BCD Tofu House

I really do love BCD compared to other tofu joints. It kills me how everyone comes here but it’s truly for a reason.
Always get the kalbi tofu combo. Their kalbi is the best in terms of seasoning and paired with the tofu soup, is a killer combo. The only sad part about this location is that their tofu serving is skimpy. Like, really skimpy. Other BCDs really top on the tofu. but I can’t complain because I was already stuffed at the end of my meal. Extra would have been nice because I’m accustomed to it, but it isn’t necessary to do the job. What makes up for the tofu is the service. I was surprised that they offer such exceptional service at a BCD… but maybe that’s because I busted out the Korean… or maybe because we went during off-​peak hours and they had enough time to kill. Never have I been asked if I need more side dishes or anything else at any other location, so that was a nice gesture.
The side dishes are always spot on. They only offer the main things I really need/​want in any Korean restaurant.

24 hours! Rarely are there 24 hour restaurants that are dine-​in… It was actually a full house at around 11:30PM, which was quite surprising
* Located in Diamond Jamboree
Service:
— Friendly and fast service! She seemed happy to be there and our food was serviced promptly!
Food:
Original Beef
— The «plain» flavor actually had a ton of flavor. I am not one to touch mild, medium, spicy, danger… To my surprise, plain was good! They should rename it «no spice» instead of «plain» hahah
Overall:
Great for late night!

3.5 stars… but I’ll round it up because LATE NIGHT DRUNCHIES !! and because they deal with (and are super nice/​patient) with my drunkass and many other drunkasses who come here. &I like to practice my kdrama/​kpop-​learned-​korean here (x
I usually order the SOON TOFU soup, medium spice! (~$ 11) I alternate from Original (beef), Assorted (beef, shrimp, clams), and Dumpling. Comes with REFILLABLE Korean side dishes/​banchan YUMM — it’s usually mashed potatoes (fav), fried fish (bones are edible but I do try my best to not eat them…), kimchi, fish cakes (fav), spicy cucumber, and squid thing. Also given a bowl of rice & a raw egg for your soup! (tip: make sure to crack and add the egg ASAP)
Sometimes I’ll get the Hot Stone Bibimbap (~$ 15) — mixed rice with vegetables and beef. Love adding extra sauce and burning my rice a bit :3
In general, super filling meal but beware lots of sodium: x If you have a big appetite or want to share, get the soon tofu & main dish combo (mini soup and I would recommend Galbi or Bulgogi for main dish)
There’s also a service button to click on each table. They give big water jugs for large parties or if you ask! Place is GOOD FOR LARGE GROUPS, due to the easy combining of tables. Also EASY TO SPLIT CHECK, just go up to the cashier and pay for your part. Sometimes it does get super busy (especially late night and there’s less servers), so slower service.
Take-​out: sometimes a miss, & I feel the tofu soup isn’t as good (bland), also you get only a few side dishes.
But servers are always so nice and hard working, kamsahamnida! *thank you in Korean (:

Fantastic food. Just always crowded so expect a wait for your table (or, put your name in, then maybe walk over to Lollicup and have a little liquid appetizer).
Once you’re seated, they are very attentive. Probably in an effort to get a better turn around at tables, but you certainly don’t feel rushed. They hit that sweet spot perfectly.
Here’s my one complaint though: I don’t like things super spicy. I ordered the bibmibap (which was amazing) but they only had spicy sauce. When I asked if they had anything more mild, I was told no. I then had to Frankenstein my own sauce made up of soy sauce, their hot sauce, & a few other ingredients. It wasn’t that big of an issue, but I was just surprised that they didn’t offer any other heat options. Even my wife thought the sauce was hot and she loves spicy!

Korean food is new to me. I’m trying new things whenever I can. BCD is located in a center with several other restaurants. They were open so I gave them a try.
I ordered the teriyaki chicken and green tea. The chicken came with a pot of rice, a ton of small sides, and I got dumpling soup. You choose the level of spice for the soup I went with danger.
The soup had great flavor but i love spice and this was rather mild. I was served piping hot so I let it cool a bit before eating. I sampled the side of squid but didn’t care for it that much. Others may love it, but I don’t eat bait. I don’t know what one of the sides was but it tasted pretty good. The small fish was also very good but you can zoom on the picture and see how sad he looks. The chicken was so good. I wish I had more. I didn’t get a picture of the chicken.
This meal and beverage was less than $ 20. That is a great deal for all the food you get. I will be back for sure. They had a video playing of a spicy tofu eating contest. If they use the danger sauce I will have to enter next year. A friend of mine who also loves spice won the contest. I hope we can both compete next time.

