Cancel

Open app

Search

HwangBooJa

4.3 (39 reviews)
Closed • 11:00 am - 9:00 pm
Updated 3 weeks ago

HWANGBOOJA · YELP ASSISTANT

Ask Yelp Assistant

HwangBooJa Photos

HWANGBOOJA ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?

You might also consider

Recommended Reviews - HwangBooJa

Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
Yelp app icon
Browse more easily on the app
Review Feed Illustration

Reviews With Photos

soondubu jigae
Brina T.

Tried the mul naengmyeon and sundubu--both hit the spot. The naengmyeon was light and refreshing, perfect for a hot day, and the sundubu was cozy and flavorful (though if sundubu is your main craving, Tofu Lighthouse still does it better). Service here is really good, and the side dishes honestly steal the show--fresh, tasty, and definitely above average. Overall, a solid place if you want both dishes in one meal with great service and standout banchan.

Banchan
Emily L.

I've been trying to find the best cold noodles (mool naengmyun/ Neng myun) in the area; if you're curious, my reigning favorite is Gogiville. Someone told me to try the naengmyun here. It's pretty good! I prefer the noods to be super al dente, maybe even 30 seconds under and the broth to be a little more frozen/ slushy. HBJ is cooked through. The broth was good and tasted like someone pretreated with vinegar. I still added more vin and mustard. I'd get this again. Service was good. We split an order of ganjang gaejang (soy sauce marinated crabs). Crabs were on the smaller side but the marinade was good. Had the faintest whisper of fish smell. My friends got the Kong guksu and dak gangjung (fried chicken wings). I'm not crazy about kong guksu, but my friend said she liked it here and that it was better than Jangwon's. Fried chicken wings were a little over-fried. Some bites were a little tough but the inside was juicy and good. Soy sauce seasoning was also good- standard soy sauce glazed wings (seasoning comparable to bonchon or chicken n beer's soy garlic). I believe gangjung wings are supposed to be more nuanced/ different from soy garlic but I couldn't tell the difference. All the banchan's were good: Kimchi good Fishcake good Green beans good Jangajji the soy sauce marinated daikon good and has a kick Eggplant- didn't try because I don't like egg plant This place is under new management; I have no idea since when. That could also be why there are two listings for hwangbooja on Yelp. Things that were formerly not recommended (like nengmyun) has improved! This place is family owned and operated. Interior is small- there were 9 tables with 4 seats at each table. The air conditioning was nice and cool. My friend said the kodari jjim was also good. Will come back again!

Khoa L.

Went for my friend's birthday and it was the best! The people are so nice and welcoming. We got a variety of things to try like their raw marinated crab - which is so savory, sweet, and flavorful. The spicy squid wasn't too spicy and leaned on the sweet side which I very much enjoy. My friend ordered the cold noodles which was refreshing and filling! The restaurant is very cozy and inviting.

Raw seasoned crab
Jen R.

Scoped this place out in Centerville on a business trip and called just to make sure they have their raw seasoned crab when I went. Was surprised at the quality of ALL their food. For a Korean restaurant, the flavor was so strong without being greasy. Very rare to not feel so heavy after NoVA Korean food for me. The restaurant is pretty small, managed to get a table closer to 7 on a Friday night and it was pretty packed. They do allow call ahead so would recommend that

부대찌개
Kay P.

Solid little place! Spacing is limited but enough to go with a small to mid sized group! Only reason I wanted to try here was because of the marinated raw crab and soy sauce raw crab!!! I don't think I know of another area that sells these as a dine in meal! Simple and quick service - nothing fancy ~ Food really hit the spot. Flavoring all had a nice kick~! Honestly, would so come back to eat the raw crabs again.

Octopus Kimchi Pancake
Rae C.

Everything was delicious. The kimchi was actually my favorite part as well as the other banchan, it was very fresh and tasty. The soy marinated crab was good, if you favor salty more than savory. The octopus banchan was so good! Very crispy, chewy and flavorful. I forgot the name of the soup my husband got but the broth was quite rich and soothing. It was full of meat too. Only complaint is that the soup came out scorching hot but that's expected! The space is small and was packed for 11am on a weekday which is a good sign. Service was very friendly.

