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MinGa

3.6 (255 reviews)
Closed 11:00 am - 9:00 pm
Updated 2 months ago

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MINGA ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Moderate noise
Good for kids
Outdoor seating

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Recommended Reviews - MinGa

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Menu
Jbear F.

A clean spartan interior. Friendly and fast service, greeted and shown to a table right away. I was brought my water and the Banchan (selection of complimentary Korean appetizers). These are very helpful and I can graze on them while I let my stew cool down a bit. The Budae Jige (Korean Army base stew) comes out piping hot with the rice. It's a stew that combines American army influences along with Korean touches. It contains spam, sausage like a sliced up hotdog, beans, kimchi, vegetables, tofu and cheese cooked in a spicy broth. It was delicious and creamy and not too spicy to start. The sausage was nicely smoky. The vegetables were mainly squash, zucchini and cabbage. The cheese or was it sliced rice cakes were a good textural contrast. After eating all the solids along with broth and the rice, stew got a lot spicer with just the broth and pepper flakes. I will definitely be back to try some of the other menu items.

N8. ZAZANGMYUN
Youngone K.

My parents and I really appreciated that there was outdoor tables so we could come eat here with our dog. Pricing felt slightly high but when we got our food, the entree portions are so large that you could honestly share them. We went on Sunday soon after they opened and it got fairly busy within the hour. There was only one server spread really thin so service was spotty/delayed but we understood. Our food was solid. Not spectacular, but a solid job. The mul Naengmyun was icy and refreshing as we'd hoped and the black bean noodles were what we were looking for. I had little expectations from the Yelp rating but we honestly couldn't complain. Food came quickly, they offered banchan, small portions and only four but still.

L6. STONEPOT BIBIMBAP
Vaibhav M.

When I think back to our time at MinGa, I instantly think of a beautiful sunny yet breezy summer day (in February), sitting outside and sipping on hot soup and being blown away by the most amazingly sweet server. Yes, we went here during lunch hour and had the pleasure of sitting outside. I ordered the Seafood Suntofu and stone bibimbap and loved everything we received. To start off with the suntofu, it was essentially a soup with egg, tofu and different kinds of seafoods in it. I initially thought it to be a bit mild for my taste so I requested for some chilli paste/oil and that made it perfectly spicy for me. The stone bibimbap was amazing! I secretly wish I had ordered that but thats the plus of going out with others, you get to try many things at once. This was nicly spicy, and HOT I loved the saices they brought out with it. The crunchy rice from the bootm and the hot chicken made the dish irresistible for me! I know already what i will order next time. Strangely we only got 1 servng of the Banchan, but it was good enough as we were full by the end of this meal anyways.

L7. BIBIMBAP
Falguni T.

Okay, let me start with the disclaimer here that I really like Korean food. And this place did not make me dislike it at all. We had just drove down to Chapel Hill, and this place the first one on our list. It was a pretty day so we decided to sit outside. Thankful that they had that option, even though a little limited. Our server was sweet and prompt to get our orders of Chicken Bibimbap and Seafood Suntofu. Loved both the dishes, especially how the rice and chicken at the bottom of my stone bowl got crispier as the time went on. In all, we had a hearty tasty meal here after driving for over an hour. Would definitely recommend.

sweet and A16. SWEET & SPICY KFC (Korean Fried Chicken)

incredible service and really amazing food! emma and simin were wonderful. i wanna come back every day of my life. owner was so kind and gave us a free roll!

Tangsuyuk
JJ C.

We were craving the classic Korean-Chinese dishes, so we ordered for pickup while driving and our food was ready by the time we arrived. We ordered the Jjajangmyeon, Jjamppong, and Tangsuyuk. The Jjamppong was the highlight of our meal. It had a healthy amount of seafood but could've been spicier. The Jjajangmyeon was mild but came with a large portion of sauce. The Tangsuyuk sauce was unfortunately quite bland and didn't have much of a sweet or sour flavor. We weren't fully impressed with our meal from MinGa and felt that the dishes we ordered could've used some more flavor and spice.

Vanessa H.

