Amazing service! Got free side dishes and the kelp side dish was my favorite. I got Kal Gook Soo. Noodles were bouncy and the soup was very flavorful. Very filling and good value! read more

Dae Bak - Kal Gook Soo - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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After a late and physical day of work I arrived at Dae Bak a half an hour before closing. My body was craving some savory heat and I was not disappointed. This will be short because I have only 19 minutes left before they close and I must return back to my bubbling bowl of beef soondubu. Damn it's delish. I ordered level spicy and the broth is rich and has that depth of pepper flavor that I long for with Korean food. Okay 14 minutes before closing, I had to have a few spoonfuls. So yes, this is just the kind of heart warming, palate awakening food that you need when you feel depleted. Yum. Oh and hello, Banchan too! read more

Dae Bak - Banchan and soap operas playing on Tv while kpop behind me. Perfection - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Best Korean food I've ever had! So comforting and delicious. please come here this was so good!

The Galbi Tang is a must get every single time you come here! The soup is sooo flavorful and the radish is cooked to perfection. The portions are perfect too. The service is also really nice! Place is clean. read more

Dae Bak - Galbi Tang - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Came here on a whim because we were hungry and craving some Korean food nearby. Glad we came here. All the dishes we had were very tasteful !!! We almost would've finished it all if we hadn't ordered this much! read more

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It was cool spring Saturday night with light rain misting over the neon lights of 9th street chinatown. We walked into chinatown square exploring the liminal hallways filled with vacant restaurant space until we stumbled upon the second floor restaurant, Dae Bok. Overall it was a great casual meal at a neat table with street views. - Great food. We ordered the shrimp fried rice and the steamed mandu. - Floor to ceiling windows make for a scenic meal - Table water served from a sippy cup - Dae Bak could use some decorating help. Kitchen supply boxes were all over the place, amazon light strips provided a color changing glow, and walls are covered with asian beverage ads - A fruit fly bothered us the whole meal - A two tone ding rings anytime someone new arrives like a convenience store - Waiter was frantically switching between sports games on the tv. Worried about his wagers? He was otherwise a great host - Shrimp too small. - Metal chop sticks (you already know i had to grip those) read more

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So I come here once a year with my mom and the food is great! The service is solid. The restaurant isn't huge and the location is a little weird (upstairs and you have to go through what you think might be a closed building) but once you're there, the place is bright and nice. read more

We had a great time here. The foods are delicious and great customer service. Highly recommend to go here. read more

Dae Bak - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Our first time here. I haven't had sul lung tang since moving from Los Angeles and WOW this place did not disappoint! The ban chan is fresh and the bean sprouts are so flavorful. I got the sul lung tang and my boyfriend got the spicy pork with kimchee and tofu. The sul lung tang was everything I'd been waiting for - light, meat was tender and flavorful, and the noodles were JUST the right texture. As for the pork - I'm normally not one for marinated meats, but the sauce on the spicy pork was the perfect savory/spicy combo! Not too heavy and complemented the kimchee, tofu, and rice cake in the dish. Service was great - We were seated and served quickly, and the staff was super friendly with us. The only thing about this location is that it's upstairs from Halal Guys, so you can't see it from street level. Truly a hidden gem! We will DEFINITELY be back! read more

This place is a solid 4 for me. I ordered galbi tang and LA galbi. The galbi tang was flavorful but a bit salty for me. I'd prefer the broth to have the sweetness of the beef bones more. To add more spiciness to it, I added their Kim chi. The LA galbi was so delicious. Sweet and tender. Initially, I ordered for my boyfriend but I ended up eating half of it lol. My boyfriend did try them and he thought they were so good. For the side dishes, I wished they would have different side dishes. The only side dishes I liked were Kim chi, broccoli and macaroni salad. I was not a big fan of the seaweed and lotus ones. Overall, great restaurant. Super authentic. read more

I had my hesitations about this place when I FIRST tried it because it's honestly so hard to find a QUALITY Korean restaurant with reasonable prices. I shared the rice cake soup with my sister when I first went, and it was surprisingly good. The side dishes were delicious as well. The service was also very friendly. I had an overall good experience. I went again today and got the "sullungtang" and it was perfect for a chilly day like today. There was a lot of the milky broth and the green scallions were a fresh touch. There was plenty of meat and noodles as well. I was so full by the time I was done. The side dishes tasted even better this time around (and I hear the chef changes up the banchan from time to time which is exciting). The workers were very friendly and all smiles. I would come here again! read more

