I think this place tastes better than most all you can eat KBBQ places. But it usually costs close to the same for dinner $18 including tax / tip. I love the side dishes and the mushroom tofu soup is very tasty. Two people can split a bulgogi and mushroom soup since they give you a whole lot of food. I think they used to serve potatoes or potato salad as one of the side dishes, but I didn't see that the last couple times i've been...sad read more

Although the wait is usually more than 15 min. and the atmosphere can sometimes get a bit loud (not the ideal place for a hangout or business meeting), this restaurant does serve decent Korean food. There are better and cheaper KBBQ places out there, but if you live in Arcadia this restaurant can definitely be one of your options! read more

Having come here before for a quick tofu house fix, I thought my friend and I would have a pleasant dinner, but we would soon realize our week would not be as pleasant! We came here on Monday, 1/2/17 around 6PM and we didn't have to wait very long to be seated. We both ordered the dinner combo with beef bulgogi and tofu. I ordered the beef tofu, while my friend ordered the seafood tofu. Onto the food, the sides were nothing spectacular, but they were not that bad either. The rice seems like it has been sitting for awhile as it looked old and was stuck to the pot. The bulgogi beef had some good flavor, but was very oily and chewy. The tofu was enjoyable as it was decent, but nothing amazing. Based on solely the food, I would give it 3 stars. BUT! I highly doubt it was a coincidence, but both my friend and I got the stomach flu / food poisoning on Wednesday! The high fever, sweaty clothes, and destroyed toilets have not been fun! It is Saturday today and we are still not feeling well... We have not seen each other since Young Dong and did not eat anywhere else before then so they are the only common denominator between us... I have never got food poisoning this bad so I will have to say this is my last trip to Young Dong. read more

the new in-laws decided to take me to their favorite soon-doo boo (korean tofu soup) spot this weekend and i was whatever about it at first because i have a pretty high standard for soon-doo-boo. when we first arrived. the place was packed. a great sign. the place isn't that big so it had a real cozy feeling which i like too. you're going to want to show up 15 minutes early just in case when they brought us their ban-chan (side dishes) i was pleased to find them nice and fresh with great quality. good flavor too. i ordered the kimchi/pork soon doo boo. it was boiling hot so remember to use your napkin to deflect the soup from popping onto your cloths (but youre going to smell regardless afterwards =D inevitable of a good soon-doo-boo spot). cracked the egg into my soup and took a spoonful immediately. nice and hot. spicy. with great flavor. *I always order mine spicy, but you can always ask them to make it mild or even more spicy. I can see why they come here so often. definitely recommending the place to family and friends. enjoy! ps. they also have a pretty good fried port cutlet (donkatsu) tried some of my wives sisters and it was legit... read more

This place is by far the best tofu house I have been to! Most tofu houses I have been to are just too bland for my taste, or just A-ok. But this tofu house is just loaded with tons of flavor...my all time favorite is their Seafood flavor. Their side dishes are the norm, they give you about 5 of the typical such as kimchi, the pancake, seaweed etc. Every time I come here, I always get the Seafood flavor...I think everyone else around me does too. And like any other tofu houses, they ask you how spicy do you want it? I usually go with the medium, because honestly I really would like to be able to taste the soup. Some people get it spicy, and while they love the spicy flavor, their tongue is burning and their forehead and nose and upper lip is covered with sweat. I personally don't find that attractive in a restaurant, and when food gets too spicy, it honestly takes out the flavor. Anyways, I would recommend getting a combination. Get you fixing of the Seafood flavor tofu and either the Bulgogi or the Beef ribs. They are both Excellente!!! The bulgogi is smothered with garlic, so again...beware of the pores!!! Your pores will reek of garlic for the rest of the day..but totally worth it!! The beef ribs are just as wonderful...everytime I come here, I can't ever decide which one I want, so I have to switch off. THe only downside to the meat dishes is that they are covered with oil...but what else is new? What asian restaurant doesn't use tons of oil when they cook?? Their noodle dishes and other meat dishes such as the spicy chicken is pretty good too. I haven't ordered anything I didn't like thus far. Can't wait to go back again!! Oh..FYI..your clothes/hair will smell like korean bbq for the rest of the day though. read more

