Heung Bu Nae

It is a little depressing to come into a restaurant that is 95% empty especially when it is a family-​owned business. I quickly lost sympathy when I experienced the service. Apparently the phone call was more important than taking my food order which was pretty unprofessional considering there’s another person watching dramas on TV. They also speak very little English so it takes a little time to order. The guy seemed like he did not even know his own menu when taking my order.
The food on the other hand was better than I thought. Awesome seafood pancake that was chewy and crispy. Noodles and sides were done well too. This place is better than the one across the street but Arang is still best bet on Fillmore.

this place is just AWFUL with a capital A! I had a feeling it was going to be but I just couldn’t resist the $ 5 lunch special. I mean $ 5 for soup, rice, a few sides is a good deal, but frankly I would not pay the $ 5 again.
First thing, the women running the cashier (I think she’s the owner but not sure) is a little off. Here’s how our conversation went:
Her: $ 5.50 for soondubu jigae lunch special.
Me: Yep. (then I paid).
Her (literally 3 min after): What did u order again?
Me: Soondubu jigae.
Her: Oh right. right. That’s $ 5.50.
Me: Uh… I just paid.
Her: Oh right.
Then 5 min later.
Her: Did you pay?
Me (staring at her like she’s crazy.): Yeah, I already paid.
Her: Oh ok. Sometimes too much (pointing to her mind).
Then another 5 min later:
Her: what did you order?
another 2 min later
Her: You paid right?
WTF!!! All this and there was literally only one couple eating in the restaurant. No one else. AND get this… when I finally got my order to go… the jigae was COLD!!! Again WTF!!!
They need to sell their restaurant and maybe we can get a tong dak place in here or a Korean taco/​burrito place or something cux clearly they don’t care about their customers or food.

We struggled to find a place to eat tonight. With a group of 5, we had intentions of going to the Burger King on Fillmore. At 12am, they were closed (Damn you, BK!)
We walked down the street a little further and saw a sign for Korean BBQ. The neon sign glowed, «OPEN». We got in, and it seemed like just management was there at one table, and another group was there finishing up their meal. We sat down and got ready to be attended to.
Only one woman was there taking orders, serving up the dishes, being the cashier, and doing the busboy duties. Good thing it didn’t get busy. The pickles were fantastic. For 5 people, she brought out two sets. I particularly enjoyed the seaweed and egg omelet thingy. I ordered the Raw Beef Bibimbap and that was alright. It wasn’t fantastic for sure. I’ve only had Bibimbap once before and it seemed like the food was warmer when I ate it. The rice wasn’t hot enough to make this a hot meal.
My friend had the short ribs, and while the marinate was delicious, the short ribs weren’t really the 3-​bone flat piece short rib. It was more like chunks of beef. I thought that was pretty strange.
The other person ordered chicken gizzards which I didn’t want to try, while the other two ordered Spicy noodles (which were served cold). These were not that great as well. As my friend described it, «It tastes like noodles with spicy ketchup.»
The complimentary brown rice tea was amazing. It was nice and smooth going down, and a great way to make it feel like eating all this unhealthy food was getting cleansed.

Mmm… raw chicken. yes folks, they served me raw chicken (dak gui). i sent it back with the quickness when i saw that the chicken was still clucking… it was nice to get it back all burnt and crispy. btw, i’m being sarcastic here if you haven’t noticed.
why the 2 stars then? well, the banchun (side dishes) were actually quite alright… and the service, well, i have to give an extra star because this lady has known me since i was a baby. she used to work at my aunt’s restaurant… she was very apologetic for my food and had no problem sending it back to be cooked a little longer. only thing that bothered me was the fact that they still served me my original plate with my original rice… hm, can we say cross contamination? but i know how my people (koreans) are… extremely stingy about waste. still, it’s better to be safe than sorry and suffer through a foodborne illness.
4.99 daily specials… you can’t really go wrong with that. if you’re looking for cheap and fast, this is the place for you. if you’re looking for quality, go some place else!

