Ottawa Foodies

1

Enjoyed a lunch of Pajeon (seafood pancake), Japchae (glass noodles), Kimchi Jigae (kimchi soup with pork and tofu), and Bokkeum Bap (fried rice). Prices are reasonable. This was a veritable feast for two with leftovers, coming in at just over $30 before tax and tip.

Water arrived with the menus. Service was friendly and unobtrusive. Most people get the bulgogi and other cook-at-your-table meals. They have an AYCE menu which is $15 at lunch (limited selection of dishes) and $20 at dinner (large selection of dishes, including sushi). We eschewed AYCE in favour of à la carte to maximize our options.

Unlike my previous visit, this time the Pajeon was excellent. Beautifully crispy and nicely filled with bits of squid and surimi. $6.95 for a small, which was perfect for two.

The Japchae is a nice little pile of black-peppery stir fried glass noodles with veggies. The taste is simple but quite wonderful. This is one of my favourite Korean dishes.

The Kimchi Jjigae was less tasty and much less spicy than versions I've had elsewhere, which is too bad. It arrived bubbling furiously, but the flavours are not as rich as I like them to be. Still, very nice. See how it bubbles on Vine! vine.co/v/bEV5L3zXz3x

Bokkeum Bap (beef) was one of the most flavourful fried rices I've ever enjoyed. I was hoping to get Bibimbap today, but I didn't notice it on the menu. No worries--the Bokkeum Bap was a nice find!

The side dishes were mostly good. The kimchi had nice flavour, but again not enough chili!

Koreana remains a decent option as a place to sample the wonderful food of Korea!

Instaspam: instagram.com/p/ZdhdFOOlJY/

Here is a picture of the meat, cooking on the grill.

5

I have been to Koreana twice in the last 3-4 months and would say that these last two times were better than my experience in the previous couple of years. The new waitresses are nicer and more attentive.

The food is better too. The first time, I had the All you can eat dinner menu and was very satisfied with the selection. Is it huge? No, but was I happy with my meal? Very much so.

As per the picture, I got a little bit of everything, including miso soup, fresh sushi, chap chae, beef bulgogi, seafood pancake, marinated chicken, spicy pork and Korean side dishes (see Fresh Foodie's detailed description below). I love their sweetened potato side dish, seaweed salad and kimchi. (9 out of 10) It would be nice to have beef ribs in the AYCE too.

The second time, I had the beef bulgogi and my sister ordered the bibimbap served in a hot bowl. It came with the usual Korean side dishes and miso soup. (10 out of 10)

I walked out of there very happy both times! Totally recommend. No, the décor is not fancy but it is clean and the food is good.

3

Date of Visit: December 6, 2012

Koreana is one of those places that has been on my bucket list of Ottawa eateries for sometime now. It has always been fairly low on my list, as it happens, since I usually prefer restaurants that feature a single cuisine rather than ‘fusions’ or multiple varieties, but Koreana actually offers an eclectic selection of individual Japanese and Korean dishes and is not really a fusion restaurant as such. A last minute change in my dining schedule finally led me to their door on this recent trip to Ottawa, and I have to say that, with this experience, that I was very well rewarded by my serendipitous encounter…

The Dishes
Seaweed Salad – Rating 5 out 5
Kimchi - Rating 5 out of 5
Seafood Pancake - Rating 5 out of 5
Yakitori - Rating 5 out of 5

Overall
Koreana is well worth a visit. The ambience definitely leaves a little to be desired, particularly in the area of maintenance, but the food and service are excellent. I only investigated the menu as far as the appetizer selections but I am now inspired to go back for something more substantial… Rating 3 out of 5

See full pictorial review at: sybaritica.me

4

Poor service, decent food.
Went there for a dinner with my husband and son. Had to wait a while for a glass of water and they don't sell milk(its common, right.. no restaurants in this earth carry milk in their fridge). The only high chair doesn't have safety strap.

The only tasty dish in ALL YOU CAN EAT bbq was pork. Everything else was plain.

In the middle of cooking our pork, a male waiter turn off our table cooker(they use this because the actual bbg table is too costly for electricity)without saying anything.This is just plain rude and we were only on our second order. We left shortly after, Im not eating my pork raw.

I'm not recommending this place to anyone in fact I would tell everyone I know about this.

ps. if you still decided to try anyways, don't wear your fave shirt.. the meat grease will splatter everywhere and ruin your day.

