*update. I came back and tried their spicy beef & leek soup. I AM IN LOVE Service was just as friendly as last time and the side dishes, while different, were just as good. read more

Dong Nae Gil - Spicy Beef & Leek Soup - Korean Near Me - Gardena, California

See all

So this wasnt the first time it happened. Happened again last night with my non korean husband(hispanic). Usually I would order togo on the phone since I can speak korean, and my husband pick it up after. Both times waitress would ignore my husband and doesnt even bother to acknowledge him at all. He told me she was just looking at her phone when he was trying to pick up our food last night. I do understand they have very limited speaking in English but you shouldnt ignore customers because they dont speak korean!!! Also there was no customers inside restaurant per my husband. He stood there for like 5min (yes he is toooooo nice!!) and finally waitress came to give him a menu! I even specifically told the waitress my husband name that he will be the one to pick up the food when I placed an order. He ended up calling me and I told her what I ordered. They really need better customer service not only to koreans but also to non koreans as well!!!!! read more

This place sells delicious Korean food. Everything we ate was so satisfying and what we came for! I'm a sucker for some delectable Korean soups and stews and this place offers so many different types. I ordered the beef rib soup that was so comforting and healthy! My sister ordered the spicy beef soup and it was super savory and delicious! The side dishes were fun, fresh and high quality. The lady who was taking care of our table, Yong-Ah, was incredibly sweet and helpful. We loved her most of all! Customer service was so great here! We are definitely coming back! read more

Why have I not reviewed this place yet. Solid place for the korean foods. I always get the goat stew and stir-fried squid, no noodles. Plus extra banchan - they make legit banchan and kimchi. I can totally eat just their banchan and rice. I've tried over half their menu - it is all vvv good. If you wanna try something other than the usual bulgogi, soon tofu, or ssam, this is the place to try it. Like the goat stew, any of the braised fish dishes, extra funky cheonggukjang... etc. Ahjummas are a bit aloof - finally warmed up to me after my 10th visit or so, actually gave me a smile the last couple times and I'm a korean-speaking Korean. Don't be put off by their lack of warmth if you're new here - it's just the ahjumma way. read more

Great mom and pop restaurant with delicious food! I am a huge fan of bossam and their version is delicious and I love their combo options! I tried their beef soup and that is delicious too. The banchan is really good, my favorite is the onion pancake, bean sprouts, mushroom and the cilantro salad. It's a nice and quiet restaurant that is quick with their orders and service. read more

Dong Nae Gil - Korean Near Me - Gardena, California

I rounded up because the banchan was yummy. They give you plenty of banchan and I especially loved the green onion pancake one. They generously refill it as well. We got the spicy beef and leek soup, which was a little bland compared to other places but still not bad. There was a decent amount of shredded beef in the soup. We also got the galbi tang. I really enjoyed the flavor of the soup but there were no clear noodles in the soup, which I usually like. They have combos with the bossam which I would like to try next time I go. Apparently that is supposed to be really good there. Lots of parking in the plaza. There is a bakery and boba shop in the plaza as well if you want to grab a drink after your meal. read more

Dong Nae Gil - Spicy beef and leek soup - Korean Near Me - Gardena, California

See all

My family and I came here because the food was different than your classic soon du bu (soft tofu) or Korean bbq. We wanted a change! Something original! 5 stars for the original food selection, which I presume is deeply authentic. My parents loved the pork belly, which is wrapped in steamed lettuce and a spicy sauce. They also loved the hairtail fish, which was incredibly spicy but also appetizing! 2 stars for the service and overall experience. We weren't getting very much attention, we were brought a wrong dish which was then taken away suddenly a few minutes later (we didn't know it was wrong to begin with because of the language barrier), and the place seemed chaotic. The prices also were justified. Maybe next time, I'll order take-out? read more

DNG is a great hole in the wall Korean restaurant! The Bossam here is great and for the price such a steal! You get tons of juicy pork belly and tons of side dishes. The interior is a bit run down, but don't let that scare you from trying out DNG. read more

