Last week, we revisited Friend’s House Korean, a restaurant we haven’t been back to in years.
The interior looked just like how we remembered it from old visits: a homey feel with various knickknacks decorating the booths.
After we ordered, we were presented with 8 complimentary banchan dishes. I wish they weren’t all vegetable based ones. A seafood one would have been nice.
Dolsot Bibimbap
Mr. K ordered the hot stone pot. The rice got a very nice crunchy crust which I really enjoyed. I did feel though, that even with the rest of the ingredients mixed in, it was a little bland.
Crab Tofu Stew
I ordered the crab broth tofu stew. Inside were large squares of tofu, a concentrated crab broth with small crab pieces, and some onions and mushrooms. I enjoyed the crab broth which had a pretty rich flavor, but wished for some more ingredients in the stew as it really felt more like a soup rather than a full meal.
Overall, we had a decent meal here. I feel like the food quality has deteriorated a little over the years and service was a bit inattentive despite it being a slow weeknight.
Friend’s House Korean
4647 Convoy St
Ste 101A
San Diego, CA 92111
I was just there again last week. Did you notice they have NO a/c (or maybe they do but don’t turn it on). Me and another customer had to share one fan between the two of us while eating our spicy food 🙁
The fish cake banchan was ok – a bit salty but oh well – at least it was non-vege right.
I thought about trying out that crab tofu soup but it just seemed unbearable to do so in the stuffy hot restaurant (on the summer visits that I’ve been).
on the night we came, it was actually the first day after the break of the heat wave so it wasn’t too warm and I didn’t notice about the ac. I didn’t really like most of the banchan dishes though and we ended up not even finishing them. The crab soup would definitely be too much for me on a hot day!
Not to be nitpicky but the Banchan does include a seafood dish- there’s second dish from the right in the top row is actually fish cakes. And it seems like you’re missing the spicy sauce that goes in the bibimbap. Perhaps that is why you found it bland..
you are right! i completely forgot about the fish cakes. though I still wish maybe there was one more. but yes, there is seafood in the mix.