I consider myself to be a really mild manner and calm person, but this place had me boiling in anger the other day! We showed up at 6:15 looking to eat an early dinner before the crowds, but the place was already completely full. We were first in line so we put wrote our name on the wait list and sat down. Guess who they seated first, people that came in after us. So of course I complained, but they did it again for the second time. I was so mad steam was coming out of head. Don't expect any sort of service at this restaurant, at least have the decency to apologize. FCUK You! read more

Liked it already just from the name alone! BBQ short ribs are good and juicy. Yummy chap chae. Flavorful tofu. I like!

*******This review is for the poor, neglectful service******** I've been here many times years ago when it was Young-Dong. I went here for the first time in 2-3 years and I don't recall seeing if this was still a Young-Dong restaurant (is the sign gone?). Nothing much has changed except for the service. It usually was good and efficient before, during, and after the meals, but this time it was just all around poor. We came around 1pm during the weekday and it was moderately busy, as usual. Our waitress sat us at the very last table right by the restroom. We placed our orders, received our salads and kimchi dishes in a timely manner...then it slowly went downhill from there. We finally got our piping hot food, but we were missing one of the beef dishes. I thought, "Hmm, that's odd, we ordered 2 beef ribs but only one of them came out.." As we ate, we only got checked on once. I actually had to get up and flag one of the waitresses down **MULTIPLE** times. The table next to us had to do the same thing. WTF. After we were done with our meals, we had to wait an ADDITIONAL 20-25 MINUTES for our missing beef rib plate. Oh hell nah. I could barely get a word in because the waitresses were in such a rush. While I understand that this place can get busy, but damn man, we needed to leave and didn't want to sit there waiting for a missing plate. It's like they wanted us to pay the full price of the combo, instead of deducting the beef ribs. Then we waited for ANOTHER 10 MINUTES for our damn check. Jesus! This is the first time I've experienced such horrid service from this place. Has ownership changed? Maybe they should consider removing the back tables, that is, unless they enjoy unhappy customers. The 2-star rating is just for the service. If I had to rate the food, it'd be 4 stars. read more

The food is really good here but the place is kinda small so if you go during dinner time, there's usually a wait. I waited 45 min. For a table for two at around 7pm, but their food is good and the service is good also. read more

I used to go to Young Dong a lot, and this specific location has always tasted better than the San Gabriel one, but I can no longer say that. It was I believe a weekend during the slow business hours...but I don't know what happened! There were only 2 other tables besides ours! Which is weird because this location is always packed. Well maybe it has something to do with the food because honestly I think the food has gone down a bit...the spicy pork was the most disappointing thing! The spicy pork had ABSOLUTELY NO FLAVOR WHATSOEVER! I didn't taste anything! Not even a hint of the meat flavor! It was like chewing on nothing and swallowing...the bulgogi still had pretty good flavor, but too much sauce. I am hoping the spicy pork I got was just a one time flaw because I would like to come here again...someone please update me if the spicy pork gets better! read more

No more watermelon gum, and price has gone up a tiny bit. But still, you get a lot of good food, the kimchi is spicy, the tofu is hot, and the service is great. read more

I used to come here a lot when I lived in Pasadena. This is definitely one of the better Korean tofu places outside of K-town. Located in an area full of Chinese restaurants, this place is a nice change of scenery. Everything here is pretty good. However, their tofu is not on par with some of the top places in K-town in terms of softness. Still worth the visit if you don't want to make it out to K-town for Korean. read more

