Pao Jao Dumpling House

All you need to know is, the shrimp dumplings ARE THE SHIT. They ARE LIFE. Seriously I don’t even like dumplings and these are some killer ones. Do yourself a favor and go try them.

Spicy shrimp dumpling is so delicious! The shrimp is cut into big chunks that you can see the shrimp pieces in there. It is a bit spicy so be careful if you cannot handle spice. There is «Wang mandoo» (king dumplings) for a non-​spicy alternative.
The only downside is that there aren’t many side dishes… in fact, there is only one; a small cup of pickled radish which is not that great.
This place is part of a food court… you order what you want, grab a seat, and wait for your number to be called. You eat and no need to clean.
Parking — there is a lot that is free/​validated.

I ordered a jjajangmyun cost me over $ 7 and smelled like burnt oil and taste so bad and amount of food is unacceptable
I will NEVER use this place again in my life.

Had jajungmyeon and shrimp dumplings. jajunmyeon was good, but nothing too special about it. But the shrimp dumplings were absolutely amazing! It was filled with pork, shrimp, chives, and glass noodle. It was slightly spicy and so full of flavor. Love love love it!

Always love eating the spicy seafood noodles :) (don’t know what it’s called in English) I’ve been coming hear since childhood! My family and I would often eat the large steam dumplings and shrimp dumplings. I’m always happy when I come by.

Shrimp dumplings are SUPER LEGIT. Great with the dipping sauce (provided). Has a good kick. $ 9 for eight pieces. 5 stars if it were slightly more filling or slightly cheaper, I could have eaten two orders.

I think the wang mandu here is just as good as the wang mandu at myungin on Olympic. This place and awoolim makes this food court the best in ktown

This is one of my favorite spots to yum! I literally come to the Plaza just to eat here. So I generally order the Wang mandoo (large dumpling) and spicy jja jja myun (noodles). The Wang mandoo comes with 4 large dumplings and the noodles are enough to share with your party. Mmmm just thinking about it makes me hungry… Okay so this is kind of the most important tip with this place. The Dumplings come with a sauce that is mixed with soy sauce and some spices, right. If you get the order for «here» then they give you the sauce in a little bowl. BUT the big BUT here is that if you get the order «to go» they just throw soy sauce packets in the bag. It is not that same thing, I repeat, it is not the same thing. Lol. So my advice, while they can be a little stubborn about it… Ask for the sauce on your to go orders. The dumplings just aren’t the same without it.
Happy eating!

Small portions during lunch but still a good deal. Had the jajangmyung and was above average for a fast food joint. It’s in a Korean Mall food court with great selection of Korean/​Japanese/​Vietnamese style dishes.

This place is inside the koreatown plaza. 2^nd to the last restaurant from the back. Ordered the shrimp dumpling. 8 pics for 8.99. I love dumplings so ofcourse I loved it. There were a lot of people not only for this restaurant but for the others as well so it was hard finding a seat nearby. They call out the order numbers so you need to sit nearby or just keep an eye out.

Still good. Still here. I love the dumplings here! The free parking on Saturday helps. The ladies at the counter are never rude (to me) and super nice (to me). I wasn’t able to stay today but ordering to go is an option

Oooookay so besides food, I am a huge fan of CONSISTENCY.
Shraaaamp Dumplings — ($ 9) still so gooooood. Exactly the way I remember them – chock full of supple shrimp (lol) and minced greens, slightly spicey. Even my brother (who is «meh» on korean food) liked them.
Seafood jjajjang myun — Okay jjajjangmyun is one of my FAV chinese-​korean dishes. Last time I came here it was soooooooooo underwhelming/​not good. The only reason I ordered them was when I saw this one lady eat it and couldn’t keep my eyes off her plate! So glad I ordered this. SO GOOD THIS TIME AROUND. Sauce was hot, saucey (yah know what I mean!!) and full of seafood and veggies. Noodles were warm and starchy. SO GOOD. Still dreaming about it… also the portion is HUGE. Easily can feed 4 people.
CASH ONLY!