Menu and hours as of November 2023
Katherine S.

4.5 stars TL;DR: Great spot for marinated raw crab Came here on a Friday night and this place definitely has small, family-owned, truly Korean restaurant vibes. Felt very cozy. Workers are nice and attentive enough, and the food came out quickly. FOOD: ~Spicy Marinated Crab (4/5): Nice kick and great flavor ~Soy Marinated Crab (4/5): So much umami and lots of crab meat ~Nakji Bokkeum (4/5): Comes with a ton of noodles and marinade was yummy NOTES: ~For the raw crabs, only knock is that the shells were extra hard/not softened, so the crab was hard to squeeze the meat out of like we have at other places. ~The price point here is a little high, but not TOO terrible for the portion size you get. Price for Nakji Bokkeum was probably the most un-even imo. Overall, really liked this place and hit the raw marinated crab craving!

Shrimp fried rice.
Dean W.

We had vegetable pancakes (prefer seafood pancakes, but only squid pancakes on the menu). Pancakes need to fry a little longer. Crabs taste great, albeit a little salty. Spicy sauce is better to me. Shrimp fried rice tastes good, except it is with small shrimp instead of larger ones. Overall, not bad.

spicy raw marinated crab
Judy N.

I had to see what all this Korean raw soy marinated crab was all about. Unlike the west coast and NYC now, we don't have too many options in the DMV. I found this spot in Centreville so I decided to give it a try. The restaurant was hard to spot because the characters in the front were in Korean. Once you find the shopping center, it's process of elimination. The seating inside is small but filled with elderly Koreans when I came to pick up my order. This to me is a good sign that this place is legit and good. When I called to place my order, the person taking the order said this dish doesn't come with rice and that I will have to pay a separate cost. I decided not to pay extra for rice since an Asian household always has rice somewhere. I thought how silly to have a dish that clearly is complimented with rice not come with rice? Anyhow, when I picked my order up, there was purple rice inside the packaging. Perhaps the person that took my order didn't know, or it comes with purple and not white rice? I guess I will know when I order here again because I did enjoy their spicy raw marinated crabs. This is my first time having this dish and I was told I should be able to taste the sweetness of the crabs which I did, and not taste the "sea" to which I didn't! Just like what I see on social media, I can easily squeeze the juicy and soft crab meat out. The spicy version isn't really that spicy. And it's delicious with rice of course, white and purple rice. One positive thing that I noticed was they packed the crabs with an ice bag which is smart. It keeps the crabs fresher longer for takeout. I do recommend adding a pair of gloves with the order. I have plastic gloves at home but not everyone does and it's kind of like how rice compliments this dish. Well the pair of gloves also compliments this messy and saucy dish as well. Otherwise, this dish is very tasty here.

Guadalupe W.

Went for the raw marinated crab and it was really good. I si for the spicy one and it taste more sweet then anything but it was still really good. I also got the pork wrap and the fish! Super delicious as well. Almost forgot the ham fried rice! Super tasty!!! I will for sure be going back.

Kimchi squid pancake
Angela P.

Service, 5/5 - super friendly and the server spoke perfect English for those who don't speak fluent Korean Raw crabs, 4/5 - shells were so hard so I couldn't get any of the meat out of the legs :( Usually they're not so hard but could be bc they're out of season 9/4/24, love that they offer a combo option to try both flavors -Spicy crab flavor, 5/5 - great flavor and consistency -Soy sauce crabs flavor, 3/5 - soy sauce had a weird aftertaste which made the crabs taste weird like mildly bitter. Squid stir fry, 4.5/5 - sauce was watery but the flavor was good Army soup 5/5 - added ramen a la carte, came out at the perfect time so the noodles weren't soggy at all Kimchi squid pancake, 5/5 - best I've ever had, thin and crispy!

Boodae Jun Gol
Ailun H.