Dae Bak - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The place is tucked away upstairs, and the staircase is located in the back. At first we were a bit taken aback by the prices, but decided to order a handful of items to try. Despite the prices, every dish was delicious and the portion was very sizable. So I guess the prices are justified. The "must try" here would be the scallion pancake, dukk boki, and I can't see anything going wrong with ordering their hot stone dishes. read more

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The portion sizes here are great and very worth the money. The tteokbokki was also very delicious! The food came fast and the employees were kind too. Definitely recommend to try out! read more

Dae Bak - Duk Bokki - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This is my favorite resteraunt to get korean food. I have came here several times with my partner and we are always happy to eat here whenever we can. I just can't do it with the server (young man, red hoodie and glasses). My husband gets a stone pot and I get kimchi rice. The stone pot comes with miso, we never got the miso. The server never came around, we had to flag down another server for the side dishes. It's overall a let down. We used to get good service on the weekend from a young lady server but now this server does nothing, never checks on us and then goes into the kitchen for prolonged amounts of time. I hope the server learns to give some positive exchanges to the customer. We were thankful for the other server who was the only one who acknowledged us. Teach your server better. read more

Great lunch at Dae Bak! Overall, we enjoyed the banchan (Korean side dishes), which started our meal off right: Dae Bak's kimchi is fabulous (extra spicy and a lil'sweet) and the potatoes were particularly delicious (soft and soothing for a spicy tongue!). Appetizer-wise, I adore mandu (and know what a pain it is to make!), and Dae Bak's is perfectly puffed, filled, and seasoned! For our mains, the kimchi jjigae was literally boiling hot when it got to me: filled with kimchi, pork, and tofu and served with a side of rice (I've missed Korean stews!), and the Korean fried chicken was literally an entire chicken (i.e., the price was reasonable, as we were able to take half home for dinner). We were a little early for regular lunch time, so there was only one big table of 8, which meant we got a terrific seat right by the window--awesome people watching, and fun to see people walk by, pause, and then join us for lunch! Seems like it'd be a great place to go with a large group to share everything! Will definitely return. read more

Absolutely amazing service and food. Got the soft tofu soup and it was too spicy for me so the waiter took it back and modified it! Soup was the perfect blend of sesame, spicy, savory. Kimchi fried rice also 10/10 read more

Dae Bak - Vegetable soft tofu soup and kimchi fried rice - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The food is delicious and service is awesome. Would definitely come back again and recommend it to my friends read more

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Probably won't order again. We normally eat in K-town in NYC and this just didn't compare. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good for the $112 we paid. There was plenty of food. The kim chi was not spicy at all. And I thought the $4.99 delivery fee was a bit steep but we were hungry and delivery was fast. We ordered: Japchae, stir fired clear noodles with pork and vegetables, it was good Bulgogi, Korean style marinated rib eye, it was ok; everyone ate it but I wasn't crazy about it LA Galbi, marinated prime ribs, there were little bits of bone in it that you had to chew around. I don't know if this is normal but K-town never serves it like this Kimchi pajeon, spicy kimchi and scallion pancake, greasy and floppy. Save yourself the heartburn and don't order/eat this Bulgogi dolsot bibim bap, hot stone pot with chili pepper paste topped with egg, it was good Better than fast food but at $112 I probably won't order from again read more

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Came here on a tuesday night and there were many seats available. We ordered the seafood pancake and jjambong. The dishes came with large portions and were very tasty. The seafood pancake had great texture and the sauce complemented the pancake well. The jjambong noodles were nice and chewy and the soup was flavorful and spicy. Our meal came with an assortment of ban chan (tofu, kimchi, pickled radish, bean sprouts, and fried zucchini) for which you can ask for refills. Overall, a great place to go when you're craving korean food and I'll definitely be back to try more of the menu! read more

Jinmo & Alicia we're our servers and they were brilliant! The food was really on point, speaking as native Korean food eaters. Hehe. We ordered the soondubu and sullungtang. Both were great. The side dishes were bomb. The music was soft and relaxing (Korean music). Ambiance is trendy casual. We love this place! Recommend it and hope to come back soon! read more

Dae Bak - Great view! - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dae Bak means something awesome, and the restaurant lives up to its name! Here are 6 reasons I'll be Bak: 1. Banchan-good variety of korean side dishes that come with everything, and free refills! 2. Big portions- my friends kimchi fried rice was giant, and the seafood pancake was a great app between 4 people. 3. Flavored soju- they did not have this when I lived in Korea and it is dangerously delicious. We really liked grapefruit. 4. One of my favorite soups- kalbitang! Big chunks of tender meat and flavorful broth. 5. Sharing portions of some of my favorite stews-kamjatang, budaejiggae. I cannot wait to come back here in the winter. 6. No wait, good and quick service, and reasonable prices! They have a lot of Korean classics that you dont usually see at Korean BBQ joints, the only other thing I wish they had was japchae! read more

