Love Kaju's Spicy Cold Noodle & Galbi combo, but we come for the excellent banchan (side dishes)!! Best spicy cucumbers and they have the fried pancakes!! read more

Kaju Soft Tofu - Banchan: pancake, spicy cucumbers, kimchi, bean sprouts, broccoli, and fish cake! - Korean Near Me - Irvine, California

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Great food, not too spicy which for some is good but I was hoping for more when I ordered the "extra spicy" option. Tried their dumpling tofu and kimchi and beef, both were delicious and tasted amazing, no overly fishy smell or anything. The sides were yummy too, even their egg pancakes (I'm not a huge fan of eggs but wow their pancake side was good). The Korean ladies running the place are kind and quick, and are fast about refilling the sides too. The lack of spice does unfortunately knock the rating down to 4 for me, but truly it's closer to 4 and a half. Definitely a nice spot if you want a quick, relatively affordable eat in Irvine read more

Galbi tofu stew hit the spot. Complimentary fried fish and yummy banchan. Very little wait on a Friday evening!

As a Korean, who knows Korean food, this place is NOT a good representation of what Korean restaurant with real taste of Korean dish is. You can tell they try to save money on ingredients. Also the sign that says 6% discount if you pay cash - should be a RED warning that this place is cutting corners on ingredients Men's toilet has a permanent BROWN RING STAIN inside toilet bowl... Super disgusting! Looked like it's been there for long time. Owner seem to not care about disgusting things like basic sanitation. Was disappointed with the flavor of the tofu soup - pure MSG (sweet and salty) Galbi is bad cheap beef cuts with so much greasy fat :/ Service is also amateur soso. Like comparable to public school cafeteria type of service; you got the lunch lady scooping you the food for you with the stern face. No smiles. Nothing. No such thing as a smile. They kept the TV on, repeat on same video song of MAMAMOO Korean singer for 1 whole hour that I was there. Kimchi and side dishes were literally scooped up like fast food chipotle style. Also the taste was not real representation of Korean food taste, as the side dishes were all sweet and salty. Kimchi and cucumber kimchi were more "seasoned" with sugar? than fermented. It felt like they just tried to mimic Korean food. All around- sorry to say but I will not go back. read more

Usually love coming here despite the awful service because the food slaps. Today the service was EXCEPTIONALLY bad and the lady burned my hand because she threw the soondubu down on the table without any consideration that the boiling hot soup might splatter as she drops it carelessly on the table or that the stone bowl could burn someone. I saw her do the same to a different table despite a child sitting so closely to the soup she carelessly tossed down on the table. The server did not notice nor apologize. She was cussing in Korean under her breath in the middle of service and gave us the check even though we weren't even finished eating. When they bussed the table next to us, they were splattering liquid and leftovers from the side dishes/bowls close enough to hit our clothes and shoes. There was food on the ground because of the aggressive cleanup. Truly, I have NEVER had such AWFUL service here than tonight. Usually I can overlook it because the food is pretty good. However, it was enough to never want to come here again or recommend it to anyone else. read more

Second time coming here and this time I brought my family over. Overall we were all very satisfied! We called at 7 pm on a Friday asking about the wait time and we were told there was no wait. Showed up around 8:30 pm and luckily, it wasn't that packed...phew! As expected, got seated pretty quickly after a few min as a party of 4. Only had to wait because the tables needed to be cleared and wiped. I've seen reviews on here mentioning the restaurant closing earlier than the operating hours on Yelp...I'd advise to just give them a call ahead to see if they are open. Service: 4/5 I assume this restaurant gets very packed and hectic during the day, so I understand that workers get overwhelmed and cannot check up on everyone. Luckily, we came in towards the closing time so there was less people overall for them to deal with. As a result, the aunties came by pretty frequently asking us how the meal was and refilled the sides. They were greeting most of the customers out as well. The food came out pretty quickly too. Food: 5/5 I have to say, I love Korean food and this is one of my favorite kimchi tofu soup ever!! I always come here for the tofu soup and it doesn't disappoint. The banchan are a bit meh but in my opinion, I come here for the tofu soup and the tofu soup only. The kimchi tofu soup stays exceptionally hot throughout the entire meal and the soup is flavorful in every sip. Not a hint of wateriness in the soup. The spicy cold noodle was surprisingly chewy and.....actually spicy!! Overall, I will definitely come back here for the third time but only at a later time around 7-8:30 pm. They seem much less busier at night time and the service is better imo during the later time as well. read more

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Love the soondubu here! It's a go-to when I'm in oc and need my Korean fix. The side dishes are always really good and I love getting their spicy pork. Service is always really great. It's family owned so I love support them even more. read more

I get the bi bim bap and tofu soup combo here. The tofu soup tastes better fresh out of the boiling stone pot when you dine in but we do take out from here whenever we get the craving. You get a 6% discount if you pay cash for your meal too. read more

