I went in with friends hoping for a good dinner, especially considering how expensive the food is. Unfortunately, our experience was ruined by the old lady who appeared to be the owner screaming at one of the employees in the middle of the restaurant in front of customers. It made our table extremely uncomfortable. I would have thought that the owner of a restaurant would know that that behavior is unacceptable if they are trying to advertise as a respectable establishment with the absurd prices they are charging for mediocre food. read more

This might have to be our new late night eating spot. It is one of the only late night spots in the area. I think they close at midnight on a weekday. When we walked in, the place was packed! The food was excellent! The waiter was very kind to explain what the dishes were, since we were not familiar with all of it. They had an extensive menu, so many dishes to choose from! Come here for great food and great service. Music is a bit loud so a little hard to hear. read more

My friend recommended Dae Bak for some comfort food after my flight to the Bay Area. We showed up at around 8:40 and were luckily immediately seated even though the restaurant looked full. The servers were very attentive and the food was pretty good. I do wish the egg cheese roll and creamy rice cake had more salt but overall I had a great experience. I wasn't drinking that night but everything would have paired excellently with some soju read more

One of the go to spots for late night kbar. They actually focus more on the food aspect compared to the other late nights, so quality and variety they have. Bright lighting, Parking in the front and side so a lot of parking. It's smaller so does get filled quickly especially on weekends so call ahead otherwise you have to put your name down. They have a call button at the table if you need anything. My favorite food to get here are the hot pots and army stew. They actually bring out out with the fire underneath. They set hot pots you just get to choose ahead what you want. They do run out a lot of these so call ahead to see if they have it. Another fav is the japchae Korean glass noodle. Honestly this is the best japchae I had in my life, served not extra moist, good to share might be the too heavy for one person. The chicken wings with sauce on the side are good too. The pancakes etc. Ambience is moderately noisy not too much compared to other places. read more

A few indoor tables and more outdoor seating available for Dae Bak. They take your temperature at the door! Watermelon soju is what they're known for. Food is pretty good. What's there not to like about bar food and drinks? read more

Great late night spot! We usually get the kimchi fried rice, the LA kalbi, and one of the stews. Service is always great and fast. Tables are large and the place feels more spacious than it looks. Dae Bak hits the spot always. read more

Food, service, atmosphere--- excellent. There were a few things that drew me to Daebak. At first it was the soju served in melons and pineapples. Then it was the booth with the red phone and the girl with the big head. The red phone looked like the rotary phone i had during my early 20's. I'd look at it and reminisce while listening to K-pop and sipping on soju and munching on spicy rice cakes. Soon after I'd order a bottle of Chamisul classic to pour into the fruit and a bottle of Cass to back it up. The girl with a big head was interesting. Why? Because she was nosy and her eyes twinkled with curiosity. From the very start, she asked personal questions and told dirty jokes. She must have had some big ol' nuts. Then every time after that first night, she ignored me. What can i say, I respect that. Both are gone now. The red phone and the big headed girl with dirty jokes... When I'm gone, the thing I'll miss the most is the owner. I'll always remember sitting in that booth looking at the phone and listening to her say to Bighead or to another waitress--- "He rarely orders food... Just sits there and drinks. This isn't a bar! I wish he'd go someplace else..." And when I'd leave she'd smile sweetly, asking me to come back soon.... I loved it. Not sure what happened, but over the years she stopped saying that. She bacame really kind and genuine. That's when I knew I needed to find another spot. Thank you Daebak for memories. I'll Miss you. read more