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I'm pretty excited about Dae Bak. Some might even say it's pretty daebak to have more Korean food closer to civilization! It's one of the only places around I can get makgeolli, has stone pots galore, and even feels like a Korean establishment in some respects when it comes to service. With all that being said, the price is a bit much for some things. Naturally, I treated my boyfriend to kimchi fried rice, seafood pajeon, pork soondubu, and makgeolli. My soondubu was amazing; the broth was flavorful, they used great cuts of pork, and I feel like I got an entire pack of dubu in my tiny bowl. Now, I have no idea what brand of makgeolli this stuff was, and it wasn't the best I've ever had, but since it's been almost a year I just accepted it as is. The kimchi fried rice was pretty average; not award-winning, but definitely not the worst thing ever. I was a bit annoyed at the plating of the pajeon, as every experienced person knows you absolutely NEED a heated stone plate to keep it from getting soggy. And as expected, our pajeon didn't last much past the first 10 minutes. The flavors were there, but it's hard to eat soggy pancakes. Note: I also wasn't in love with how sweet the kimchi was. With all that being said, this visit was somewhat of a stress test; how well can Dae Bak execute classic yet sophisticated Korea dishes? I would definitely come back for my selfish Korean nostalgic needs, but for the price they still need to do a bit better to survive. read more

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Finally, good Korean food that doesn't require a trek across Philadelphia! Overwhelmed by the sight and smell of authentic Korean food, we ordered way too much for two people: seafood pancake, beef rib soup, and spicy octopus. The seafood pancake, which was bigger than both our faces, achieved the perfect balance of crispy and chewy. The quality of beef in the soup was outstanding. And the octopus, well, unfortunately that was a total flop - it was rubbery and completely dwarfed by the udon noodles dominating the dish. If you want to try the stews, be sure to bring at least two friends. In hotpot fashion, the pot they fire up at your table is huge and designed for sharing. I am already planning my next trip to try the army stew, of course as part of a night of libations. Try Dae Bak! And get something other than bibimbap! This is the kind of place where exploration will be rewarded. :) read more

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Massiseyo! It means delicious in Korean. The food is generally tasty and healthy for you. Get in your macros, proteins and carbs, while the micronutrients like your veggies from the banchan or side dishes. I got the beef Soondobu or tofu stew and it did not miss its mark. It tasty good and the servers also were attentive to our table and gave me rice for the stew. The prices are a little steep though. Granted, my friend and I threw back a few bottles of beer or maekju and soju. AKA Somek. The bill was fairly pricey for the food. I imagine it to be a little cheaper but it's in the city, so prices will be a little more than usual suburbs prices. The service was good too. The waiter, Steve, was attentive and joked around a bit. It was a very welcoming and open environment. Peep this place out if you have not already visited and tried their food. Overall, it was a good experience and I plan to go again. read more

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FINALLY! A KOREAN RESTAURANT IN CT :O I've been waiting for this day for much too long, I always have to venture at least 30 minutes for a decent Korean place and now this one is right down the street. It's upstairs above the new Chinatown Square, floor to ceiling glass windows and overlooks the street (super cool). Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was slightly disappointed with my Naengmyeun dish. It was average, nothing too special but wasn't horrible. Looking at the menu, I guess it's decently priced. Korean food in Philly is expensive in general since it's such a rare commodity. What I did like about the place was the BANCHAN!! The mini appetizer dishes that come out with your meal before you chow down. They literally had all my favorites: potato salad, broccoli, fish cakes, pickled cucumbers, and kimchi. And they're pretty much unlimited, you can ask for refills on the little dishes to your heart's content. Service overall was so friendly, so sweet. They are very smiley and I like that. Food came out rather slowly despite the restaurant being slightly empty when I came for dinner, but it was fine since we ordered a bottle of their grapefruit soju to keep us occupied (highly recommend, it was yummy) Definitely trying out the other items on the menu next time I come, but I'll definitely be returning since my overall experience was good!! read more