This place has super flavorful soondubu, and their side dishes are bomb!! They serve a small fried fish with each tofu soup order, and sides include veggie pancake, bean sprouts, cucumbers, kimchi, and fish cake!! Sometimes they get annoyed if you ask for refills, but usually they're really nice. They also leave the pot with crispy rice stuck to it at your table, and you can ask for hot water to be added to it and make porridge. Also if you pay cash they give a discount of 6% read more

Stay away! After having come here for twenty years, this is our last visit. We won't be back. POOR SERVICE. Service alone knocked off two stars. We had two servers: The Nice One (seemed to speak English, Korean and Mandarin) and Huffy Terse Yeller. The Nice One was very patient with all questions for a first timer on the menu. Unfortunately, that's where the service ended. Table was never checked on after we got our food. Might as well have been an "order up at front counter, don't expect any table service" spot. Huffy Terse Yeller had an outright terrible attitude. She audibly huffed and sighed while refilling our banchan (the one and only time it was refilled). Later, when we paid our bill and requested an itemized receipt, Huffy Terse Yeller pointed an angry finger at our change and shouted, "$89!!!!" Yes, thank you for stating the amount of our change. Doesn't address our very reasonable request for a receipt. -------- FOOD. Good flavor. But not enough to excuse the terrible attitude of the service. We'll not return to this location, and will go farther to the other location on Culver, instead. read more

I will start off by being honest: my bf and I had every intention of going to BCD BUUUTTTT they had a 50min wait time and I just could not wait that long so a quick Yelp search brought us here. Now having said that, why have we not been coming here?!?? It was so tasty and flavorful! No wait time, socially distanced and quick service. Idk why the reviews are so low but we both loved the broth! It was also the first time being given seaweed as part of our ban chan so that was cool. These reviews do not represent the deliciousness of our pork kimchi soondubu. Sorry BCD, probs not seeing you anytime soon! read more

Kaju Soft Tofu - 19. Pork Tofu Soup - Korean Near Me - Irvine, California

Enjoyed dinner here this past weekend. Came at 6:30 on a Sunday and was seated right away. Within the hour they were packed. I ordered a kimchi sland pork soft tofu soup and mandoo. The soup they gave us was actually a seafood soup rather than a kimchi soup but we still enjoyed it. Obviously, if you're allergic to any of those seafood products, that mistake would have been unfortunate. The mandoo didn't seem freshly made and had an average taste a flavor. The banchan was standard. Overall, the tofu soup satisfied my craving on a cold afternoon but it wouldn't be my go to spot for tofu soup. read more

Kaju Soft Tofu - Korean Near Me - Irvine, California

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Good place to get Korean tofu soup. Their menu offerings is very similar to BCD and they don't have the crowds that BCD has, so you will get a table faster. Service can be slow. We just flag down the staff as best we can and they do come to our table to service us. Overall the food is good and we will definitely come here again. read more

Hubby and I have been huge fans of Kaju Soft Tofu since forever. As former Garden Grovians, Kaju has been our spot for soondubu. We were pleased to know they have a location in Irvine. We've only DoorDash their food these past few months due the pandemic, but love the packaging and the generous amount of food we received. We always opt for the beef soondubu. Hubby gets his medium and I get mine extra spicy. The extra spicy has a nice kick to it. Each order automatically comes with a side of rice and banchans (pickled cucumbers, kimchi, and sesame bean sprouts). Everything is super tasty and delicious. One serving of the soup is enough to split into 2 meals so its well worth the money. We love Kaju Soft Tofu, it always brings us so much comfort. Can't wait to be ordering more this upcoming fall/winter season! read more

I wanted to try a different Korean restaurant from my usual place via a food service app, and this spot came up. I'm pretty sure this is different from the other restaurant in Garden Grove. Food arrived well packaged and everything was still hot. I ordered beef soft tofu soup (medium spice) and the spicy chicken. The dishes came with plenty of white rice and side dishes of various pickled veggies and a sort of leek/potato pancake. Soft tofu soup was delicious. They don't skimp on ingredients and portion was big enough to make 3 meals out of it. Spicy chicken was well seasoned, but I did have a few pieces that were fatty or chewy. Overall, the food is pretty good and they did a good job with the order. read more

Food is okay / less busy most of the time no wait. BUT, the owner should pay these old grumpy waitress who never smiles or maybe they just don't like Filipinos hahaha. read more

Like another fellow yelper, I use to go to the Garden Grove location often, until I read about the new changes there. I decided to check out this location to see if it was as good as the Garden Grove one.I came here on a weekday with my family. It didn't seem too busy when we came up. The host had each party in the corner of the restaurant. Yay for social distancing! The service was great and friendly. They refilled the banchan and gave extra napkins, when we requested them. The restaurant also gives you free water and an egg with your soup. However, it started getting busy with to go orders, so the service slowed down. Also, it seemed like there were only 2 servers. I did see a help wanted sign outside. So, be patient with the restaurant! Nonetheless, food was delicious and the service was good. I will probably come here more often! read more

