Haenam Kalbi & Calamari

Reviews

• Jessica Y.

  star star star star star_border 11 June 2026

  Pleasantly surprised with my second experience here. The first time, I wasn't too impressed (slow service, food taste was not to my liking, nothing standout), but I wanted to give it another try. After all, it's the closest Korean restaurant to my office.
  
  I went in for lunch today and ordered the pork soon dubu (second chance on the same dish). I really liked it. It was tasty, came out boiling, all the ban chan (side dishes) were yummy. There was only one server, but he was hustling. There was a fairly large lunch group, but I never felt like I was left waiting long, and he was attentive. They also serve a cup of hot barley tea which I haven't had in awhile, so I was super into it.
  
  Happy I gave this place another chance. I'd gladly stop by again and expand to other menu items. The hot stone bibimbap is calling my name.

• Jon L.

  star star star star_border star_border 8 June 2026

  I finally had a chance to re-visit this place and to see what has changed.
  It was a weekend evening; the place was about 50% full.
  The new improved interior looked nice. The staffs were a little busy yet very nice to us.
  Food started to show up in timely manner. The Banchan (aka, side dish) were the same as before except Kimchi seemed sweeter. I liked it better when there was more ginger flavor and without sweetness.
  Tried one of their signature dishes, Calamari (#50 on the menu). They were still serving it with good quality and fresh squid. That is good. However, the sauce, the base was the same but it was much milder and sweeter. Losing some Haenam's the authentic taste there. I definitely miss the original flavor; more spiciness, saltiness and less sweetness.
  
  (#50. O-Jing-Uh Ju-Mool-Luck: Calamari in a spicy sauce, cooked table side on a hot plate.)

• Mona M.

  star star star star star_border 2 June 2026

  If you want good Korean food, this is definitely the place to go. Their food have homemade taste to them, very comforting. The only caveat that the service here is super slow.
  
  We've been here twice now. The first time I came here for family lunch about 2 months ago. It took a while for anyone to come and take our order and another a little bit more while before banchan were brought to our table. I recalled the banchan were just quite good but one of the banchan dish definitely stood out from the rest. I forgot what it was now, but my sisters and I couldn't stop eating it and wished there was more. The older woman, who I assumed is the owner, was there at the time. She came to our table, asked if we wanted any refill of the banchan, and she talked to my precious baby nephew. She returned to our table bringing us that one banchan that we truly loved, so she definitely knew which one of their banchan was the star dish.
  
  We ordered Suh I-Lung Tah'ng (beef soup with thin rice noodle) which was light tasting but wonderful nonetheless, and the Kalbi was thoroughly delicious too. However, the Broiled Mackarel that my brother in law ordered did taste like soap. He was the eat-anything type of person and insisted he would still finish it himself.
  
  The second time we came back here for dinner, that star-dish banchan was not served. The banchan were just okay and the Green Onion Seafood Pancake was served with soy sauce and tasted pretty standard, but I wasn't expecting to be swept off my feet anyway. However, the other dishes that we ordered were amazing. His pork soondoo-bu is probably my favorite soondoo-bu and I've been to plenty korean restaurants. The flavor is just perfect, they really did the soup justice. The Sae'ng Bulgogi (beef) served on a hotplate was another of our favorite dish, and it tasted exactly like my dear mom's bulgogi and it almost brought tears to my eyes. The Dwae-jee Kalbi (grilled pork ribs marinated in a medium spicy sauce) also was very very good. The spiciness was perfect balance and it has the charboiled taste to it.
  
  As mentioned before, the main issue here is slow service. Even when there was barely any other customers in the restaurant, we found the service to be painfully slow. So do pack extra patience with you when you come in, specially during rush hour cause it will take even longer.. which we're not too sure why. There's always 3 employees working and the restaurant is really not that big at all. But for some reason they are always struggling to keep up with the tasks of seating guests, taking orders, delivering banchan, clearing up tables, bringing checks and leftover boxes. I realized they do have some to-go customers coming in and they have to box the takeouts, but again there are three people working so I'm not sure why they're always scrambling. All patrons are aware of the poor service and everyone around us had to flag down somebody in order to place order or if they needed something. The kitchen was super duper fast though. After our order was placed, we didn't wait long at all for the food to be delivered to our table, so that was awesome. Price is on the higher side and portion was just enough (some dishes do come out more generous than the others).
  
  The inside of the restaurant seems to have gone a rush job, converting their floor-sitting room to fit more tables and chairs. But the updated furniture and modern lamp pendants could not hide the fact that the restaurant looks tired with somewhat of a depressing vibe, which perhaps could have been resolved simply by a better lighting like letting in more natural light or just improve the overall lighting inside. The air circulation inside was pretty poor too, so expect the smell of food to stick to you from head to toe.
  
  But overall, the food here is amazing - and if poor, slow service don't really matter to you then this would be a five-star experience.

• Mina H.

  star star star star star_border 31 May 2026

  We ordered 3 portions of kalbi and pork kalbi and sulungtahng. It comes with miso soup and side dishes. Miso soup was good but it was salty and cucumber kimchi and napa kimchi was good.
  Everything was okay except sulungtahng.

• Nathan W.

  star star star star_border star_border 22 May 2026

  Time: Monday 6:30pm
  
  Service: 2/5 Restaurant wasn't too busy but it took forever for us to get our rice and side dishes. They also didn't come take our order until like 10 minutes after giving us our menu. It also took forever to get their attention just to get the check. And we also had to physically go up to the counter to pay because we couldn't get their attention to take our card. Food didn't take too long to come out, but the service was just not there.
  
  Ambiance: 5/5 Nothing special, but it's clean. Nice Korean restaurant vibes. They also play the K-pop bangers.
  
  Parking: 5/5 Plenty of parking in the plaza parking lot.
  
  Food: 3.5/5 Group of 5 ordered the Deep Fried Mandu ($8.95), Calamari in Spicy Sauce ($15.95), Kalbi ($32.95), Calamari & Beef Bulgogi with Vermicelli Noodles ($29.95). For the side dishes fish cake, pancake, and kimchi were the best. The rest were mediocre and forgettable. The Deep Fried Mandu had 10 pieces and it was delicious. Nothing wrong with it. Calamari in Spicy Sauce was a bit lacking in flavor. It was barely spicy and just tasted bland. Would not order again. Kalbi was such a rip off. For $32, I would have expected much more meat. The amount of meat they gave us was probably more like $20 worth of meat at other Korean restaurants. It was tasty, but definitely a scam. Calamari & Beef Bulgogi with Vermicelli Noodles was probably everyone's favorite dish. Everything was seasoned well and the portion was nice and big. Maybe I wouldn't pay $30 for it, but maybe more like $25. Overall the price was way too high for the quality and quantity of the food. Maybe I didn't order the right dishes? But I probably wouldn't come here again unless a Korean friend takes me here and does all the ordering...
  
  Overall: 2*0.1 + 5*0.1 + 5*0.1 + 3.5*0.7 = 3.65