Kong Tofu House – Seattle

As chilly as it has been lately nearing the end of the November month, soup was the best remedy after a long day of frozen cheeks and breezy winds. My little sister and I decided to pop in to warm our bellies with delicious Korean Tofu Soup!
There weren’t too many customers around so we were seated very quickly. It didn’t take long for us to decide what we’d wanted: two Korean Tofu Soups (one pork, one dumpling) with rice!
I had high expectations for this restaurant because I have tried other BCD Tofu Houses and they seldom disappoint! One of my favorites of ordering a Soondubo (Korean Tofu Soup) were the variety of side dishes they served. The side dishes usually included pickled seaweed, mash potato/​macaroni salad, kimchi, fried fish, and marinated tofu skin.
Unfortunately for this location, there was no fried fish to be found in my array of side dishes. Aside from that, my sister and I were only offered ONE set of side dishes to share. The norm would always be one set of side dishes for each order of Soondubo, but this was not the case. That was a big red flag for me; a girl gotta have her side dishes.
Other than the case of the non-​existent side dish fish, the soup was alright! It definitely warmed me up! Hopefully next time, they’ll offer a set of side dishes per order of Soondubo:)

I believe they just changed ownership? I was looking forward to the extensive side dishes and little fried fish, that I’m so familiar with getting at other BCD locatiosn, but there was none with my meal today. In addition, everything seemed to be a notch lower than normal. My pork bulgogi was served on a bed of raw onions; seemed as if the stone wasnt heated at all. My pork portion was small and Igot a lot of fatty cuts. I would prefer to go to a different location next time for korean food on the ave.

It was a very sad day when last week i went to BCD now is apparently under new ownership… AND DOESNT GIVE THE FREE FISH
Ugh i was butthurt all day i emotionally ate even after stuffing myself with my usual of combo consisting hot stone bibimbap & spicy mixed soonduboo.
The fish honestly made BCD, BCD and now i dont even know what to do anymore. :’(plz bring it back imy dearly my little fish

Great tofu soup. Clean place. Fast service. I have been to the same chain restaurant in LA. I like tofu soup and the kimchi they serve. The only downside is poor ventilation system — clothes smell afterwards.

As good as their Edmonds location if not better. Their service was fantastic. I never had an empty water glass. The soondubu is just as delicious as when I had it in Edmonds. I love their kimchi and fried fish. I will definitely be back again!

To get the service out of the way, it wasn’t great. We seated ourselves, we weren’t greeted, and we had to wait a while to get water and etc.
but my boyfriend and I hunted down this place all over university district and he said it had the best tofu soon!
I was grumpy about the service, but I’m that person that says something rather than wait patiently for something to be done.
We both got Tofu Soon with beef and seafood. Then we got beef brisket and our sides. I didn’t eat much rice but my boyfriend really enjoyed it!
I think the food is worth it, considering there isn’t a good place for KBBQ in Seattle.

The place is clean and nice. Good taste good. The people are friendly. I think the reviews here are a little bit misleading. I like here.

It’s a lot of food for cheap, I suppose. The food is not as tasty as the BCD Tofu in Lynwood inside the H Mart but it will fill your stomach.

Service my first times was good. I’m not an expert in Korean BBQ, but it seemed really good to me. I actually really enjoyed the presentation and variety. A little expensive maybe. Anyway, my third time I messed up coming here. 10 minutes pass. The waiter notices us and seats us. We sit for 15 minutes and try to get them to take our order. We agree that we will leave soon because we don’t even have water yet. Eventually order taken right before we were about to leave. Order taken. 35 minutes later. Get some dipping stuff. Girlfriend still doesn’t have anything. She is still waiting. This is terrible service. She had to ask for water. I am not tipping. Going elsewhere I guess next time.
Also, the soup we had one clam and one shrimp unlike the last times where it was much more hardy. The pork bulgogi was like half what it was. The fried fish was cold. The soup was not mild but rather at least 4 stars, maybe I’m just too inexperienced for this. Girlfriend didn’t even receive her food.
Worst experience here. Not coming back. I can’t spend hours waiting for mediocre food and worse service.

I never visit a BCD expecting much — it’s for a quick, pretty-​good bite, you know?
The waitress (maybe manager) gave my order of bulgogi to the wrong table. When she came to me with a pork dish, I said «Oh, this isn’t my order…» She took the pork to the correct table and then gave me their partially eaten plate of bulgogi :(For some reason this didn’t actually upset me, haha — I think I was just really taken aback. I asked nicely, «I’m sorry, but since the dish was already eaten off of, can I please have a new one?» The woman did not look at me, took the dish, and walked away. Ahh, I don’t think I made her happy. haha… I got a new order of really dried out and burnt meat in return, so sad… :’(
In the end these things aren’t too big a deal because they can be corrected for… but I’m still a bit surprised that she tried to give me food that had been eaten by other customers. Be conscious of your food and how it is handled here, I guess!

I came here to eat when they first opened and the service was appalling, but I was sympathetic because they had just opened and our waitress had no prior experience. She was very apologetic when she managed to spill an entire cup of hot tea all over our table… and I noticed she was the only waitress in the full dining room, so I cut her some slack. I wanted to order a combo and was told they didn’t have anything on the menu except for the soon dubu dishes. The food (that they did have the capability to prepare) took forever to arrive and majority of the banchan tasted purely like sesame oil.
I waited to return hoping they had ironed out some of the kinks only to find out that is not the case. They now offer all of the items on the menu (which shouldn’t really be cause for celebration) so I ordered the chicken teriyaki combo. The teriyaki surpassed my relatively low expectations but the assorted soon dubu was lacking in flavor and came with one shrimp and one clam SHELL. The banchan was more or less the same but I was disappointed to find out that they only serve the potato salad on select days. I will admit that the service did improve, but not much else. The server was attentive when I caught his attention, but I had to flag him down multiple times for water, for the check, and for boxes. Now that the restaurant has been open for a while the level of cleanliness has sharply declined but I suppose that is inevitable when you’re operating on The Ave.