Came here while visiting Chapel Hill, and it was pretty much your average authentic Korean food. Their menu is extensive with Japanese/Chinese/other Asian fusion elements in there, so you really have a bunch of options. The service was good: everyone that helped us was so gentle and kind. We started off with the Korean roll or kimbap (I don't get why they just didn't put the word "kimbap" on the menu) for an appetizer and it came out looking gigantic. Like TOO big for a roll. It was average, but I've definitely had much better. Too much rice and not enough beef at all. The banchan was ok, but the kimchi was so water downed. We then got the udon noodles, seafood suntofu, cold noodles, and the hot stone bibimbap. The udon noodles had a lot of squid, beef, and a large portion of noodles. The broth was not bad either! The seafood suntofu was flavorful and also had a lot of seafood inside. The cold noodles and bibimbap were sadly a miss for me. Both dishes had absolutely zero flavor, unless you load them with huge amounts of gochujang. But even then, it lacked some sort of seasoning. Overall, it's a cute little spot if you're craving Korean food, but I probably wouldn't check it out again.

Japchae, kimchi rice at the back
Yolanda Y.

Food Quality: 3.5/5 (recommend seafood pancake, highlight of the entire order) Good quantity: 2.5/5 (My food in the photo was like $17, and it was more like a lunch portion imo) Price: 5/5 (taken into account all korean places are expensive here, this is still more expensive than most) So... do I think it was worth it?! You have the answer. Maybe this only happened bc of takeout. Will probably give Minga one more try when I dine in before losing faith completely!

Outside. Street sign.
Daniel B.

MinGa serves authentic and traditional Korean food in Chapel Hill. I was impressed with both the restaurant's menu (nice variety of dishes) and the quality of the food (overall, good). I haven't been to a lot of Korean restaurants in the Triangle yet, so I don't have much to compare MinGa to locally. Regardless, my wife and I enjoyed the food from this restaurant. Service was great too. MinGa has been around since 2011, so about a decade now. It's in a freestanding building near longtime Chapel Hill drive-thru Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen (other side of the creek). The restaurant is clean and spacious with plenty of free parking. They have outdoor patio seating too (uncovered). Inside, three of the tables have grills in case you want to do some Korean barbecue at your table. However, note this isn't a full-fledged Korean barbecue restaurant. It's a classic, family-style Korean restaurant. Here's what we had: Appetizer A3. Korean Roll ($7.95) - beef, variety of vegetables, egg, and seasoned rice rolled with seaweed Marinated BBQ B3. LA Kalbi ($24.95) - charcoal-grilled marinated beef short ribs with MinGa's "special sauce" Noodles G8. Bibim Nengmyun ($15.95) - buckwheat noodles, beef, and radish topped with cold spicy sauce (served cold) Mixed Rice H2. Stone Pot Bibimbap ($14.95) - assortment of lightly-sauteed vegetables, fried egg, and choice of beef, spicy chicken, spicy pork, or tofu (we chose spicy pork) in a sizzling hot stone bowl (rice gets crunchy); spicy pepper paste on the side * Small container of kimchi ($5.00) In general, everything hit the spot. The only disappointment we had was in the LA Kalbi. While cooked and flavored well, for many pieces, the meat was way too chewy. So, the meat quality was lacking here. It could've just been the batch we got and I'd be willing to order and try MinGa's galbi again. I thought the Korean rolls (gimbap) were A-OK. If you like gimbap, I think MinGa's gimbap is worth ordering. If you've never had gimbap before, you should try it. Gimbap looks like "Korean sushi" rolls. Our roll was cut into 10 pieces. Each piece contained beef, danmuji (yellow pickled daikon radish), lettuce, carrot, imitation crab, white rice, and seaweed. While not great nor as yummy as the gimbap from some of my favorite places in Atlanta, these served to scratch the itch. To be picky, I thought the roll we received was a little dry and could've been more flavorful, particularly the beef. The Bibim Nengmyun (naengmyeon) had all the right ingredients and flavors. This is a cold noodle dish. The noodles were cold, delectably chewy, and appetizingly spicy. Ingredients not mentioned in the menu description above included julienned cucumber, half a boiled egg, and sesame seeds. The spicy red sauce is what gives this dish its intense flavor while vegetables like the refreshing cucumber and crisp white radish help to cool things off. This was probably my favorite dish of the things we ate. The Stone Pot Bibimbap (dolsot bibimbap) was solid. This was a to-go order. Some Korean restaurants serve stone bowl bibimbap to-go, while others do not. MinGa is an example of a restaurant that does. So did Golden Pig in Cary (now Seoul Garden). The way they do it is they let the rice cook inside a stone bowl, allowing parts of the rice that touch the stone bowl to get burnt, hard, and crispy, then they transfer that rice into a takeout container. That way, you still get the wonderful crispy rice texture from the stone bowl. MinGa's version had plenty of bites of crispy, charred rice. There's a $2 premium for the stone bowl (or "stone pot") version. Whether you think the crispiness is worth the upcharge is up to you. If you've never had bibimbap like this, you should try it. Our banchan (Korean side dishes included with entrees) consisted of seven items: spicy pickled chopped daikon, kimchi, potato and carrot (sweet), fishcake slivers, spicy pickled sliced cucumber, soy bean sprouts, and black beans. All of the banchan was fresh and tasty. I love kimchi so I decided to buy extra. It's not listed on the paper menu I got from the restaurant, but online, I could order a small container of kimchi for $5 and a large container for $10. That saved us a trip to H Mart. MinGa's kimchi was delicious. Fresh, crunchy, spicy, and packed with flavor. Not too fermented, which is how I like it. My wife and some of our friends prefer more fermented kimchi with more of a bite; I do not. I ordered online through MinGa's website which uses Wix Restaurants for their online menu and ordering platform. There was no option to pay online. I prefer to pay online so all I have to do in-person is pick up. You have to pay in person (cash or card). My server, Kankanis ("Nis"), was very friendly and my order was ready on-time. Fast. MinGa offers lunch specials on weekdays, 11:30am-2:30pm (holidays excluded). They have 20 lunch specials that run the gamut from Champong (jjamppong, spicy seafood soup) to Tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet).

