Lighthouse Tofu & BBQ

Love this place! It reminds me of a true Korean restaurant, as you walk through the front doors into the restaurant you are hit in the face with the smell of spicy Korean soup! On a cold winter day, what could be better!

Came here twice and the food was great and service was fast. Their tofu is super silky and everything had great flavor – not to mention everything was boiling hot when it came out. They were also very accommodating when I told them I was vegetarian and wanted to substitute tofu in my bibimbap. I look forward to being a regular here!

3.5 stars
Came here for dinner with a pretty big group of relatives who were all Korean. Thank God I have a Korean wife. This is our go to spot for Sundubu which is a Korean tofu soup dish. Unfortunately, their other items are hit or miss.
The Food:
The highlight here is definitely the Sundubu. My favorite is always the spicy oyster sundubu which comes with a generous portion of oysters. They also don’t hold back on their spicy level which is always awesome! We also ordered some kalbi and kimichi pancakes but these tasted less than stellar. The kalbi was too oily and sweet, and the kimchi pancake was way too soggy. To be fair, I’ve had the kimchi pancake here many times before and it has always been pretty good.
The Service:
The waitstaff here speaks both Korean and English; however, you will get better service if you speak Korean. On our visit this time, the kimchi pancake wasn’t up to par and they comped it, which was a nice gesture.
Overall:
Pretty authentic place; however, some items aren’t great. On food alone, Lighthouse gets 3.5 stars; however, because of how they didn’t end up charging for items they felt were not up to standard, Lighthouse earns 4 stars from me on Unilocal’s system.

Such an average place. I was nothing special or to write home about. I’d only go here if my friends were trying to meet up and wanted to go here, I’d never suggest this place. I’ve been to way better SDB houses that I occasionally crave, but this place is definitely not one of them.

Lighthouse Tofu
Their specialties are obviously soondooboo. They have many types, including seafood, beef, kimchi, mushroom, pork, etc. my personal favorite is beef.
But I think the best from this place is the dol sot bibimbab. I have yet to find another place that can top this place. Yumyum!
Another good one is the galbi and the pancake. the potato pancake is my fav, it’s crispy and chewy!
Unfortunately, it’s not perfect. the food is a little expensive so I don’t go here all the time. but nevertheless, you can depend on the food!

To begin, I’m not very well versed in Korean cuisine, only once having Korean BBQ.
I ordered the seafood tofu soup which comes out boiling hot, literally, and at this point you crack a fresh egg in and stir it around. The egg cooks in the steaming broth. It took my soup a long time to cool down to an eatable temperature but it was delicious.
I loved all the appetizers that came out pickled zucchini, kimchi, bean sprouts with sesame oil… SO DELICIOUS. If you eat it all, they will keep refilling. We also ordered a seafood pancake which was out of this world!
A very fun new experience with spicy, delicious food! I wish they would have filled up our water glasses more often but I think that may have had to do with our odd location in the restaurant, we were tucked in a corner.

We are regulars at the Centreville and Annandale locations in Va so decided to try this location while we were in Md.
Love the Va locations as the soon doo boo, fresh kimchi and cucumber kimchi are all absolutely delicious. The kids love their Kalbi… My oldest son’s favorite Kalbi. Never a bad meal at the Va locations… however, the Ellicott City location is a different story. Kimchi is not the freshly made version and the soon doo boo is just not up to par. It was on the watery side and just didn’t have the same flavor as the VA locations. Surprising that there is such a big difference… It was so bad, I can only speculate that the main Chef was not working b/​c it was New Year’s Day???
My mother-​in-​law lives right down the street from here and when my wife suggested we go here she told us it wasn’t any good. We didn’t believe her b/​c we like the VA locations so much. Now we fully understand… I will not return to this location.

If you’re looking for solid tofu stews, this is the place to go. I know that other Korean restaurants may serve sundubu/​soondubu on their menus, but this place focuses specifically on the tofu. The tofu they use is softer than most and broken up into large chunks, which I enjoy. I’ve gone to some places where the tofu is pre-​cut cubes or overly broken into tiny particles and neither experience was satisfying. Each stew comes with a raw egg that you crack into the bowl yourself. You can also request different levels of heat to your stew, from «white» to «spicy spicy,» whereas general Korean restaurants have one standard heat. The service here is also great. The people here are generally friendly and even refill your side dishes without you having to ask.

