A-Won Japanese Restaurant

Whenever I feel tired after a long week, I come here to recharge. Min-​uh Jji Geh — Fish Eggs on rice seem to have magic power.
I love it so much I even named my external hard drive after it. Yes, my 1T hard drive is named A Won.

I came here last week to try the hwe dup bap after telling a friend that I needed to expand my korean food knowledge outside of kbbq.
The restaurant is «Japanese» but actually really korean, down to the menu without a whole lot of descriptions in English. Luckily my Korean friend was with me and ordered fo us.
The hew dup bap portion is served in a giant mixing bowl with a side of rice and some banchan. I have no idea how it’s supposed to taste but my main complaint is that it’s a tad on the blander side. I like my food to be extra flavorful so this was a bit of a pain point. The ingredients were all super fresh too.
Service was so-​so, but I’ve noticed this is pretty common at Korean restaurants (at least in my experience). We had a hard time getting water refills and such.
Overall for the food and the price, it was okay. Not bad and not amazing but at least I crossed one dish off the korean foodie list.

Came here once randomly few days ago with my cousin for dinner I liked a couple of the rolls so I thought id come back with my girlfriend for lunch a couple days later. I ordered some sashimi and two rolls. Like I said the food was ok, however this time my bill came and it was 80something dollars for 2 rolls and 1 order of sashimi. Anyways I took my check to the counter and I didn’t even have to say anything I just gave them the look and they immediately knew what the problem was… That means they had done it on purpose … They fixed my check and the total was now 43 dollars. I threw a 50 down and walked out probably to never return now :/

Decent place… no wait… not much panchan… not much selection for Korean bbq… known for their he do bap

Okay food but HORRIBLE SERVICE! For the service you get, this place charges way too much. Very upset with their service.

Very prompt and courses from the specials is just AWESOME!!!
(Although they ran out of Uni — better luck next time!)

My family and I have been coming here for many years. Their Hwe Dup Bop () is the best I’ve had hands down. It comes in a huge bowl, makes you wonder how you’re going to finish all of it. I would suggest eating that at lunch time as the price is cheaper. The sushi orders come out fresh and delicious. The price might be slightly higher than some other places but with sushi, you gst what you pay for. Every meal we’ve had here was satisfactory. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for good sushi or Hwe Dup Bop. The parking is sometimes valet, sometimes self park.

If I can give zero star I would do it without hesitate. Unbelievable Awful service that I ever experienced. When I walk into the restaurant, the waiter told me: just wait. Even before I said anything. After about 20 minutes waiting, we are finally set down, for a part of 4, the waiter throw me 2 menus, then left without a word.
Food here is good, I used to come this restaurant back to few years ago, they were not that busy, and service was fairly good. However, I never expected the management and service at the same place could go such terrible. Now, the restaurant truly makes me disgusting. I will never come back again.

I got the hwedupbap, it’s a pretty filling dish sans rice. I ate it as more of a salad. Next time I’ll have to get the al-​bap. Service was so-​so, not enough help available at Sunday lunchtime.

Came here for a business lunch. Honestly, not much to say about the place it was crackalackin on a Monday around noon but we were seated immediately. This place is in an incredibly busy lot with a lot of other businesses, prepare to wait a bit to leave your car and to also get your car back. I believe valet is standard $ 2 in Ktown though which is cheap.
I guess they’re famous for seafood? I had the al-​dupbap which is the fish egg/​roe rice bowl which was good, not outstanding. My mom makes a better one, and others had the hweh dupbap which is the sashimi rice bowl. I can’t picture myself ever craving this place’s food or coming back unless someone else wanted to come here.
No complaints necessarily, it was just A-​OK.