My friend and I stopped by HwangBooJa for dinner this past Saturday. The interior is definitely more casual and gives "take-out" preferred vibes, but don't let that initial thought fool you. We were seated immediately and given a few banchan to start with (their kimchi is so, so good -- definitely a top 2 in the DMV area because of its perfect twist of sweet, briny, and spicy). Their black beans and bean sprouts were pretty solid, too. 1. BOODAE JUN GOL (SMALL) - 32.99 Huge portion and they give you a portable stove to continue boiling the stew. I found that the piping hot broth was rich and surprisingly not too fatty (I think the cuts of hot dog were on the "healthier" side). A good amount of kimchi, rice cakes and luncheon meats. I wish I drank more of the jjigae while it was hot because it was not that good after 20 minutes. The broth definitely evaporated a lot, and while it's lukewarm, the soup is a lot grittier and too salty. But seriously, if you get this, enjoy it while it's hot and fresh!! To be honest, you can probably make this at home for a much, much cheaper price. 14. GANJANG GEJANG BAEKBAN - 27.99 My friend and I spent most of time eating this delicacy because we don't get it too often. Each order comes with three raw crabs (soaked in soy sauce and other toppings). The first crab was amazing. Some of the crab (the body?) had uni-like texture in it, which made it so much creamier and richer. The claws were good with a lot of the soy sauce flavor and had a surprising amount of crab meat. Unfortunately, my friend gave up after one crab, which meant I got two crabs to me. Personally, I found it to be too much/heavy after the first crab. The second crab was way less enjoyable because of its slimy and cold texture. Still, I plowed through them like a champ because it's delicious, but I can't say I enjoyed the last two claws on the plate. It's also unevenly salted (where some claws were fine, but others were too salty). Make sure to eat lots of rice with this, which will help with the sliminess. I would recommend enjoying this as an appetizer with 2-3 others. Overall, a good meal and I'm glad I got to enjoy the marinated raw crab again. It's been awhile since I've eaten this since the restaurant in Annandale closed down over a year ago.

Jokbal & Bo-sam combo

Came here around 1 hr before closing with my wife. Ordered Combo jokbal & Bo-sam, but instead of telling us the order is out, the amount was less than half of usual amount. Whatever it takes to makes money haha

a plate of steamed crabs

See all

Photo of Ana Y.
1
11
8

5 days ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

21 days ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 1
Love this 1
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 2
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 4
Thanks 1
Love this 1
Oh no 0

10 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Rae C.
6
48
49

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 4
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0
Photo of Dean W.
27
28
6

1 year ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 1
Love this 1
Oh no 0

10 months ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Love this place coffee was the best service was supper nice the managers was imagining supper nice I will be back with my family more

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Judy N.
294
731
4327

2 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 1
Love this 1
Oh no 1

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 4
Oh no 0

1 year ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

3 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 1

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Yu Bin L.
234
9
11

3 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0
Photo of Tom Y.
8
131
207

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Jay C.
258
18
5

4 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Nancy P.
10
37
108

4 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Amy T.
2
106
43

2 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1
Photo of Linsha X.
83
66
502

4 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 1

4 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

3 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

4 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

Ask the Community - HwangBooJa

You might also consider

Verify this business for free

People searched for Korean 22,220 times last month within 15 miles of this business.

Verify this business

Bon Ga

Bon Ga

4.6(134 reviews)
1.6 mi
•$$

We were to have late-ish dinner at Bon Ga for the first time. It was busy but we were able to get a…read moretable. The space is small and seems like a mom-and-pop operation. As soon as we got seated, we were offered water right away. While waiting for our orders, we were served a lot of banchan or appetizers. We ordered La Bboki for appetizer and Bulgogi Dol Sot Bibimbap (or bulgogi rice bowl) and Bi Bim Naeng Myun (or cold buckwheat noodles) for entrees. All the servings are huge - I honestly wished we skipped the appetizer. My bibimbap was delicious! The sauce wasn't as spicy as I expected which I loved. My date loved his order as well. The service was fantastic! The aunties were very hands-on with all the guests. The prices are reasonable for the quality and quantity of the food they offer. I'd love to return here and try other dishes.

This is a mom and pop shop that seasons the food just right to where you don't feel like any one…read moreflavor overpowers the others. The bulgogi is such a case. My favorite thing is they don't just serve water, they serve bottomless hot tea! Yes the food is good, but how often do you get served unlimited tea? Appetizers are a bit on the pricey side ranging from $9 to $19, however the more expensive ones are large portion sizes. We couldn't finish both the appetizer and entree before getting full. Entrees are the typical prices between $15 to $20 with the special dishes being more than that. The 4 star is mostly because of the prices, but the experience was good. The service is great and everyone is very attentive and ready to recommend dishes and provide refills.