It was late and I was craving Korean food. We were driving around and happen to see that their Open sign was still flashing so we decided to give it a shot. The place is pretty spacious inside and has some pretty décor. They were playing some asian music videos and there’s a black light that is constantly on around the ledge/​bar area.
We were greeted by a couple employees, we only saw the 2 employees there the entire time … and we were the only ones there to eat. We were served very quickly and the guy was very nice. Our food came out quick and we loved it. It was delicious and the side dishes were as well. (Although my bf didn’t care much for their side dishes.)
All-​in-​all the place is spacious and nice, the employees give great service, and the food was good. If I’m ever craving a late night bite for Korean then I’d probably come here again (since it closes so late) … but other then that I think the bf would rather stay away, so I probably won’t be making too many visits.

I like to change it up. Sometimes.
We decided to skip our usual Korean restaurant, Won Mi BBQ, to try out this spot. These two restos are literally across the street from each other. So, which one is better?
We were the only customers here after midnight on a Friday, so service was fast and came with a smile.
Ample banchan portions but you only get 8 dishes. Also, you’re given 1 cup of rice for two people! What the… Good thing we ordered Bibimbap, so I filled up from the crusted rice at the bottom of the stonepot.
My Man du Gook (dumpling soup) tasted as good as Won Mi’s broth, even though the dumpling wrapper here is slightly thicker, it’s still meaty inside.
The Dhak Bulgogi had chicken pieces that were too big and the onions were still RAW, even though it was sizzling away on the hot plate. It should’ve been pre-​cooked first.
I’m happy about the late night hours, Mon-​Thurs open til midnight and Fri-​Sat until 2am. Prices are $ 2 — $ 3 cheaper than our usual spot, but if you want more banchans and your OWN rice, go to Won Mi instead.

I recognize I probably have high standards for K-​food. And this review is a few years overdue, so thing may have changed, but this must be told.
It’s really unfortunate that the quality of such a large venue with a great location was so terribly disappointing. In efforts to recover from some bug, my friend kindly chauffeured me to get some K-​food. I eagerly ordered a sul-​lung-​tang (ox tail soup) to-​go and excitedly opened it up when I got home. To my shock, what I at first attributed to my tasteless palate turned out to be a «fraudulent» dish.
A suh-​lung-​tang is supposed to have a milky-​colored broth. But instead of using the proper ingredients and cooking process to create the milky broth, it turned out they’d mixed in flour to merely give it the proper «look».
I was so horrified and utterly disappointed that I can’t even think about going back or even trying its neighboring eateries.

I’ve only had good experiences here so far.
BBQ chicken is pretty good. I’m picky with my kimchee but the kimchee here is yummm. At least, to me.
Most dishes are big enough for at least 2 people, if not more.
Had no problem with service, on any occasion. Nice place over all, and i love being able to spazz as I watch music videos of my favorite kpop artists come on their flat screen tvs.

(See pic)
Came back a couple times and all I remembered was the dishes were a bit too spicy for me but still delicious.

As part of my semi-​quest to try as many Korean places as I can in the city (I LOVE Korean food!), finally ended up here after been I had been meaning to for the longest time. Unfortunately, the experience left me quite disappointed.
The service was average, but the food was pretty generic and mediocre. The kimchi fried rice was rather plain on top of being a bit oily. We also ordered their bulgogi and chicken BBQ dishes, and they were about average when compared to other restaurants. Also, if you order a BBQ meat dish, they will give you ONE bowl of rice regardless of how many people are at your table (we ended up with two meat plates, but still had to ask for an extra bowl of rice).
Sadly, despite their decent prices, there aren’t too many reasons to come back when there are so many comparably priced places that can do better.

Pretty good korean food. I ususally come here late night after having drinks around the neighborhood and coming here afterwards. I had the seafood pancake and the spicy seafood noodle soup. hot and yummy. The sides were not that great. Also the service was lacking and sucks.
But it doesnt really matter when you are hungry well after midnight. They open late too I think til like 2am
The menu has pictures to all the dishes. I dont remember any names.