My grandfather and I shared the spicy seafood platter jjajangmyun and the shrimp mandoo. I actually asked them to make the jjajangmyun a little more spicy and they looked askance at my grandfather to which he agreed. Hearts. He kept trying to order two of the seafood jjajangmyun dishes, which are noted to be portioned for two people – and between that and the mandoo (and *ahem* the sushi appetizer we got from across the plaza), we were very satisfied and had leftovers to take home.
The shrimp mandoo came out first, about 8 pieces which disappointingly lacked shrimp. It was mostly a tofu filling with shrimp inside. It was tasty enough and I liked the spice as well as the pickled radishes it came with, sharp and vinegary-​sweet. I really liked the noodles in the jjajangmyun, which were cut a little thicker than normal. The flavor didn’t really leap up at me. It was a toned down umami.
My grandfather really liked the place and asked if I wanted to go again today. (I wasn’t home, unfortunately. Would I have gone again? Sure, why not? There are a lot of other places I’d like to try first, though.

I was craving Jjajjamyeun on Labor Day and went out of my way to get it.
Based on Unilocal reviews, I decided to come to Koreatown Plaza Mall as I could always go to Awoolim as a crutch.
Anyway, I ordered the shrimp dumplings in addition to the black bean noodles. The Jjajjamyeun was amaaaaaaaaazing with just enough salt and savory bites! The noodles were nice and chewy throughout each taste and the sauce was plentiful! Service was friendly and time-​wise, the final preparations for my order took about 15 – 20 minutes which I think is reasonable. The shrimp dumplings were fine, but not great, and I only ordered them as other Unilocalers attached photos with this combo.
For roughly ~$ 16, I was quite full and quite satisfied. I will definitely return!

I thought the chive dumplings were pretty good. The king dumpling was okay. One thing for sure is that these are huge portions and lots of filling inside. Though I wasn’t hungry I shared with two other people and we could barely finish.

Its inside the food court at the Ktown Plaza.
Dumplings were good! Texture and the outside dough is different-​its very chewy like rice cake!
Decent size dumplings
Only gives you radish & dipping soy sauce.
Ordered:
Kimchi dumplings
Chives dumplings
15min wait for the food.
I like how the texture was different but I still prefer other dumpling places.

I came here to try their spicy seafood jjajangmyun (black bean noodles) and shrimp dumplings. You can feed 2 – 3 people with one order of jjajangmyun. It had a nice kick to it, flavorful, and good mixture of seafood/​vegetables. The shrimp dumplings were also good. Spicy and flavorful.

I used to be kind of obsessed with Chew Young Roo, and I wonder if I’m wrong in believing that its successor, Pao Jao, is inferior, despite serving an identical menu and looking identical aside from the change in name. I hadn’t been to Koreatown Plaza in a long time when I ate at Pao Jao last month, and my mandoo memory, while good, is obviously not infallible.
Pao Jao is in the KTP food court, so the atmosphere is next to nothing unless you haven’t been to a KTown food court before, in which case – definitely worth checking out. I took a photographer for a story I was doing on KTown and she loved it. The set-​up is easy. Order at the counter, pick up your food and find a seat. I was surprised that we couldn’t order the set lunch, my standby at Chew Young Roo, which was also clearly a menu option. We ended up ordering more food than we needed because of this, as well as because of the $ 10 credit card minimum. The ajumma running the place was just as brusque about the whole thing as you might assume.
We had both wang mandoo and saewoo mandoo – king dumplings and shrimp dumplings. Wang mandoo are those giant fluffy steamed buns stuffed with pork and vegetables you find packaged in markets across KTown, and Pao Jao’s are satisfying but not really special. (Chew Young Roo’s were.) The shrimp dumplings are pretty great, though, glutinous rice papery skins packed tight with shrimp and spice. There was some nice snap to it and a lot of good heat.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to check out Pao Jao, but if you’re already in KTP, it’s a good option. It’s simple fare, and the shrimp dumplings do hit the spot.

Do not get the jjam bong.
It has MSG. I requested no MSG and I was told no.
The jjam bong noodle soup was too greasy. It came with a small portion of noodles, soft shell crab, one mussel, one baby shrimp, three head on shrimp.
Go to Shanghai banjum at the Galleria market on 6^th St and Vermont.

Great shrimp dumplings.
i love the sauce they give you and the thinly sliced diakon rashish slices pickled nicely.
The woman who runs the place has a wicked attitude but its fun. she knows it so she plays with it. She has a great smile to give you.
I tried the black bean noodles but did not like the onions in the sauce otherwise it was nice.
I tried many of the other dumpling and they are good too but the shrimp dumplings were awesome. a tiny bit spicy but def awesome. pick up an order and then order a main dish from one of the other stalls and get your dinner on!