Shin Chon

This was my first time here and I will be back. Great service, food was fresh. I’ve been to Korean BBQ in NYC and I can’t believe I am going to say this «this one is my favorite. »

Somewhat expensive but definitely worth it for what you get! Get a big group going and make a reservation. Love the turtle grill!

Excellent Korean restaurant, with very good service. We had a party of eight at dinner last night, and consumed what any other family would have considered an embarrassing volume of food and soju/​beer.
Not us, we dispatched five bottles of Chumchurrum soju, six large bottles of Hite beer, two pancake appetizers, five orders of beef and pork BBQ, three orders of steamed egg soufflé (ghaerran jhim, a rare dish to find these days), and three orders of dwenjahng chigae (fermented soy bean stew). The bhan chan (side dishes) were varied and delicious, although the kimchi could have been more «ripe» (fermented). We had the seafood scallion pancake (haemool pah jeon) and the kimchi pancake (kimchi jeon) as appetizers. Both were crispy, perfectly cooked.
As other reviewers have mentioned, the BBQ dishes were served with lettuce and rice «leaves» and their accompaniment of sliced raw garlic and green chilies with seasoned dwenjhang (sahmjhang). These are perfect for the BBQ meats.
Our only suggestion for improvement would be to have more of the marinated short ribs (kahlbi) and less of the un-​marinated, sliced beef.
The quality of the dwenjhang chigae, which is the basic test of the quality of a Korean restaurant overall, was excellent. More meat would have been nice, but the flavor was right on target.
Shin Chon has made me a fan. The waitress even asked for my ID when I ordered the liquor. Much as I would like to think she was complimenting me on my youthful good looks, I think she was diplomatically trying to find out how old my 22 year old nephew is. Still, she scored points. LOL
Try this restaurant, you will like it.

Fantastic food… Worth the wait. Do call ahead and save time at the door waiting. There is a wait always!

Just stopped back in since we are in town this weekend. We really miss Korean BBQ there is just nothing close to us in Tampa that would even compare. Again our meal was flawless! Rice wrap after lettuce wrap after rice wrap?! Beef and pork. I also forgot how delicious their dumplings are!
Their sushi looks really good as well. However the wife and I can never stray from our normal. #2 dinner combo! Might hit this place up one more time before we leave. Easily in my top 5 favorite places to eat!

How could you NOT like shin chon?! Way better than honey pig. Their quality of meat is better & their side dishes are more plentiful. I’ve been there numerous times with my family & we never leave unsatisfied.
It can get busy (especially on weekends) but as long as it’s not a holiday, you can call ahead & make a reservation. We typically do that just to ensure we’ll get a table right away or within minutes of walking in.
I get that service can be «slow» at times. But in a lot of korean bbq places, you literally have to stop a waitress as she’s walking by & just let her know what you want (it won’t be seen as rude), even if it’s just to get a refill (a lot of koreans only drink water before & after their meal so they won’t automatically fill your drink). They even have bells on all their tables you can just press & someone will be at your table.

Disclaimer: Yup, I’m a food snob.
When I first moved here from NYC the last thing I expected was great Korean food. I knew there was a Korean community in Ellicott but I hadn’t really explored. Then the bf took me to supposedly the best KBBQ spot and I was super excited. It was a bust. A few months later, I found Shin Chin and was like let’s try it!
It was awesome and I really felt like I was back in NYC again. The meat looked way fresher (was that grayish red color at Honey Pig that turned me off A LOT), banchan plentiful, waitstaff pretty attentive even when busy (except the one time that one lady must have been on the rag). Someone mentioned they do not do Spicy Pork Belly but um it’s on their menu so idk what are they talking about? It also feels more intimate and is less loud than Honey Pig, and feels way more like a restaurant than the street market feel of Honey Pig. I would not mind the street feel of Honey Pig if the price wasn’t as close to Shin Chon as it is. Yes, I Shin Chon is slightly more pricey but imho totally worth it. Now the bf and I are here once every 2~3 weeks YAHS! In fact, I kinda wanna go tonight for dinner… Quick FYI — there is a two order minimum for BBQ.
Skip Honey Pig and come to Shin Chon!

Best korean bbq in the Ellicott City area. It’s definitely the priciest, but you get what you pay for. I come here for the beef and not the pork. And the combos (plus you get the rice cake wraps too) are the best bang for your buck. The service is wonderful and I love that the servers always help grill the meat with smile, no matter how busy they are. If you go on a weekend night, expect a long wait.