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Just bad. Save your money and eat elsewhere. Ordered 4 dishes on UberEats and food was not as advertised and utterly disappointing - so much so that I chose to write this review, probably my 2nd or 3rd of all time. My wife is Korean and we were so looking forward to Korean food. I've eaten at plenty of Korean restaurants across the quality spectrum. I don't consider myself a tough critic and have realistic expectations. However, tonight's food was so below average, lazy, and bland (nearly impossible for Korean food) that I got hot and needed to review so folks don't waste their money and this restaurant does better. Only 1/4 dishes were good. Uber would only let me review the driver so addressing the food here. Quick hits / details below: Bibimbap with Beef: Didn't look like the photo. Almost no meat (literally a pinch of ground meat). Overcooked egg. Random, heaping pile of lettuce on top (not pictured or part of this dish ever). Banchan: Moochae and Kim chi included were dry and bland. Could've closed my eyes and thought it was a shaved carrot. Naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles): Wife enjoyed this dish. Pajeon: Generous serving but very average dish. Seafood pancake was more like a quiche - very thick and squishy / wet, no crispiness, just weird. Sulungtang: Honestly didn't even try this dish yet. To avoid further disappointment, put it in the fridge for the wife to eat tomorrow and made a PB&J instead. TL / DR - spend a fraction of the price in Trader Joe's frozen Korean food section and you'll be better off. read more

Was ok. I would get the bibimbap over the la galbi again. Kind of pricey than normal. Would actually give this place a 3.5/5 on this review.

I love this place! I've been looking for a good Korean restaurant in center city and this is it. The people here are SO nice and the service really stood out for me. It's been awhile since I've been to a Korean restaurant and I'd forgotten about the side dishes they serve. They refill these throughout the course of the meal and I'm so glad they do because the potato one was unreal. It was smothered in this sauce and I'm drooling just thinking about it now. I would come back and order 15 of the potato side dishes with rice. We started with the seafood scallion pancake and our faces literally dropped when it came out - it was huge! It was really good, with ample seafood, and was slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the side. My one gripe is that I wish the scallion pieces were cut more finely instead of in long strips, but this is more of a personal preference than anything. I got the pork neck bone stew (gamja tang) and was happy with how filling the stew was. Again, I wish the cabbage was cut into smaller pieces but no complaints otherwise. I would definitely come back here read more

Dae Bak - Seafood scallion pancake - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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The pancake was alright but I felt like they purposely hid the burnt pieces on the bottom read more

Dae Bak - Hae Mul Pajeon ( Seafood Pancake) - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

#daebakphilly delicous panchan & nice view my destination when I want a milder version of chinese mapu tofu posting your review for a free soda tho read more

Dae Bak - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tucked away in an unassuming cafeteria in the middle of Chinatown, Dae Bak offers authentic Korean food at reasonable enough prices. We got the beef soon dubu and bulgogi bibimbap. They also had plenty of soju on the menu which we'll have to come back for next time sans the kiddo. read more

I came back a couple months after my first review and tried different dishes: * kamja tang (pork bone stew) - Pretty generous portion and very flavorful, but the meat wasn't falling off the bone as easily as I would have liked. I think the meat may have been cooked a bit long? Also if you are like me and don't want to waste any meat then be prepared to do work to take apart the bone with your hands and trying to clean off the bone from different angles. * kimchi pajeon (scallion pancake) - A little overdone for the average person, but it's how I like it! It's a pretty big size and was perfect for 6 of us to share (and some of us had seconds). A couple of the side dishes were different from last time I came. I still really love the potato one with the brown sugar, and I also like the zucchini one and the dark bamboo-textured one (I don't actually know what it is lol) in the bottom of my pic. My friends didn't know you could ask for them to refill the side dishes...so definitely request it if you want more! I didn't really care for the spicy side dishes at all though. Unfortunately, a difference I noticed in the service from the last time I came was that the staff wasn't as attentive despite there being 6 of them on the floor for a dinner service. They don't have a service bell at the tables like some other Korean restaurants do, so I was trying to flag down our server and in the process would catch the attention of other servers who would have to motion for the correct server to come over...a little awkward. Overall, not bad, a little more than I would like to pay, but I love the location and still consider them to be new...I'll be back and hope to see improvements. read more