Went here for lunch. It was pretty good nothing spectacular but definitely the best Korean food I had in Ottawa. The barbecue beef was pretty good it just didn't taste the way I'm used to. Everything else wasn't worth mentioning.

However the ambiance was nice but we had to wait a while to get seated.

I can't wait to go again to try the shabu shabu!

1

Wifey and I had a nice time here! For $20 per person, they offer an all-you-can-eat menu consisting of (from memory):

* Miso Soup - not hot enough and with an unusually cheesy flavour
* Korean Pancake - forgettable, nothing like the usually amazing Pajeon we've had elsewhere
* Beef Dumplings - blandish and boring
* Bibimbap - did not try this
* California Roll - Good! We ordered more of these.
* Salmon Sushi - Nigiri. It was okay but not super fresh.
* Rice - Good.
* Chap Chae Noodles - Super tasty! Sweet potato glass noodles, stir fried with julienned vegetables and seasoned with black pepper. We ordered more of these.
* Korean Side Dishes - The kimchi was tasty but not spicy at all. Other dishes were okay: bean sprouts, potato, radish and carrot, seaweed.
* Bulgogi Beef - Nicely marinated and tasty!
* Marinated Pork - The pork tends to the fatty side and wasn't as tasty as the beef.
* Marinated Chicken - did not try this

So it was hit and miss but we enjoyed trying almost everything. The things to get are California Rolls, Chap Chae Noodles, Korean side dishes, Bulgogi Beef, rice, and tea. You write down what you want on a piece of paper and ring the bell for service. Then you ask for more if you want more.

This is not the best Korean food around, but the price is good for what you get. It fills a niche!

1

Went on Friday evening with a party of four. Really enjoyed this place, and will return.

We had the complementary miso soup and pancake as well as the tempura prawns and beef dumplings. In hindsight, this was way too much food. But everything was quite tasty. The tempura batter was just perfect.

The table shared a few plates. Beef Bulgogi, Pork Bibimbap, K3 (I think, it was spicy chicken) and K21 (I think, it was sweet and sour chicken). Again, too much food. K3 was the hands down favourite, followed by beef bulgogi (we got it spicy). I was very dissapointed with the bibimbap... I am sure it was prepared well, but I found it very bland... I blame the dish itself, not the cook.

That crazy amount of food with beers came to $100 with tax and tip. Very respectable.

I had the Gamjatang. I've not had such meaty pork bones in my pork bone soup before, but the soup was lacking in flavour, so I did not enjoy my food as much as I should have. Nothing beats Ka Chi in Toronto though, but for Ottawa, I guess Koreana is the place to go.

I've gone to this establishment only twice and I guess it was ok. I had Kimchi jjigae and non spicy tofu stew. Both were ok but the broth in the kimchi jjigae just seemed odd...

I am willing to go back again to try other stuff on the menu before I write it off though. The best Korean in Ottawa certainly isn't in China town.

5/10

1

My sweetheart and I went to Koreana a few months ago. We like the decor. But we love the food. It is not expensive and very tasty. The place is very clean including the washroom.

The service is excellent. We gave the waitress a 20% tip.

We recommend this restaurant highly. You wont be disappointed.

Served piping hot and crispy, this tempura is all about texture and mouth-feel. The reasonably priced ($6) appetizer includes 3 long shrimp and 3 vegetables. It isn't very big on flavour, but it has a nice low grease factor!

Ordered this last Saturday evening (#2 Beef w/ sweet soup). Really enjoyed it. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to try something a bit different, it is a very substantial dish that suits winter well.

Consisted of a very strong and tasty beef broth with transparent noodles, zucchini, bean sprouts carrots, scallions, lots of tenderized beef and big tofu chunks which comes uncooked and you simmer at the table. Kimchi and steamed rice are served alongside.

At 30$ the value is quite good because I think 4 could easily share this dish (it is after all a sumo wrestler's standard meal). It is also pretty fun to cook your soup at the table. They bring a gas/naptha burner to the table, unfortunately the in-table grills are not used from what I could see.

My only complaint is that I woke up so dehydrated the next day that I felt like I had been on a drinking binge! I presume that there must have been either a lot of salt or MSG in the broth which resulted in this. However, it was so tasty I have to say it was worth it...

I would recommend this soup to anyone who likes spicy pork soup. No noodles, just pork spine, wild sesame, cabbage and potato. I love sucking the meat off the vertebra! Here (Koreana) they use fresh cabbage in stead of the more traditional dried cabbage, but it is still very good for $8.95!

[ED: photo taken from Wikipedia page]