Pao Town

My first visit to Pao Town for lunch. Service was friendly and fast. Had the Teri Chicken which came with a slice of grilled pineapple. It was prepared perfectly and delicious. I will totally come back.

I’m a bit confused by many of the negative reviews…
First of all, I wouldn’t really call the vibe hipster… maybe Miami neo-​hipster… but not actually hipster. If this place were in Willliamsburg or Oakland, people wouldn’t be all «whoa, hipster.» Trendy, perhaps. Nevertheless… to the food.
I was quite impressed. I did not experience anything being «oversauced.» In fact, I found that they used much less sauce than most Asian Fusion places in this town.
I will agree that the prices are a bit too high.
I had the Beef Chow Fun and the Brussels Sprouts.
Beef Chow Fun
It was very good. Very good. The noodles were soft and juicy, yet firm and elastic. The meat was tender and flavorful… to the point where I almost asked what they did differently from all the other joints.
The downside, though, is it had that aftertaste… that lingering sting… that you can sometimes get with certain kinds of Asian dishes… I don’t know if it was MSG, too much salt, or maybe I’m mildly allergic to the sauce… but it probably lost them a star.
The Brussels Sprouts were also very good. Brussels Sprouts seem to be the new it-​side dish — Sakaya Kitchen, Swine (AWESOME Brussels sprouts) and every other trendy spot are trying to put their spin on Brussels sprouts. Their Brussels Sprouts we solid. Not the best I’ve had… possibly not better than the competition, but they were good. Lightly sauced, a little sweet, a little salty, a light touch of chili, lightly fried (although arguably not enough), and good to go.
It was a lot of food, took half home and fed it to the wife. She liked the Brussels Sprouts… didn’t touch the Beef Chow Fun… mostly because she’s a vegetarian.
The food was flavorful, good and worth a return trip. I am probably being more critical in the review than warranted, but, you know… whatever.

I discovered Pao Town by accident and decided to give a try. I ordered the Bibimap for dinner. The waiter brought out my order quickly, but I can tell the bibimap was prepared before I made the order (btw, it look much better on the website than in person, they definitely use Photoshop!!) It’s not fresh made out of the kitchen by the cook. I was disappointed because after reading many good comments from other customers on Unilocal… My expectation for this restaurant was higher than the service I received.

This was my first time here. We went in the evening; Drew had been before for lunch. Based on his musings and other reviews, I would recommend coming for dinner. It wasn’t packed and I feel this allowed them to pay more care to our food.
The first time Dres had the pork belly buns he felt they were «off»; this time, however, they were tasty and very full of flavor and not dry, Same with the buns which had that sticky you expect!
We went on a Wednesday night so it was 50 cent wing night. The wings were cooked well, fried, and had good spice but I could have used more spice to a dry wing.
The best dish wee the Brussels sprouts. I love Brussels sprouts, and these had the perfect crunch and the chili sauce has a great kick to it.
They also have a great craft beer selection, and I think the fountain soda used reAl sugar in the Coca Cola products. Which is ALWAYS tips in my book!
Bottom line: visit at night and you won’t be disappointed.

I hate to be a debbie downer in this instance but it really is not a 4-​star or 5-​star place. I think people like it because it has this hipster/​trendy look and because the food is just drowned in sauce (and some people like that??)… otherwise, it’s a fast food joint with a fancy menu.
It was extremely disappointing. My favorite thing on the menu was the salad only because it was fresh and the dressing was decent. The meals, though, were so oversauced that it really just made everything mushy instead of flavorful. Also, the tofu was awful. It tasted like they pulled it straight out the package.
Also, it is SO.EXPENSIVE. Now, I know that compared to real restaurants it is not expensive. But this is fast food. DO NOT kid yourself into thinking otherwise. And for fast food, the prices are outrageous.
We both had stomach aches afterward. If you eat fast food often and want to hang out in a «cool» place then you will probably like this just fine. But for a real meal and one that has fresh flavor you might want to try somewhere else.