Convenient place for us to get tofu soup. Food is good, comforting. Not enough protein in the soups, though. I remember more seafood or meat last time we went. The pandemic and inflation may be causing them to reduce the amount of "stuff" they're putting in the soup. We had the seafood pancake, which had a lot of seafood in it. The sauce that came with is good and helps the meal. Service is "ok." It's seems like all asian restaurants, the servers just doesn't seem like they want to be there. "Here's your food. Eat it and go." I would go back, cause the food is just so comforting. read more

My review is for take out! I get take out from Kaju all the time. My friend says it's the closest he's had to homemade (take that for what you will)... the ladies are sweet. Takeout comes with all the side dishes neatly packed in a bento. Food is always ready by the time I pick it up, no muss no fuss. As far the interior goes it's all dark wood, super clean, pretty quiet (I usually only pop in during weekday lunchtime though). read more

The portions were ridiculously small, and the food was just average. To make it worse, the service was terrible. An older waitress with glasses was rude and impatient the entire time. We asked her three times to pay the bill, and she completely ignored us. When I went to the front desk to complain, they were dismissive as well. No wonder this place is getting worse and has so few customers most of the time. We definitely won't be coming back. read more

Solid place in Irvine to for soondobu (tofu soup) Kaju has been around for quite some time now so that itself proves that their worthy of staying in business. Prices here are comparable to other tofu houses, but plan ahead of time... if you are planning to get the combo with tofu soup and meat.. you might as well go to a ayce kbbq place that has tofu soup as a side.. its actually a better deal in that case. read more

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TBH, I am not a fan of tofu. But this place is so good, I have been back three times since the grand opening. The tofu soup is so delicious. The kimchi is ON POINT & the galbi is cooked to perfection. I'm still not a tofu fan, but I am a Kaju Soft Tofu fan. This is my new favorite place! read more

Kaju Soft Tofu - Galbi (beef ribs) - Korean Near Me - Irvine, California

THE original Kaju for the irvine community! I have been a regular for almost a decade. What they do well: sides, service and broth! The broth is unlike any other sundubu place I've tried: it's complex, savory and consistently good! At my last visit I noticed they recently did another interior upgrade to modernize and update the ambiance. It gets fairly packed at dinner time, but the staff is efficient and wait times are minimal. read more

Our go-to Korean tofu spot. The food is consistently great, the service is decent and there usually isn't a wait. Ultimate comfort food for those colder nights. read more

Everything here is perfect and delish. Our server was friendly and efficient and brought us extra banchan. (We decimated the mug bean jelly.) I ordered the mushroom soondubu and my husband had the galbi. Both were bubbling hot and scrumptious. We have been to BCD in Irvine, and it pales in comparison to Kaju. read more

We saw the reviews for this place and thought it looked good so we wanted to try it. Most of the things we ate were good, and some of them were just ok. We ordered the seafood pancake, galbi, japchae, oyster tofu soup, veggie tofu soup, and chicken teriyaki. The galbi was just ok, but it was full of fat so we didn't even finish it. The japchae was also a little bit too sweet for my liking. The oyster and veggie tofu soups were pretty good. Standard. You can't go wrong with those. The seafood pancake though, was really really good. That was probably my favorite meal out of everything we ate. All the banchan they had was also pretty good. And the service was pretty good. One of our friends was Korean and I think that helps with ordering a lot. Will definitely be back. read more

although the food was good, service was horrible. when we arrived, we were the only ones served with hot tea. while other families were offered water. it took us awhile to order. it took awhile to get forks to eat with. they didn't even notice that we didn't have water to drink. i had to ask 2 times for water. if you feel like getting ignored, this is the place. my family and i definitely did not feel welcome here. read more

I went to this branch for the first time last weekend. We liked their service but when we ordered soup, the menu clearly said there is Enoki but we did not see any enoki in the soup. It is kind of fraud. Because I wanted to have enoki in my soup and it said there is in the soup on the menu. If there is no Enoki, please remove from the menu. Also soup was kind of bland. I will never go back to the place again. read more

I have not been to a tofu soup restaurant in a long time and initially was planning to go to BCD but when I called in, they said that it would be a 40 minute wait so I decided to go try out this place instead. There was no wait so we were seated instantly and ordered right away which I thought was great since I'm used to waiting for a bit to be seated as well as ordering. I loved my tofu soup as the spice level was just right (I got a medium spice level). The seafood & beef tofu soup comes with some clams, a shrimp and some beef which is a good combo of different meats. Although I wish the soup was cooked a little bit longer so that the temperature of the tofu would be a little bit hotter. Overall, I loved my meal here and was extremely full from the tofu soup and the side dishes. I think this place is extremely deserving for the five stars as the flavor of everything was great! read more