Came here strictly for the fresh fruit cocktails. Yes, I openly admit that I fell for Dae Bak's frilly gimmicks and I fell HAAAARD. Our party of two arrived with a long list of people awaiting to be seated. Come prepared to wait during peak hours since the establishment is a bit on the tiny side. Parking is very limited [even with the addition spots in the back] so come early or you'll be forced to do a good amount of walking. Our party of two ordered: Chamisul Grapefruit Soju Pineapple Soju [fresh fruit cocktail] Bulgogi Roll Fried Chicken The Bulgogi Roll wasn't anything special, in fact we could have skipped that item all together. Fried chicken was simply alright- I definitely wouldn't come here if I was craving Korean Fried Chicken. The pineapple soju definitely came out and impressed when it comes to the presentation, unfortunately the taste wasn't anything spectacular. I enjoyed the bottled soju a lot better which prompted us to not follow through with the original decision to order the watermelon fruit cocktail as well. Meh. Glad to say that I tried Dae Bak but I don't think I'll be returning. I can guarantee there are plenty of better options out there. read more

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Their hours are weird. The kitchen closes like an hour early from when the restaurant actually closes. So I guess you can stay and hangout with whatever food or drinks you have left, but for the last hour you won't be able to order anything else. My bf and I got there right when they closed the kitchen, but thankfully they let us put in an order to go. I got the extra spicy beef tofu soup and he got the extra spicy intestines tofu soup. The guys said it was really spicy, but it was not spicy at all. So disappointed. read more

My friends and I came here a few days ago after work to just chill and talk. We were taken care of by these nice ahjummas, they were sweet and checked on us. My friends sang me happy birthday and they came and gave us bowls of fruits, which surprised me! They were so sweet, I almost cried their food is always great but the ahjumma who gave us the fruits made my night amazing! read more

I love love love Dae Bak! During covid, we've been ordering for pick up (I'm fortunate enough to live five min away) and we absolutely love the food. I love everything on the menu here and my new personal favorite is probably their galbijjim. I swear that this is hands down THE best galbijjim I've had in the Bay Area and I've eaten a lot of galbijjim (I'm Korean haha!). Seriously folks, the 3.5 stars is just plain wrong. I would give six stars if I could! read more

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Daeeee Bakkkkk ~ Still one of my favorite Korean lounges on El Camino, by far! From a fun atmosphere to chill and drink with friends, good food and a fire playlist. What more could you want? Besides the usual items I get here like the Cheese Corn, Rabokki (with extra cheese, for cheese pull action), Fried Chicken and Yogurt or Fruit Soju. Their Dae Bak Fries, Kimchi Fried Rice and Bossam are pretty damn good too. Dae Bak Fries - think Carne Asada fries, but without meat or guac and Kim Chi instead. It'd probably be xtra fire if they added Bulgogi or Pork Belly to it to make it a bit more exciting. Dae Bak, can I be part of the taste test before this gets added to the menu? ;-) The Kimchi Fried Rice - comes in a hefty portion, great for sharing and soaking up all the soju and other alcoholic bevvies you'll be having. Not too salty, a bit tangy from the Kimchi and topped with a sunny side up egg. Major yum and so satisfying to mix the yolk into the rice. Bossam - needs to come with a warning about how much pork you get, this is probably enough for 4 people! Made the mistake of ordering this with a friend, along with 3 other items. Aiiigooooo ~ Anyways, you get a large serving of well marinated, soft and tender pork. Garlic, jalapenos to pair with it. Heart cloggingly delicious. Service is always great here, it can take a bit of time to flag them down sometimes ... but is understandable by how packed it is. The servers have always been friendly and I've never encountered anything shady when it came to our charges, even with the bill written in Korean. (Something I've experienced at many other Korean places in the past.) Tried and true, Dae Bak. I love youuuu ~ read more

Dae Bak - Good Day Peach Soju - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Dae Bak is my go to spot when it comes to Korean bars. It does get busy, but once you're in, you're in. I love that they have a wide selection on their menu when it comes to food because when drinking, food is very important haha. I definitely recommend ordering the kimchi fried rice, chicken gizzard, seafood pancake, and garlic fries! They give a big portion for the garlic fries, which I love. Between me and my three friends, we couldn't finish it. I love how they cut up and batter the chicken gizzards! You can't really tell it's even gizzard -- for the people who usually don't like it. The kimchi fried rice is always a must along with the seafood pancake. We also ordered Terra (Hite's replacement), Kloud, Chamisul original soju, and herbal soju. The herbal soju was sweeter, but still good. Highly recommend coming here to anyone who's looking for a kbar. read more