Don’t let the hipster asian coffee house look fool you, this is a wonderful addition to Coral Gables which is (and has been for years) pretty boring. It’s okay to scoff at the look, this joint totally looks like Shake Shack and Moloko Coffee went on a date with Takashi Miike and he’s trying to tone down the creepiness.
«Lets put a Korean soda fountain to make it look all cool and different cause we’re hip!»
… In all honesty it was a pleasant surprise to be served so quickly and have a half decent little bun with pork belly.
I realized that i was eating the equivalent of a McRib if only it were made out of real food items and actually good. Pretty damned good, braised in 5 spice and cooked perfectly– good.
The Soft shell crab Po’boy was undoubtedly well done, crunchy, tasty, effortless and extra delicious with Sriracha.
For a quick in and out early evening snack i say yesss, do it.
I hear Tuesday there’s happy hour and these guys have live music??? surprise.
I’ll try it again! Bacon fried rice sounds delicious.

I love Pao Town.
I always order the KALBI RIBS BOWL. Damn near always anyways. (recently, I heard they changed the meat they use for this, so it may not be good at the moment; when they fix this problem, I’ll be ordering it again!)
TOGARASHI FRIES are a must try. You can share with friends, wasabi ketchup on the side, what?!! Yum!
PORK BUNS. delicious.
FRIED RICE WITH BACON? Yes, please.
Thursday nights are trivia nights. What’s up to my team, TEAM BODIE!
Staff is friendly. Hey Morgan (gm). What’s good Q?

Wow service with a smile and the bonus of Food Coma!
The prices are seriously hard to compete with and the food heck ya! I have tried to replicate the brussel sprouts at home but I never come close to the ones here because they must put a special secret fair dust on them to make them so tasty!
Enjoy the drink selection.
Great place to grab a quick bite or a fab place to hang for a few hours while catching up with friends.

Great food, nice ambience, and all the staff were so helpful and nice. Will definitely go again.

You may be shocked walking into Pao Town. Entering, you will immediately be reminded of a minimalist coffee house. There is a large chalkboard in the back wall featuring all the items on the menu (plus the specials), grays and blues abound and looking around reveals uncovered A/​C pipes and flat screens playing music videos from an Asian country, most likely Korea since this is a restaurant of Korean heritage. The look, or the feel of a coffee house on steroids, is unimportant to Pao Town regardless, because no coffee, or Korean coffee for that matter, is found here.
In regards to the food, I cannot stop making the comparison between Pao Town and the two Moons in front of the UM campus in Coral Gables. The food here is really good but it seems that the sauces are very similar to the other places I mentioned. Both restaurants exploit the acidity in the rice vinegar to perfection, to the point where most dishes almost taste like a sweet and sour concoction at all times. I would let you decide if that is good or bad, but reviewing Pao Town could be easily a review for that other place, sort of a double whammy of reviews.
Let me concentrate on Pao Town. In my opinion, the star of the show is the pineapple fried rice, which is $ 5 a pop and is the best deal around. First of all, it is rice, second, it tastes really good and has fruit in it, and third, is a lot. Of course it doesn’t come with fries and a drink, but to be able to enjoy a nice bowl of fresh pineapple fried rice in the Gables is priceless, simply because there is no good fried rice in the Gables, at least in my book. By the way, the short rib item on the menu is not ribs, it is short ribs with a little meat on it. If you like short rib, go for it. Also, the sticky ribs are not ribs either, although there may be a bone in there. Just a warning, and maybe something worth of the movie «Lost in Translation».
Service here is very casual and imitates Johnny Rockets, where you receive a number that links you and your order, and that is taken to the table after you pay at the counter. The menu may seem limited at Pao Town, but it is not. There is even a tofu curry available. But more importantly, pretty much every item on the menu, including the appetizers, is very generous and filling. Plus all the main items that come with a side of white rice can be upgraded to a fried rice.
Overall Pao Town is a very good addition to the Gables, since the Korean food market is non existent. Add to that the fact that you are able to pair your food with craft beer and that alone could drag you in, or maybe the fact that beer is sold in pitchers, which comes handy if you are playing on a Trivia Thursday with a group. Yeah, this place is pretty cool, minus the coffee.

