Doobu

Tried something new. It’s been years since the last time I had Korean cuisine. I ordered the vegetable tofu soup which came with a handful of side dishes like pickled lotus root, seaweed, kimchi, rice and so forth. The interesting part of my meal was cracking a raw egg into my boiling soup. Everything tasted great. Atmosphere and service were spot on. Will be back again.

If there’s a menu item in the restaurant name, then that’s what you should stick to ordering.
I really like this place. I’ve been here over 5 times, and I’ve been satisfied 90% of the time. Why? Because those 90% of the time, I ordered soondubu. The price is just right, the banchan is plentiful and fresh, and it’s just delicious. They have various spice levels, though I think they tend to hold back a little.
What about the 10%? Well, for my last visit, my boyfriend and I went for galbi + soondubu combo and crispy chicken (I thought it was Korean Fried Chicken, but it wasn’t :(). The dumpling soondubu was just as good as the other soondubus I’ve had. Unfortunately, the galbi and chicken fell short. The galbi was dry, not juicy or tender at all. A little overcooked. There wasn’t a lot of sauce or flavor on it either. The chicken was okay, and tasted like if you combined popcorn chicken with hot wings.
This place does soondubu SO WELL, so I advise you to stick to that. The other items, eh. I think they should narrow down their menu to allow for more focus on certain items. I’ll update this review whenever I go again :)

Doobu looks the part.
It has a nice atmosphere, and genuinely nice service. As a matter of fact there are no complaints about the service whatsoever.
As for the food, it isn’t bad, but don’t expect to get your money’s worth whatsoever.
We ordered the galbi+dumpling soup combo, and a half order of the chicken wings.
First things first, the fishcake and seaweed banchan were really good. That is kinda where it ends for me.
Galbi: The galbi was decently cooked, it was a little bit on the red side and tough for the S/​O. The problem for me was that it really didn’t seem like it was marinated/​sweet enough. You could definitely taste the seasoning, but it just didn’t stick The galbi is eh/​OK, this one didn’t leave me salivating. I LOVE GALBI EVEN GHETTO GALBII, so it’s a bit of a disappointment.
Dumpling Soup: The soup was ok, I’m not a big fan of tofu soup anyways, but she definitely is. She liked the soup PASS
Wings: The chicken wings honestly tasted like your average salt & pepper wings doused with some korean style sauce. In her words «It’s more like BBQ wings.» They kinda sucked, and they aren’t double fried as korean-​style usually indicates. SKIP
Also, our straw had a manufacturing defect and it isn’t there fault, but given that the straw was unwrapped, you’d think they noticed.
Honestly though, what’s a good atmospheric restaurant if the food is meh and costs an arm and a leg? I’ve had better galbi at cheap places that cost $ 10 less than it would here.
This place is meh.

I would give no stars if there was this option. Came here for dinner, nothing special. Their food is just okay. The service is horrible. First, they kept rushing us to order, then they weren’t happy about two people sharing a huge combination meal. Second, they don’t really speak English, but that’s not a huge problem. We asked for what she said and she repeated it impatiently. Third, they gave us check to rush us out while we were still eating and there were literally NO ONE in the restaurant but us. Moreover, THEY CHARGE TIPS BEFORE WE EVEN GOT THE RECEIPT TO WRITE TIPS AND TOTAL ON. The check was our meal price plus tax and we gave our card without any doubt. And when we got our card and the receipt back, we were charged 18% of tips ALREADY! Like really??? I’m never coming again.

I’ve never posted any review but I really need to post one for this place from how bad the service I got. There are many Korean restaurants in sf that are way better than here. Food is nothing special, pricy from what you get. Kimchi is a little sour. They force you to pay 20% tips which is totally not acceptable to me. I don’t mind paying tips when I do get serviced. But there is no service here. Wonder what the lady owner would do if I don’t pay the tips she wanted me to. Keep away from this place!

