Hae Paul’s

I had never actually had Korean cuisine before, but my friend gave me a gift card, so I decided to try it out for lunch. Man, is this some good food. I had the Korrito, which is a Korean burrito with braised pork, and Korean potato salad. It was delicious. While eating, one of the owners came out and gave me a free slice of spongecake with fruit (one of their desserts) and I told her how good the food was. Since I was paying with a gift card and the giftcard amount was under $ 1 with tax, the waitress offered to not run my card, but I insisted because I wanted to leave a tip. Great food, great customer service. I will definitely be returning.

Visited recently. Had the pork sandwich and seasoned fries, which were both very good.
My main issue was the service. The place wasn’t that busy, but we sat for at least 20 minutes before the lethargic server came over with menus. We order an app and our mains, telling the server to bring the app first. After about 30 minutes the server comes around to refill drinks ans asks (no lie) if we want the app first (???). We waited, seriously, 40 minutes total for the app, which was jap chae and very good. It then took another 20 mintues for our mains to arrive. The server spent much time at the front counter looking down. Not sure what she was doing, but it didnt involve food or customer service.
I’d give a 2.5 if I could.

My family and I ate at Hae Paul’s for the first time last night and were thoroughly impressed. The flavors of the food were completely on point and absolutely delicious. We ordered the the Avocado and Caramelized Kimchee Quesadilla as our appetizers; both of which were incredibly flavorful. I ordered the Korrito as my entrée and, again, enjoyed every savory bite. It was the perfect amount of food and the ingredients were as fresh as they were appetizing. Everything on the menu seems healthy and delectable. I highly recommend Hae Paul’s and am looking forward to making this a regular dining spot.

Quiet little spot downtown where your meals are filling and the service seemed smooth. Hae Pauls is one of those places where if you weren’t looking for it you would never know it was there. As soon as I entered I was greeted by the one person they had working the floor, grabbed myself a seat and was given their menu. It is a small and rather no frill style menu offering a selection of Korean-​American fusion. I ordered the Korrito and a beer (anti-hero…YUM) sat back and began looking around at their interesting mural painted on the main wall. My wait wasnt too long before the rather large burrito. er sorry Korrito was placed in front of me. There was really nothing special about this in all honesty but there was also wasnt anything horrible about it either. Its basically kroean style beef strips with your normal burrito filling. I was able to get half of it down before noticing my stomach and pants were starting to fight for territory Ill be back for sure to try out some of their other offerings!

We take our family here about once a month and it feels like we are eating with family. The chefs alway come to our table and visit for a few minutes. Where else does this happen? It’s a simple concept. They serve amazing food that won’t kill your budget. This is a hidden gem!

Stopped her for some dinner.
They have indoor and outdoor seating.
The menu has only a few selections — not a problem — there are some good choices. I ordered the Jap Chae and crispy vegetable dumpling.
The dumplings were very tasty, but more than I can scarve down — definitely enough for 2 – 3 people.
The Jap Chae had good flavor, and really hit the spot. It had glass noodles (or at least that is what I call them) and a lot of vegetables.

Went for dinner with a friend on Saturday night. From the outside, the restaurant looks really nice with a nice awning and patio area. So much so that we were afraid we were underdressed for the occasion. Turns out the inside is very simple with wooden tables and chairs and red-​white-​blue decorations, which was fine since it was more the dining experience we were dressed for, thought it did come as a shock from seeing the outside. There were three other tables already there when we arrived, but was otherwise pretty not-​full for a saturday night downtown.
Looking at the menu, it was very clean and simple, not a huge number of choices, which I actually prefer since it cuts down on the thinking time and usually means that they can do those dishes well.
Going through the menu, there were some pretty interesting choices, such as «korrito,» «bulgogi sandwich,» etc. Items that were very representative of their «korean-​american fusion» concept.
For the appetizer we ordered the «roasted mackerel,» which turned out to be more of a sampler than just fried fish. There was of course the mackerel, but also something similar to the traditional seafood pancake served at most korean restaurants, but with tofu, as well as some peppers stuffed with mung bean and green bean «hummus.» The only problem was that it took at least 20 – 30 minutes to arrive, which wasn’t helped by the fact that we were starving. Not sure what took so long to get the food out since out of the other 3 tables there, 2 of them were pretty much done with their meals by the time we arrived. Perhaps the appetizer, which was not described adequately at all on the menu, had too many components? The taste was pretty good, or maybe we were just really hungry, but we quickly cleaned that up and waited for our next dish.
I ordered the «monk salad» and my friend ordered the «bulgogi.» The food finally arrived 15 – 20 minutes later and we were a little surprised on the size of the portions. We expected them to be larger, but they were definitely enough to fill us up (probably because of the rice). The monk salad turned out to be pretty similar to traditional bibimbap and was pretty delicious, with a couple of pieces of fried tofu, corn salsa, lettus, soybeans, rice, and of course the korean spicy sauce. The bulgogi was pretty sub-​par, definitely not done as well as at other korean restaurants around town. The mean was not sliced thinly enough and definitely was not as tender. Tastewise it was marinated well, but was a little dry and chewy.
Overall, the food was decent. The service was incredibly slow. Probably not somewhere I will be going back to anytime soon.

