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    Korea House - Orient Express Restaurant

    3.9 (198 reviews)
    ModerateKorean, Barbeque
    Closed 11:00 am - 3:00 pm, 4:30 PM - 8:30 PM

    Order Korea House - Orient Express Restaurant Takeout or Delivery

    Korea House - Orient Express Restaurant Photos

    KOREA HOUSE - ORIENT EXPRESS RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for kids
    Dogs allowed

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    Galbi tang, Dukmanduuguk
    Ada L.

    As a korean girl from LA, I'm confident and saying this place has super authentic soup!! So delicious, huge portions, and good prices. The service was spectacular. My cup and my banchan was never empty! The waitress was super sweet, funny, and helpful in recommending dishes my friends and I loved and even the manager asked us if everything was alright and told us to call him over if we needed anything at all. It was also clean and nicely decorated. 10/10!

    Galbi ribs. He may have given me a little extra.
    Darrell T.

    My favorite Korean restaurant in the area. Jay the owner is the best and really cares about the quality of his food and customer service. I always order the galbi ribs and the bulgogi and it's always on point. I highly recommend this restaurant!

    Outside
    Nathan M.

    Amazing vibes. Always a must when visiting from out of town. Food was great, servers were very helpful and helped me take pictures with the soju ad cut outs. Definitely recommend.

    Mandu (served with tempura sauce!)
    Ai M.

    Bibimbap and japchae are comfort foods. I also recommend the seafood pancake. The restaurant is not actually closed between 3:00-4:30 and was open on New Year's Day (it was empty when we arrived in the cold afternoon but regulars trickled in to be greeted with offers of hot tea). They only refilled banchan by request so be assertive. You have to turn on the lights yourself for the hallway to the bathrooms.

    Alexander P.

    Korea House is on our "must-go" list every time we go down to Monterey. The food is hot, fresh, and delicious. Service is always great, and vibes are immaculate. Support local business!

    Milton K.

    We were in the mood for Korean food, so I scanned Yelp reviews, pictures of dishes & menus and decided on Korea House - Orient Express Restaurant. (Note: there are only a few Korean restaurants between Marina and Monterey, CA.) We arrived for lunch, and I noticed one Korean family eating, so that was an encouraging sign. When we left, there was another Korean gentleman. (I judge ethnic restaurants by the number of nationals speaking the national language that are eating in the restaurant.) So these are good signs. Compared to other restaurants within a 15 mile drive, I would rank this restaurant ****Good**** However, compared to other Korean restaurants that I regularly eat at in Honolulu, Hawaii. I would just rank them as ***Ok*** Their kimchi was good, while their other Bonchon, side dishes, were just OK. They gave us 5 different Bonchons. (Sorry, we ate first then remembered to take a pic.) Overall: *** Ok *** Food: *** Value: *** Menu: **** Ambiance: ** casual, aged Service: **** Parking: ***** right outside, free RATINGS & RECOMMENDED ORDER: Soft Tofu Seafood & Vegtable = B Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop = C Topokki (no spice) = C Mondoo = C Website: http://koreahouse831.com/ Yelp: https://yelp.to/P8YtaYW7Uw YELP: Sorry! They allow only one 12 second video & the remaining to 3 seconds, with maximum of 10 pictures/videos. The full video can be found elsewhere. RATINGS KEY: A = Really Good - one of the best B = Good - would order again C = ok - similar, nothing special D = Not very good - wouldn't order F = Terrible - avoid

    Seafood Tofu pot
    Ron R.

    Korea House is a more traditional style Korean restaurant with Korean dishes that seem to have some Japanese influence. They have ample parking in their shared lot in a strip mall. The lady who served us was very nice and seemed to be the owner--there was a help wanted sign up for a sever. We got the seafood tofu hot pot and the BBQ chicken bento lunch box. The quality of the seafood tofu pot was comparable to tofu house places but had a relatively small amount of seafood: ONLY 1 shrimp, 1 octopus tentacle, and 2-3 small clams--the rest was tofu and no egg other places give. The flavor of the soup base was very good. The bento box had a decent amount of BBQ chicken, typical salad with sweet white Japanese style dressing, 2 gyoza, and a medium amount of rice. The BBQ sauce seemed to be the spicy soybean paste type used at KBBQ places. The flavor and spiciness level were just ok like everything else in it. The bento has a regular and dinner portion. This seems to have been the regular portion. The quantity was probably ok for small to medium eaters, but big eaters or a big guy will probably need the dinner potion, an appetizer, and a dessert to get satisfied. Although they had decent business, it was relatively quiet with calming background music around 11:30-12:00 on a Wed for lunch. Overall, this was a nice experience for lunch and we would go back and would recommend giving them a try. However, the 4 star Yelp average is probably about right as the quality and quantity do not warrant 5 stars for the price. There are just simply better Korean restaurants in CA, but this may be one of the better ones in this area.

