Korea House

I used the Groupon deal, and like many of you I was second guessing this place based on previous ratings, people either loved it or hate it.
I loved it! The portions are very generous and between two people with really big appetites and cravings for a variety of food, this place satisfied. We even had a good portion for leftovers!
Short ribs, clear noodles, battered fish, and the sides were great! Loved their sides, and you can ask for refill. I loved the kimchi they served, just the right spice.

THIS PLACE IS OUT OF BUSINESS.
We bought a groupon and went to redeem it tonight. The place is now called cooking crab. They will still honor your groupon.

Went here because of the Groupon deal, and I’m so glad we used it because the amount of food and it’s quality was not worth original price. The fried rice lacked in flavor and the service took pretty long. One star because the waitress was nice (she took forever to respond to us though, even when we asked for water).
What ticked us off was in the end, they charged us tax of the original price than what we actually paid for. wtf…

Came in a little late 30 minutes before closing I ask them if they have time for us because it’s late. She said yes. We sat down «take your time «she said friend whet to the washroom. A waitress came and said can you hurry restaurant is closing… Then another came in ask said the same we had order appetizers. I got upset because we had already asked if they had time for us and said yes. Now they want is out. I just told her appetizers are fine it seems they want us out, so only appetizers. We ate them and went to pay. Then the cashier who told us that the restaurant was closing after we sat down took my payment I signed and put the pen down she ask «NO TIP» worst customer experience and I don’t write bad reviews
PS there is no star option

Like the other reviewer said. Switch and bait. My groupon said «dinner for up to two people». I looked at the dinner specials for two and the waitress said pre-​fixed one selection.
Although the food was decent and the service was good. The switch and bait and then blaming groupon for the mistake left a bad taste.

Well. I finally had a chance to one of my favorite restaurants. Well things has changed a whole lot. Not only list anymore. Seems there seems to be new owners.
I’m not too familiar with other Korean restaurants in the area, and I know there are plenty. I’m just saying this place is not worth the drive from San Jose. I will need to venture out
The no longer serve nori with the small plates and the variety is limited. Though the waitress, was nice enough to find some.

** DROVE BY ON 7÷4÷15 AND THEY ARE OUT OF BUSINESS.
NEW SIGN SAYS «COOKING CRAB ** (WHICH HAS Unilocal REVIEWS ALREADY)
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Well it’s true… third time is a charm. Like the majority of my dining group said… Good bye Korea house. This is our last time here.
The food was average with a few highs but a lot of lows.
— Side dishes were just ok. Mostly all veggie types plus fish cake slivers.
— Jap chae was rather hard, almost think it’s old and quickly blanched to soften.
— Tofu soup was flavorless, needed more flavor. Wasn’t bubbly when set on table.
— Mostly egg batter on «egg battered fish».
+ Kalbi beef was tender, moist and seasoned well.
(Kalbi was the only best part of the experience)
Service…
Well it took about 10 minutes to take our order as staff was whizzing by. We kept hearing that they be back. Then they are literally jogging to kitchen and when carrying food out, the staff was whizzing by like an aerial show. Finally she took our order and felt somewhat rushed. When order came in arrived in an unusual order:
Jap chae, then side dishes, then Kalbi, then egg battered fish, then soup was last. Usually the soup is the first or second to be presented. We asked for side dish refills, they took our saucers and it took 10 minutes to get, after asking twice.
Favoritsm…
To top it off it seemed like back of the house and front of the house was catering to a certain table and leaving us «regular people» waiting and hearing «I’m sorry» please no words, just give us guest service actions. They do work as hard as possible, but why can’t the lady owner get more staff in to help. It was sad and ridiculous to watch the front jog around and come very close to dropping dishes or running into staff or patrons.
Décor…
The new décor from the «restaurant redemption» TV show was changed. They took the newly built buffet station from middle of restaurant and shoved it in the back with
eating utensils, to go boxes etc on each side of buffet station. Looks crappy and very very unclean and toooo casual. It cheapened the place.
Dirty…
In addition, the staff did not clean tables for almost 25 minutes. There was a sea of dirty plates, bowls etc on 75% of restaurant. It looked so unkept and like no one cared enough about presentation or even prepping for walk in customers. After all, I think the restaurant needs $ to stay afloat right?
New neighbor…
Oh there seems to be another café or hangout in back outside patio playing music. There is a sign under Korea House sign and in back patio but I think it’s Arabic or middle eastern, but not sure so please don’t take my word… go check it out.
Good bye…
All in all, we won’t return…, so many other much better Korean Restaurants in area especially in Santa Clara. It certainly left us asking «what happened?» They went downhill. If owner cares enough, maybe she can do her own restaurant staff renovations.