Came here with some relatives. Very tasty tofu soups. Definitely very good quality considering it is outside of Korean-town. I ordered the dolsat bibimbop combo with mushroom tofu soup. The former was pretty good with a good variety of mixings. The latter had a good variety of mushrooms as well as quantity. My wife had the seafood combination, which was also very tasty. Definitely on the list of places to which I would put on my own little island if I could create one. read more

unfortunately i have to give 1 star for a place that has good food and decent service. this is a rating based on business practices at korean tofu houses that im simply tired of. for those that may not pay attention, they like to wait until multiple tables order the same meat before making it. from a business perspective it makes sense to a certain extent without inconveniencing the customer. i had to wait 15 minutes from my order to my wifes order. i walk in at 7pm on Wednesday night with my Wife. we are the only ones so we get seated immediately and our orders are taken, bbq beef and bbq ribs. after our orders are taken....slowly 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 parties walk and they get seated. right after that my bbq beef comes out. waitress then goes and takes orders from all 5 tables and my wifes order hasnt come out yet. ok lets just wait a little. now they are serving all the side dishes to the table. ok lets wait after this. next all the tables start getting their tofu soups. i ask about our order and they said its coming. few minutes go by and now all the other tables are getting their bbq ribs including my wifes. this post is long enough so let me get to the point. how does my wifes order of bbq ribs come out the same time the other table gets theirs when we ordered before they even showed up at the restaurant? if this has happened to you, leave 1 star. they wont change until they hear about it. read more

Chino hills is better. No question asked. They do their Kim che here with oysters. But everything else doesn't taste as good.

i've been to many tofu places and this is best tofu house and the only tofu house i go too. (reminds me of korea) Every time i come here it is consistent! the food is always great! always get the seafood and beef combo and medium spicy. They are always busy but the wait is not that bad. The prices for the tofu is $8.99 each with rice and side dishes. The bbq platters are i think $14.99. The side dishes are better than other tofu places in my opinion. a lot more spice and i like spice. the service is good. they do really well even when it is busy. small place and the atmosphere is nice and can be hectic. read more

The portion of the bbq ribs seems to has shrunk in size and the seaweed is not as good as before. The spicy pork was ok, not the best.

5-Second Review: Can't go wrong with the food quality here. Rude servers even for Asian standards. Wait time can be extensive during high tide. 5-Minute Review: Whenever the family has a hankering for Korean Tofu, Young Dong is usually our go-to. Less than a mile away from home, pretty solid food, it's always a good choice. The portions are your standard tofu pot size and your standard sizzling platter size. If there's one thing I've noticed across the board with all Korean Tofu places, it's that they all seem to have bought their stone rice pots, their tofu pots, and their sizzling plates from the same exact place, therefore, your serving sizes won't differ too much from place to place. The banchan here is pretty standard - light flavors, nothing that steals too much away from their entrees, yet you can fill up on eating only banchan if you're cheap. They have the typical cucumbers, kimchee, seaweed, bean sprouts, and squid, and they'll switch up one or two items from time to time. I found that the chicken here has the tendency to be overcooked. The sauce/glaze that they put on the chicken here is often over sweet, too thick [over-reduced due to the heat perhaps?], and renders it not as tasty. I'd say the safest bet is their bulgogi, probably also because I love their onions that they serve. Parking isn't too bad if you don't mind walking a bit since the plaza is pretty huge. The space availability can be limited due to the LA Fitness close by, but again, if you're willing to walk, the lot is big. So why 3-stars only? The servers are rude. They're not only rude, they're pushy. Literally. I went to eat with my folks, my sister, her 3 yr old boy and her 6 month old baby girl. As we were getting ourselves situated around the table we were directed to, the lead server [old Korean lady] stiffarm pushes [practically shoves] my sister into our table as my sister's carrying her daughter. But no, that's not enough. I'm carrying my nephew to his seat and they lady proceeds to shove me out of the way as well. I understand if you're carrying the piping hot tofu soup pots or the sizzling meat plates, but she was just going back to 'home base', the cash register. And it's not as if I were crowding the walkway, I was AT the table, about to sit down. Then throughout the meal, the banchan and other food were practically tossed onto the table. I understand if you're trying to serve things in haste and at an expedient pace, but what we experienced was pure rudeness. Service is rude, food is solid, pretty tasty even. But I can't stand rude service. Basically, avoid the more senior servers, as they're more pushy and rude. The younger servers have always seemed more approachable, as if they actually have a heart and soul. read more