I've been ordering tteokbokki from this place since the pandemic while I'm at work & it's delicious! They very friendly & they serve you as soon as you get there. Place is awesome & chill. read more

In A Nutshell: -Dae Bak is a hidden Korean restaurant gem that brings you back to South Korea. -The set-up is great inside w/ terrific service. -The food options cover the entire spectrum of Korean comfort foods [i.e. Korean Fried Chicken, Budae Jjigae (Army Base Stew), dol sot bimbimbap, etc...). -This restaurant is more fun when you eat out w/ friends & family. -They also have some TVs set up to keep you entertained. Overall, Dae Bak serves up excellent Korean food in a fun environment. read more

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Ordered from Daebak last night and food was on point. Noticed that they had a few new menu items during COVID so what did I do? Ordered takeout for the second night in a row of course! What can I say? Gotta live life somehow during these sad times! We get Dae Bak pretty often so not sure if there's a new cook in the kitchen, but tonight was definitely the best meal we had from them! Hubby and I were really happy with what we got: - Cream tteokbokki with seafood (think Korean gnocchi) - nice fusion-y twist. More mild flavor than the original (spicy), but I still liked it. Option to get with cheese. Probably should have done to make the sauce a smidge thicker so it would stick more to the rice cakes. Original spicy tteokbokki still my favorite though! - Fried kalbi chicken - flavor on point. Just wished they didn't close the box while the chicken was hot because it was pretty soggy by the time we got home. -Spicy tuna kimbap (Korean style sushi) - has a nice spicy kick. -Gimmari (fried seaweed roll) - really good! For those who are not familiar it's like a seaweed wrapped japchae eggroll. You're welcome. read more

Came here for the first time for dinner with a friend. For drinks we got the Pineapple soju which comes in a pineapple (how awesome is that?). We shared a scrambled egg cheese roll as an appetizer. My friend got the spam kimchi fried rice which was actually not too spicy. I tried it and was able to handle it which is nice cause I have a low spicy tolerance. I got two rolls-bulgogi roll, spam kimchi roll. The kimchi they use is nice, sweet & sour and very mild spicy. The bulgogi roll has pickled radish in it which gives it a crunchy and slightly sour taste which I really liked. Overall my friend and I agreed the food here is super satisfying. It's good comfort food that isn't super greasy. The service here was great. Servers were attentive and friendly. There are also call bells at each table if you needed to get ahold of a server. The music is a little loud but you can still hold a conversation comfortably. 10/10 would recommend if you're craving Korean food. read more

Dae Bak - Scrambled egg cheese roll - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Amazing food and great customer service. They let us stay passed the normal hours to eat and drink

Solid korean restaurant! My boyfriend and I came here during lunch, thought they seem more focused on the late-night crowd. My boyfriend and I loved everything we got here, including the galbi, beef tofu soup, and spicy rice cakes + ramen. It's been hard to find a korean joint that does the rice cakes dish just right for our taste preferences since we prefer it to be spicier rather than sweet, but this place is perfect! Limited parking in the lot, but there are lots of side street spots within walking distance. read more

Dae Bak - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

It's been 1 year since I was here enjoying the comfort of Korean cuisine. The pork belly kimchi fried rice was over cooked and mushy but the flavor profile was there. Japchae was cooked perfectly and delicious. The spicy beef soup was a first for me here. Tasted like they used the spicy package mix in the shin ramyun pack. It was ehhh. They also changed the menu it's not the same as before. Now it's a laminated paper. read more

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love the food and ambient here. been here thousand times cant remember why they dont have my review

Cash and card accepted. Dae Bak is located in a small plaza and offers plaza parking. This place is usually packed at nights but isn't too bad earlier in the evening. I've been to this place numerous times and I enjoy it every time. They have great food and drinks and the servers are always quick and helpful. I would definitely recommend their sojus in the fruits and I think watermelon and pineapple are my favorites. (Don't forget you can get refills in the fruits). I don't have a favorite food here because everything is good. I usually order food based on what mood I'm in when I go. Overall I'd recommend this place and will definitely go back. read more

