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Very popular Korean Restaurant on Robson St. Serves all kinds of soju, varieties of Meat/Seafood/Vegetable Korean Hot Pot, Korean BBQ, Appetizers both before meals/for drinking, etc.
I met up with my financial advisor here for a quick portfolio rundown and most importantly, lunch. He suggested this Korean outfit as it was close to the office and was one such I haven't yet been to.
AGJ is dressed up like most other Korean restaurants, however we were seated by the front doors. It was a bit offputting given the unusually cold ambient temperature but nothing worth going nuts about with the rain that day.
Lunch box specials are to be had, with 3 choices available. Both of us went with the beef and comes with your choice of side. It arrives like a bento box with various bits of everything: beef, rice, kimchi, potato, salad, soup and even one of those little sour milk drinks. All in all, quite tasty and filling.
Lunch time dining tends to be spry and seamless, so it's hard to tax the service. Still, they did checkup for drink refills and the like.
For $6, it's great value for a healthy lunch meal. Hard to argue that and it's better and in these present times, actually cheaper than McDonalds.
When I was there, I thought it was not restaurant, because the ambiance was noisy and packed like a pub. But when I had the food,
I was surprised because food was really good and service as also great.
They have enough servers on so they can take care all the guests.
The price is very good and food potions were also enough.
I would give 10 point out of 10.
A nice little Korean place on Robson that screams yummy authentic home style Korean dishes. If you're hungry and have a group of 4 or more, order their hot pots. We tried both the stewed beef and pan assorted seafood hot pots and they were quite good. I love the small side dishes (quite common now to only have the 4 staples of seaweed, potatoes, bean sprouts & kimchee) They are quite happy to give you seconds. We've been here twice in the past 2 weeks and it's ALWAYS packed but the wait is not too long. It's always fun to look over at the other tables and see what other people order but not have a clue what it is. Fun place, good food and no matter what you always leave full. Next time we're definitely trying the Soju.=)
I liked how they used to be better... when they were more fusion than anything--loved the bbq rice cake skewers with hot sauce amongst other things. Haven't gotten around to going back until now, and though they still make tasty food, it's mostly a standard Korean menu that they offer.
The service is still pleasant, and the decor is the same as I remembered. The drink list is still as extensive as it can be offering the variety of flavours of soju that they do.
Though the spicy tofu soup with beef isn't as savoury as the one offered at Insadong (Coquitlam), it's still very tasty. The Bi Bim Bap is good, too. The rice they use isn't the best or maybe it's the amount of water they used, but it seems to be the fault of the natural texture of the rice itself--most noticeable in the plain rice bowl the entree dish came with but it's just because I'm being picky. I love the spicy rice cake with hot sauce & ramen. I mean, it can be served any which way, and I would usually love it. Not every Korean restaurant serves these long rice cakes this way, so I'm glad that they still offer this on their menu.
All of this did come with the usual complimentary side dishes of kimchi, sweetened potato, kelp and sprouts.
Service is friendly, room is clean and not crowded. Dishes are tasty. The wait for food is short. Definitely worth revisiting.
Came with a party of 3 on a cold Saturday night. We ordered a small spicy pork bone hotpot, a seafood pancake, and chicken skewers. We were going to order grilled beef with rice but the waiter recommended that we DON'T order it because it's too much food for the 3 of us. At first, I thought he was underestimating us, but it wasn't until we started eating that I thought he was right. The pork bone hotpot was delicious especially on such a cold night. It came with at least 7 big pieces of pork bones. The seafood pancake and skewers were pretty good and the portions were pretty big for the price charged. We also ordered 1 litre of soju with yogurt and it was very yummy. I will definitely come back.
We went to Ap Gu Jung after the evening movies and were seated promptly. The side dish arrived soon as we had ordered our meal. Refills were brought as needed.
Our seafood Korean pizza arrived on a sizzling iron plate. It was delicious and not at all greasy. The BBQ marinated beef short ribs also arrived piled high on a hot crackling iron plate. Tasted like they were lifted from my backyard summer grill! Order a bowl of rice to complement the flavours. After we had leftovers to take home.
We are frequent customers and will return next time for the seafood hot pot soup, yummmmm.
food - we ordered this potato and meat hot pot.....the amount is massive for the price. it is totally worth the price. for appetizer, we had a small pot of kimchi hot pot....and being korean, i know my kimchi....and the kimchi there was a bit too sweet for my needs. i think it was suited more for the non-asian customers. but the price is very affordable. the side dishes are awesome, especially the sweet potatoes!
service - it was pretty good in comparison to the amount of people working. the waiter was really nice and gave us a lot of extra side dishes....i dont think they would discriminate non-koreans, because they didnt know i was korean until the main hot pot came. i was satisfied!
ambience - they should really try to change the decor.....kinda confusing for a korean restaurant to have greek decorations, don't you think? it would be nice to see like rice paper doors and whatnot. i don't mind it, but i'd like it better if it was more "korean".
definitely a good place to go if you want to fill your stomach.