Definitely a popular place so making reservations wouldn’t be a bad idea. We arrived to a 30 – 45 min wait for a table with the turtle grill. So we opted not to wait and was seated right away at a regular table.
We ordered the seafood Pajun and steamed dumplings to start. Both were pretty good and they serve large portions here. You get your typical Korean side dishes that are given to everyone (cold noodles, kimchi, seaweed, etc).
I had the bibimbap with short ribs and the BF had a spicy seafood dish served with noodles, sorry I forget the name. But it was amazing as well. They gave us a free dessert drink that tasted like sherbet at the end.
We def want to come back and try the grill or the hot pot! Andrew Zimmern did a special on this place in 2013 so that gives it some merit I suppose. The price wasn’t bad either for the quality and amount of food we got! I think it’s one of our new fav spots!

Great Korean food! Decent service. There might be a slight language barrier, so just relax and enjoy yourself. The bonchon is wonderful and fresh… and when you keep devouring it, just ask for more and it’ll be refilled.

This Korean BBQ place was awesome all the meats were fresh and melted in your mouth. The service was ok, but the food is the star of the show. Highly Recommend to try this place out if you are in the area.

This is my favorite Korean BBQ place in town. I’ve been going to this restaurant for at least a decade, and have never been disappointed with their food or their service (knock on wood). The ladies are nice and friendly. They frequently check up on you to make sure you’re not burning your food, and that you have everything you need.
Make sure to come hungry, so you can devour the meat and the generous banchan that comes with it. Also, they don’t allow multiple cards for one table, so come with cash.

One star less. Came back on a busy night. Food and service was good and consistent. However… We were seated at a table near the entrance (which was fine) where there was a low divider between us and people coming in and waiting. People were leaning on the ledge of the divider… Some were watching us eat… Some were checking to see if we were done… One coughed. Made our experience uncomfortable Wish they had a screen or a higher divider.

4.0 stars
JUST ORDER THE BBQ! I’ve been here multiple times for their Korean BBQ, and it’s pretty good. Although it’s on par with mediocre KBBQ places in other cities, like LA/​SF/​NY, Shin Chon fills my KBBQ cravings in Baltimore. On a previous trip though, I made the mistake of ordering some of their non-​BBQ dishes, which turned out to be way sub-​par. Never again…
The Food:
My wife and I ordered the Seang Galbi ($ 31.95, unmarinated beef short rib) and the So Hyeo ($ 21.95, unmarinated beef tongue). Both were great. The Seang Galbi was a nice cut with good marbling. The tongue was tender and cleaned properly (removing the cartilage underneath). A minimum of 2 orders are required to have the KBBQ at your table, and single order were cooked in the kitchen. All the standard small dishes were present, along with complementary steamed egg and Doenjang Jjigae (a Korean spicy miso soup with zucchini). At the end of the meal, a small yogurt drink (similar to Yakult) was provided too. Previously, I’ve ordered other dishes from the kitchen and have been disappointed.
The Service:
The waitresses were friendly and helped to grill our orders at our table. One slight hiccup was when we mentioned the milk/​cream used to make a creamed potato side salad might have gone sour, we were told that it was «simply impossible» rather than that they would check if the batch was still good.
Overall:
Shin Chon is my go to place for the KBBQ fix. It’s perfectly fine for Baltimore standards. Slight dings in rating because of their non-​BBQ food, but it still gets 4 stars from me.

Korean BBQ.
I liked it, although I miss Ye-​Chon a great deal. The service was brisk but brusque. Food was good but not great.
Prices were reasonable.

My boyfriend and I met with his two college buddies here for dinner. They made a reservation for 7pm. We still waited nearly 20 minutes before seated. Our party of 6 included 2 children so they were getting ansy but well-​behaved.
After we were seated, we it took awhile before they came over to take over to take our order. Once placed it was fine. they brought out the smaller appetizers and heated the grill which was shaped like a turtle shell. There is an exhaust that came down which was great to take out the heat and steam. love it!
The foot was placed on the grill by the waitstaff. You don’t get one waiter. they just kind of float around. It took them awhile to come back to move the meats around and some were getting way overcooked.
one of the waitstaff was not so nice. didn’t even acknowledge us. just came to flip the foods and walks off. when she had to bring something to the table, she just sort of pushes it on the table and walk away.
We ordered 2 sets of for 2 since there were 4 adults and two very young kids. it was enough for us. they came with the aforementioned appetizers, rice for all, and 2 bowls of soup and 2 bowls of steam egg. the food was pretty good. Apparently they used to offer more food but apparently people were not finishing it so they scaled it back. darn it! i was still craving for meats! :)
at the end of the meal they serve these previously frozen little bottles of yogurts.
So i really want to give this place a 4.5 star but it’s very hard to do so because of the service staff one of that really ruined what could have been a much better experience. i’d definitely would want to come back here again though.

