Love me some Poke! I always feel good & healthy when I eat here & am pleasantly full!…read more Ahi tuna is my jam & I like that I can Poke my way & switch up my tuna & fixins depending on my vibes. You can choose from one of their pre-made bowl recipes or you can create your own bowl. You choose your flaves on everything from the type of fish you want (there's a chicken option for the non-seafood peeps), the base of white or brown rice, kale noodles, or salad and toppings that you can add to your bowl from fish eggs to fried onions, and there is a nice variety of sauces to choose from as well. Tommy & all the staff have been amazing - excellent customer service! They also offer takeout & delivery- BONUS! It's located inside The Block, which is one of our favorite spots BUT IT'S CLOSING AT THE END OF AUGUST 2025 to build apartments - BOOOOO! lol so get your fix while you can peeps! So sad...

Solid poke, got the spicy ahi (tuna) with all the works. It tasted fresh and tasty, and comparable…read moreto any good poke spot in area. I could eat that marinated tuna twice a week easily haha. Line was super short luckily so I got my food in under 3 mins. Vibes are loud since you're in a food hall but it's cool. Glad to have had them.

Ambiance: fun and lively food hall…read more Service: there are 4 restaurants and 1 dessert spot to choose from. There is also a bar as well Food: I love Pokeworks. You can chose been a bowl, salad or burrito. They also have to Hawaiian selections now. I love that they don't have a limit on the toppings. Wished they have more locations in the area.

Absolutely loved visiting The Block!…read more So many great food options in just one spot. Plenty of seating, definitely great place to hang out with friends. The soup dumplings were SO good. We also enjoyed the bao buns and my husband loved the tacos. You can even grab some bubble tea or dessert to finish your visit. The only thing is that the staff wasn't the friendliest, and at the ice cream counter they ignored us for a bit while we tried to order lol.

This place is actually a great date night spot…read more Here's the deal- I never! Gatekeep. This place is a fantastic spot for a date night for three solid reasons. 1- great location and good parking available next to a CVS and 7-11. Why are these good you ask, because if you're clever you can extend a date night into more 2- the food is amazing and the restaurant is clean. The service is what to be expected but the chef has a menu of what he recommends 3- if you're on a date they have great seating along the wall that offers privacy and also keeps people from listening in so you can have a good conversation without noisy people to close. I take my wife here for our date nights and we always leave happy.

Parking here can be tight and limited due to where the location is…read more Service is friendly & nice! Although k came on a busy weekend, I was seated fairly quick. Food: menu has a decent selection ranging from bento boxes, ramen, to sushi so a little bit of everything for everyone. I ordered the spicy dynamite roll & one of the sushi assortment entrees. Spicy dynamite was pretty crispy and very large sushi pieces which I was not expecting lol after a while the only thing I tasted was the cream cheese so I do wish it was less cream cheese here. Sushi assortments were awesome! One of the freshest sushi as of yet. Definitely recommend.

TLDR: Cozy old school spot with tasty fried dishes, nice portions, and warm service…read more The restaurant has a homey, old school feel that adds to its charm. There were a couple order mistakes, but the service was personal and warm, and they quickly made things right. The food was tasty. They really know how to work the fryer, from the katsu to the appetizers. The potato wrapped shrimp was extra crunchy and delicious, I have not had potato string wrapped shrimp like that before. I loved that the noodles come with a steamed egg. I do wish the banchan portions were larger, but they happily refill them if you ask. Overall, a comforting meal.