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I've eaten here about 3-4 times now, and the food gets better every time. Although they are still fairly new, they still have some kinks to work on. Service: The waitresses and waiters are very friendly, and the service is good. They periodically check on you, and if you need extra's of anything, they are more than happy to serve you. Food: Their Korean food is pretty good. I love the tofu stew (sundubu), with an egg. If you don't like spicy, you can choose to have it plain, mild, hot, spicy, or super spicy. When the waitress/waiter notices that you've finished some of the banchan dishes, they come by with a tray, ask if you want more, and then they swap the empty dishes out. Pricing: You get what you pay for. Good food costs money, so if you aren't willing to spend a good amount, then don't bother. Timing: The first time I ate here, it was slow. We waiting over 30 minutes for the food, and our dukbokki was a little undercooked. Second time, everything came out super fast, I think I only waited about 15 mins for my tofu stew. Third time I went to eat alone, and I think they might have messed up the ordering or something, because I waited like 45 minutes for my food. The waitresses apologized for the wait time and all, but there was no offer of a discount or anything to make up for the 45 minutes of waiting either. OVERALL: Definitely would recommend this place to eat at, but they are still fairly new, so I would suggest trying to keep an open mind when going to eat here. read more

Dae Bak - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I ONLY leave a review when something is next-level amazing or disappointing. Until today, that amounted to a 2014 review of the best taco shop ever in Denver (RIP) and a 2015 review of a pawn shop that ripped me off in Houston. Six years later, I add a third review. Ordered bibimbap for delivery. My bulgogi was mostly lettuce with about 1/2 ounce of meat. For $17. I took a picture because it was almost unbelievable. Equivalent of a pawn shop ripoff. Adding a star because at least the meat had flavor and the bean sprouts were okay. read more

Dae Bak - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Don't trust the reviews telling you this is the best Korean food in Philly because it's just not. Sure, it may satisfy your cravings and is conveniently located in Chinatown, but that's all it really is: good enough. For some real Korean that's of much higher quality AND cheaper, I highly recommend checking out the many restaurants up in Oak Lane and Olney. It's a bit of a treck without a car, but the BSL and various buses can get you close, and it's definitely worth it. Besides, don't us Yelpers live to eat anyways??? A few of my personal faves (in no particular order): - DuBu - Kim's Restaurant - Seorabol - Jason's Cozyday (Korean street food) - Cafe Soho (KFC) There are plenty of other spots I haven't tried yet either so I highly suggest making the effort to explore the area. You won't be disappointed!! read more

Dae Bak - Your basic banchan - they'll refill if you ask - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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I have been to many Korean places, and the food here was just fine. The small dishes were great. To be safe, I ordered the Beef Soft Tofu Stew. The beef actually was not as good as I would have wanted, and the flavor was slightly off. Overall, the food was mediocre and a bit pricey, but being one of the few Korean places in Philadelphia, it is highly trafficked. It is a convenient place to eat, but I do not feel compelled to come back anytime soon. read more

Dae Bak - Beef Soft Tofu Stew - Korean Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Korean restaurants are rare in Chinatown, so I'm glad I have Dae Bak. They currently allow for dine in so we decided to eat inside. It was a bit hot and stuffy inside but luckily we sat by an oscillating fan. We got the shrimp and vegetable tempura, la galbi, and jeyuk dolsot bibim bap. It looked like there was only 1 Asian lady cooking all the dishes, so kudos to her. Our server was attentive and helped us refill our tasty banchan when we ran out. La galbi was delicious but pricey. Their jeyuk bibim bap was surprisingly good. I never really liked bibim bap, but this one was different. The sauce on the rice was not gochujang, which I liked. It was so good that I will probably be ordering that dish from now on. read more

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I ordered the mild beef soondubu! It comes with a raw egg for you to crack into the stew so it cooks while you're eating, and it comes with rice! Some parts of the beef were a bit tough, but overall I thought it was pretty tasty! You get banchan (side dishes) with your meal which were all decent but nothing too outstanding. I dropped my chopsticks and they gave me another pair almost immediately even without me asking, so I thought the service was pretty good!! read more

Food was honestly so satisfying and delicious and authentic. We came since we just craved some basic Korean cooking but ended up loving this meal more than most others we had in Philadelphia during our weeks stay here. The pork bossum was so fatty and tender and with the sauce just created the perfect flavor bomb in the cabbage wraps. The cold noodles were extremely refreshing and definitely different from less authentic versions I had tried in the past. Altogether would definitely recommend! read more

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this is a no frill type of joint! i don't ever crave but i also don't hate it! it's a nice option in chinatown! best part is that they're generally pretty empty so you know u can just sit, order, and chow down in a pretty efficient manner. i've tried numerous items on the menu and they're all pretty alright. the other weekend, we randomly showed up with a big party and they had no issues accomodating us and best part was that they had a wide selection of soju to choose from! idk they might have potential to be something more! we'll c! read more