The best Korean food I’ve had since I left Hawaii– and maybe even better than what I had in Hawaii!
We were seated right away, by a very friendly waitress. After we ordered, the banchan were brought out– everything seemed home made, and was delicious! When we devoured the first round of assorted kimchi, they brought out even more. Considering that the banchan is my favourite part of a Korean meal, I was immediately a happy customer!
My party and I shared a kimchi pancake as a starter, and it came out sizzling. The flavours were amazing, and honestly, I could have eaten the whole thing (if only I didn’t have those dang family members to share with, boo.).
The dishes were served with hot barley tea and cold water, but I think assorted soft drinks were available as well, if that’s more your thing.
For my entrée, I chose the vegetable and tofu soup. It was served with a fresh egg, which you crack into the stew when it’s served. For some reason I thought that just the soup (which is more like a hearty stew) would not be enough, but trust me, I was so full! I was struggling to finish the stew (but forced myself because it was that good). I got the medium spice level, which was just right! For reference, I like spicy things and have a high tolerance for spice, but also like to taste the flavours. There are lower and higher levels of spice you can request to your own taste.
It was a little expensive all together, for a party of four… but honestly, it was all so good I didn’t mind. I would come again in a heart beat if I could afford it, haha!

Yum yum!!! First off, I want to apologize to the restaurant for consuming so much of their gochujang sauce (I think that’s what it’s called). But I can’t help it! Omg, it is so good. And I put it on all the little plates of pickled veggies, kimchi, in the soup, and the rice and mixed everything together in with my bulgogi. So much deliciousness altogether it’s almost unreal.
I was very pleasantly surprised how fast our food came out. My friend and I ordered bibimbap and bulgogi, respectively, so hers took a teeny bit longer than mine, but it wasn’t a noticeable difference. My friend and I had a lot to catch up on, so we didn’t realize that we were attracting some stares to exit the restaurant, even though there were only a few other people eating. We just felt so happy and full — so full in fact that I had to take some of my meal home. This place definitely provided us an delicious meal for a great price, and for that, I’ll happily return!

A few visits was enough for us. The service is confused and the food is mediocre. We found it less than clean.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a comprehensive tofu menu. I didn’t get an BBQ here, but when a menu is that focused around a single dish, I think that you should really considering coming here for the tofu! This review is really only based around the tofu dishes. As a kbbq place, it didn’t look like the best place for that. There weren’t any exhaust fans for BBQ, really.
Instead, we just ordered lots of different tofu soups! Our table ordered 5 tofu dishes and they were DELICIOUS. There were a few side dishes that came out, including steamed eggs and we ordered kimichi pancakes on the side. The soybean tofu soup was really delicious, I had the seafood beef tofu soup which had just the right proportion of seafood to beef … I had a sip of the kimchi tofu soup which I totally regret not ordering.
All of the tofu dishes were so pipping hot, the service was so quick. This is a really wonderful place to go to on a cold winter night.

Meh. I’ve been here twice. Both times when the wait at Honey Pig was too long. The kalbi is good and the spicy pork is decent. The customer service is blah. My mom is Korean and she didn’t really care for this place either. They don’t serve alcohol, but they have alcoholic beverages on the menu. They let you bring in alcohol from the liquor store nearby, though. All in all, just okay.

I come here all the time almost every week when weather is cold! Nothing like hot delicious and spiccyy korean soup that’ll warm you back up from the core!
Their specialty is of course Tofu but they offer many other delicious entrees than just Tofu soup. I especially like their seafood pancake, spicy pork, galBi is always good. I always find though that even though I may order lunch/​dinner tofu, by the time the entrée comes out I’m already full from spicy radish cold soup and (usually) two other appetizers (i lovvve to snack! Can’t help it!!)
So I usually end up only eating half bowl of tofu soup and as they turn your hot stone bowl of rice into porridge, I take that home as well and there is my next meal!
I always choose the mushroom tofu. They put shiitake mushroom and it doesn’t taste too thin or flimsy. Can’t wait to go back here soon!

Mediocre Korean food at most. The location is a little difficult to find as well. It’s next to the Boston Market in the corner.
Difficult to call the servers attention.
Side Dishes — Kimchi, Kongnammul, Spicy Cucumbers, Daikon.
Beef Bulgogi — Dry, barely any flavor. Skip this at all costs.
Mushroom Soondubu — Was flavorful, with the combo it’s pretty small.
Short Ribs — This was the best dish here. The marinade was really good but you don’t get too many pieces.