Kaju Soft Tofu - Rice, fried fish, and side dishes - Korean Near Me - Irvine, California

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We waited a good amount of time watching the more Korean looking/speaking families get seated and served. So service kind of killed the experience. The food was your basic tofu stew. It had a good broth and decent ban chan. I just think you could get equally good or better food for the same price and better service elsewhere. read more

Kaju Soft Tofu - Side dishes, the best part of Korean soup places - Korean Near Me - Irvine, California

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The staff here are simply a pack of wolves. SIT HERE, NO, MOVE HERE. Staff was visibly ill too, with unknown ailment. Extra hesitant star because the food is pretty decent and BLAZING HOT, what you would need / want on a cold day. The service tho, pick it up. read more

Medium spice level for the tofu soup wasn't quite spicy enough, but it was still delicious! Bulgolgi was tender and flavorful. Seafood pancake was packed with seafood and crispy. The waitress was so nice and attentive with our side dishes. Will definitely come again! read more

I love coming here, they have a good selection, and the ladies who work here are very friendly. read more

Kaju Soft Tofu - Menu 2022 - Korean Near Me - Irvine, California

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I love to eat Korean food and this is definitely one of my favorite places. I had initially went under the guise that it was apart of the restaurant chain, but to my surprise is was just as good, if not better, than the chain. The ladies there are very lovely and kind. As with the majority of Asian places, the service is not the best. They will tend to you only when you need them to. The atmosphere is very homey, as the restaurant is quite small. This restaurant has a larger selection of banchan that you wouldn't see at others: Acorn jelly, seafood pancake, etc. I got the beef and seafood tofu soup and it was very good. The flavor is prominent and it has a good spice to it. Tofu and all other toppings were plentiful. The spicy octopus bibimbap, the star of the show, was extremely good. There was good flavor, a kick of spice, and a good blend of vegetables. They are not shy about their portions of octopus. The only complaint is that the fish was a little too salty for me. I would totally recommend this place if you're looking for a hole in the wall, authentic Korean restaurant. read more

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Worst service. The sign inside the restaurant said 6% discount paid by cash, but it was wrong. Just Scam. Don't waste your money. The taste was also not good. read more

After trying this Kaju location for the first time a few days ago, I wish I should've just stick with the one in Garden Grove. The tofu soup was salty and the mild spicy level was spicier than expected. My partner and I ordered a seafood pancake to try as well and there was nothing remotely seafoods about it. More like oily clogged your artery pancake. The pancake came with a couple small shrimps, 50% veggies and 50% oil. It was so greasy that we could not finish it. We were also disappointed that this location did not offer fish cake for the sides instead they had these small nuts marinated in a sauce that was again too salty to eat. Overall I still enjoy eating at Kaju but would not go back to this location. read more

Probably my favorite place besides BCD for spicy tofu soup. Been here and to the garden grove location. Irvine one is way better and less busy. The Irvine location is in the same plaza as 99 ranch market. Really authentic asian food for a good price. Sides and rice are delicious. 100% recommend going here. Exactly what you want for a tofu soup house read more

The good things about this restaurant is the food and their interior design The service is terrible! The menu was not clear. We tried to order a combo (tofu and beef) (about $27) and the options of tofu soups are not listed under the combo name. I have to order another tofu soup on another page ($16.99). When I asked the waitress to explain, she rolled her eye balls, and spoke in a disrespectful manner. When we ordered another tofu soup meal, she only gave us the soup, not the cold dishes. But when we ordered the one tofu soup previously, we were given several small dishes. So $16.99 for just a soup. It is pricey, but the money didn't buy the good service. They should train their staff to be more professional. read more

I am a big fan of the garden grove location and consider it a treat whenever I get tofu soup. However, my first time at the Irvine location was a HUGE DDISAPPOINTMENT with a capital double-D. I wanted soup after coming back from a 14 hour flight to a rainy California day, and soup was going to hit the spot. However, the soup tasted like HOT WATER and was so bland and had no flavor, and the tofu tasted rotten. My boyfriend who is korean took 1 bite and exclaimed it was nasty and the worst tofu soup he's ever had. I am so disappointed in the discrepancy in quality between the locations. Not sure if I just got a bad batch, but nevertheless, I will be spending my money on Tang190 instead or solely the garden grove location, which has never let me down. read more

After tonight's dining experience it is safe to say this the absolutely my least favorite location. Both in service and taste. Even the side dishes tasted subpar from the other Kaju's standard and we have been dining an various Kaju locations for over 8 years. The 2 ahjumas didn't make the experience any better. Disappointing. read more