What can I say about this place.
The food is very tasty. Seasoned very well. A decent amount of food for the price. When I come here, I always order some variation of soon doo boo.
Alas, their food is the only reason I come here. I would like to love this place but as a restaurant goer, food is not the only criteria that customers look for when dining out.
There is one thing that irritates me when I am a patron at a restaurant. BAD SERVICE.
If the owners read these reviews, here is a suggestion: PLEASE TRAIN your employees on CUSTOMER SERVICE.
The servers at this place are somehow unfamiliar with how to be a waiter. While we waited for someone to take our order, (it took them 15 mins to get back to our table), the table across the room from us got their food, multiple water refills, and visits from the waiters multiple times.
When I decided to finally hail them down because I was tired of waiting, they gave me the excuse, «sorry for the wait, we are very busy». But here is the catch, half the place was empty. So how come one table gets all this service, while my table seemed to be ignored? Please fix this.
I enjoy this place and plan on returning, and I hope that their servers learn how to be more attentive to the entire restaurant instead of having tunnel-​vision.

Nothing was yummy. :(
And the soontofu was lukewarm. How does that happen in a stonepot?

Food was tasty enough but service was only so-​so. They menu is quite expansive but seems a little high higher than other Korean restaurants in the area. The soondoobu was unremarkable and a little underseasoned. My pork bulgogi was too salty and only lukewarm compared to the boiling soup. The banchan were tasty and they were generous with the portions. I also felt that the prices on the menu were slightly higher than the other Korean restaurants in its immediate vicinity.
My server took my order, and that was the last of I saw of her. Someone else dropped off my food and that was my only interaction with the waitstaff. I know that most businesses on the Ave don’t provide incredibly attentive service but this place had pretty scant service.
I didn’t have a horrible experience, but it wasn’t great either. I might give it another shot, simply because it is so convenient to the university.

The fish alone earns a star. Beautiful fried fish. That said, tofu soup was bland, banchan (side dishes) below average to averagely seasoned. Great selection, plenty authentic as far as I could tell, but priciest one around here and for no good reason. Just did not enjoy the underseasoned state of anything. Not my cup of tea.
Except the fish. Mmm.

This may be a slightly unfair review. But I am comparing this BCD Tofu House to the one that we regularly ate at in Flushing (New York). That one was always spot on.
At this BCD, portion sizes were small for the price. My hot stone pot bibimbap tasted faintly of… moth balls? DH couldn’t get over the fact that his «seafood» soondubu was mostly beef with one miniature shrimp and one clam.
I was thirsty throughout the meal but our cups were never refilled.
The servers were, however, very friendly.

Bad, bad food! Came in for some bibimbap, figured any Korean place should have that one down. Nope. Hot stone Bibimbap is indeed very hot, the rice on the bottom gets too crispy and hard. The veggies seemed to be overlooked, just a mush.
The servers were friendly, but really took a long time to come take the order, had to ask for water, and had to come up to pay at the register since no one would come take the cards/​cash we had waiting with the check. Very disappointed to stumble on a place like that in Uvillage.

Best Tofu house I’ve been to in Seattle. Better than the Korean Tofu House right across the street. The menu variety is vast, and they serve you a TON of food for a very cheap price.
I ordered the beef & octopus soup, mild spicy. It was very hot and delicious. The octupus was a bit chewy and tough, but that was to be expected.
They serve hot tea instead of water, as expected of a Korean place. The service is quick, and the waiters are friendly.

They did the rice and tea thing! The rice was scooped out of the stone pot and placed in the round metal bowl. Then tea is poured into the stone pot with the remaining crunchy rice.
Eaten plain, the tea and rice combo was, well, plain. I tried it a few different ways – with my soup tea-​unstrained, with my soup tea-​strained, with each of the banchan. It’s interesting and kind of fun but I think it’s more an experience since I haven’t ever seen this done before! :)
I had their beef and octopus soup this time. The beef was nice and tender, but it was in one large clump which I didn’t realize was all the beef. I ate that in one tasty mouthful. There were plenty of octopus pieces, chewy and with a nice bite. it was a good middle ground for octopus. The suction cups on the tentacles were interesting to look at before shoveling in my gullet.
Their banchan changed a little, to have tiny anchovy (a little sweet and savory, crunchy), the cold mashed potato (which is perfect to counter a hot-​temperature and hot-​spice soup!) and some pickled jalapeño with a root veg of some kind. The kimchi and fried fish were present, of course and obviously!
Service was still good. It can seem slow, so I wonder why there isn’t another person on the floor at times (a couple tables were not bussed from when I entered and left), but I didn’t feel like the wait was inordinately long and I’m not super bothered by unbussed tables (as long as there aren’t people waiting to be seated).
I’m still anxious to go back and try something else!

I opened the door and stood at the entrance for fifteen minutes.
I occasionally looked at the single waitress, but I don’t think we ever made eye contact. I suppose our stars did not cross.
I stood there, waiting to be shown to a table – perhaps one of the large, eight-​people tables open? Or perhaps the waitress wanted to clean up one of the three vacant smaller tables (vacant of people, anyway, but not of food) for me?
I suppose we will never know, because after not being seated for fifteen minutes I decided that I was too hungry to wait any longer and went somewhere else.