Candle Party

Omg, everything was delicious! Garlic chicken (stuffed with garlic and fried) was super tasty, budae chigae (a soup) phenomenal! Free corn cheese and gizzards with purchases. Definitely go with someone familiar with korean or speaks korean. Overall a great place!

I got the kimchi fried rice here.
It was not very good.
There were little bits of chicken and as I chewed them I thought «something is not right».
And I got REALLY sick :/​
The place is pretty small — I can see wait times getting really long. It seems family owned and I am always rooting for the little guy but that’s not enough to overcome crappy fried rice.

Candle party reminds me strongly of ‘place of memories’, except a little more ghetto. It is quite dark inside and it seems like comfort food is the specialty.
[fried chicken]
As people stated, fried chicken is indeed the specialty. A small chicken (almost seems like a hen to me), is butterflied in half, and I suspect is baked first then fried. The reason I say this is after we ordered it, we got the chicken in 5 minutes which was amazingly fast.
The chicken reminded me much of chinese style duck. The thigh portion was delicious with crispy skin. And the white meat was dry. It was served with cabbage with sauce. Overall dark meat good, white meat bad (but still delicious).
[marinated fried chicken]
I’m not sure which korean this it is supposed to be, but it seems to be Dakgangjeong or some variant.
Chicken is battered and deep fried and sauced. It is pretty good, but it is a little soggy after a couple minutes. I would have preferred a crispier batter.
[kimchi fried rice]
Rice fried with kimchi with an egg on top. The rice was way too wet and the whole dish was kinda goupy.
[corn and cheese]
Pretty much what it is. A dish with corn (seems like from the can), and cheese.
Overall I would definitely stick with the fried chicken. I would prefer to go to place of memories, but candle party is worth checking out.

So both times that I have been to LA, I landed, drove around a bit, and ended up here late at night. The surrounding area led me to be suspicious of good Korean food. The ambiance made me think more bar setting than good food. But my friends suggested this place.
The original intent was to drink and be merry. I was merry but I was also hungry. We got there and ordered the Hite and some pineapple soju. I am not a fan of sweeter drinks but the soju was easy to consume.
However, despite the drinks, my favorite part of this place is the food. I’ve had the duk buk gi, spicy seafood soup, kim chi fried rice, cheesy corn, the fried chicken, and some other things but let’s just say the Hite took over at that point. The duk buk gi is fantastic. I personally don’t know how such a simple combination of ingredients turns out so incredible but it was. The spicy seafood soup easily warmed my body up. The seafood was fresh and the spice was just right. The fried chicken was super crisp without being battered and comes with a thousand island like sauce that is very unique. I think my favorite has to be the kim chi fried rice, unparalleled by all the other restaurants that serve this dish.
The service is super friendly so we had no problems ordering despite not knowing Korean. I definitely love coming here with an empty stomach and will continue to do so when I return to LA.

The crispy chicken is the ish!!! Please come here and check it out. Great service! I love this place! Speakeasy type of place.

Korean joint located in a very non-​korean area.
Get the Tong Dak (fried chicken) they stuff the meat with whole garlic cloves, gangsta!
I recommend the OB German Hops Lager beer over the inferior Hite.
Duk Bokki (spicy rice cakes) wasn’t anything extraordinary.
After 2 entrée’s and 2 pitchers of beer the waitress came back asking us what we would like for «service» No you dirty minded people, take that grin off your face, it just something extra to eat or drink for free. We went with the Jippo… a dried cuttlefish kind of like a seafood jerky.
I liked that you actually have to go outside to smoke…

Okay, this review might be a teensy bit biased since my mom is friends with the lady who runs this place… But that being said, I genuinely love the chicken here.
It’s your basic late night tong-​dak (deep fried chicken) and beer place. I never get any alcohol, but the chicken is always delicious. Crispy skin, hot and juicy inside… I usually inhale one whole chicken by myself, much to my mother’s chagrin.
The menu is entirely in Korean, so I would suggest coming here with a yellow interpreter in tow. But be prepared to get some glances. (I’ve never felt the atmosphere to be hostile though, so I wouldn’t worry about the looky-​loos.) I believe most of the waitresses that work here speak English as well.
The patrons range from young asian punks to old Korean dudes who just want some late night grub. They play k-​pop a bit loudly in the background, but you can still hear conversations without having to shout.
The décor is a little dark and drab, but what do you expect from a late night joint? The kitchen is spanking clean and that counts for a whole lot more with me than some ripped upholstery.
The one thing I don’t like about coming here is that there are some shady looking bums who like to smoke in front of the place and every once in a while they harass the customers going in/​out. Damn you shady bums! If you were less shady, and more bummy, I’d probably share my chicken with you! As it is, I just run to my car and lock the doors as fast as I can. Apparently, I’m chicken… Haha, see what I did there? Chicken? Chicken place? It’s all coming together now…

Wooohoo! First! What can I say about this place. Not in the greatest of locations, but I take weekly trips here. ttong dakk and a bucket of beer! Absolute bliss