Pao Town is slowly inching towards Unilocal 5 star status for me. However, they are still falling a little bit short.
I came here today for lunch and saw they had a new item menu – a Chinese claypot with Chinese sausage (sweet chorizo).
Described as: «Cooked to order with seasoned white rice, fresh spinach, egg, & a chili plum sauce (please allow 25 minutes)», I ordered one to go and went to pick it up after 25 minutes.
It was done on time, and I headed back to work. I was impressed; the bag was warm and packaged in an aluminum container to keep it at a good temperature, which is a huge plus. I opened the bag and saw my meal. It was way better than the soggy hot dog I had last time. However, I had two complaints. 1) The meat and spinach to rice ratio was very uneven. They give you three cups of rice, not even a whole chorizo, with some spinach (just guesstimating, but I feel the ratio could be better). 2) I ordered it with brown rice, and the rice in the aluminum container was white, and they package the brown rice in a box. I think they could have easily made this meal with the brown rice. The quality of the meal was all right. The chorizo was savory, and the white rice was sweet. Overall, it was delicious.
Note: I know the pictures on the website look like the dish has a lot of chorizo, but looks can be deceiving, but you can make that decision for yourself.
I would like to give them 3.5 stars, 1.5 points knocked down due to the ratio of ingredients. However, since you can’t give .5 scores, I will give them a 3.
They are slowly inching towards a better score each time I go. Mind you, I have only gone twice so far.

Don’t let the low prices fool you, quality AND quantity are abundant here. They have recently added more items to the menu too, which is great although on my last visit I had to stick to my all time faves: bacon fried rice, brussel sprouts and the curry tofu. Yum!!!
I don’t know what they do to the brussel sprouts here that make them like crack cocaine, but even as I type my mouth is salivating just thinking about them. There is a crispiness on the outside but still perfectly tender and sweet on the inside, and the sauce adds such a wonderful tang that just sends your palate on overdrive when devouring these little morsels of goodness.
If you have room after indulging on the salty items, I highly recommend the cookie. It’s some insane mix of ingredients that the owner came up with after having something similar in NYC. Wash it down with some sake or beer and you are good to go!

We came to this place after reading how much my friends liked it. We walked in and were excited to see a band setting up to play live music. The Heat game was also on half of the TVs, the other half was playing Asian music videos. Good so far, so we go to order and go to the counter. We order the pork buns, Togarashi fries and the Sashimi poke salad. The menu board lists a February special on beer with a complicated name and a great price, $ 1 beer or $ 5 pitcher. We asked the cashier about it and he answers our multiple questions. We’re all in on the beer so we order a pitcher at which point homeboy apologizes and says the tap is broken! Why not tell us before going through the trouble of explaining it?!
So the food comes and the pork buns are small and tasty which we expected, the fries were an enormous portion and they were good, crispy and spicy. My salad is okay with the tuna portion being pretty big but the lettuce was just plain boring romaine. This got old really quick and I ended up just eating the tuna off the top.
Side notes: The restaurant has nothing on the table so if you order anything that requires a condiment you better ask for it as soon as you get your food because you won’t see a waiter of anyone that can help you get what you need (you pay in advance so no one is working for tips) I had to ask for lemon twice and wait for it almost until the end of the meal. With the big fries, they give you a very small side of wasabi ketchup and asking for more was a headache as I had to stand up and wait at the counter for someone to finally give it to me
I mentioned the TVs, we sat on a table, me facing the music vids, George facing the game. Well, halfway through dinner they switched the TVs so we had to move seats to keep watching! Weird…
Going out sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t. This time was definitely a loss…

I wanted to like this place, but I’d only give it a 2.5. The extra .5 is for open mic night. I’m a musician, and I love supporting local performers, so that’s cool.
Everything on the menu sounds delicious, but nothing was quite right. My boyfriend and I ordered the Flattened Chicken Salad, Brussels Sprouts, Pork Belly Buns, and the Kalbi Short Rib.
The pork buns were underwhelming. Every ingredient was a step below the Pork Buns at Gigi, so it just tasted «not as good». The chicken in the salad tasted like it came out of a freezer bag of chicken strips that you buy at Publix. The salad itself was fine and plenty, it could have used a more dressing. However, the brussels sprouts, were drenched in sweet chili sauce, and way too soggy. And the Short Rib was about 75% fat, 20% bone, and 5% meat.
Despite all this, we decided to give it another shot. This time, I got the Bacon Fried Rice. I love fried rice, and well, I love bacon. It seemed like a safe bet. Still, it was disappointing. It wasn’t necessarily bacon, but more like little pieces of ham or pork or sausage. What ever it was completely over powered the subtly of fried rice. And I love fried rice. I couldn’t finish it. My boyfriend got the pork buns again. (I tried to tell him not to…)
The only thing that might bring me back here is the fact that it’s open later than most restaurants in the Gables. …and dollar beers.