OH and their soju selection is AWESOME. you must try the yogurt soju!!!!!
Have been to this restaurant several times. Have ordered the dobbokki (rice cakes), gamjatang (pork and potato stew)and the galbi. All the dishes were delicious with just the right amount of spiciness. Service was great and prices were reasonable. All the portions were very generous. It does get very busy during the weekends.
I have been to Apgujung a few times for dinner and a bottle of Soju with friends. The server who greeted us was really nice and was even joking around. The food came out on a good timing, I had the seafood pancake and the chicken wings and a bottle of soju between the two girls. The portions are generous and they are very tasty! Also there are plenty of seatings as there's upstairs as well. I would come here for a casual dinner and drink. I would goto a different place to people watch but this is a good place to dine Korean pub-style food.
This place is bustling on a Friday night, so come early! After meandering away through the delicious looking menu, my friend settled on the spicy beef noodle soup, while I got the seafood soft tofu soup [the soondobu].
They refill your side plates when you ask; they all taste delicious. We were happy when our orders arrived pretty quickly and got down to business. So delicious! The stew/noodles were piping hot and bubbling, with just the right amount of spiciness.
We also ordered an aloe soju, which, while a little expensive, came in a big jug with lots of tasty aloe in it.
We were filled up to the brim with tasty food and the bill, after tip and tax, came out to $17.
Try it!
Ap Gu Jung is located in the Korean and Japanese corner of Robson. There's lots of competition. So when my wife and I saw the place crowded with mostly Korean students, we thought we'd give it a try. I gotta admit that I was a bit hesitant because the restaurant looked more like a college pub in the States than the Korean restaurants I frequented in Seoul.
Turned out to be a good thing we dined there. We ordered kimchi chi-gae, pajeon (Korean seafood pancake) and rice. The chi-gae was good enough. The pajeon was just like I had in Seoul. It was firm, not greasy, and had a good balance of clams, oysters, and green onions. The meal put us back only $24.
Service was friendly, efficient, and compotent. Dishes were delivered promptly and we never had to ask for our tea and water to be refilled. The manager was very attentive to our table and made sure we got what we needed, when we needed it.
My only complaint about the food was that banchan sides were disappointingly unfresh and limited. We had only four and they were of the kimchi and bean sprout variety. Where are the carameled anchovies? Oh well.
We didn't try the soju but the crowd at the other tables seemed to enjoy it. I'll be back for the food.
We come here all the time and every time their food is good. It doesn't take forever and the waiters/waitresses try to do what you ask. Want tofu in it? Even though the chef probably will hate you, they get it done. Ordered the wrong drink... they'll try to fix it for you.
The only problem is you never know when they close and some workers could really use some English lessons.
I have been eating at this restaurant for about 1 year now. My favourite is their spicy Bulgogi pork and tender Galbi beef. One of the best value in town at $5.95 for bento box.
They used to serve free appy like Kimchi, seaweed, sprout and sweet potato. But they just recently stop serving those those to non-Korean.
The table beside us ordered the exact same bento that we did and they were served free appy and we were refused. I speculated the reason been they are Korean and we are not. This is not the first time I received such double standard treatment from Korean restaurant.
OK restaurant for those who haven't experienced good korean food. As for those who are experienced, or are koreans themselves, this place is highly lacking. I tried 7 different dishes here (meats, stews, misc.) tonight:
BBQ Meat: Comes cooked; better bbq experience to be found (and much cheaper) in actual bbq places where you cook your own meat and eat it straight off the grill. It tastes decent, but its not worth it.
Stews: ok taste; decent price. Have tasted better at Chosun BBQ in Kingsway. Would still recommend though.
Sulungtang: They didn't season it, or provide salt... otherwise, prob. decent.
Korean pancake: good!
Aloe Soju: tastes very good; can't taste the alcohol too much, which was great
The one good thing is that they speak decent English, so their clientele appears to be geared towards non-Koreans (better tipping I guess). Fair enough; but bear that in mind before you decide to go there.
In general, Korean places downtown aren't very good; if you want decent stuff go to Burnaby or Coquitlam. Of course, nothing beats going to Korea directly.
