Assa

Assa reopen again… it is busy as usual. we ordered a stir fry sweet potato noodles with vegetables. It was very tasty. And squid chili with rice is also highly recommend dish here. Absolutely yummy. Free bottle of tea is always serve on the table. It won’t disappointed you.

worst eurgh never ever if you want to live dont go here seriously where is the zero stars

Decent food here! We had kimchi jigeh and rice cake dumpling soup. They should give better bancha (side dishes though). Will have to try their grilled meat and hot pot next time.

Authentic Korean food! Hot pots are quite delicious. They charge for kimchee, but I guess most Korean London restaurants do that.

I first knew of Assa when I was walking past that part of soho one evening and saw droves of Asians (Koreans) braving the cold to line up in wait. I did my own version of them this very month, waiting patiently for 20 minutes. A member staff actually kept us informed quite well and once in you realise it’s a big restaurant. Not many tourists inside which was good sign.
We of course ordered the Korean hot pot, with beef and tofu. I love this process though it is always a bit funny that they give you the ingredients and you have to cook. But it’s authentically Korean. I liked the broth a lot and the marinated beef was tender. The vegetables good too. All in all I quite like it. Compared to Seoul it of course isn’t the best as and this is what frustrates me about Korean food here is that you have to pay for the sides (kimchi etc) when normally they should be free. Pity.

Korean food is one of my favourites!
But it’s so hard to find good for value ones in Central.
Assa is one of them. It is located near Chinatown. It gets busy at night time so make sure you go earlier. Staff are pretty tentative and friendly.
I went with a friend and we ordered a marinated beef and kimchi hotpot, best during the cold season. We added a ramen and a bowl of rice to go with it. They give you complimentary side dish such as seaweed and bean sprouts.
Also, make sure you ask them to add water throughout the night of you order the hotpot or the food could stick to the pan and burn.
The hotpot would be enough for 2 – 3 people, so the two us was totally stuffed at the end of the night. The hotpot cost £22 of you don’t add toppings which I say is pretty good value.
Although, Korean food is still not as tasty as New Malden but I would say it’s still pretty good and the location is convenient!

I was there before and liked the food and came back with my family. It was Sunday and we Were waiting outside in the queue and I just went in to ask how long it’s gonna take, first of all, all the waiters and waitresses ignored us when they can see that customers are waiting at the door and when one waitress quickly pass by, I was about to ask her how long it’s gonna take, suddenly she shouted at us saying we have other customer waiting outside and we need to go out. The way she said it and the way her hand poster us towards outside was sooooo rude. Plus there were like couple of tables empty inside yet they are customers waiting outside. The waitress was so rude. Even when I told her that she doesn’t need to shout at us like that, instead of apologising, she went on and on. Now I will never ever come back to this place. That one star is only because I came back to this place after visiting this once before

What a fantastic find… Korean hot pot at its finest. We knew that it was going to be good right from the start as we were the only Americans in the place. Had some delicious Korean beer and sake and tried several dishes. Although not easy to find you will not be disappointed and and very reasonably priced as well.

Very little portion of food, dissatisified!
We went this restaurant to celebrate my friends birthday. When I asked the waitress whether we can eat our cake after the dinner, she said no, it is not allowed, ok thats fine.
Then after our food was arrived, the portion of all food was too little, comparing to the other tables with korean customer. We ordered the pork and kimchi stew hotpot, kimchi pancake and the noodle and rice cakes with spicy sauces. It is even not enough for us to share!!! Very disappointed and will not back to this restaurant.

The service is absolutely bad. The waiters and waitresses are not nice or helpful. They really need to learn how to serve. Place is not clean and the toilet is very filthy. The food were fine and nothing special.

«Meh» It was exactly how I felt! The story was, a friend was in town so we went out for dinner with a few friends and her cousin (who suggested Assa). He obviously went there more than one time. He lead us there and I didn’t even know there was a restaurant, because it was completely dark outside, no lights, no nothing. We walked in and I thought, «It might be some home style hidden gem!» There were some customers there but it wasn’t full. They got us a table with no problem.
The place was quite shabby, dirty walls with holes here and there, not really clean at all. All waiters/​waitresses were some young teens, I guess they were so bored, they just chatting, eating, checking their mobiles most of the time. Service was basically very minimal, they weren’t nice or friendly, just blank.
They offered us a bottle of iced tea and some kimchi, the bottle was so dirty, it never been cleaned I supposed. The kimchi was very minimal as well. 2 small dishes in tiny portion for 5 people.
OK, the size of the menu was decent, however, the price was a bit high (we thought the portion maybe be bigger) in that kind of environment. The food came not too long after we ordered. It was not bigger than any other Korean restaurant, and it was just edible. Honestly, we ordered rice cake soup with dumplings, some fried noodle with pork and rice dish, spicy noodle, spicy tofu soup, kimchi pancake… It was such a surprise to see such good reviews in here. Was it because we were just bad luck or what?
I could wait to leave after we finished our food, oh, even the bill presenter they used was so old and really dirty…
I am not going back~!