Just updating my review to let my fellow Unilocalers know that the sliders are AMAZING.
that is all :)

What a Great Addition to Coral Gables.
This Asian Fusion restaurant Kicks Ass with their Short Ribs, Shrimp Scampi, Pork belly Buns, and Chicken Wings. The restaurant is All new inside. Plenty of seating inside as well as outside. Nice modern décor with a Asian twist.
No Waiter Service so you order t the counter get a number and they bring it to you.
The fountain soda machine is in Korean. Really Kewl. The staff and owner are very nice and friendly.
Give them a Try!

Pork Buns Gangnam Style! OK, I had to throw in a gratuitous and politically incorrect shoutout at least once to this new restaurant in the Gables. But an Asian Fusion place is showing K Pop videos on the screen — including one that featured the girlfriend of said celeb — and has Korean logos on its soda machines and glasses, hey it’s a compliment! The modern, industrial décor is a fun architectural contrast to Mediteranean-​style Coral Gables.
Since I’m a creature of habit with food, I ordered both the pork buns and pineapple marinated teriyaki fried rice. The pork belly in the buns was juicy, a little sweet but with a delicious spicy heat that snuck up on ya. I like it! Naneun Joh-​a!
Next up was the Teri Chicken — chopped up pieces of chicken breast with notes of pineapple and a sweet teriyaki sauce on it. Served along with sticky white rice, it was garnished with a grilled pineapple slice. It’s always good to find a new casual place in the Gables for Asian cuisine. Certainly worth the drive, which I look forward to doing!

I like this restaurant a lot. It’s fast casual and has dim lighting. Good place to hang out. Not overly crowded. The food was hit or miss but the hits were so good that I will definitely be back to try out some other selections.
Great were the brussel sprouts, the pork belly buns and the home made cookies. Okay were the pork belly buns. Horrible was the bacon fried rice. It had so much raw ginger or garlic that it was almost inedible. I saw a Unilocal post that complained about the rice having no flavor. Maybe the chef read it and overcorrected. Next time I will go with the regular steamed rice. The owner was very welcoming. This place is well worth a try.

A casual, modern annex to the old school Canton restaurant in Coral Gables, Pao Town is a very welcome addition to the ‘hood, from the same people that bring you Sushi Maki.
Perfect for a casual night out, and, even in its first weeks, it seems like Coral Gables agrees, as Pao Town is much more crowded than the larger, aging Canton. (Latter which looks like a place Chairman Mao might send a delegation for a People’s Republic of China banquet.)
Serving Asian street food, not far off from the space Sakaya Kitchen staked out, standouts include Kalbi short ribs, pao wings, and a cool «Peking Dog.» A recent udon soup with roasted chicken was a satisfying lunch.
Draft beer selections are nice, too, as are the buns. If you happen to be there for lunch on Tuesdays, Pao Town offers $ 1 draft brews, a nice treat.
Standing out more for its local originality and ability to please even the little ones, Pao Town is sure to become a regular spot for me.

Visited Pao Town with a couple friends on their first weekend open. Amazing atmosphere with a play on different elements for décor. Rustic, modern, open concept with Asian videos playing. Comparable to Sakaya Kitchen and Momofuku in NY but closer to home :-)
What I LOVE:
1. Brussels sprouts– So good that I fill the bowl with rice as well Just to take in that amazingly awesome sauce. In my opinion, BETTER than Sakaya, and i do enjoy Sakaya’s dish but this is a whole other level.
2. The short ribs– fiancé inhaled this dish with little to share. But what I tasted was savory and left me wishing I grabbed the dish first.
3. Pork belly Baos– I love me some Baos! I’ve tried many from NY to SF to our 305, but Pao Town’s are just straight to the point without the added oils and sauces. Clean in taste And in your hands, i am All in for this dish.
4. Kimchi Dog– I do Not like hot dogs, but tried this one before my friends force fed me. They were right. Amazing taste, not too crazy with flavors all over the place but a balance of kimchi and avocado. Plus I don’t feel like I need to fast after the meal and that’s always a Pro!
Overall, I will always venture to Pao Town when in the Gables area… or drive out when craving the Brussels sprouts! :-)