Food (³⁄₅): I got the dumpling soondobu with extra broccoli, which came with a side of purple rice. A little bit on the watery side, but maybe my fault for asking for mild haha. Pretty satisfying overall.
My bf got the hote stone beef bibimbap, and he thought it was okay — not as many toppings as other places, and the stone pot wasn’t hot enough to crisp up the rice on the bottom.
Banchan was hit or miss — some dishes were great, other dishes weren’t as fresh. Free refills, though!
Service (3.5÷5): The server was kinda rude when I asked her to add extra vegetables to the soondobu, but other than that service was fine. We got refills of water and banchan when we asked for them!
Value (³⁄₅): A little bit pricey considering the ingredients and portion size. I think for 2 of us it was almost $ 40 total.
Not the best Korean place in the area, but pretty solid for tofu soups!

The spicy rice cake consisted mostly of onions and vegetables. I was like… Where’s the rice cake???
And they also do not have white steam rice only brown rice. Quite disappointing because bulgogi and Galbi tastes better with white rice

This restaurant has very nice options for Korean food in Japantown. Their meal selections, portions, and prices are very reasonable. We were here on Wednesday night for dinner, it was recommended by a coworker and we were able to make a reservation for a group of five ahead of time, which is very nice for Japantown since we did not have to wait to get seated for a nice meal. I do agree with other Unilocalers that this place is probably underrated and is a hidden gem, since there are so many Japanese and Korean food options in this area. It was not busy at all on Wednesday night, I think only two or three other tables were occupied. Our waitress was very friendly, helpful, and efficient. We ordered some drinks and they were served very quickly. We also tried a good variety of Korean dishes on the menu, and everyone enjoyed the food. I especially appreciated that they were very accommodating about customizing meals, since I have some food allergies, and some ingredients had to be taken out. I am glad we tried this restaurant, and will definitely be going back!

I’m writing a review for this new waitress there. My friend and I came into the restaurant very hungry to grab Korean food. I heard that this place was cheap and good so we decided to try it out. We then try to order alcohol and the waitress said my friend couldn’t. He was born on 1994. It’s 2016 right now. It’s legal to drink alcohol when you’re 21, but she called her boss and even her boss said my friend couldn’t. We then tried to explain to her that it’s legal to drink once we turn 21, but she kept saying no. We were all confused and ended up leaving the place. Maybe the boss thinks it’s illegal? Maybe he thought the legal age is 22? I have no idea. Either way that was a bad and confusing experience. For a place that sells alcohol they should get the correct information…

I agree one hundred percent with Linda. This place is underrated; it should be 4 ½ stars. I have eaten here many, many times with my wife and sometimes with out-​of-​town guests.
One caution however: Doo-​bu may go off the rails a little bit when it’s really crowded. It was jammed on a Monday, perhaps with tourists from a bus? Anyway, My bi bim bap was bi bim burnt, and this from a place that in our experience has always been delicious. It was a cold day out, and really cold in the restaurant. But I still love this place.

The food is barely ok but the price is over charged.
The worst thing is the owner lady is very rude at customers and also decided the tips for customer. Stay away

Probably the worst Korean food I’ve ever had and the service absolutely sucks too. That’s why they have low ratings. If you want good Korean food try some where else you won’t find anything worth trying here. BIG THUMBS DOWN!!!

Having tried lots of soondubu all over the bay area, this place is one of the best you can get in SF proper. Hidden gem lost in the crowd in Japantown, Doobu is amazing. The staff is minimalist but friendly and the prices are probably more than what some are used to for soondubu, but it’s good. Trust me. The tofu they use is so silky and just works with the soup, no matter what flavor you get. My favorite is mushroom. A likes the beef. You get the egg on the side, and stir it in when it comes – SO GOOD! They used to give you a little fried fish as an appetizer, but appear to have stopped. If you want some variety, we’ve had both the seafood pancake and the ddokbokgi, which isn’t über saucy (depends how you like it). Enjoy!