Came here for a groupon deal. The food was mediocre at best. Tofu soup is decent but lot of salt. The kalbi is okay, good flavor, but needed more grill caramelization. We ordered an extra full order of kalbi for $ 30, its a pretty good price with a lot of meat. The worse part is the service is super slow, they only have one lady working the whole restaurant. The floor is really really dirty, filthy dirty. It looks like a child threw food all over the ground and played with the food on floor. They need to work on cleaning this place. Everywhere I step, I step into some food on the floor… this is unacceptable. Please clean up and make this place somewhat enjoyable for customers. I saw a worker cleaning a table, he wiped the table and just shoved the food off the table onto the ground, without bothering to clean the floor. Its no wonder this restaurant is so dirty!
If the restaurant is clean, I would come back, the food is decent, but the service needs to be improved, and those floor need to be washed and cleaned!

Tried with Groupon.
1. It claimed $ 59 value and sold with $ 30. Well, I can definitely find better choice with $ 30 in other restaurant.
2. It listed BBQ short rib ($ 21.95). God knows how much it should worth. Food court fast food quality.
3. Mosquitoes — We got bite 3 times plus one killed during biting.

5 stars for their Groupon deal! Seriously, it doesn’t get any better than that unless it’s free.
For $ 30, you get Fried Battered Fish, BBQ Shortribs, Soup, Japchae and of course your regular side dishes & rice. Portions are great and I always have leftovers for lunch the next day!

The groupon deal is not worthy at all.
All the dishes are pretty small, the smallest I had ever seen…
Half or less than half size than an authentic, regular priced Korean restaurant.
The side dishes have funny smell and kind of rotten sour tasty !!! So we did not eat them at all.
Another thing which is worse is the service! Rude rude, did not care us at all during dinner, never ask if i want to refill water… But! When we didn’t say we finished our diner she rudely thrown the bill on the table without saying anything! Then disappeared… We both got very angry!
The service was not good at all, we did want to give 20% tips, we did 10%, it was already very generous for that bad food and service! However, the waitress yelled at us «tip» «tip»! What a Ridiculous place!

This place has been around for a long time. Growing up in Santa Clara, you’ll always have people wanting to come here to get a decent Korean dish. The food, service, and experience is just okay, I’ve had better…
Most recent visit was on a Saturday night and all the tables were full but the service is slow! So maybe that Unilocal checkin offer makes up for it.
Ordered the spicy pork BBQ, daeji bulgoki, fried dumplings, and doo bu jigae (hot soup with veggies). Worst spicy pork BBQ for me, it was still chewy and wasn’t steaming hot, how I want it!

I bought the groupon and decided to try it out. Usually I get too full eating all you can eat and this dinner was a great size with left overs as well!
When arriving, I could see it was super busy and packed. Rolling out the groupon really brought business! We were didn’t get seated right away but they acknowledged me and let me know I would be seated soon. The wait wasn’t too long, less than 5 minutes.
We got the mango soju, which is really good! The dinner came with the traditional sides– kimchi, pickled radish, etc. The clear noodles was very tasty and as I was pigging out on those, the server brought rice and bowls for the soup. The fried fish cake came next and then followed by the Galbi. The soup was last, but it was steaming hot. All the food was great and I feel the portion is great for 2 people. The sides are also unlimited, but like other said, you’ll have to finish everything on the plate before they bring more out.
If you’re worried about not having service, go on a Sunday for an early dinner to relax. Service isn’t terrible, they are just busy. They do their best :)

