if it came down to it, however, it wouldn’t be my decision.
3.5
P. S. Clean restrooms.

2.5 stars.
My usual Korean joint was closed on New Years day so bf and I trekked further down El Camino and saw that Koreana Tofu House was open. Right when we walked in, we noticed they were blasting korean slow jams. It was kind of weird that it was super loud.
Service: B–
The ladies working here are really polite. They bow and speak to you with respect. However, the service was lacking in that I had to repeatedly ask for water and tea even though there was only 2 other tables filled. The restaurant was not busy by any means. When I asked for a Kimchi refill, the server did not bother to refill other empty banchan dishes.
Food: B
The banchan was just okay. the kmchi kind of tasted like it came from a jar at the super market. I didn’t care for other items. Bummed they didn’t have fish cake or anchovies. The broccoli was a turn off.
Bf got the Mandoo Ramen and I got the beef Dolsot BiBimBop. The bibimbop was very good. The rice charred and sizzeled and was quite crunchy. However, there wasn’t enough beef in the bibimbop. Compared to other places, I’d say the bibimbop were veggie heavey.
Bf really enjoyed his ramen. However, to me, it just tasted like instant Shin Ramen that we buy at the grocery store.
Overall:
all in all, this place is not bad. I enjoyed the bibimbop. However, with so many Korean restaurants on El Camino, I don’t see why i would return here.
p. s. they honored the Unilocal promotion and we got a free soft drink!

Not sure where all of these Unilocalers are getting poor service. I had a great time today as our server was very attentive and kept refilling our tea. I ordered the gimchi tofu soup. It was good and I asked for spicy but it lacked. I would say it’s a good place to fill up if you’re hungry since they offer to refill your side dishes. However in terms of taste, I do feel that the soup is a little bland.
I still ate it all though since it wasn’t horrible.

this used to be gaesung tofu house, and with the ownership changing, they changed it to koreana. ive been here a couple times as gaesung, and i went here under the new management the other day.
we tend to do bigger family functions here, so ive never sat in the actual restaurant. we reserve the little guest house in the back towards the restroom. i really think someone sleeps here. anyways, its very quaint, has a few long tables with wooden type chairs on the ground. only problem is, it gets really cramped. theres no open area to put your feet down, so everyone’s sitting uncomfortably, which is a true korean traditional style.
the service is always good, and we always order the bosam kimchee. its really pretty, with various seafood and kimchee inside of a huge kimchee type leaf. this time, it didnt taste as good as it normally does. we also ordered the seafood green onion pancake. it was decent, i think jang su jang’s is better. my aunt ordered some special fish (sea bass like) dish thats not on the menu, and everyone enjoyed that. we also had the spicy squid bokkum, really good, not spicy even though it was bright red. i forgot to order the tofu salad. their’s is the best around.
ended it with rice cake and dumpling soup and i ordered a dol sot bi bim bap. there was so much and the bowl stayed nice and hot the whole time.
place is decent, food is really clean, but its just a bit far from all the korean places on elcamino, making it a bit out of ways.

The good:
The place was clean, the food came out super fast, and all seemed like your typical Korean tofu joint.
the bad:
the food was alrite. The tofu soup was not quite as flavorful as it could have been. We also had man du and bulgogi and that was good. And I liked their eggplant side dish.
The ugly:
The service was atrocious! It was okay when we first walked in and there was just two tables. When more people sat down, the two waitresses couldn’t keep up. What’s sad is the man that was in the back was just standing there, staring out at us. This made us feel even more frustrated and we almost walked out.
Overall, decent food with slow service.

Saw their ad in the Japanese Bayspo weekly newspaper so I decided to give it a try. Surprised it was a few shops down from one of my favorite Thai places, Thaibodia.
The place was clean and the staff were really friendly. I had the Seafood Tofu Soup with medium spice. The banchan were pretty good. Better than SGD Tofu House. Kimchee, pickled daikon, sweetened dried fish, bean sprouts, etc. Medium is not very spicy so you should be able to handle it. Decent amount of seafood: clams, a mussel, shrimp. I must say it was more calming to eat here than SGD as they have better lighting (SGD is way too bright!) and it was much more quiet, less rowdy. The prices for tofu soup was less than $ 10 for dinner; cheaper than SGD. Plus they’re closer to my house so I’ll probably be back again soon.

Super friendly service… if you’re Korean.
Otherwise, you get the one guy that speaks english there and he’s a hard one to crack. Ordered the seafood pancake– yummm and the chicken and soup. I didn’t like the jigae too much as it was SOO watery but the side dishes were good. I like how they were cool with refilling it.
Side note– My mom asked the waiter about what the other Korean table had and the guy said ****** and I heard deer and I got a dirty ass look. HAHA. I still don’t know what he said.
MMM probably won’t come back as there are 1000 Korean restaurants in Santa Clara to try. P. S– Bring a jacket. its FREEZING

Tonight, Sunday night, at around 6:45pm, my wife and I entered Koreana Tofu House for dinner. We were out at a movie in DT SJC, and having read the reviews here, decided to give it a try.
Perhaps it was because it was Sunday evening, but our experience was mediocre at best. First of all, the service was really really slow… the place wasn’t even half full (about 6 tables were occupied including us) and 2 wait staff. They were working hard, but also busing tables as well, so I they weren’t slacking off or anything… just not enough people I guess.
It took them 5 min to get us menus, another 5 for tea, and another 5 before they came to take the order… so far 15 min into it, and we’re still starving… we ordered the seafood & scallion pancakes, seafood soondubu medium hot for my wife, and fish egg soondubu spicy for me.
Now the food. Well, I’ve been making my rounds of tofu houses recently, and this place is, in general… well meh… it’s nothing really special. One of my favorites is So Gong Dong Tofu House in Palo Alto, for example. There I love their cheese & mushroom soondubu. There the various ingredients and spices seem to complement each other and really bring out the flavors. Here, the flavor tends to be very simple and not exciting. In Japanese, we say there is no «umami».
Even the side dishes like kimchi seemed bland. The best thing that we had were the seafood & scallion pancakes, mostly because there was so much seafood in it as opposed to the taste, and the hot tea they serve. I don’t know what it was, but it as aromas of roasted corn husks. It was very pleasing.
If I ever do come back here, it will be for the seafood & scallion pancakes. Perhaps I will give neng myun a try next time… another one of my Korean favorites.

This place is very clean, and service was pretty good, but I just wasn’t impressed by the food. We tried their bulgogi and seafood tofu soup. The bulgogi was tender but the onion overpowered the flavor, and the seafood tofu soup was decent but forgettable. They had a few sides — kimchi, some sort of radish, but no seaweed or fish cake. Their steamed rice was excellent. I guess I’d come here if other people wanted to, but it wouldn’t be my first choice.

Stopped by this place for dinner and right away I was impressed at how clean the restaurant was. If you’ve been to some of the other Korean restaurants on El Camino, you’ll know what I mean.
I ordered the galbi and my gf got the seafood tofu soup. Before bringing out the main entrees, they served very delicious side dish plates. Our meals came out minutes later, sizziling hot. The galbi was perfectly marinated and the the tofu soup was one of the best.
Above all the service was wonderful. The restaurant owners made sure every thing was exactly as we hoped for. We are definitely going back!