If there is a primary reason that long time Annandale favorite Miso has over 550+ reviews (as of…read moreFebruary 2025) and a solid 4 star rating, it can be distilled to one word: katsu. Miso specializes in many different forms of katsu which traditionally is defined as a Japanese style dish consisting of a piece of meat (although tofu and veggies are also used) covered in panko bread crumbs, and then deep fried. Deep frying conceptually is a "simple" techique, yet so many places either leave food in the hot grease too long rendering the food burnt and bitter; or the food is not cooked long enough resulting in a crispy outer layer, but cold (and sometimes raw) temperatures underneath the batter. And don't underestimate the role clean and constantly changing the cooking oil makes, since the food doesn't come out looking "dingy," which often results from frying in old oil. I discovered Miso during the pandemic when I got take out one day, and was shocked when I got home 20 minutes later to discover that my pork katsu was still hot and super crunchy! So of course, once dine-in service resumed, I was happy to be able to enjoy the food when it was freshly prepared. I recently enjoyed a meal with a friend who had not previously been to Miso and she was thoroughly impressed. The interior design resembles any other Asian themed restaurant. Nondescript wooden tables/booths/chairs, sit atop dark tile flooring, with semi-bright (bordering on dim) lighting. TBH, I've noticed that it can get a bit chilly in the Winter months, and somewhat hot in the summer months. The place has higher ceilings, so I imagine climate control must be a challenge. We started the meal with the Tofu katsu, which was super yummy. The panko breading was light, not salty, and achieved its purpose of having a crunchy exterior while keeping the tofu siken and moist inside. The soy based dipping sauce was a bit one note, mostly tasting salty. The other thing I appreciate about Miso is that the portion sizes are ginormous; which is important during these inflationary times! A tender pork cutlet was battered, deep fried to peak GBD (golden brown delicious) perfection, and then sliced into bite sized pieces. The dish was also served with a small bowl of udon noodles, rice, steamed egg custard, pickles, and kimchi. For $18 (as of this review), we split the spicy pork katsu plate, and there was PLENTY of food for two adults. As we were dining in a casual non-rushed manner, after 25-30 minutes the pork lowered to a tepid room temperature, but the batter still remained CRUNCHY! And nice bonus that at the end of the meal, we received complimentary mini-yogurt drinks. The earliest reviews for Miso go back to 2007 and I understand that in the ensuing 18 years, ownership has changed a few times. Miso isn't a fancy place, but the constant has been good food at reasonable prices.

Balo Kitchen is serving up Asian comfort food and they are definitely hitting the mark because…read moreevery single thing that I had here was delicious. They are nestled in the "The Block" -- a food court in Annandale. On a Thursday night this place was comfortably full with people enjoying their meals at every table. When we got our food it was hot and fresh. I first tried their fried chicken tacos on roti. So unique to add the roti in there and I liked how it was able to hold up and also not be too heavy. I was pretty full after just 1. Then I tried the lemon pepper lime wings, also delicious. The lime initially kind of through me off but quickly began to grow on me. And then my all time favorite were the garlic Lo mein noodles with beef added. My oh my. I would drive to VA just for these if I was craving them. I haven't had good noodles like this since I was in California. And I don't think I mentioned it earlier but the service was spectacular. Everyone is so kind in here! Check it out.

Love this place and can't wait to what's in store for them in the future. The pork belly is…read moreamazing, the tostones as well. Great portions, quick and friendly staff, place is in a food hall but I'm looking forward to their stand alone restaurant. This food is a must try, delicious!

Drove all the way here craving bingsu but was a bit disappointed. The atmosphere was fun and quite…read morecrowded when I arrived! Def is a popular spot! However, upon ordering, they seem to run out of ingredients quickly and we ended up ordering something we're not too fond of. The shaved cream itself was okay. Very sweet. I'm not sure if I'd go out of my way to come back here again.

It was pretty good, very flavorful but wish there were some options to make it less sweet. Love the…read moresetting.

- huge portions - delicious mandu great flavor!…read more- soup is pretty mild in flavor but lots of food - lots of seating and long hours!

I went to Yechon and had such a great experience…read more The ambience was lively and fun. It felt energetic without being overwhelming. It's the kind of place where you can have a really good time with friends and just enjoy the atmosphere. I ordered the hwe dop bab and it was really fresh and great. Everything tasted clean and well prepared, and it was honestly just really nice to eat. I also tried the soondooboo, which was warm, comforting, and flavorful. The service was good, and I loved the Korean ahjummas working there. It made the whole experience feel even more authentic and homey. I'd definitely go again. It's a solid, fun spot with great food and great energy.

I arranged a visit to Lighthouse Tofu based on the excellent reviews, and this place did not…read moredisappoint! Despite an unassuming exterior, the atmosphere inside is almost magical with beautiful Korean decor and charming scripted wallpaper. Our waiter kindly reviewed the menu with us and made some recommendations when we let him know we were first-time visitors (and half of us were newer to Korean food), and we were all able to make choices we were very happy with. I chose the combination (beef, mussels, and shrimp) tofu soup, mild spicy, and was delighted with the flavor profile and consistency. To me, this was so perfectly flavored and comforting that the meat and seafood weren't even needed. Next time, I'd be content trying the mushroom soup! Our table also split a pancake with pork, which was also delicious. The pancake arrived after our main dishes, and I wish it had arrived first as some of us in the party were too full to enjoy it. Everyone else in our group ordered bulgogi, and those that did said it was delicious as well. My husband, who cooks bulgogi, was thrilled with it, and our friends who hadn't ventured further than Trader Joe's bulgogi were enchanted with the real thing. Overall, great experience and great prices for an absolutely delicious meal. I hope to come back and try more dishes!