First time here was great as the food was delicious and service wasn't bad. I eat Korean food almost every day and I know what i like so i didn't really like being hovered over and being told what I should order. I'm Mexican so I'm sure the assumption was made that I needed help lol which was sweet but also unnecessary unless asked. After I ordered she came to me once more to refill my banchan but it was okay because after ordering I didn't need any assistance.. However, I decided to come for a second time today & I just walked out after being seated for 10 minutes without any service. I honestly was going to wait a few more minutes until I saw that people who walked in after me was getting serviced.That was a huge deal breaker for me which is sad because I just moved to California and have had a hard time finding a great Korean spothat compares to what I'm used to So spicy beef soup is all i can speak on from my first time here.. it was very good so 5 stars for that... but after today down to 3 stars. If I'm ever in a better mood to not be bothered about potentially getting ignored then I'll come back :) (Update: I've gone back a few times and service has been wayyyyyyy better so giving some stars back lol) read more

service was very good and the pork bossam was super yummy; the price was reasonable; would definitely go back

I would say this place is pretty good. I've been to other Asian restaurants in Gardena but out of all those places this place was pretty good. read more

This place is beyond mediocre, we wanted to grab some quick dinner and I understand it was Mother's day but I don't understand how this place runs like this. I ordered to-go and got some bibim noodles, bibimbap, potatoe pancake. The noodle sauce literally tasted like gochujang(red pepper paste) and sugar the gochujang was still clumped up as whole not even mixed or anything. The bibimbap was just traumatizing the only ingredient they put was kimchi and bean sprout not even an egg! How the hell do you service this as food. The lack of quality was amazing, just because it was a to-go order it's like they didn't care at all. This was not even food and worst part they charged me $70 for this crap. Save yourself the hassle this restaurant is crap. read more

Recommend by locals .... and turned out to be the best "home style " Korean restaurant in Gardena ! (or entire South Bay ?) Loved their fresh Kimchi because I DO NOT like sour old over-fermented ones ... I can't wait to come back and try all on the menus! read more

See all

Today's word is DRECK. I have to confess, I have utilized the services of this great website and yet have yet to make a contribution. This is mainly due to the fact that I never felt the need to echo what others have already stated, much more eloquently than I could. Until today. Two of my coworkers and I often make a trek down to a particular Gardena strip mall on Western Ave. to enjoy the various Korean samplings unavailable near our work. Today, Thursday April 12, 2012, was one such day. Originally we had planned to eat at the Korean BBQ in order to slake my desire for some meat. Once we pulled into the plaza, I noticed this new spot on the north end of the plaza - Dong Nae Gil. Always one to want and try new things, we headed over. The restaurant smelled a mix of Korean meat and soup, mixed in with that familiar new restaurant smell. The place was filled with Koreans chowing down. I was excited. We were immediately seated in one of the last tables available. A few minutes passed, and still no water, no menus, and no place settings. The waitress finally brought over two waters and place settings - but there were three of us. Sure, I don't mind waiting another three minutes for mine. Was it because I was the only non-Asian in the place?? After an unusually long time, the waitress took our order. We ordered the Korean pork belly with oysters. And a pancake to munch on while we waited. As my Grandpa used to say, "you can't go wrong with pancakes." I guess Grandpa never ate here. Normally when you go to a Korean place they will serve you the banchan (side dishes) immediately. Not here. That takes about ten minutes. And even though I was very hungry, to say that the banchan produced a tepid reaction in my taste buds would be charitable. After about 25 minutes, the long awaited pancake arrived. By then I was starving and devoured my share of the pancake. We were then all ready for some pork belly. "Bring on the pork belly" I chanted in my mind. About 40 minutes into our stay, the waitress approached! Instead of pork belly, she appeared with a bowl of bibimbap. She set it down on the table along with a plate with two whole fishes. We all looked at each other perplexed. This was not what we ordered. We had actually seen what appeared to be an order of ever so delicious pork belly being delivered to another table - a table that was seated well after us. The woman retracted the bibimbap and departed with the fish and no explanation. Remember that song "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas? They used the song in a Mitsubishi commercial a while back. Dave Chappelle did a funny skit based on it. Well it seemed that a few days went by waiting for our food. After the bibimbap was recalled, we waited. We speculated that since the other table (that came after us) got our order, then what should have been their order would be due shortly. Nope! Long story short is that we were there almost an hour and all we got was some craptastical side dishes and a pancake. We didn't get our food, let alone any semblance of an explanation. The owners need to know that a "lunch hour" means that's how long I have to leave work, drive somewhere, eat and come back. That doesn't mean you get to hold me hostage for an hour, tease me with the thought of food to induce a Pavlovian response and then hang me out to dry. We ended up just leaving. I grabbed something at the bakery and then raced back to work. There I sit typing this, oh so hungry. Will I ever eat again? Some places need to go through their growing pains in order to become decent places. Other spots just need to be put down. read more

