Jangwon

Jangwon Korean Cuisine is a mid-sized restaurant serving traditional Korean food. The restaurant itself is decorated simplistically, and there are some private booths to the side made available for larger groups (who order KBBQ).  Since its opening in early 2013, my boyfriend and I have dined in on many occasions. However, we stopped going to the restaurant starting in January 2014 due to its deteriorating quality. When the restaurant first opened; the food was really tasty, consistent and the prices were very appealing. The prices still remain the same, but unfortunately, the food started tasting more bland and flavorless. This review is based on the latest dining experience that I had back in December.   One of my favorite appetizers at any Korean restaurants has to be spicy rice cakes. I got an order of the dukbokki ($6.99) and the portion was generous. The dish contained a good ratio of rice cakes to fish cakes, so it could be filling on its own. The texture of the rice cakes was very chewy (good!) but the sauce wasn't as spicy as before.  I used to love this dish from Jangwon Korean Cuisine, but sadly it has changed. The bulgoki dup bap ($5.99) wasn't very flavorful and more chewy this time around. According to my bf; the soon tofu chigae ($6.99) was lackluster. The soup base wasn't very flavorful or spicy, and there was barely any tofu in the bowl. Their specialty is grilled meat on the table-tops which is about $15.99 to $17.99 for each (kind of) meat (but that one meat is AYCE). Additionally, I saw a poster advertising all-you-can-eat pork belly + vegetables for $17.99 hanging on the wall. I am not a huge fan of pork belly, so I didn't order their AYCE this time around. Perhaps, the quality for the meat hasn't deteriorated since I saw quite a few people around grilling their meat, and maybe it's for certain items on their regular menu.   Each table is equipped with a bell, so you can ring it and a server would come to your table. The servers are usually pretty quick and attentive at Jangwon Korean Cuisine. They don't really interact with the customers (but this regular occurrences at most Korean places), but they do get their job done efficiently (take orders, refill bachan, drinks, clear plates, etc...) Lastly, it should be forewarned that the ventilation isn't the greatest, so you may exit smelling like BBQ.