Had a chance to try this restaurant twice last week and both visits were enjoyable. I don't remember the names of the actual dishes but certainly can describe them. On both visits, I had the kimchi seafood pancake for appetizer and the spicy pork dish with rice. Also tried the pork dumplings, the beef with potato vermicelli, the spicy squid, and the kimchi stew with pork. I would stay away from the stew dish as it wasn't very good. The other dishes on the otherhand, were flavourful and well priced. I especially enjoyed the large pork dumplings. The waiter was very good at refilling our waters and on both occasions, we rec'd the free side dishes (yes, I was with a caucasian friend on the second visit so no discrimination there). The restaurant is clean inside and nicely decorated and the food arrives at your table fairly quickly. If you've been thinking about trying Korean food, check this place out.
I used to frequent this place a few years back but stopped going there after their service took a nosedive and became worse than usual.
I have lived in Korea and am aware that friendly customer service is rare and is usually not a priority in many restaurants, however, this place is just awful.
As previously mentioned if you are not Korean, you can expect to pay more ~ let's just get that out of the way first. This has not just happened to me here but some of my friends as well - but i won't get into their experiences here.
My friend and I waited in the doorway for 10 mins, being ignored until finally we had to pick up a menu and seat ourselves. After we got the attention of a waitress and ordered our food, it arrived relatively quickly (took about 15 mins) by a waiter clad in a t-shirt, khaki shorts and flip flops. Our drinks were dropped off around the same time and after that we were completely ignored for the rest of our stay while the entire staff sat at a corner table and ate (it was not after close btw and we were not the only customers in the place).
After failing to get anyone's attention to bring us our bill, i finally just gave up and walked to the cashier to pay. I paid by debit and did not give a tip (tips are for good service in my books, NOT mandatory as some people seem to believe). As i was walking towards the door the woman at the cashier started screaming at me "TIP, TIP!!!!". At this point i was completely irritated and informed her that i have lived in Korea and know that they don't even tip over there and in Canada tips are given for GOOD service not for a night of flip-flop clad waiters and ZERO service.
Aside from the bad service, the food in this place is ok but i think there are much better places to go for Korean food in Vancouver in regards to both service and food.
My girlfriend and I have been to every Korean restaurant on Robson, and have received less than stellar treatment due to the fact that we are caucasian. The majority of places do not bring us the free appetizers, ignore us once we have ordered our food, and take forever to bring us the bill. Since we have started going to Ap Gu Jung, that is no longer a problem.
The wait staff is friendly, attentive, and informative, although one or two of them are slightly lacking in their English. The food is good, if a little greasy, and the lack of MSG is a major plus. Portion sizes are large (the Jab Che meal always lasts me 2 servings) and they seem to have a better selection of non-spicy food than most places we've been to. Oh yeah, and they always bring the free appetizers. If you like Korean food but would like it served without the overt racism, check out Ap Gu Jung.
Went downtown late night w/ my bf and found this restaurant was packed so we thought we should give it a try. As he never tried Korean style soju so I ordered the Aloe soju for him. We both loved it. We ordered the JapChea and Pork bulgogi, we've no comment on the food, my bf hated it and doesn't wanna finish it / pack it. One word to the food --- "MSG"!!! Well, I would say it's a place to hang out and drink, because they of all kind of soju. I would go somewhere else for food.
I must first compliment the food here. The dinner was so enjoyable and there was so much to eat that me and my friend decided we must try to the rest of the food by returning the following day for lunch! The food was indeed up to expectations and better, more traditional than many of the other places I have tried. However, I would suggest going with more than two people otherwise you end up getting too much food as there are not many small selections.
When we arrived, we were greeted and seated after they realized we existed. Afterwards, a friendly and very underdressed server brought us our drinks and food. It was such an ordeal that all we could do was laugh. I don`t believe that was the intention of their ``uniforms`` but it was the fact.
An enjoyable experience (not for a very nice night out) and great food. I do believe they close late, so it`s a good place to find food when others are closed. Also, do not dress in anything too fancy, as the strong aromas end up in your clothes and leave you smelling like korean food for the night (a mistake i made!)
I agree with both Moussy and Hohohong that the food is good. However, the similarities ends there.
Like Hohohong, I also felt discriminated. I ordered the exact same bento like my table (korean) next to me. I thought he ordered the extra side dished. However, when I glanced at the bill when I was about the leave, out bills total turned out to be exactly the same.
Moussy, I don' think it's that hard to identify Korean from the words out of your mouth. Nonetheless, the food is still quite good for the price you pay (only lunch).
| 1. | Book Kyung Ban Jeoum (15 m) |  |
| 2. | Whole Foods Market (21 m) |  |
| 3. | Zabu Chicken (33 m) | |
| 4. | Robson Internet & Video (51 m) | |
| 5. | Blenz Coffee (54 m) | |
| 6. | Babylon Cafe (55 m) |  |
| 7. | Hanafubuki Sushi (55 m) | |
| 8. | Apple Deli (55 m) | |
| 9. | Fresh Slice (57 m) | |
| 10. | Santouka Ramen (67 m) | |