This was my last meal I had on my San Francisco Trip. We wanted to go to Happy Shabu Shabu (AYE Shabu place) about 2 blocks away but it was closed!
This place wasn’t too bad… I had a Dolsot Bibimbap (bibimbap in stone pot to keep it SIZZZZZZLING) and it was pretty good :) They were pretty generous with the Pan chans and I always love that!
BUT… Kimchi Pancake was a bit soggy and the soondoobu and kimchi chiggae that my friends had didn’t look so good… I felt like it was a bit overpriced for a run-​down korean restaurant.
We ate around dinner time (on a monday night) but the place was very empty. It was an ok alternative since my dolsot bimbimbap wasn’t so bad, but I don’t think I would come here again. lol

This place really isn’t very good. Too bad, because everything about this place sounds makes it seem like it should be great:
a) The building is super-​cool.
b) The name is «Heung Bu Nae,» which, to people who don’t know Korean, just sounds like an incredibly unassuming generic Korean phrase, not some generic Korean obviously made for white people restaurant name like «Seoul House» or «Korea Garden.»
c) The décor is so tacky and ugly that they couldn’t possibly be trying to impress the hipsters.
d) $ 5.99 lunch specials!!!
But the food sucks. It’s not inedible (hence 2* instead of 1), it’s just so painfully boring and irritating. The sundofu is too damn small, Additionally, I could probably buy some random cut of fish or meat from Safeway and pop it in the toaster oven without any sort of seasoning and it would taste like the other stuff you get here. And the side dishes are as generic as everything else I’ve mentioned before as generic.

I’ve been here twice; the place is a lot more casual/​run-​down than most other Korean restaurants I have been to. Décor is a bit strange/​bare in comparison to other restaurants; you walk in and you’re not sure if you should seat yourself or wait to be seated. When I went to HBN yesterday by myself, one of the servers immediately assumed I was getting take-​out (?)…can’t a single young girl eat alone once in awhile? *shrug*
When I was seated, however, service was prompt. They took my order, had out the Korean appetizer dishes after a few minutes, and had my Dolsot Bibimpap to me a short while afterwards. I wasn’t able to thoroughly enjoy my meal as much as I had hoped to since I was sitting near a group of loud and rude Koreans… going on and on about something and not really seeming to notice that they were making a ruckus in the restaurant.
The bibimpap was good for the timebeing; the rice kept sizzling for a good five minutes after the dish was served. Didn’t really feel super satisfied eating here, though. They don’t even have a business card? At least I couldn’t find one… the servers were nice, but I think next time I want Korean food I’ll go elsewhere.
Oh, and P. S. They have their «Grand Opening» sign up still… and I do believe the restaurant has been opened for at least a year now. Maybe it’s time to take that flag down, huh?

I love the food at Heung Bu Nae, but the service is horrible. I have eaten at Heung Bu Nae 3 or 4 times in the last 12 months and while I always enjoy the food, the service sucks and the décor is ugly and tacky.
The architecture of the building is really great. It’s like loft space with exposed brick and high ceilings with beams. It’s a beautiful room, but the owners have added all kinds of really ugly and tacky things on the walls that you might find at an old lady’s garage sale. I say take that shit off the walls, please!
I have had strange encounters with the manager ladies who sit on the right side of the restaurant. Once my friend and I stood up because we wanted to sit somewhere else and these ladies interpreted that we had decided to leave and they practically threw us back in our seats. It was odd and probably was a cultural-​difference-​thing, but it felt very pushy. Too bad it takes forever to place your order, get good advice on food choices and then get the check.
That being said, I really do love the food here. They have an appetizer that (I think) is called, Tuk-​Bok-​Ki. It’s cylindrical rice cakes with potstickers, vegetables and a spicy/​sweet red sauce — YUMMY! I call it Korean gnocchi. It’s fantastic. I usually order a spicy pork (Daeji Bulgogi) and a spicy chicken dish (Bul-​Dak) too. This is the kind of place that I really need to have a Korean person to help me order since the wait staff is completely inept and I’m just a clueless white girl.
P. S. — I wish they had a menu with color photos of all the dishes like a lot of Asian restaurants do, that would really help. As it stands now, their menu has a few color photos but not all dishes are shown.