PROS — Delicious seafood pancake! We also ordered the kimchee and pork stew hotpot with ramyeon on top — very good, more flavor than I anticipated.
CONS — Long queue time for dinner (about 20 – 25 mins for a group of three), the hotpot containing the stew was dirty from previous use but I guess the high boiling temperature kills all the bacteria anyways so it’s not a complete dealbreaker.
CONCLUSIONS — Would come back again, maybe try their lunch and hope they wash the hotpots really good this time.

Great Korean place
The food is authentic ;)
(If you want to eat out at a restaurant and wondering if it’s authentic then look around the restaurant for other asians, we only spend our money on deserving food ;p) this place is always busy which is a good indicator the second is it’s mostly full of Koreans ;)
The portions are a great size to share
The average price is £6−10 for a main

They have a great choice of dishes
I have ordered the
Kimchi Rice cake and noodles
the bibimbap
meat and rice dishes
rice noodle dishes
great for small groups, just be ready to have to que for a table

I have been to this branch of Assa a few times but prefer the one on Tottenham Court Road as the service there is a lot better.
Firstly, if you come here for lunch you will usually find this place deserted. The staff are Koreans and their English are quite poor so sometimes you will have to repeat yourself a few times to be understood.
I introduced my boss to this place and when they went at lunch time the staff tried to charge them for the «free» starters i.e. the beansprouts and kimchi etc. which should have been included as part of their set meal so this spoiled their experience and caused me a lot of embarrassment for recommending this place.
Dinner is more lively here and their food really is great and they have great variety on the menu. The price is not too expensive for the quality of food. We notice Koreans often come here for karaōke downstairs. It is prudent to book a table for dinner time, as they really get packed.
Service is a 3 but food is 4*!

My friends and I got in after 15 minutes of waiting time on a Saturday night in Soho.
As one of my friends pointed out, it was one of those places which would make your hair reek — one would inevitably leave the restaurant smelling like a walking Kimchi stalk. Nevertheless, the place was filled with the warm, happy and comforting aroma of Asian food which only served to entice our appetites.
Like many other cheaper Asian restaurants in London, you are there for the food, and not the atmosphere. The tables were small and rectangular, and the place was noisy and busy — not an ideal place for long conversations or catching-​up, something in-​common with most Asian restaurants in London. You are rushed in, you are served, you are shoved out via implying stares from waitresses.
A must-​try in Assa is the Kimchi fried rice. (Kimchi ‘Bokumbop’) We had two plates of those but I would’ve been happy with two more. It is served with a fried egg atop, yolk still runny, and sigh-​inducing when leaked and eaten with the fried rice. The rice was made tasty with the kimchi, and had a lovely smoky taste that all good fried rice dishes have.
Then we had Kimchi noodle soup and a Kimchi hot pot which seemed like nothing but a whole lot of Kimchi to me, but filled me up decently.
We then got a Kimchi pancake, (kimchijeon) which was Kimchi and who-​knows-​what-​else deep fried in a golden tempura-​like batter served with tempura sauce. (Or the Korean equivalent) It was crispy, warm, tasty and absolutely yummy.

I’ll just get out the way that the service was a little poor, as was the allergy advice, but assuming that’s fine, the food and drink were tasty and offset most of the negativity.
A member of our group had an egg allergy, and despite asking if the Bimibap had egg, and whether we could have it without egg, we were assured that it did not have egg. So imagine our surprise when it came with just an egg yolk on top. Luckily we fished this out, allowed our friend to take the bits that hadn’t touched this, then went to mix it, hilariously we then found egg white at the very bottom of the dish. Noting that our companion had already started eating this and not triggered his allergy, we did kind of laugh this off…
Anyway, the rest of the food was great. We ordered Soju and a plum wine, and note eating is a lot more fun with drinking games and shots during random intervals. The pancakes were filling, the kimchi, just spicy enough without requiring a light cool tea which is helpfully provided for free. The chicken soba noodles were good, as was a broth made from a lot of Korean red pepper paste, with pork, peppers and other vegetables. The only thing I could fault were the ribs, that were extremely small and bony.
At the end of the meal, it was strange, as we opted between ourselves to split the bill onto our 4 cards, only to be told the place has a policy where only 2 cards could be used. Trying to ask why explaining that the fee Assa pays from 4 cards would be just the same as from 2 cards, was just met with uncomfortable silence, at least the way I understand credit companies to work. So just note this when you try to pay.
Anyway, that failed to spoil a brilliant experience and I’d be back, just hopefully they don’t remember me as the guy that tried to argue about % fee on credit card payments… :D

Cannot speak highly enough of this place, was saving my self for another place only to find long queue so despite not being my first choice on the night I was absolutely delighted when the food arrived at this place. Good olé no messin around comfort food here. Kimchi was so so, but don’t be put off by that. The mains were gorgeous.
Quite an informal affair but this one of those places where the food does all the talking.
This will now be a first place choice on another night out. I was so satisfied.