I’ve been to this establishment before a few times. They have recently renovated their dining room and rearranged the furniture.
This used to be my to-​go restaurant when I had a hankering for Japchae. Their lunch buffet used to be a great deal. Now it cost $ 13.95 per person. Their food selection is limited but they all taste alright. The reason this place can cure the hankering for Japchae is because they are all you can eat good quality Japchae! Other food items worth mentioning is their fishcake soup, a little spicy but the flavoring is good. They used to have kalbi but not anymore. The beef and pork we tasted today was soggy, but flavor was alright.

Dreadful. Rude. I won’t be going back.
My friend and I had a Groupon for «Dinner for Two». A few weeks ago we stopped in on a Saturday night. There were two other couples waiting to be seated ahead of us, but the place looked almost empty, so we waited. And waited and waited. The waiters were running around in a panic and hardly noticed us waiting, no acknowledgements. I saw one customer get up from his seat and walk into the kitchen to demand some service. At another table a customer was arguing with a waiter over some issue. So, after about twenty minutes waiting we left and decided to come back another time when the place wasn’t so stressed. Only two of the original four people ahead of us had been seated and now there were more people behind us.
We went back tonight. There was nobody waiting but the staff look rushed and stressed the same as last time. We were motioned to «sit over there» as the waiter pointed to some empty seats. After about five minutes the same waitress brought menus. Then she came back in about a minute and my friend ordered an appetizer to give us time to read the menu.
We each decided what we wanted to order. A different waitress came to take our order, I showed her my phone to let her know we had a Groupon. She grabbed the phone and «redeemed» the coupon and asked in very poor English if we wanted spicy or regular.
Confused I asked her to explain. She pointed to an item on the menu and said that is what we were getting with the Groupon and the only choice was spicy or regular soup. I said that I wanted to order something different, but that I like spicy soup. She grabbed the menus and said we had no choice and walked off.
Within minutes they were bringing out small plates of food but most of them were cold. I was still trying to figure out what were were getting as they had taken the menus so fast I did know what I was in for. After we had sampled everything they brought they then brought the appetizer. It was the only plate that was hot. Then came the soup which was also hot but consisted mostly of tofu which is not my favorite.
I was not happy with the food, the lack of choice, the rudeness at which they grabbed the phone to void the coupon and failed to answer my questions. I called another waiter who spoke better English and all he could say was sorry. I asked for the manager but was told she was not available.
We would not have orderef the appetizer if we had known we had no choice with the Groupon deal. When I went to the register to pay the same rude non-​English speaking waitress came to take my money. I told her she was rude and had ruined our dinner. She smiled and said «Thank You»

IF YOU BOUGHT THE GROUPON DEAL…
First of all, it took almost 10 minutes to get seated. In fact, had the phone hadn’t rang nobody would have came out to seat us.
I have eaten here throughout the years and have seen it changed ownership several times. Apparently they were on Restaurant Redemption and although I didn’t see the episode… they need to shoot another episode because apparently customer service training wasn’t addressed!
Waitresses here were EXTREMELY RUDE. As soon as I mentioned that I had a Groupon deal she yanked the menu and Groupon printout out of my hand and told me I would be getting «this meal».
The waitresses were running around the small dining room like it was the Chopped Kitchen and seeing them frantically move around made it a super stressful place to eat. Not only did their shoes click-​clack against the hardwood floor non-​stop, THEY HARDLY PROVIDED SERVICE.
When I asked for a refill on the banchan (side dishes) they only refilled anything that was totally empty. The dish of kimchi had literally one piece left and they wouldn’t refill it until I transferred the last piece to my plate.
The meal itself was very expensive even with the groupon. Despite buying the $ 55 voucher for 4, we went as a group of 3 people and we found the portions to be lacking. For example, the pots of soup were only half full and they were skimpy on the short ribs. I got really fatty pieces and i believe I been the VICTIM of GROUPON SIZED PORTIONS.
Bottom line, I won’t be back. It’s sad to see a once great restaurant fall and do so poorly. There’s a reason it was featured on one of those restaurant make-​over type shows, and I totally see why. Service sucks, food is mediocore. I’d avoid it, so many other Korean places within a couple minutes of El Camino!