Love Me some good SUSHI!
Came here for a family dinner with cousins.
Ordered Combo B (see picture)
Fresh sashimi + uni combo mix
Love their fresh wasabi they had (have to ask)
If you see in my pic you can see there’s fresh wasabi around the sashimi platter which made the sashimi taste better.
Korean sushi restaurant gives a lot of sukidashi (side dishes) when ordering Combo sashimi platters
Ordered Monkfish (which is an acquiring taste) which I like but tastes even better wrapped in dried seaweed with a bit of fresh wasabi (see pic)
On the pricy side but worth it for fresh sashimi.
Definitely recommend when going with a group of people that all love sashimi

Love their al-​bap!!! If you like fish roe, this is the place to go!
I love how packed your bowl of rice is with all sorts of colorful fish roes and to top it off, they even add a nice uni! Yummm~~~Just thinking about it makes me happy!
They also have ginormous size of chirashi bowls which will definitely fill you up and make you happy.
I did think their sushi special could be better and more fresh but their rice dishes you can have for lunch definitely stand out and are top notch!

Last night we had to have a late dinner around 9:30 and decided we wanted something a little on the healthier side. When deciding on where to go we wanted something also that was a bang for our buck. I suggested A-​Won and my husband responded with «OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH». I took that as a yes.
We look on Unilocal and notice that the hours say they are open till 11 pm. We make our way to the restaurant and see that its nearly deserted (due to late hour on a tuesday). The waitress looks at the clock and seats us. She tells us that they close at 10. I informed her about the wrong information on Unilocal and she said she will update it. We know what we want. 2 of the for us.
The food arrives and they are seriously the size of my face and a half. I actually bent my head down to the bowl to show my husband… But he wasn’t looking at me at that point. just his food. We threw in the hot pepper sauce and the bowl of rice and mix rapidly. I think we ate our food in 20 minutes. We were both so full we couldn’t finish each of our bowls. We agreed that next time we come we can share one.
Our meal was $ 42 for two people and that’s including tax and tip.

I normally to go about $ 100 — $ 150 worth of food for my parents every other week and always looking for new places. On a Friday there are hardly any sushi restaurants that have halibut sashimi that are opened at 2 pm (places I normally go open 3 to 4 pm).
Should have trusted Unilocal… the reviews said it wasn’t fresh but people also said they give you a lot of food.
What I ordered to-​go: $ 100 worth of halibut sashimi that was supposed to come with spicy fish stew, grilled salmon neck, and six side dishes, pork donkgatsu, and fresh water eel totaling about $ 150 not including tip given.
What I received were extremely thin pieces of halibut that barely fed two, spicy fish stew with just a piece of tail (literally the end of a tail which looked disgusting), couple radish, and what looked like kimchi in a horrible tasting soup, salmon head split in half with zero meat and zero neck part, four tiny strips of under cooked fishy eel, and nasty thin strips of pork donkgatsu. Oh the six side dishes? Garlic and jalepeno, two quail eggs, tripe, and other things I don’t even remember each on a foil cup the size that would fit two quail eggs.
I don’t understand why they would do this in Korea town where there are tons of competition. If you guys even sold me what I thought would be $ 150 worth of food I might have given 3 stars for effort and service.
You guys would have made a loyal customer out of me if I truly enjoyed your food.
First timers… In all fairness I did not try any other dish they carry except for what I previously mentioned. But I would not waste my money here ever again. Ton of other places to go in ktown and nearby jtown

This isn’t in the trendy spots of ktown but it is a restaurant that is popular among the older generation of workers in koreatown. They have good lunch deals.
I always get their sashimi rice bowls. Comes with miso soup. The portion is a lot and lots of sashimi too.
Parking is valet: $ 1 or 2?