jajangmyeon
 osam bokum
Ken C.

great korean fare Food must be rated within the local context - let's be real, the triangle area doesn't have a lot of options in terms of Korean fare. Was delighted to hear about this place. We hit up the osam bokum and the jajangmyeon. Jajangmyeon was solid - tasty (albeit light, really depends on your personal preference) sauce over a heaping pile of noodles. Osam bokum was straight fire. Sizzling squid and pork belly in a spicy sauce. So good. Among the options in the area, this place is pretty good. Waitress was also extremely nice and attentive. Come here!

Pork Bulgogi Box
Nicholas Marious A.

Food and service are excellent. Can't recommend this enough. Definitely will be going back here again.

A1. SEAFOOD PANCAKE A13. DUKBOKI R1. BIBIMBAP

I have been coming here for the past three years and can honestly say it has been incredible every single time. It's my favorite Sunday morning spot with my dad. He lived in Korea for 9 years and raves that MinGa is the most authentic Korean restaurant he has ever had in NC. The service is always exceptional, to the point I feel almost rude asking for anything because the servers are so good at anticipating any thing I might need or want. The level of spice is perfect for a seasoned spice lover yet not so extreme as to scare a novice away. The Dukboki is my favorite dish but we've tried just about everything on the menu and they're all 10/10s. I do recommend coming in for an early lunch when it's not too busy.

Seafood pancake, japchae, osam bokum, side dishes

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6 months ago

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8 months ago

Best service ever!! the owner was so kind and gave us a complimentary sushi role, and Emma was so kind to help me when I had hiccups!!

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1 year ago

Food is very good and the staff is very attentive. I would recommend the clay pot. The rice gets so crispy!

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1 year ago

Excellent Service! Great atmosphere and quick and attentive service. Food is great. Would highly recommend!

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Ask the Community - MinGa

Does this place have a lunch buffet?

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Lucha Tigre - Bulgogi Nachos. $15.99. Giant-size nachos with Korean BBQ beef, pico, kimchi, cheese, crema, jalapenos, black beans.

Lucha Tigre

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We love Lucha Tigre for their unique menu and awesome vibe. Consistently good food, great options…read morefor gluten-free, vegetarians but really something for all. Service can be a little slow, but they are friendly and accomodating. Fun place to dine with larger groups too.