Parking: It’s a bit of a pain when you come any time before 10 or 11pm… but I usually come here after 12am when parking lot is a bit more empty.
Service: Only time I come here is after a night of heavy drinking. So pretty much you can tell that it’s gonna be jam packed with other drunks hahaha service can be slow to REALLY slow… thank goodness there’s banchan to fill up on.
Food: It’s alright. It’s tofu soup, I can’t see any way tofu tasting super bomb. However, after a night of drinking, it does hit the right spot. It’s one of the very few places that’s open late around the area and not so bad to eat here if you don

I came here with a friend since we haven’t been here in a while. It was kinda late, but this place is open 24 hours which was convenient. I always liked that this place was always open, there’s not that many places in OC that are. It took us a while to get a seat, it was pretty crowded for a Wednesday night. We were seated within about fifteen minutes or so.
When I looked at their menu I noticed that the prices have gone up a couple bucks since my last visit, but it’s still reasonably cheap. We ordered water to drink and I just got my usual original soon tofu with beef. The banchan came first. Their kimchi has a lot more of a kick than I remember, a lot of chili paste on it, but that potato salad always help to cool down my mouth. I also tried their fish cakes for the first time. I’m not a big fan of fish cakes, but these were marinated in a slightly sweet and salty sauce so I actually liked it. Next came the fried fish, it’s always pretty crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. We also got our rice. They put water in the clay pot with the leftover toasted rice. That part is always my fav, sometimes they take it away, but this time they left it. Saved that for the end.
Before we could finish all that we got our soon tofu and egg. The tofu was super hot so I mixed in the egg and waited for it to cool down. It took a while to cool down, but I still had to finish my fish and there was always that endless banchan to nibble on. Once it finally cooled down enough I dug in. The soon tofu was great, the tofu was soft and silky in the spicy broth with thin strips of tender beef. I ate all of it. I then moved on to that toasted rice in the clay pot. It reminds me of my Mom’s rice soup so I really love it, toasty crunchy rice. It was an awesome meal, can’t believe I haven’t come here in so long.
Service was alright, it took a while for us to get the bill, but other than that it was good. I’m happy I came back, I really love their food.

This place is located in Diamond Jamboree so parking is definitely going to be tough to find sometimes! I came with a group of 9 people on a rainy Wednesday night, and we were promptly seated.
I ordered the original beef soon tofu soup with medium spice. You get a lot of variety of side dishes including a fish (which I did not eat because I don’t like seafood). You also get a bowl of rice! My soup came out and it was HOT! So make sure you crack in your egg ASAP so it can cook. The soup was pretty good, and the tofu was soft. The meat to tofu ratio was way off. I literally had a couple of pieces of meat floating around in there. I didn’t mind though because I love tofu. I actually expected the soup to be more flavorful, but it wasn’t too bad because it wasn’t too salty or anything like that.
Also, don’t expect great service. They’re a little rude, but as an Asian, I understand that most Asian restaurants don’t offer the best service. It’s okay… as long as I get my food, that’s all the matters to me. The lady was kind enough to split our bill into 9 separate payments though when we asked!
I can see why this would be an ideal meal when it’s cold or after a long night out because it is definitely warming and comforting! I think BCD is great for college students because it’s close to UCI, but I’m pretty sure you can find a place with more flavorful soon tofu soups! But as a college student for now, I will settle for this place :)