This place is a GEM! It is family owned and operated. Paul and his wife, Hae Ron, are the owners and chefs. They always welcome us with a big smile and a wave from the kitchen! We have been eating at Hae Paul’s since they first opened their doors. This is a casual restaurant with fresh, delicious food with a Korean twist. The menu is a bit random at times, but that means everyone will find something they like! We love the mung bean salad, bulgogi, and jap chae. The prices are very reasonable. This restaurant is super casual and has an eclectic vibe. We always bring our children, and they love it too. I highly recommend you try this!

No-​frills décor, just a good place to get a meal that’s a bit unique with the asian hint.
Had the calamari with kimchee tartar sauce and korrito. Both very tasty.

I absolutely so want to love Hae Paul’s. This review is more around 3.5 ish, not quite 4.
There are not really true negatives, maybe I was hoping for a little more. Let’s start with my pseudo negatives.
I ordered the lamb bulgogi (special for the day). Now I know that Hae Paul’s sort of does the fusion Korean/​American, but the bulgogi was served differently then what I thought. I usually expect bulgogi to come with lettuce, garlic, samjang, etc. But this lamb bulgogi was served stir fried with some veggies over a bed of white rice. The portion was a little small, but it still tasted good. I really wanted to wrap it all in lettuce though.
Now I decided to see if they have anything for dessert. I tried what I could only describe as a cupcake sized reeses cup that was filled with cream instead of peanut butter. The filling was great, however a cold, cupcake sized chocolate cup is hard to eat. The bottom of the cup was thick and resisting any attempt to be broken apart.
Service was excellent. Every single person stopped by to say hi. Not only say hi, but they were very friendly and we would chat for a couple minutes with each. The husband of Hae Paul stopped by and we talked about the restaurant and his background, we talked about hair styles with the wife of Hae Paul, talked about race relations with one of the servers and the other server we talked about food, because she was our actual server. Really friendly, welcoming atmosphere.
I look forward to trying other items as everything tasted great, but not what I was expecting.

Was disappointed to see a microwave so prominent in the kitchen (at least part of our order was cooked via the microwave).
Place was also completely empty when we arrived, which made me worry a bit about the prospects. Made it worse when the dishwasher came out and was just lounging in the dining room.
Food was ok, nothing special. I got the Korrito. It had a greasy feel on the exterior (tortillas don’t stick to grills folks). The slaw was kind of odd, «smoky» is the menu description, but it was an odd smoke flavor.
Carry out took about 10 minutes from order to out-​the-​door, during which the hostess invited us to a beer tasting event they were hosting. Also, cards still ring out as Natalies, even though the place is Hae Pauls.

The world needs more restaurants like this. Chef owned, no pretenses, just imaginative high quality food. Downtown should really take advantage of this.
This little place was not crowded on a blustery downtown day. From the outside, this place is definitely «unassuming». After a legal dispute, it changed its name from Natalies to Hae Pauls so the awning is a bit of «redo». Don’t let that scare you, the chefs/​owners of this place know what the h*** they are doing!!!
Modest food with an Asian slant — the readable, short menu (which changes from time to time, I understand) presented several delicious sounding dishes. The special was a pork bulgogi sandwich served with sweet potato fries. Anytime I see «pork» and «bulgogi» in the same sentence, I am all in!!! Sandwich was moist, tasty pork cooked perfectly, but not over-​seasoned so that the porkiness shined through! Delicious! The fries were nice — lightly fried, real sweet potatoes not the horribly orange weird ones so many places serve now.
My guest had a noodle dish with vegetables that looked equally delicious and unpretentious! Definitely give this «hole in the wall» a try if you are downtown. Go out of your way a few blocks if you need to. It is worth it!!!
p. s. The place is so new, they are still getting their kitchen together and we were told they would have a permit for an open grill soon — so burgers and seared meats are on the way!!! I will be checking back in next time I am downtown.

Small place, You can look right in the kitchen and see the Chef cooking.
Deco is being redone and was already looking nice when I was in a few weeks ago.
Went in with a friend late on a Saturday night and this is one of the few casual places open in Downtown and the food was wonderful. I had the Korean Bulgogi and while not what Ihave had before in Korean restaurants it was very good. We will be going back to sample more of the Menu (ok its a short menu but everything we tried was a winner) plus they seem to have specials daily that are not on the set menu.
Almost forgot! Try the fruit desert! it was fresh pineapple and bananna with sugar that had been carmelized on top. I was upset I split it with a friend! they kept hogging the bananna.

Love this unique addition to the downtown food scene. The executive chef at Barcelona left to open his own place and put together a creative menu mixing American and Korean dishes — and we get to enjoy the product. Ignore the nondescript exterior and bare-​bones décor cause the menu makes it clear that the chefs are passionate about food. The Korrito was solid, containing Korean-​style marinated beef and soybean hummus. Also had the jap chae, a traditional Korean noodle dish, the calamari with kimchi tartar and the mung bean cake, which was similar to traditional pajun. Excellent quality food for very reasonable prices. One of the owners came out to chat after we were finished, which was very nice.
Can’t wait to go back and try more.