Underrated in my opinion — very good Korean food for San Francisco! It’s a little on the pricier side of what I’m used to. For 4 people food and alcohol with tax and tip came out to $ 130. Service was really friendly and attentive.
The menu was huge! The seafood Korean pancake (~$ 18) was one of my favorite items. It is a thinner crispier pancake than other places I’ve been to but it’s so delicious especially with the sweet salty sauce. The dumpling tofu soup ($ 11) was amazing! Note the spiciness levels are a bit high. Medium spice level was already really spicy for the people in my group that love spice and can handle it well.
The galbi was spot on. Very tender, flavorful and a reasonable serving size plate of ribs. The bibimbap was good but nothing out of the ordinary. Lastly the beef japchae (glass noodles) was delicious. I enjoyed every dish we tried!

YES and YES! Their ban chan is on point, service is friendly and quick. And I love their kim chi tofu and pork soup. It’s ON POINT!!! Always hits the spot. My korean gf showed me this place and it did not disappoint! I always get my soup spicy and it’s the perfect amount of spice.
Definitely better than my tofu house. =)

The food is pretty good. I had dor-​so bi-​bim-​bap (fried rice), garbi, sea food tofu soup.
Went on Saturday at 7:30 and was crowded.
Good service as well!

Korean food is hard to find in the city and this is one of the only korean tofu places I know that is not out in richmond or sunset. I think the prices here are higher than south bay or farther out, but the food is still decent. I ordered their galbi x tofu combo which came out to $ 30 post tip & tax. I must’ve been extremely hungry, but I ate all of it and wanted more.
The staff is super nice because we miscommunicated about the order and they made me a whole new tofu soup. I’d come here again, next time I want korean food but don’t want to travel far distances.

The atmosphere was the first thing i noticed here. It wasn’t too stuffy nor did it have dim lighting like other places do. It was a pretty welcoming environment and the servers were very attrntive and friendly as well. We came on a thursday late afternoon and it didn’t get too busy until after we were about to leave.
The thing i like most about this place is the tofu soup combos that are priced pretty reasonably. The seafood tofu soup was nothing better than my tofu house my still pretty good. However their salmon teriyaki was delightfully made and was the perfect portion. I adding this because some places the salmon can be tasteless or overcookedand they give you the smallest piece ever.
Overall, its a great place to satisfy korean food cravings after exploring Japantown in sf :)

Came during lunch time on a Friday. It wasn’t too packed.
The lunch special is a pretty good deal. For about $ 10 you get tofu soup, salad with tofu, sides of kimchi, eggplant salad, brown rice, and your choice of meat. Its a really good deal.
The food tasted pretty good, the tofu soup was decent and had a slight kick to it. The salad was actually very good, especially the fried tofu they put on top of it. The meat was pretty fresh too. My GF had the short ribs, and it wasn’t too salty. It lacked a little flavor, but the meat was actually pretty tender. I had the bulogi and mine was really flavorful. Each tofu soup has a shrimp in it, I don’t recommend eating it.
This is a good place to grab lunch for pretty cheap. You get a lot of different sides things on the lunch special and food came out very fast and service was good. If I worked in the area I would probably be a regular.

After my afternoon shopping at Nijiya Market and various shops at the Japantown «mall» I needed lunch.
I stopped in to this little restaurant and had a seat in a booth.
After I ordered the server returned with a plate that held a still sizzling and popping litte fried whole fish. I suspect it was yellow croaker.
Then the banchan and my purple rice came. Oh I was so happy!
.and then the pancake and jjigae. I was in seafood heaven.
I probably looked insane with a table full of food all to myself and anyone who knows me knows how little I actually eat.
They were happy to feed me and I was more than delighted to enjoy their hospitality.
The only bad thing that they lose a star? It was so danged hot and they did not have air conditioning or even a fan so I was sweating from heat and sweating from the super spicy jjigae I ordered.
Aside from that I had a lovely lunch that easily could have fed 4 people at a price that reflected only one diner.
Thank you Doobu. I ate very well!
I will return… we both know I have been here many, many times before :)