Dong Nae Gil - Business card - Korean Near Me - Gardena, California

We come to Dong Nae Gil when we are craving traditional Korean (non-BBQ) dishes and don't feel like making the long trip to Ktown. The restaurant itself isn't much to look at but they keep it clean and they have great service. The food is delicious! We've had most of the menu I think but our typical order will include some mandu (dumplings) soup and bossam (boiled pork) and maybe some fish like a mackeral. Like I said service is great! The food comes out quickly. Prices are very reasonable, great value! And most of the clientele is Korean, so that's a good sign! read more

This place is very homey. If I had a Korean mother and she opened up a restaurant with an aunt or her sister, that would be this restaurant. Not very crowded, super casual. People who worked there sat around at the tables and watched TV until they are needed. Ban chan - Nothing exciting. Mostly vegetables. One dish was with dried fish and one dish had squid in it. One of those rare times when I didn't demolish the ban chan and asked for seconds. Kalbi tang - soup wasn't clear at all. Probably just a personal preference, but flavor was fine. Duk mandu guk - good...enough. Overall, food was average. My pet peeve with both soups was that the egg was cracked in whole toward the end, so you end up with large chunks of unevenly distributed yolks and whites. I would not return again. read more

See all

This is a solid authentic Korean restaurant. Their rice cake soup is beyond delicious, and their bossam was fantastic. The combo portion was perfect for 1 person. Their side dishes are made with fresh ingredients and they taste really good. Service was pretty fast. I will go back to this place soon! read more

Amazing. Authentic. Great service. This place is seriously legit and seems to be mostly run by women. Affordable and sincerely good food. Don't miss out. read more

I had a bossam yestersay. It was a little bit of pricey comparing to the restaurants in K town. But, it was great. Personally, i like bossam here than gobawoo. read more

See all

This restaurant is a block away from my house and it has plenty of parking. I really didn't know what to expect when I came her because we usually go to tofu village. We ordered the bossom (Hopefully I spelled that right) and the hangover soup. The bossom had a lot of side dishes and has a good portions. Both dishes were really good... I definitely would get the bossom again. The pork had a lot of flavor and the side dishes really complement the whole dish. The different combinations you can make when eating the bossom makes the dish not get boring. I would come here again and probably try the other dishes. The staff was really nice I don't think they know English very well so it can get frustrating if your not good with other languages. read more

Authentic Korean restaurant. I ordered spicy beef soup and Pork ribs Potato spicy soup. Taste was good and it got warm. Complimentary side dishes (Banchan) also were authentic taste. The price is very affordable for the portion and quality. Definitely come back read more

We were craving cold noodles () since we were having a heat wave. We wanted to check out this place as it had decent reviews but man it was truly disappointing. From the service, to the banchan and the main dishes were all just ok. Some of it was just not good at all! I think for your money you can go to a lot of different places in the same area. One of the worst parts was that they didn't have ac and it was ridiculously smoky! Won't be going back. read more