My husband and I were craving for Korean Lounge food so gave in and decided to try Dae Bak once more and immediately had regrets. Last time we came here was in 2015 and we thought maybe we would enjoy it this time around but no. We ordered the jalepeno pork belly and the fried chicken wings. The pork belly was not at all crispy and the chicken (although very crispy and juice was very bland in flavor). They do have 4 tables for outside seating, however, I don't recommend it because they have a very small parking lot with so many people driving in and out as well as some shady looking people hanging around the area (liquor store nearby). Service was also not that great and when we asked for sesame sauce to go with the pork belly, our server looked confused and said that she does not think they have any. What korean place doesn't have sesame sauce to go with their meat? read more

Dae Bak - Super bland and not crispy pork belly - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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I have to admit that I never paid attention to this restaurant pre-covid, but now they make it easy to keep on coming back. They have lunch specials most weekdays until 4 (just not open Mondays for lunch), and they stay open until midnight or later every night for dinner, and they somehow managed to whip up a cute outdoor patio in the middle of a rather seedy strip mall. During this era, it's hard to find a place that's consistently open, so I'm thrilled that I can count on Dae Bak. In addition, they have some interesting menu items that I don't see too often, such as a pureed soybean stew with pork belly served in a hot pot. (Available with both white soybeans and black soybeans!) They also usually have brown rice (real whole grain rice, not just purple rice which is white rice with a few specks of black rice.) It's a $2 upcharge but worth it if they have it. The best part of it is that they can make a Bibimbap with it (with your choice of beef, chicken, tofu, or pork) and the brown rice, despite being a denser consistency, still gets nice and crispy! The bowl is so hot that once a crispy layer forms, you can mix it up and another crispy layer will form. I also picked up a spicy beef intestine stew to go and it came in a gigantic aluminum cake tray and was hella tasty. I also tried the yukyejang. It comes in a gigantic bowl and with a generous helping of fern, although to be honest it wasn't as tasty as the other stuff I've tried from them. I would stick with their unique dishes, bar food, or bibimbap. Meals come with 3-4 side dishes -- usually fairly standard ones (though once I got a stir fried chayote squash which was interesting), but they are tasty and they are happy to refill them. Prices and food quality are about on par with most of the other Korean restaurants in the area, but staff is very nice and what sets this restaurant ahead of the pack are the reliable hours, lunch specials, delightfully crispy bibimbap, real brown rice, and unique menu items. read more

Came in here for the first time last night for a late dinner. Straight off the bat, parking sucks, ambiance is sus, and lighting is really dark. Music was dope for a while though. The food and drinks are largely overpriced even for Korean food. Each entree serves a small person at roughly $15-20 each with little to no banchan laid out. We had the Bulgogi Hot Pot and Pork Belly Kimchi Fried Rice. The hot pot was bland and consisted of mostly filler vegetables. The meats in it were okay, but I think it would've made more sense to have it as a grilled side. I was excited for the fried rice but was disappointed to see the pork belly all shredded up to instead of serving it like samgyeopsal. It was also pretty greasy despite the lack of depth and roundness. The food here just needs a much needed kick and effort. Looks like something a drunk person prepared. Speaking off that, the drink prices are ridiculous. $22 to have about 12 ounces of soju served to you in a watermelon carcass? Strong pass. Overall, Dae Bak is convenient for its late hours, but honestly I wish I would've went to In-N-Out instead. Inattentive service, below-average Korean food, and a lackluster dining experience makes this a solid 2/5. read more