Just to start off — this is my first Unilocal review so hopefully people find it helpful! So I went to Lighthouse Tofu & BBQ for dinner for Mother’s Day and the food was incredible. This place is famous for their soon doo boo, which is a Korean tofu soup. They have lots of different options (kimchi, seafood, beef, vegetable, etc) and you can adjust the spiciness to your liking. I got the mushroom soon doo boo with mild spiciness. I have a low tolerance for spicy food so mild was perfect for me. My mother, who eats spicy food all the time, got medium, which she said was pretty spicy even for her.
That being said the tofu soup was delicious — when they bring the soup out for you it’s extremely hot and is bubbling like crazy. That’s when you crack the raw egg inside and watch it cook inside the stone pot! So cool! Don’t miss the bowl like my brother did.
The soup was a mix of tangy and savory with a tinge of spicy — and the texture of the tofu was so soft and delicate, it felt like it just melted in your mouth.
We also got the seafood pancake, vegetable pancake, fried dumplings and some bulgogi and galbi (krn BBQ) which was all very tasty! The service was great — all of our food was delivered quickly and they gave us lots of banchan (complimentary side dishes), which I personally like better than the complimentary bread that you get at most American restaurants. They were something fresh and light to eat before the main food came out (and you get free refills).
I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who loves Korean food — even if you have never had it before, I feel like this is a unique dining experience that everyone should try!

Bit Goeul Soondooboo, otherwise known as Lighthouse Tofu, is known for their tofu soup. It comes in different varieties (mushroom, seafood & beef, seafood, kimchi beef, oyster, beef & pork, soy bean, and vegetable), and you can customize the spiciness level. They also offer LA galbi, bulgogi, nak ji gook soo (noodles with octopus), pajuhns (Korean-​style pancakes), and lunch/​dinner combo meals. We usually come here for a family gathering, and I really do prefer this place over than the one in Annandale. I just think their soondooboo just taste better, as it’s not watered down as the one in VA. First, the banchans come out with a bowl of cold kimchi soup (that is filled with well-​fermented slices of kimchi and a slice of jalapeño; it is pretty refreshing). They also prepare nooruhngjee (burnt rice) for you, where they scrape out all the steamed rice, set them into individual steel rice bowls for you (to eat with your soondooboo that comes out later), and the rice that are stuck to the big clay pot, barley water is then poured into — this turns into the ‘burnt rice soup’ that you can consume either before or after your meal. For the soondooboos, I usually stick with the Kimchi soondooboo, and this comes in a piping clay bowl, all bubbling — when they bring it out, crack the egg in, so that it can ‘cook’ at such a high temperature. I usually dump my rice into the soondooboo pot and just chow down. We also got the LA galbi, and while they are marinated well, they aren’t so tender, 3 ribs come out, so just keep that in mind. Service was friendly, but extremely MIA, as you really need to hunt down the servers for refills and the check. The place definitely gets packed, and there is a shared lot for your car that is shared by the plaza.
+cold kimchi soup (spicy dongchimi)
+Kimchi soondooboo
+MIA service T_​_​_​_​T
+located around to your left of Tous les Jours
+lot for your car

Light house tofu has authentic soonduboo (Korean soft tofu soup). The tofu in soonduboos are much softer than the typical tofu many are used to.
You have the option of ordering your personal level of spiciness and protein. I love the seafood option with the mild spicy level.
Also order the seafood pancake. It’s a thin traditional Korean pancake loaded with seafood. The pancake is cooked in a lot of oil so it is oily. But that’s how I like it. The pancake has a crisp and crispy outer layer.
I do have to say that I have had better soonduboo before. But I grew up eating this as a child, so I may be biased in some way.
As far as the wallpaper they use, I hate it.
The servers wear a hanbok (a traditional Korean dress) and it’s so beautiful. I love the idea of them wearing a hanbok to serve the food.

Love their food. The banchan are wonderful and of all the Korean spots around, this place has some of the best service. The servers are always pleasant. The vibe is open and warm. And of course the food is always the star. They just rolled out a new lunch combination special: Korean grilled Mackerel (Go Deung Uh) OR Korean grilled Croaker fish (Jo GI Gui) PLUS choice of mushroom/​beef Soon Du Boo. Mackerel is $ 13.99 and Croaker is $ 14.99 at lunch. Add $ 4 for dinner portions.
Today I am tried the Pork Belly Grill + Soon Du Boo lunch special for $ 14.99 and the food was beautifully seasoned, hot and filling. I’m glad I came here on this windy and rainy Tuesday.

So excited to have been turned into this place, though I’m an idiot and didn’t try the dish they are most known for. I LOVED the pork belly dish I had, and the never ending side dishes, but now I have to go back for the soup. Can not wait to come back again!!!
Edit: SAY YES TO THE TEA! It’s brown rice tea served hot in a glass and it’s amazing!