Our Overall Score: 4.25/5.0 Amanda: 3.5 | Sean: 5.0 Google Score: 4.8 | Yelp Score: 4.5 Korean Food | 12 W 20th St., Baltimore, MD 2121 Cost: $10 - $20 | Portion: Might have some leftovers Parking: Adjacent private lot | Wait Time: None Seating: Just right | Ambiance: Underground, Dim, Hole-in-the-Wall Vegetarian Options: Yes | Time Spent: 2 hours "These are probably the best Korean chicken wings in town." Last Saturday evening around 6 pm, Sean and I visited this restaurant with another couple, who had suggested the place. We pulled up into the parking lot, ridden with weeds and adorned with graffiti - the only sounds were the murmurs of the two African American men chitchatting away in their lounge chairs at the corner of the lot. To be honest, everything was a bit sketchy.
We walked into this dimly lit, black-walled, rather empty establishment and was immediately greeted by the hostess, who asked us if we wanted BBQ or regular. Past the silver, circular metal tables with covered grills at their centers, we proceeded up a few steps to the back of the restaurant - a small area with a little more than six tables lined along the perimeter. The walls were decorated with old-time Korean posters, including the Korean poster for the film Leon. The restaurant's length is like that of a train car - longer than it is wide, which makes it easy to lose track of the time of day since the only windows are at the entrance. Yet, the area was brighter than the typical candle-lit restaurant. Our party of four sat at the furthest end of the restaurant. Each of us received a menu decorated with various cartoon covers of children engaged in some activity, especially one weird one that likened the Human Centipede. Prior to receiving our entrees, the typical small Korean appetizer dishes came out. The kimchi was a little too sour. There was one gelatinous dish, though, that reminded me of the texture of rice noodles, like that of the shrimp rice noodle roll from dim sum. Besides that, the little dishes were unremarkable. Sean and I still believe that Tofu House in Edison may have the best small dishes that we've eaten, primarily because of the fish cakes! Onto the real food, Sean ordered the curry omu-rice with shrimp ($14.99), which he thought was okay. The rice inside the omelet seemed to have been made with tomatoes. After a recent trip to NYC, in which I fell in love with a hot stone cheese kimchi fried rice, I hoped to reinvigorate those taste buds with Kong's own kimchi fried rice with cheese ($13.99), but I was utterly disappointed. Unlike the kimchi fried rice with cheese I had a week ago, this was soft, not crisped, and not on a hot stone. As a result, the kimchi fried rice and cheese did not continue to melt or sizzle as I ate. Sean, however, loved this kimchi fried rice, perhaps even more than the one I had in NYC. Sean's not a fan of spicy, which goes to say that this was probably pretty mild. In fact, we couldn't really taste the kimchi and Sean mainly liked the dish because it was just like regular fried rice. The other couple with us ordered the Cheese Tteokbokki to share, and it was alright, but could have been better, in my opinion. Sean liked it. I just thought the rice cake was a little too hard, even when it was first brought out to us. If not for that, I think it would have been pretty good. Lastly, our friends let us try some of their chicken wings, and man, oh man, that made everything better. As our one friend stated, "These are probably the best Korean chicken wings in town." I could not agree, although, I currently have a sample size of one, but oh man were these good. I would definitely recommend that you order this! You get a lot of chicken for a good price. Sean loved their batter and I loved their sauce. As we ate, service was pretty prompt with refilling the table's water bottle, as long as we flagged them. There was nothing particularly spectacular or unspectacular about the service. I would go back again and try some other dishes. Overall, it wasn't too bad. I think my opinion was heavily influenced by my recent experience in NYC's K-Town, and those are some pretty high standards, so perhaps in a month or so, with a fresher mind, my opinion will change. Recommendations Chicken wings - Amanda Curry Omu-Rice with Shrimp - Sean Kimchi Fried Rice with Cheese - Sean Seating Most of the tables could seat four people. I'm sure they could push the tables together if you had a larger party. For the BBQ, it looked like those tables could fit at least six people. Parking The lot was huge and maybe 3/4 empty when we arrived and left that Saturday evening. The surrounding area was a little sketchy, so you may want to reconsider walking. #korean #baltimore #md #asian #casual #holeinthewall #vegetarian #meat #bbq #kimchi #chicken #maryland
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