Best restaurant ever!!!! I went to Lala-land for a few days and last day I went this palace to have dinner. Of course I found this place from yelp and thanks for that really!!! Best Korean food ever!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

Came back here again last night, and we got seated right away! This 5 stars is for the following reasons: 1. We came in late, around 8:35 PM, and they still let us in even if they were closing around 9:00 PM 2. They let us stay for as late as 9:30 PM, so we were the only ones left 3. The food is just outstanding! 4. The customer service is also really good. They were very accommodating, despite the fact that we kept asking for banchan refills late into the night lol For a group of five people, we ordered the jokbal (pig's feet with wraps) and three pots of rice, along with a plate of bulgogi and extra plate of lettuce for wrapping and drinks. Our bill rounded up to around $78 (~$15/p), and had extra food to take home. PS: If you're trying out jokbal for the first time, don't be fazed by the fact that it's pig's feet because 1) it doesn't look like it (it's sliced up), and 2) it doesn't taste like it (it's been cooked for a long time). You wrap it with lettuce, along with a slice of garlic, pepper, soybean paste, and whatever sides you like. read more

When LA has one of those rare cold, blustery, rainy days I always feel like something hot in the form of soup. Good thing that Asian cuisine has so many different types of hot soups for foods and I get my fair pick of them! This time I felt like some hot soup with a variety of banchan and decided to come here to check it out. Only got soups this time, but definitely wanna come back to try out their bossam (pork belly slices with lots of veggies to wrap it up with). This is one of those no frills functional spots. The chairs are the typical cafe type chairs with a wooden back and a plastic covered cushion seat. It really looks like any other Korean place for the most part. I found that the service was a bit better than other Korean places too. I only saw two ladies running round the entire time but the one who helped us was pretty nice and even checked in on us a few times! Which is pretty unheard of at an Asian place honestly. Even crazier, she even had a smile on her face! On a Friday night the restaurant had a few large groups of families/teams eating there and most of them seemed to be Korean. Wasn't full but about half the tables were occupied. Food! BANCHAN - 8 types I like how there was a good variety of banchan but some were okay, some meh, and others I liked a lot better. The ones that were good seemed to be homemade! Meh - Shishito peppers in bean sauce, Kimchi, pancake Okay - Potato salad, Pickled radish in chili sauce Yay! - Sliced root veggie in chili (dunno what it was but I ate a lot of it), bean sprouts in chili sauce with scallions BLACK GOAT SOUP I really liked the flavoral pieces of goat in here. All different types of meats including the skin actually. The soup itself was full of spices, and was decently spicy even though it didn't say so on the menu. There were a ton of veggies, perilla leaves, scallions, onions to go with the soap and a ton of mustard seeds sprinkled on top. PORK AND POTATO SOUP Same type of broth as above but with huge chunks of tomato and pork on the bone with cartilage and other oddities people don't normally eat that I do. Overall good hot piping soups in a stone pot! Wanna come back to try other things here. read more

I love this place, please don't shut down. No Korean restaurant is like this in South Bay area.

My fav Korean Restaurant in Gardena. Really good food. From their Meats to their Spicy cold Noodles. It's all good. I'm always the only non Korean customer, so that must tell you something read more

DNG locates 20-30 min south of LAX. I decided to come since it was pretty close to the airport. I ordered the bolsam (pork with kimchi) and pork feet combo! Both were tasty! I was impressed by the tasted and it looked very yummy. It felt like real korean experience. Definitely will come back! read more

Love this place! Awesome traditional korean dishes! My mouth waters just thinking about it!