Photos
Bon Ga
Bon Ga
Bon Ga - Al Tang

See all

Al Tang

Hankki

Hankki

3.9(49 reviews)
0.6 mi

My friend suggested this place and only wanted one thing only. Spicy chicken feet & rice ball. I've…read moreonly had chicken feet when going out for dim sum. The fact that there is chicken feet available at a restaurant that isn't Chinese is mind-blowing to me. I've never seen nor heard any other culture prepare chicken feet let alone see it as an option on the menu. Well, my world has expanded now. We split this meal for dinner since we weren't too hungry. The chicken feet were flavorful and soft. It was indeed spicy but not to the point where I didn't enjoy my meal. I loved the rice balls as well. In fact, they were so delicious that I would have been happy just eating rice balls as my main meal. The staff also provided gloves to eat chicken feet though I am not used to eating them in this way, so opted for chopsticks only. On a separate note, I also ran into a local "celebrity" who does online food reviews while dining in, so you know this place must be good. While dining in, I couldn't help but remember how freezing it was though other than that, the staff was pleasant. We also got a hot sake for the table so that probably warmed me up a bit.

We were just walking by, noticed this place was busy, and decided to stop in. They serve a wide…read morevariety of traditional Korean dishes, ranging from tofu stews and noodles to grilled meats. The two soups we ordered were warm, comforting, and full of flavor. The seafood pancake and steamed egg were also excellent. There were plenty of locals dining here, and I could see why--the food tasted like a home-cooked meal. Another solid Korean spot in the DMV that I'd happily return to! Entrees: Clam Kalguksu and Tteok Manduguk (rice cake and dumpling soup) Sides: Seafood Pancake and Steamed Egg

Photos
Hankki - Seating

Seating

Hankki - Dakdoritang Jeongol

Dakdoritang Jeongol

Hankki - Front

See all

Front

Morak - King Donkatsu yum~~~

Morak

4.4(53 reviews)
1.6 mi

I recently went back to try the Bulgogi Bibimbap. Priced at a reasonable $16, it came in a generous…read moreportion, topped with spinach, carrot, cabbage, seasoned seaweed, Korean-style seasoned radish, marinated bulgogi beef, and a fried egg, all served over rice. It also came with kimchi and a sweet-and-spicy gochujang sauce to add as you like. The bibimbap was excellent. The julienned vegetables added a satisfying crunch, while the combination of rice and bulgogi was tasty, wholesome, and hearty. Their other dishes are reasonably priced, too. The King Donkatsu costs $20 and is a large, panko-breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet. It tastes great and is big enough to share with two or three people. I haven't found anywhere else in the DMV that serves quality Korean comfort food at this price. With its quick, efficient service, Morak is easily one of the best spots for Korean comfort street food.

Morak has quickly become one of my favorite Korean restaurants. The food is consistently delicious,…read moreportions are generous, and the quality is outstanding--you really can't go wrong with anything on the menu. We ordered the king donkatsu, Gimmari, Tteokbokki, and Fish Cake Soup, and every dish was fresh, flavorful, and satisfying. Gimmari was surprisingly huge. The owner is incredibly kind and welcoming, which makes the experience even better. Next time, I'm coming back for the stone pot bibimbap and kimbap. I saw a table of non-Korean customers enjoying them cutting the kimbap like steak and eating the hot stone bibimbap with forks and they still cleaned their plates despite the huge portions That said it all. My only "complaint" is that the king donkatsu is so huge it takes forever to cut it into pieces... but that's definitely a good problem to have! Highly recommend Morak for authentic Korean food, great portions, and friendly service!

Photos
Morak - Inside

Inside

Morak - DDUKBBOKKI YUM~

DDUKBBOKKI YUM~

Morak - Spicy Tuna Kimbap

See all

Spicy Tuna Kimbap

HwangBooJa - korean - Updated November 2026

Loading...
Loading...
Loading...