3.5
To my knowledge, there are probably less than a handful of places in Koreatown that serves a memorable al-​bap dish– A-​Won is one of them. A-​Won is one of those spots that successfully rode its first wave of popularity to become a mainstay on the K-​Town scene. Had it not lucked out early on, I don’t know how popular it would be today.
Primarily a sushi restaurant, A-​Won serves a variety of sashimi, sushi, and seafood dishes along with other traditional Korean seafood dishes. Signature dishes include the Al-​Bap, which is a beautiful rice bowl featuring various fish roe, and the Hwe Dup Bap, cut up sashimi served over rice and greens. I have not personally tried the Hwe Dup Bap so I can’t comment on the supposed decline in quality as of recent.
The Al-​Bap, however… yum. A gorgeous spread of colorful fish roe, pickled daikon, imitation crab, seaweed salad, kaiware sprouts, egg omelet, ikura, and a dollop of uni are presented on a bed of rice– It’s a beautiful sight to behold. You mix all the goodies together and eat it like a bibimbap. Previous reviewers have noted that the Al-​Bap is texturally one note, but I live for those tiny beads of crunchy, briny goodness. Although the sesame oil in the rice lends a pleasant flavor, if you’re like me and like a little bit of zing, go ahead and ask for the cho-​gochujang (vinegar-​infused red pepper paste) to mix into your bowl.
A-Won’s sashimi is ok, nothing stellar. My mom’s Meh-​Oon Tang (spicy fish soup) was also ok but nothing to write home about. I think it’s safe to say that A-​Won is pretty lucky to have secured an early reputation for its couple signature dishes. The Al-​Bap is a refreshing treat if you’re in the area, but A-​Won is not necessarily a place you want to have to travel for.

Got the hwedupbap, the bowl was super big but don’t be intimidated; you will finish it and not be crazy full. It kinda disappointed me
Regardless, it was really good, and fresh.

Since i read some article from local magazine, i bookmarked this restaurant. It’s located on the busiest street, James. M. Wood and Vermont in Koreatown. However we parked the car easily because it was 10pm. Even though this restaurant close 11pm, the kitchen already shut down and only opened the sushi bar area.
So we ordered the albob and the dupbob and the california roll. Instead giving bread and butter, they gave us side dishes after we ordered the main dishes. Some radish pickle, Kimchi and the Korean style veggies.
Due to the fact i read local magazines few times, i had a great expectation. The albob is very similar to bibimbob but instead of giving gochujang, there’s no gochujang. So i asked where the gochujang was. The sushi man at the bar told me we don’t need any gochujang and i had to use chopstick to mix them. It looked so plain but after i mixed with the chopstick, it was so delicious and fluffy. That’s why every magazine tells us this is the best Korean style sushi. The dupbob, i didn’t have any idea. The sashimi was still very fresh but i ve never seen before even i am from Korea.
After i went to LA Opera, it was too late and there was no place eat. However, this restaurant gave us chance to fill our tummy when we were hungry. Everything was great but the price was still steep.

As far as the food goes, definitely 5 stars!
However, their service is not great. Sadly, this is the case for a lot of Korean-​owned restaurants. Thankfully, if you really need to flag someone down, they have a doorbell thing you can ring. Because it’s sort of expected, I only dock 1 star even though usually, service is a make it or break it kind of thing for me.
They aren’t very good at speaking english, so don’t even try to ask for modifications because they won’t understand. The banchan selection is limited but yummy, and you have to ask for water if you want it.
The Hewdopbap is delicious, fresh, and HUGE. They don’t skimp on sashimi! Also, the Albap is just as yummy!
Protip: come with a friend and get both. Then, mix the hwedopbap and albap together, and its DELICIOUS!!!

This is a Korean-​run sushi place in K-​town. Valet parking for $ 2 in the lot out front.
I asked for hot water, but the waitress brought me a cup of hot tea instead. Oh well.
They give you miso soup and little dishes, Korean-​style. I guess they were various kinds of kimchi and pickled veggies?
I got the Assorted Sashimi Bowl, which actually came in a shallow dish that was more like a square plate than a bowl. They made it look really cute with the nori on a skewer on top like a sail on a sailboat.
The sashimi was really fresh and tasty, and I liked the seasoned rice. Definitely a good place to come for dinner on a Friday night with a group of friends.