    Steaming barley tea and banchan
    Tamar L.

    Always super delicious Korean food, I usually stop here in my way to Monterey. It's a big restaurant with cozy booths and cute decorations. My favorite dishes here are kimchi pancake and dolsot bi bim bap. Both are expert versions. The service is always great, they give a sweet, homey feel. Note to vegetarians: their kimchi has shrimp oil in it, as does some of their banchans.

    Sherbelle R.

    They've updated their menu! I recommend the Spicy Pork and Spicy Tofu Soup, those are always my go-to's (:

    Beef bento box
    Shirley N.

    We were apprehensive about coming here for authentic Korean food. After all on the Monterey Peninsula? Well weren't the four of us surprised. We entered yesterday on a Friday night around 5:45pm. Right away we were greeted and told we could sit anywhere. The place is huge. I chose a table that sat four. Somewhat tight. We were encouraged to move to a larger table. So we did. We looked through the menu. It helped that there were pictures. The host/owner was very friendly and attentive. He brought us our drink orders and hot tea. Took our orders. Within minutes ban chan placed on the table. Then our food. My friend & I both ordered dinner bento boxes. Her hubby ordered a spicy soup. My hubby ordered the stone pot bi bim bap with spicy pork. My spicy pork had a lot of heat. I liked how the pork was grilled too. And the salad dressing on my salad was light and sweet. Right cup my alley. In the time we were there a bus load of Korean tourists arrived. They filled up the entire back area. And many more diners like ourselves filtered in. A very diverse crowd. The place was packed within 45 minutes of us arriving. Out apprehension dissipated by the end of our meal. Good food, good portion size, and good price point.

    Kimbap
    Mary X.

    Amazing food, the employees were also so nice. The ambiance was very peaceful and the building is very pretty. Would recommend as it's not as busy.

    BanChan

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    1 year ago

    Hidden Seaside gem - low-key, wonderful food, service, karaoke music, soju could be a venue.

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    7 months ago

    Super solid Korean food for the area. The portions were good and the food was flavorful.

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    9 months ago

    The food was delicious and the service was amazing! Would highly recommend this place if you're feeling like some yummy Korean food.

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    1 year ago

    Great service! Good food and affordable. They had a karaoke room too. Totally recommend

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    Korea House - Orient Express Restaurant Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Korea House - Orient Express Restaurant

    Do you have a lunch menu?

    Yes we do and I can send it to you tomorrow thanks

    Do any of your korean food items contain MSG (soup, banchan, other items)?

    Does this place offer vegan options?

    Yes we do We do have a few options so please ask us… Read more

    View All 4 Questions

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    Toribashi

    4.0
    (468 reviews)
    3.2 mi
    $$
    Healthy dining
    Established in 2018

    We had a craving for ramen while on vacation in Monterey, and Toribashi came thru for us!…read more This restaurant was located in a downtown area, so there wasn't a dedicated parking lot, but it was fairly easy to find street parking. I ordered the Shoyu Ramen which was flavorful with a rich broth. I also know my kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves because there was nothing left in their bowls :) Thank you, Toribashi!

    Welp.. We finally had the chance to return to Monterey.. As we were squeezed for time, we chose to…read morecome to Toribashi tonight. Parking was only mildly challenging, as a space opened up after only a single lap around the block. Inside here, you'll find a busy place with a few tables and individual bar-style (partitioned!) paired seating along the walls adjacent to the kitchen in the middle part of the restaurant. Order up at the self-serve order kiosks, tap in your table/counter number, and they bring out your order in a couple of minutes. We had six of us in our party, and most of us kept it simple by ordering the default Tonkatsu Ramen with different customizable options. Most all of the ingredients in this order were on point - The Chasu Pork Belly was tender, thick and delicious, ramen noodles nothing special, but generally stil on point, as were the bamboo shoots. However, the co-star/centerpiece of the Tonkatsu Ramen other than the Chasu Pork slab should be the broth, but sadly the broth was far far TOO salty which overpowered the other flavors in the broth. Chasu Pork 4.8/5, Tonkatsu Ramen 3.1/5. Service was good as everyone was hustling hard in the kitchen, along with attentive bussers/waitstaff to quickly turn tables. They take good care in wiping down the tables here. If I return, I'll just get the Paitan Ramen like I did in years past, as that seemed less salty. Then again the Paitan soup base begins with the same chicken+pork soup base as the Tonkatsu Ramen. I hope Toribashi will step back up to their former glory.