BCD Tofu House has your Soon fix ready in Irvine.
Preface:
I was in the mood for Korean soup and came across BCD Tofu House quickly on my Unilocal iOS application and noticed that they have become an emerging trend I have noticed over the course of the last few month: The reviews were literally all over the place. Even the Elites could not largely agree if BCD deserves the 1 or 5 star treatment. The aggregate score was 4 stars with 2000+ reviews so ended up walking in with absolutely no direction, which is kind of the whole point of Unilocal for me. Get it together Unilocal.
Sorry — on to the review.
BCD Tofu House specializes in Soon Tofu — a traditional soup — and anchors their menu around stone pots that show up to your table boiling with the Soon of your choice. Naturally each meal begins with an assortment of Banchan and BCD’s side dish game is quite strong. The Kimchi, Spicy Squid, Spicy Cucumbers and Fried Croaker were all better than good and had me excited for the main event which ended up being the Beef Kimchi Soon Tofu and Bulgogi.
The steamed Kimchi Dumpling appetizer is a must for any Kimchi lover — or even a Kimchi liker. They are very flavorful and play along with the Banchan perfectly. I could eat an order of these on my own.
BCD’s Beef Kimchi Soon Tofu is a work of art on a cold, raining night or anytime you are feeling under the weather. Be careful, these pots come out spitting fire on a Nuclear scale. Once it is cool enough to enjoy, you are in for a treat. If you are a Hot & Sour soup fan, meet your god. The Tofu literally sucks up the fiery and tangy flavor of Kimchi and has a velvety, smooth mouthfeel that is nothing less than enchanting. Chunks of Beef break things up nicely and adds even more depth to a wonderful soup. Did I almost forget the egg thrown into the mix to act as a savory/​umami binder? Yes, this was the realness. I will most certainly be back for another babbling pot of that Kimchi Soon Tofu. Quickly.
Along with the combination I ordered came a sincere Bulgogi marinated sliced Rib Eye. The pile was plenty to share and although it doesn’t compare to say… Gen or Shik Do Rak but as a side for a bowl of Soon it did it’s job admirably.
This place is pretty damn good.
Perhaps I went on a great night. Maybe I was just really fiending for Korean soup… Whatever the case, BCD was a 4 star experience for this Unilocaler and you can count on my return for another Beef Kimchi Soon Tofu. You really ought to check it out for yourself.

TL;DR Get the galbi and assorted tofu soup combo if you can’t decide on what to get. It was magical. But literally everything on the menu looks tempting when you’re hungry so I’m pretty sure you can’t go wrong here.
Upon leaving this place the only thing I could think was, WHY IS THERE NO 24 HOUR KOREAN RESTAURANT IN SACRAMENTO. WHY. I can’t believe people in Irvine and LA are able to get delicious tofu soup literally WHENEVER they want. Super jealous and will be back again anytime I’m in Irvine!
I came in around 5:30PM on a Sunday night with three other people — there was a wait, but it was only around 20 minutes total!
Food:
We ordered two beef bulgogis, two galbis, one kimchi dumpling order, one seafood tofu soup, and three assorted tofu soups. The bulgogi was pretty much flavorless — I wouldn’t recommend it, the meat to onion ratio was as overloaded as it could have been. That’s no bueno. I thought that the kimchi dumplings were a little too oily for my taste but they’re fried so it’s kind of expected, Flavor wise I think they were okay.
The galbi was cooked to perfection. I thought there wasn’t enough on my plate but by the end I was super full and I had to take a few pieces home instead of finishing. It fell off the bone so deliciously and the marinade was amazing. The tofu soup is a little watery but good, no one really told us we were supposed to crack the eggs inside the soup so uh, that might have attributed to the watery consistency — we cracked them when the steam started to rise a little less, I think if we had done it earlier it might have been a little more of a creamy consistency. You can choose to get spicy or mild soup, I chose mild and it had just enough of a kick for me personally.
They also come out in the beginning with sides — the potato salad is really good as is the fish! I enjoyed all the sides and the refills came pretty quickly too! Along with the sides came rice from a large stone pot that they cram into individual metal pots at your table!
If I had to recommend anything — the galbi and assorted tofu soup were the winners for me! In total those cost (~$ 23) — I ordered the combo galbi/​tofu soup.
Service:
So this place is pretty spacious and there’s a ton of people inside — one girl has a cart full of sides to refill and servers run back and forth to bring you your food. It was just okay service though, I felt like our server was a bit slow to give us our menus and help us out when we asked questions about the menu items.
The girl with the cart doing refills was super nice though and kept refilling the sides — I don’t think we ever had an empty side the entire meal.
I think I’d like to come when it’s less busy to see how the service really is but this visit it was just okay, nothing too bad, but not amazing.
Ambiance:
It’s a little like a cafeteria to me — there are tables crammed up against each other and you can definitely hear the conversations of either parties flocking your table. But it’s really clean inside — like super clean — and there’s a lot of happy people inside eating their tofu soup.
Overall, I’m coming back because it’s open late and that galbi left an impression on me!

We sat, we ordered, we ate, we conquered.
The sides didn’t stop refilling and my pitcher of water was consistently filled. No complaints here! The Galbi was off the bone delicious and pork bulgogi wasn’t too salty. Tofu soup was just the right amount of spicy!
I’ve loved you drunk off my butt, and now sober. Great job !!

Andrés, es el mejor servidor de el condado de OC! La mejor comida koreana del California!