We discovered Lucha Tigre thanks to Yelp. We enjoyed our meal here. I give this place 3.5 stars…read morerounded up to 4. Good food, for the most part, and great service. I'd come back. This is a casual, fun, Asian-Latin fusion restaurant and bar. Inside, the space is divided into two sides: bar and dining room. A big "LUCHA TIGRE" covers one of the bar walls and pop art decorates the main dining room wall. They also have a somewhat spacious, partially-covered patio. Overall, it's got a neat vibe. I booked our reservations on Lucha Tigre's website at https://luchatigre.com/ The reservation process was unconventional because instead of getting booked immediately, I had to wait for an email confirmation. On a Sunday, I got a "Pending Reservation Request" email at 2:16pm followed by a confirmation email at 2:52pm, so a 36-minute turnaround time. I got us a same-day reservation at 5pm, not a peak time as evidenced by the lack of customers upon our arrival. However, business had picked up by the time we left around 6:30. The menu had an interesting selection of food and drink. A few good examples of the Asian-Latin fusion served here include General Tso's Chicken Empanadas ($5 each), Pozole Ramen ($15.99), and Pad Thai Al Pastor ($16.99). They also serve straight-up Asian and Latin dishes like pho ($14.99) and tacos ($2 and $4 each). Drink-wise, they had a full bar with a decent selection that included tequila, mezcal, and sake cocktails. They even had a cocktail made with Japanese Suntory Whisky Toki. Here's what my wife and I had: Bebidas Especiales (cocktails) * El Conquistador ($14) - Tequila Herradura Silver, freshly-squeezed citrus, Cointreau Tapas * Tuna Tiradito ($16.99) - sashimi tuna with aji amarillo pepper, onions, cilantro, roasted corn nuts, and fresh citrus; Nikkei cuisine * Bulgogi Nachos ($15.99) - giant-size nachos with Korean BBQ beef, pico, kimchi, cheese, crema, jalapenos, black beans Entrees * Salmon Poke ($18.99) - raw salmon with sesame, onion, and tamari with seaweed salad, rice, and avocado * Pollo Saltado ($16.99) - stir-fried chicken, tomato, cilantro, onion; served over fries with rice and salad In general, we were happy or content with everything. Some dishes were better than others. Beautiful presentation all around. The El Conquistador was a margarita that was more tart and less sweet. It was refreshing. I liked the Tuna Tiradito more than my wife. Tiradito is like Peruvian sashimi. I thought this dish was fine. I could see why my wife didn't like it as much because the texture of the tuna wasn't as fresh and appetizing as the tuna sashimi we're accustomed to. This tuna was a bit more "pasty" in texture. Also, the roasted corn nuts, which we think were the same as hominy, didn't add much. The standout dish was the Bulgogi Nachos. I saw pictures of it on Yelp and knew we had to order it. The portion size was huge and the Korean beef bulgogi was sweet and savory. We devoured the nachos. They were incredibly delicious and addictive. A lot of textures and flavors, and they all blended and worked well together. The Salmon Poke was solid. I recommend it if you like poke. Admittedly, it was better than we both expected because we haven't encountered a lot of great poke in the Chapel Hill-Durham area. Decent portions and fresh salmon, seaweed salad, and other ingredients. I will say the rice tasted plain and not seasoned with rice vinegar. The poke came with two sauces on the side, tamari (a type of Japanese soy sauce) and what I think was a type of curry sauce. The salmon was already nicely marinated and tasty so the sauces weren't needed. The Pollo Saltado was OK. It wasn't among the best I've had, but it was "authentic." The problems with this dish were the chicken was too dry and tough and the fries were underseasoned (not salty enough). Unfortunately, the salad was the best part of this dish. Our server Taryn was great. She was attentive and efficient. Everything we ordered came out fairly quickly. One detail I really liked and appreciated was Taryn neatly packed our leftovers and labeled and dated the boxes. That's an extra level of service you don't get at most other sit-down restaurants. Lucha Tigre opened in December 2012. It replaced the Chapel Hill location of The Original Flying Burrito: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-original-flying-burrito-chapel-hill You can find it in the Midtown Market shopping plaza, north of UNC's campus. There's plenty of free dedicated parking. I didn't have a good cell signal here and used their guest Wi-Fi. Password was Beefbulgogi1.

Juju - Crispy Brussels SproutsBrussels

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Food: 4 Service: 1…read moreWent in for lunch. Place not busy at all -- maybe 6 small tables of 2 or 3. Server interrupted...and interrupted...and interrupted. Friend ordered the Midnight Clove cocktail and I ordered a G&T with Conniption gin. Server returned to interrupt us and say they were "out of" the Midnight Clove cocktail. Friend ordered something else. Server returned to interrupt us and say they were out of Conniption gin-- which is made literally a mile and a half away. Another server interrupted our conversation to deliver something we hadn't ordered.... They just seemed surprised and completely unprepared to be in business. Food was great, though, especially the soup and the best tofu I've ever had. Bahn mi was served on soft bread a bit like ciabatta --I'd have preferred the more traditional crusty bread.

MinGa - korean - Updated May 2026

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