NEVER COME BACK! I think the only reason people dine in here is that they open till midnight. They only care about the profits they make. The food and customer service are getting worse. DO NOT EVER order beef brisket soup. I can't even describe how bad it was. They literally just added the broth and three slides of meat WITHOUT even seasoning the broth, tasted nasty. I called a server, he talked the kitchen and returned to us saying that they FORGOT to put the 'salt' next to it and we season it ourselves?? $21 for a small bowl of soup that taste like shit. We ended up not even touch the soup Next, they ridiculously charged us extra $2 for a sweet and spicy sauce. I don't get it?? We ordered fried chicken with garlic sauce. There not even sauce on it. They fried the chicken and garlic. That's it. No seasoning. So we asked for dipping sause and he said we have to pay for the extra sause LOL. Again, they only about the profit. I'm done with this restaurant. read more

Dae Bak - The worse soup I ever had in my life - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Went here with my boyfriend on a Friday night around 11pm. There were several empty tables and we were the only ones waiting. It took about 30 minutes to get seated :L Ok.. Not entirely sure why the reviews are so happy with the service here. Service overall was terrible. The staff looked like they wanted to quit and were forced to work. It took them SO long to get to our table to take our order, even with the call button. I understand there were 2 bigger parties, but we were not attended to at all. We ordered the rabokki and kimchi pancake. Just for these two items, we waited over 45 minutes. The rabokki was ok; it came out warm and a bit too sweet for our liking. We would have preferred it to be spicier. The kimchi pancake was bad; the sauce provided did not compliment the pancake at all. We ended up leaving around 1am for a lackluster meal. Save your time and your money. There are better places in the area that open late at night. read more

Dae-Bak directly translates to 'GREAT' in Korean. Despite the fact I choose not to drink alcohol, I come to Daebak solely for the food and bar atmosphere. During their evening store hours expect long lines and a loud ambiance. For drinks Dae-Bak has something catered to anyone's tastebuds. Starting with traditional Korean beer such as Hite and Soju brands like Chum Churum they also have in house specially made cocktails like the Watermelon soju or pineapple soju. My go-to's for their food is: 1) Fried chicken, which is evenly battered and perfectly fried 2) Ra-Bbokkgi, spicy rice cake with ramen noodles 3) jjeol-myun, chewy spicy cold noodles with veggies 4) Mandoo, korean meat dumplings 5) Korean army soup Like I said, I come here mainly for the food because of the authenticity and sheer taste of the dishes. It's definitely a cool spot to check if you're looking for a chill place to grab some food and drinks with friends Monday-Sunday. read more

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Great food and vibes! The server I had was also super friendly and attentive. The only reason why I'm giving 4* is the prices for the amount of food is a tad pricy. read more

Dae Bak - Boneless Chicken with Green Onion, Seafood Pancake - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

I come here and bring others here for 2 specific dishes. The Military Soup & Chicken Casserole. (Booze helps too). Both are amazing and the 2 dishes feed a party of 4 pretty easily. The best part of the casserole is that you can turn the leftovers into fried rice and keep on going! Not too many places in the south bay that provides a meal experience the way that Dae Bak does! Some time ago -they also opened up one of the side rooms and added more space! I think this was a great addition to the environment. The biggest issue is the parking - so uber over or carpool! read more

Who knew there were so many Korean restaurants in this close by in area? I definitely didn't! After walking along the Camino, we decided to stop by Dae Bak and check out the hype. We were quickly seated and dove into the menu! When we walked in, we first noticed the bar-like ambience. Seems like a great place for drinks and for catching up with friends. It was a little dark inside, but pretty lively atmosphere. There is also a tv screen where they were playing a video of a girl eating lots and lots of food...definitely put us in the mood to have our own feast! We got the fire cheese chicken which was pretty spicy (it gets you after your first serving!) and kimchi rice. Great options and filling enough for two people to share. Flavorful and fresh. As for the drinks, we decided to try the pomegranate soju. Bad choice. I think that was a really bad choice. Why? Maybe it was the brand. It tastes like a bad dose of cough syrup. I definitely could not even finish half of a cup. It was really not tasteful at all! Bummer, cause I needed something other than water to calm my palate! I did see though that they have other fancy drinks, like the watermelon soju that comes in the watermelon cup! How cool! Next time. I'll be back, and hopefully bring some friends along too. Oh and another plus is that our order came pretty quickly! read more