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    Kuma

    Kuma

    4.3
    (438 reviews)
    3.2 mi
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    I have been wanting to give this place a try and finally got the opportunity. Unfortunately I was…read morein the moment so I did not take any photos. Everything was really fresh and prepared well. The restaurant has beautiful vaulted ceilings and great vibes. Only note was the music was all over the place but not a big deal at all. We ordered a lot since we were both very hungry and left satisfied. Starters: Spicy garlic edamame - great flavor and not overly done (5/5) Shrimp & Veggie tempura- perfect amount of batter (5/5) Gyoza (5/5) Mains: Chicken Teriyaki served with miso soup, salad, and steamed rice. (4/5) only because the salad while good had a little too much dressing, not a deal breaker. Sake sashimi 5/5 Tiger roll 5/5 Would definitely recommend as a great sushi spot and will be back!

    Sushi was yummy!…read more Happy they had room for our party of 7. Service was pretty prompt even when the place got packed soon after we arrived. Spacious interior and a separate room for private party. Agedashi tofu and the sushi rolls (Aspen, Sun and Whole-Hearted) were delicious and I'd highly recommend for a good variety. I appreciated the freshness of the fish, rice to fish ratio and creativity of each roll. They also have vegan rolls. Prices were a little elevated for the smaller portions of sushi - $18 and up for each roll but they were tasty enough. There's 60 min street parking nearby.

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    Interior
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    CARMEL VALLEY ROLL - @rayz
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    Cong N Go

    Cong N Go

    4.3
    (139 reviews)
    0.6 mi
    $$

    First time I stopped by was in August 2024 to bring my bb…read moregirl to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I was craving boba & was happy to find something in this area particularly on my way to the hotel. I mean home made boba with quality ingredients? Say lesss... I loved it so much I came back a second time before heading home that trip AND came back a third time this year with my extended family cus I knew it would hit the spot. Honestly, you cannot go wrong with any drink. You can customize the sweetness level and pick from a variety of flavors. I did the giant lemonade for the aunties in the car and it was GIANT lol, it was enough for all 3 of them and my daughter to share. I was honestly surprised to read a few negative reviews because WHAT? The first time I ordered some egg rolls I mentioned to the staff that I think it might have been a bad batch because my daughter and I thought it tasted spoiled maybe? And she immediately addressed the situation and apologized and was truly worried. She told me I got you, the next time I come back but I told her I was from the Bay and she mentioned they moved from the 209. She also ensured us that they make it fresh in house and surprised me and gave me a FRESH new order even though I initially declined. This is a family owned business and they let me feel like family too. I tried the pandan cake on my second trip on the way home and ughhh sooo good. I wasn't gonna do it but I heard another customer come in saying she comes in just for that and I knew I had to try it. It has the perfect sweetness, a little dense but still soft and fluffy. The icing wasn't overly sweet. I'd take a whole cake for my birthday lol. I think I also read another review talking about the donuts being raw? Idk, but it sounds like this person has never had a MOCHI donut lol. Anyways, can't wait to come back for more drinks, more snacks, and that cake!

    To go order: Dry…read morenoodles $18: too expensive. Small salted lavender honey milk tea $5. Told me $1 extra for no ice but offered less ice option. Then charged me less ice $0.25 (without telling me): too sweet and tasted artificial. Pandan cake $9.

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    Ube milk tea
    Ube milk tea
    Chicken banh mi to go
    Chicken banh mi to go
    Perfect Matcha Mochi donut: warm, tender yet a little crunch to the outside

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    Perfect Matcha Mochi donut: warm, tender yet a little crunch to the outside

    Korea House - Orient Express Restaurant - korean - Updated July 2026

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