Great authentic korean food! Service is good and food is better. Plenty of room. read more

Dong Nae Gil - Korean Near Me - Gardena, California

I've been in US for over 10years now and this place simply amazed me. While there are many korean restaurants that cooks food to the general norm's (amaerican) appetite, this place just straight up went and said "eh we barely get any non-korean customers" and Just cooked everything authentically korean. I asked the chef to make my bean paste stew a little spicy, thinking that it won't be too spicy anyways considering this is US. I almost died. Was it good? Hell yeah. Havent tasted anything this spicy in years. Man. I really do recommend this place to all those of you who lived your teenagehood or over in korea. As for fellow americans, do keep in mind that they have near 0 consideration for your appetite. If you are willing to take that risk and try out real korean food, then please. This place is it. I certainly will be back for more. read more

The (Black goat stew) is spectacular. The broth is rich and extremely flavorful. The (pork belly) was also very good. Can't speak for the other dishes but those two are very authentic and delicious. read more

Too legit to quit. I'm SO down with this place. It reminded me places in Korea, in terms of both quality and price point I was craving kimchi jjigae like cray and I was pleasantly surprised at the all chunks of porky goodness they put into it! Other Korean restaurants skimp on the pork, and all you get is an overly fermented, sour tasting soup. The pork fat MAKES this soup. The wonderful ajumahs here understand this. ^^ I had the kimchi jjigae and bossam (steamed pork belly) combo. I would've devoured the whole thing, but I was SO full...however, I killed the kimchi jjigae, which is saying a lot for me b/c I never want to injest that much sodium, but it was like crack kimchi jjigae. Definitely coming back! Already told two other friends who ate there the next day! I gave them one fewer star b/c their customer service could be better. When I asked to close the door b/c of the wind, the lady said no b/c it was too hot. I appreciate her honesty, but had to move seats b/c of the draft. That main lady could give a SH*T about what you think. That doesn't mean she's not nice, but she's not one for small talk either. read more

Dong Nae Gil - Perfectly balanced (NOT SOUR) kimchi jjigae/bossam combo plus authentic banchan = HEAVEN!!! - Korean Near Me - Gardena, California

Went a bunch of times for bossam (IMO it's their specialty.) Good variety of side dishes - they refill like most Korean restaurants. It's not fancy but items are reasonably priced and pretty good for the most part. Not the best customer service but you get what you ask for. Just ask. read more

I've heard in California is one of the best places to get korean food. I looked around on yelp for Korean food and Dong Nae Gil popped up. I looked at the pictures and I was sold to how delicious the food looked. I decided to go and give it a try, it was actually better than I expected. I had the kimchi stew and pork wrap, it was a decent size lunch and filled me up also very flavorful!! I give it a 5/5, the ladies were so helpful and the food was delicious! read more

Dong Nae Gil - Korean Near Me - Gardena, California

Clean little local spot. Great pollock stew and the bulgogi was tasty as well. Enjoyed the sides especially the bean sprouts. Friendly customer service. read more

Food is excellent! You know it's authentic when none of the wait staff speaks English and you have to make up your own version of sign language to get through the night. Pointing and gesturing did me fine. The staff were super sweet and accommodating! FOOD: Pork belly house special: 4/5 Pork belly meat was flavorful and tender. I shared with a friend and there was more than enough for us both. Oxtail soup: 3.5/5 Good, but meat did not come off the bone easily. If you don't want to look like a savage holding this huge hunk in your hands and tearing it off your meat, don't get this. It's yummy though! Came out to be around $30/person with tax and tip. read more

Came here for lunch with a couple of friends and realized how homey and delightful this place was. The combos are great! I had combo nine with had kimchi stew with bossam. BOSSAM???? And only for 13.99$! That's a steal imo Usually I pay around 30 bucks or so for bossam so having it in a combo is great. It's a good self portion of bossam as well, not really shareable but then again I like pork belly to much to share.. read more

Super good lunch! Had the cabbage wraps w/ Steamed Pork & kimchi and 3 of us ate it all! Very filling

Authentic Korean food and generous serving of side dishes! I highly recommend the Bossam or the Samgyetang.