I wasn't planning on doing a review, which is why I didn't take any pics. This was a spontaneous…read morelunch with a friend, who was recommended this place for some good Korean soup. The particular soup is soon dubu, which is silken or soft tofu stew. And it was a great flavorful soup. I went with medium heat which was good for me. Enough to have spice without overpowering. We went around 2p on a Saturday, and while busy it was not crowded. We had no wait. The small parking lot can get full, but a sign says you can park at the church parking lot across the street. Wooden tables all around in what is a much bigger space than you would expect from what you see on the outside. There are bigger combos for groups, or individual combos if you want the stew plus a protein (bulgogi, kalbi, jeyuk (spicy pork), etc). We each got a combo and split everything except our soups. We got kalbi and jeyuk. We also ordered a small kimchi pancake as appetizer. I will say the soup is great. Everything else, is just ok. The banchan offered 4 small dishes: traditional cabbage kimchi, cucumber kimchi, vinegary sliced radish, and sauteed bean sprouts. All were just ok, nothing special, and wish there were more banchans. The kimchi pancake was slightly overcooked, but nothing crazy. The kalbi was sliced very thin, and had good flavor. The jeyuk had good flavor. But quantity was not a lot for the kalbi or jeyuk. We ate well for a nice lunch for two. But it's overpriced. We did order a lot for a lunch, but we didn't get an unbelievable amount. And it came to $92.92 before tip for 2 people. I would probably rate 3.5 given the price level, but I'll round to 4. You can get a $15 lunch combo during the week. Or $18 individual combo and be perfectly fine. So maybe don't go crazy like we did.

The Bold Dumpling and several other eateries are located in an eatery called The Block. We had…read moreoriginally gone there from a former experience with some Thai food which is no longer there. We thought dumplings sounded good for some eats. We ordered the pork and shrimp soup dumplings and chicken dumplings. They make your order fresh and give you a pager to use when your food is done. The food was done quickly. The pork dumplings come out in a small bamboo steamer. They were hot and juicy. The other dumplings were fried perfectly and the chicken inside was tasty. While hip in feel, It's very noisy in there. Conversation is difficult to have inside. In retrospect we would have liked dumplings with rice and something else. Shared parking.

Nestled in a food court in Annandale they offer a selection of hand rolled dumplings steamed and…read morefried. Nap as well. Service was friendly. We ordered 20 minutes before closing and were made to order dumplings. We ordered the special which came with 2 kinds of fried dumplings and bao and it was pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality for a food court place. There's lots of tables and a few seats outdoors. It's a great spot to hit for a reasonable price. It takes a little bit of time so if you're in a hurry this may not be the best place to eat because of the amount of time it takes to prepare the food; however if you have time, this is a good place to get your dumpling fix.

Great chicken, great sides, great beer. Be advised *it takes 30 minutes to cook chicken orders as…read morethey are made per order* but the upside of this, is that you always have fresh cooked wings! So call ahead if you plan on dining in. We got the Medium Combo Soy, Cheese Sprinkling, Fried Chicken Gizzards, Mozzarella Sticks, Kimchi Fried Rice, and Fries. Everything we ordered we liked. It's hard to find places nowadays that still have good quality food ever since COVID hit, but this place is worth visiting. Service was great on a Saturday evening for a large party of 15 - the have a doorbell you can even ring to bring the waiters attention to you for additional requests. We called ahead to reserve the seats with no issue. Will definitely come back here when I have a large party that wants to eat out again.

Went there with a friend on a Saturday about 230p. Wasn't busy just two other customers so we sat…read moreat the bar. The bartender gave us menus and immediately took our order. We ordered wings, drinks, and appetizers! So iykyk the wings take 25-30 minutes. Worth it BTW! She didn't order a beverage but I did, the rice wine and beer ! Very nice and quaint inside! The young was very enthusiastic about basketball and we had a few chats! All in all a good place!