Great downtown place. Was told it is owned by two chefs formerly working at big named local restaurants. Interesting & healthy food. Korean influenced, with western flare. Get the fabulous egg and ham sandwich on butternut squash bread. Flaky and flavorful.

I’ll be back for round two and an update to this review, but for now, there’s a lacking the décor that keeps this joint from being four stars.
The food was tasty — not flashy, nothing too spectacular, just good. The sauces for my korean beef burrito were very good, and the beef itself was very tasty. I like the slaw very much, it was fresh tasting and not heavy.
Apart from that, the interior feels like a cafeteria — the place could use a decorator. It’s not shabby chic, it’s just unfinished feeling. I’ll give them a pass and a return trip in the hopes that as these new restauranteurs settles into their space, it improves.

Welcome to Downtown Columbus Hae Paul’s! Never heard of them? Well they’re an American /​Korean café with a modest menu and great prices.
I tried the Korean Bolgogi. Never had Korean before. Really good stuff here. Thin sliced marinated beef, zucchini, onion, and carrots on a bed of barley rice. It’s a great twist on the usual Chinese that I love so much. Their Kim Chee was pretty good too. Good flavor and it complimented the Bolgogi well. My drink was a mix of raspberry, cranberry and lemon juices, served chilled but with no ice which was nice as it didn’t get watered down.
The one owner, Hae Ran, came out to say hello to me. We talked for several minutes about the restaurant and food. She was open to suggestions, which was nice touch.
My server, Deborah, was really nice too. Bubbly and enthusiastic, you could tell she liked selling food and making people happy. Hopefully she be there next time I come in, which won’t be long coming…

Had a great experience here today– you really feel like a coupla kids (husband and wife chefs Paul Yow and Hae Ran) opened this place just so they could make whatever fun foods they felt like making. There are Korean dishes, American dishes, and Korean-​influenced American dishes.
Our server was attentive and fun, and she even brought us out a couple of fun sauces (Texas Soda Pop, for one) to liven up our dishes. The green pea appetizer was spicier than I was expecting, but definitely the star of our experience. One app included three pieces, perfect for our group. I had the Korrito, very flavorful Korean-​inspired burrito. The slaw side was vinegar based, with paprika and cabbage. Basic, but a great tangy accompaniment to the korrito. Plating could be a little prettier (Yow was previously the executive chef at Barcelona), but whatevs.
It’s definitely a bare-​bones establishment with the focus on the food. Not much ambiance, but with the mega-​cheerful staff and focus on the food, I didn’t miss a flashy interior design.
Korean cuisine is the new Japanese, amirite?!
Honestly, new restaurants are opening downtown so fast, I can hardly keep up!

Natalie’s is an exceedingly modest establishment, to the eye, anyway. From the outside, the only thing that announces it is the name on the awning; inside, it’s clear that the space used to be a deli.
This first impression makes one’s surprise at the ambition of the food all the more enjoyable. The menu is equally split between what one might term ‘modern American’ cuisine, mostly in the form of sandwiches, salads, and soup, and pretty much straight-​up Korean dishes, reflecting the diverse heritages of the husband-​and-​wife team that run the place and prepare the food. (It’s worth noting that the husband of the pair, Paul Yow, used to be the executive chef at Barcelona.)
We went on a cold, rainy day, and consequently opted for the Korean dishes (sandwiches never appeal to me in the winter). The jap chae was well-​prepared and true-​to-​form, accompanied by kim chee and a homemade beet salad. As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, sometimes it’s the details that set a dish apart; in this case, that accompaniment of the pickled beet and watercress made run-​of-​the-​mill jap chae something entirely distinctive.
We also got one of the specials, a mung bean pancake with broiled cod. Basically that traditional Korean seafood pancake you would find elsewhere, again that attention to detail — in this case the broiled cod — made the dish something entirely unique.
Normally we don’t do dessert at lunch, but when the server went through the list, we couldn’t turn down the white chocolate mousse with pomegranate seeds and dark chocolate. It’s a good thing we didn’t.
Until relatively recently, the downtown food scene has been unremarkable, at best. Along with some other new arrivals, Natalie’s is changing that. Go give it a shot, your workday office lunch never tasted this good.

I’ve been twice and tried a handful of dishes. The calamari is delicious – light, flaky, and crispy breading, flash fried and served with kimchi tartar dipping sauce which is the best tartar sauce combination ever.
I’ve tried the jap chae, late night snack (cider braised brisket w/​avocado + swiss + caramelized onions on brioche), the wet beef sandwich (braised chuck w/​pickled veg slaw + provolone on brioche, drenched in au jus), and the bulgolgi. As expected, the food is imaginative, fresh, and most importantly– delicious.
Lunch service is quick and friendly. In and out in under an hour and had a full three course meal, including flourless chocolate cake.
Try it out, spread the word. Downtown needs more inexpensive and creative places to eat.