Warning: If you’re using a groupon, you have to tell them when you first come in (as said on the groupon) otherwise they’ll refuse to let you use it.
I really, really wanted to like this place, because even though my sister was being a little snot, they were all really really nice, but the place just missed the mark.
We got some absurd family meal that was supposed to feed three, but could feed 6, and that’s not an exaggeration. Korean people have bottomless pits for stomachs, I swear.
Spicy pork — too sweet, teriyaki-​sweet-​like taste.
Veggie pancakes — simple but I really liked this. The sauce was also a bit sweeter than expected, but acceptable.
Squid + dukbokki — ALSO SWEETER THAN OTHER PLACES. The sauce wasn’t as thick either.
Fried fish — Not the fish I’m used to. This fish is actually dipped in a batter and fried. Pass.
Japchae — Cold. Which is okay.
Lots of ban chans.

Bought a groupon to try out this place.
Awesome! Excellent customer service and very sweet servers who check on us frequently. Delicious food and generous amount. …we are bringing some home for tomorrow. Kudos and keep up the great work! Thank Yuri, Martha, Eun Suk!

Tonight was my second visit here, the first visit since their remodel. The place looks great! I came because I bought a Groupon for a preset meal over a year ago, and although it had expired, I was told several months ago they would still honor the original deal (an $ 80 menu for only $ 40). Tonight they told me that they couldn’t honor that anymore. I could only get the $ 40 value, but had to do the prefix menu, which was over $ 100! I was not happy at first and was told this was the manager’s policy. The Groupon clearly states that the original value of $ 40 never expires; it doesn’t state what the original value must be spent on. Martha, however, who was not the manager, made an exception for me and let me simply have $ 40 credit. Thank goodness because otherwise I would be writing a negative review and would probably never come back.
Instead, my friends and I had a great dinner. We ended up buying more than $ 40 worth of food, so it was a win-​win. We ordered the following:
Pajun: traditional Korean pancake with seafood and green onion. This was great; seafood was fresh. It falls apart easily, especially after you dip it into the soy based sauce, but as long as you get it in your mouth, you’re all good.
Bi Bim Bap: We actually ordered the chicken version, as one of my friends doesn’t eat beef, but they brought us the beef version. We didn’t want to make it a big deal, and my friend was cool enough to just eat around the beef. This wasn’t the best Bi Bim Bap we’ve had. Too much of the rice was crunchy, and some of it burned slightly. I’m not sure I’ll order this one again.
Jap Chae: Another traditional dish. It was fresh, tasty, pretty good! Beef was tender.
Dwae Ji Bulgogi (Pork): My favorite dish of the night. Tender, tasty, and plentiful dish for four to share.
The restaurant recently remodeled, and it looks great! Very inviting and warm atmosphere. My only concern is the parking in the back. In my first visit several months ago, they warned us not to leave any valuables back there, as they had a string of break-​ins.

Woah, the wait was just out of this world. Like, I could have flew to mars and back and still would not see any food on the table. I really wanted to like this place; the interior is nifty and asian chic. The appetizers were just normal; it’s what you expect. I had the hot tofu soup with rice. I requested to have more beef and no seafood. There was no seafood alright, but the beef pieces were close to non-​existent. Only a few crumble pieces and they call that «beef added»? The tofu portions were alright and the flavors were pretty good actually. I also had a veggie pizza dish which I redeemed from checking in on Unilocal.The wait was so long for it that my friend and I decided to forgo it, only to be told by the waiter that it was coming; we ended up taking to-​go because we were ready to leave.
The food would have been alright, except it’s not worth it for the wait. I’m sure there are better experiences out there in the area.