Dae Bak - Fire cheese chicken! - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Come here if you have a group of friends. I like their creativity on the watermelon and pineapple soju! Bulgogi Hot Pot was just okay 3/5. Kimchi Fried Rice and Spicy cheesy chicken wings are good! 4/5 read more

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We ordered Budae Jjigae - Army Stew. Feels like it was an expensive entree because it taste simply like instant noodle.... not worth the price paid, not recommended at all unless you want to see how horrible it could be. Pork leg was good, the portion is way more than our expecting. If I back to the area, I probably will grab a foot leg to go. Yes, to go. My friend says their watermelon soju was good. I didn't try because I was a driver that day. read more

Dae Bak - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Dae Bak is good for what it's for! A Korean bar, with lots of good drinks but kind of expensive food (that you can share amongst people). We ordered the seafood pancake, daebak fries, cheese fire chicken, kalbi, corn cheese. Great place to hang out w friends! read more

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If you want the best SEAFOOD PANCAKE this is the place. I return to this restaurant for primarily this, but all the other food i have tried is also delicious. I first heard about this restaurant because of their social media worthy soju presentation which soju is served from an entire small melon depending on the flavor you get and comes out on a bed of dry ice. Cool thing to experience at least one time you go. But back to the pancake, what makes this pancake the best out of all is how crunchy and packed with seafood it is and not tiny pieces of seafood but big chunks. We even DoorDashed the pancake one late night and it typically delivered food does not taste as good as it does when you eat in, but this still did! Semi small restaurant so there can be a wait on busier nights. This night we got the kalbi, spicy cheese chicken, cheese corn, seaweed egg rolls, japchae, spicy tofu soup and fried chicken wings. No complaints on any of the dishes, we finished everything. read more

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Quite pricey!! But I guess that's the price you gotta pay for late night foods :) the seafood pancake was yummy and the sauce that goes with it pairs very well. read more

Dae Bak - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Good Korean food but pretty pricyyyyy! I went with a party of 3 and we ordered spam kimchi fried rice, fried wings (5 pieces), spicy rice cake with ramen and fish cake, and watermelon soju. Total came out to be $81 with tax and tips but it was a lot of food!! Spam kimchi fried rice was just average. Not a lot of spam in the fried rice. Fried wings were very fresh. The skins were very very crispy. It came with a mini salad on the side but I still think it was quite expensive. ($10 for 5 pieces). Spicy rice cake with ramen was definitely the best dish. HUGE PORTION. It feed 3 ppl with no problem. The sauce wasn't too spicy and it had a little sweet flavor as well! Watermelon soju was pretty good too. Cute presentation but the soju was pretty diluted. Overall experience was great. Servers were very attentive. But they have a very small parking lot so it might be difficult to find parking during peak hours. read more

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I was craving Korean food but most Korean restaurant are closed on Sundays. I did come across this one and decided to give it a try. WHAT A MISTAKE. I ordered the spicy squid stir fry ($29) the price for this was outrageous as the portion was so tiny. I also got the beef bibimbap which was a literal joke. The portions were just enough for a toddler. For two orders, it came out to be $50 which is just not okay. They did not even give side dishes which all the other Korean restaurants I've been to do. Safe to say I won't be coming back and DO NOT recommend you to come either. read more

Dae Bak - beef Bibimbap - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California

We enjoyed the food here, it's delicious the serving is enough to fill you in. The staff are very attentive and nice. The place is clean. We'll go back again. read more

I miss coming here! It's a Korean bar with alcohol and Korean food. Their fruity soju is so darn good. Their food is large in portion and well flavored. The crowd can be loud on the weekends since it's a drinking place. But hey, everyone minds their own business and it's a fun atmosphere. read more

Dae Bak - Combo meal: squid, fries, clams, beer - Korean Near Me - Santa Clara, California