I have pretty high standards when it comes to korean food. Probably cuz I’m from LA and used to great and cheap bulgogi, kalbi, dol sot bibimbap and the like. The reason this place scored low despite fairly decent soon dul bul and dol sot bibimbap is because the one day I brought 8 people to the restaurant, they ran out of BEEF! How can a Korean restaurant run out of beef on a Sunday afternoon?!! We had chap chae with chicken instead. What is that?
The food is pretty authentic, service quick, and decently priced for SF and great for groups cuz there are LOTS of tables. but the out of stock on beef, I have to drop a star for that.

We had the Bibimbap and the BBQ chicken, and the dishes were pretty good. The soup that came before our meal was tasty– it had some bits of beef, daikon, and green onion in a clear broth. The chicken was well cooked, tender and flavorful, and came to our table hot and sizzling in the pan. The Bibimbap tasted alright– your standard type fare. I noticed they didn’t give us as great a selection of those little side dishes that come with our meal as other people, and of those little side dishes, there wasn’t as much in them, which I thought was odd. I guess they thought we wouldn’t eat that much, but for me, part of the whole Korean food experience is eating a lot of those yummy little side dishes along with your entrée with rice!
I’ll have to check out the lunch specials here sometime, sounds like a good deal.

I’ve lived in the city for over half a decade now and I’ve noticed that during this time… The corner spot on Fillmore & Geary has been cursed for every restaurant that has occupied that location… It’s literally been like a restaurant revolving door.
Now with Heung Bu Né there, hopefully the smoke emanating from the grilling of Kal Bi will be like a good sage cleansing for that spot.
After eating there recently, I have to say that I’m impressed. Good balance of price, quality and authenticity (maybe overly authentic since the waitress kept insisting on speaking to me in Korean… despite the fact that I’m not Korean).
Panchan was pretty good… Dolsot BiBimBap was excellent… Bulgoki was also quite tasty & not too greasy. Though I went on a weekday for lunch… I was told they weren’t honoring the lunch special prices since it was Veteran’s Day… Despite this, the prices were still really quite reasonable. The lunch special prices however are definitely dirt cheap if you can find a free weekday to take advantage of them.
Let’s hope Heung Bu Né successfully breaks the corner location curse and stays open for a long time to come! Head out & check it out… and leave room for Jubili Yogurt just a ½ block down Fillmore… mmmmmmmm

How can you not like a $ 6.50 (tax included) lunch special?!?
I ordered to-​go, the pork bugogi, and that’s what I got with rice, plus kim chee, bean sprouts, and spinach. I just wished it was spicier; love my spicy foods!
This is also one of those late night Korean restaurants/​bar that open til 2am serving food and soju.

I have eaten here only once so far. But I have to say it’s already one of my top favorite Korean Restaurant in town.
The service and food are so much better than the previous restaurant in that location. To top it off, they are cheap compared to other Korean restaurant.
They are generous with their side dishes and their entrees are stellar. We ordered Haemul Pajeon (seafood panckaes), Kimchee Chigae (Kimchee soup), Dol Sot Bi Bimbap (mixed rice in a hot stone bowl), and grilled mackerel. The total bill including tax and tips came out to be $ 50. In other restaurants this could easily have been $ 20 more than that.
Like I said the dishes were delicious. The Haemul Pajeon came out crispy and very flavorful. The Kimchee soup was spicy and slightly sour (just the way I like). The Bibimbap just as good as the best bibimbap in town, the mackerel was crispy and not too fishy.
This place is a winner. Will definitely be going back there again.