Based on the fantastic reviews that this place has received and the fact that there aren’t any authentic Korean BBQ spots in DC proper, my family and I decided to make the 35 mile drive to Shin Shon. Of course it would be pouring raining on the day we decided to make our visit, but I had faith that braving the distance and the weather would be well worth it. And I was correct to an extent; it would definitely have to be sunny the next time though.
We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and were promptly seated. The first thing I noticed was that Shin Shon uses a gas cooktop instead of charcoal. I know this a personal preference but for me, it was a bit of a let down. The menu is extensive, offering a korean bbq but also various entrees and a full sushi menu. We opted to stick with the bbq options and ordered the beef short ribs, sliced beef, and shrimp.
Sadly, we did not get the turtle (is there only one? Because my face dropped when I saw it chilling at another table when we first walked in). However, all the beef was seasoned well and every side dish was nice and flavorful. The shrimp left a little to be desired but it wasn’t a complete miss. My one gripe though is the fact that they constantly change out the grilling plate (basically after each meat option). While some are perfectly okay with this, I like to stick to one grill plate, letting the juices of the first meat option season the subsequent options. Again, this is just a personal preference though.
Overall, Shin Shon was a great experience and definitely great food. If you so happen to live in the DC area like I do, then it is definitely worth the drive. Try it out for yourself and see.

Food: 3 stars.
Service: 2 stars.
I feel bad giving this place 2 stars because they were apologetic when service was lacking, but the lapses in service were so frequent and glaringly obvious that I can’t give them the third star.
I was really excited to finally eat at a Korean restaurant after being deprived of any semblance of authentic asian food in East Baltimore. Upon arriving, I was encouraged by the fact that the waitresses were all Korean. We were seated promptly and ordered off the lunch menu.
I got the Al-​tang, which is a spicy Korean stew with tofu, vegetables, and fish eggs. I thought that the portion was on the slightly smaller end for the price I paid, and the fish eggs were on the smaller end. I’ve had al-​tang a few times back at home (Southern California), and portions/​quality were significantly better. That being said, flavors were fine.
The side dishes were average — they didn’t stand out, but not bad either. Onto the service:
1. One person in our party ordered Diet Coke… 3 times (we had to remind the waitress at LEAST 3 times before it finally came). Not acceptable, considering the restaurant was almost empty.
2. They mixed up my order with another dish, but they were apologetic and fixed their mistake. My food thus came out 10 minutes later than everyone else’s.
3. One person in my party never got their food. I guess the order didn’t go in because it went missing. One waitress said it was on its way, so we waited for a while before asking the other waitress… who said that the order never went in.
I could tell they felt bad, and they brought out free dumplings to make up for the service. But still, not acceptable.
In terms of input from other members of my party, one person said the fish in their soup was on the drier side, and another person said that their stone bowl fish egg rice dish was disappointing.
Again, in terms of authenticity this place isn’t bad. But my experience here was far from stellar.

Yes to everything about Shin Chon. This is the best Korean BBQ in the Route 40 area. I had been looking for a really good place for a while up there… and made the mistake of going to that dump, Honey Pig, that shouldn’t even be allowed to call itself Korean food…
Shin Chon was great… great and kind servers, great seafood pancake and spicy squid, great bonchon. The whole place really set a solid standard for the area as far as Korean BBQ goes.
I wish I had more to say about it… but I’ve now been to something like 30+ Korean BBQ places, and this is hands down the only good one in the Baltimore area.
If you are in the DC area, Yechon really sets the standard for Korean, but Shin Chon is not to be missed.

Let me point out that I eat a lot of Korean food. I also grew up eating authentic Korean food. This is a very authentic Korean restaurant.
Pro:
1.) they offer a great spread of ban chan. Ban chan are side dishes offered to the customers for free (typically). The ban chan range from Kimchi (pickled/​fermented cabbage). Many people get weird when they hear the word fermented, but fermented really is a form of pickling. Kimchi is a spicy side dish which is a staple in all Korean meals. Shin Chon’s kimchi is not that great. Besides that, shin chon offers a great range of ban chans, which they make almost daily.
2.) their Korean now stations are proactive in terms of grease fire safety.
Cons: (this list will be pretty long)
1.) in regards to Korean BBQ, the prices are on the more expensive end considering the poor quality of their meat options. They also give you smaller portions.
2.) poor service!
3.) did I mention poor service?!
4.) the servers were in the back eating the whole time… And I understand workers need to eat, but they were eating the whole time… Just taking their time and if we needed anything we would have to wait until it was convenient for the workers.
5.) their Korean soup options have a muddy flavor, it’s not as fresh as I’m used to eating.
Overall, it’s a great place to eat for the communal bbq experience, but you can find a better restaurant, in the area, to do so. (For example, honey pig)