Today is the second time I’ve visited this branch of Assa and whilst the food is incredibly tasty, and pretty reasonable, I do have a few qualms about the menu.
My Cousin and I arrived around half two and were promptly seated, which is pretty standard for a Tuesday Late Lunch and we ordered the Spicy Tofu broth and the raw fish roe stonepot rice from the lunch menu. We also tried the Kimchi Pajeon (Pancake). My qualm begins here, the menu states that it comes with two side dishes and obviously, we thought it was per dish, so two of us would mean four side dishes. Sadly, this was not the case. I felt conned, if i had entered solo, i would still have gotten two dishes. You don’t get a choice of which side dishes either. Not to say the two side dishes weren’t good though, they were ok, if a little underseasoned. we had to order another side dish from the menu which was a reasonable £1.50. Im just a little surprised that Kimchi wasn’t included in the two dishes since, it is a Korean staple. It’s not Korean without Kimchi!
The soft tofu broth was tiny for lunch but it was still pretty filling especially because it came with a massive bowl of rice, which was pretty standard, if on the wet side. I only managed half a bowl. I love soft tofu broth, i really do and this was one of the spicier ones I’ve tried.
My cousin ordered the fish roe bibimbap which was massive in comparison and the taste and the fish roe texture complemented each other nicely. The kimchi pancake was very filling and also quite burnt on one side.
Service was quick and very friendly, only two staff members were waitering and it was very efficient. Our bill came to £20 and if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative to the Higher priced restaurants such as Asadal, this is the place to go.

[Ambience]
* Ambient Volume: B. Reasonably loud; the restaurant was crowded and everyone was talking, but it was possible to maintain a reasonable conversation without shouting.
* Décor and Lighting: B. Simple modern décor; dark theme. Lighting was a little dim — extensive use of directional lights. There were many diners in the room, but it did not feel cramped. Tables were big enough but not so big as to make conversation difficult.
* Cleanliness: A. The room was sufficiently well-​ventilated to prevent your clothes from smelling like Korean steamboat after your meal. Generally clean floors.
[Food]
* Deliciousness: B+. The steamboat tasted alright, and the soup was sufficiently spicy. White rice was served instead of the traditional brown rice. Sundubu jjigae (seafood tofu stew) was good — very tasty. Fried sweet and sour chicken with onions provided a refreshing contrast to the other soupy dishes, but was a little too oily. Banchan dishes (side dishes) were just okay.
* Freshness/​Cleanliness: B.
* Presentation: B. Nothing unusual there.
[Service]
* Attentiveness: B+. There were many servers, and it was not difficult to get one to come to you. Orders were taken promptly.
* Friendliness: B.
* Time to Order: A. Despite the dinner crowd and the large order, food was served promptly.
[Value]
* Portion Size: B. Sundubu jjigae was smaller than normal. Steamboat had lots of meat, cabbage and soup. An extra bowl of rice was provided, and they did not charge for it (we had a party of six).
* Prices: B+. Good value considering the quality of food, and that complimentary banchan and tea were provided — as should be the case in a good Korean restaurant.
** Overall Score: 3.25 (B/​B+)
{Scoring Guide: A — Outstanding; B — Average; C — Below Average; D — Terrible}

Fortunately, I didn’t read the bad review of this restaurant on another website before going here as my experience of this branch of Assa was pretty good.
The banchans were free, as one should expect in a Korean restaurant — the seaweed was moist and tasty, the beansprouts and carrots were perfectly good. They brought new ones when the previous two plates were gone too. And all for free. The tea was also refilled for free as many times as we required.
Whilst the white rice wasn’t the greatest we’ve had, the spicy grilled mackerel was awesome. The spicy beef dish was okay, a bit more like Chinese than Korean, though the amount of beef was a bit stingy.
The kimchi pancake more than made up for that, however. And the spicy fried rice, with vegetables, and egg on top, was very nice too.
Many people had a hot pot on the table (about £15) to share between two or three people. Which I am looking forward to trying on my next visit.
If you’re not familiar with Korean food and want to try a variety of dishes it is perfectly okay to request small clean plates so your party can choose a number of dishes for the table to be shared out amongst yourselves.
The fact that 95 per cent of the diners on this Saturday night were actually Korean (most of them young — I imagine the older people dine more during the week) suggests that this restaurant is doing something right.
The surroundings were pleasant; the service was prompt and the staff approachable (even though their English speaking ability seemed to be somewhat limited); the prices were extremely reasonable (the bill between four of us came to less than £8 per head).
I’d have no hesitation in recommending this restaurant to friends (and strangers). And, in fact, I am looking forward to visiting Assa again with other friends.
It is easy to find — between Shaftesbury Avenue and Old Compton Street — ideal for eating before a show or other night out in the West End.