Young Dong is a pretty good tofu restaurant. It tastes a little more authentic than some tofu restaurants I've been to. The tofu bowls are always hot and I like the caramelized onion that comes with BBQ. One of my favorites is the stale/crunchy rice at the bottom of the stone bowls~ yummy. Young Dong used to give melon gum at the meal but I think they don't anymore. Overall, this is probably my favorite tofu restaurant in Arcadia! read more

This place has overall good service. There were two big groups of people that came in right after my boyfriend and myself but they still were fair in being attentive. Even the busy boy was very nice. The food itself was delicious! We had the boneless beef for BBQ. Delicious! The side dishes were also a plus. The salad was unexpected especially since I never got any from places, so definitely a plus! read more

I used to come here all the time during high school, but never got to reviewing it. I recently came with family friends, and ordered some of the combos family style. We shared a couple orders of the BBQ beef ribs, which were cooked fairly well and tasted more lean than you what you would get at AYCE places. I had the beef tofu soup non-spicy, which was a mistake on my part. The tofu soups are pretty bland without adding spicy, so add at least mild spicy to have your soup taste much better. The beef tofu soup was very average, hence the 4 stars. But I recall the seafood beef tofu soup with at least mild spicy being really good, so I might edit this the next time I come here. read more

This place rocks! Unless you're in Koreatown, kalbi and bulgogi just doesn't get better than here at Young-Dong Tofu, and for CHEAP! $15 will get you a sizzling meat + tofu soup combo with all the fixin's (panchan) you crave, a meal big enough with leftovers for midnight snack. However do not confuse this restaurant with Young Dong Garden, which is also in Arcadia and less than a couple miles away. (That place has also very good Korean food and more variety, but definitely not at a bargin). I love a city that has two Young Dongs! read more

My kids like coming here for dinner. Service is fast, staff is friendly, food is good. Had the beef tofu soup, seafood tofu soup and beef with octopus tofu soup and short ribs. Everything was delicious. read more

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Special Menu states "Rice w/ Vegetables"(bibimbap ) or in a stone pot. Both have beef in the order. Not vegetarian friendly.

Worst lunch of my life. We trusted Yelp review of this place and now this experience makes us not trust Yelp any more. They used really old rancid oil for the pancake, so it smelled horrible and was utterly inedible. All the side sides were horrible and main dish was equally horrible. To make it worse, this place is a few dollars more expensive for the same dish you can get at other place. Service was also slow and horrible. Never ever going there again. read more

I'm not a Tofu fan and the odd name is kind of a turn off. But having been dragged here by friends several times I can say the actual kbbq part is really good. This place is a real value, you can pay more for a fancier restaurant, but the food is excellent. The unspicy chicken and pork katsu are really good. read more

warning: i'm visiting this place as a vegetarian. their mushroom soon tofu was only okay. the soup didn't really have that much flavor, which is weird because there were definitely lots of mushrooms. young-dong's saving grace is their side dishes: i've never had that pancake thing before, and it's really really good. their seaweed is also flavored just right. i was too scared to try anything else, haha. oh, and sitting in a room with air conditioning full blast eating soup in the summer is always nice. thanks, young-dong, for not being frugal in the summer. 3/5 i'll come here if i'm craving tofu in the area. read more

Delicious tofu soup! But very pricey! Came here on Labor Day for lunch. The banchan is ok...not great. Service is 3 star worthy. They kept refilling the ice water, but did not refill our banchan. Not sure if they charge money for it (though I've never come across a Korean restaurant that charges), so we didn't bother asking for more. I would return as this is the closest delicious Korean restaurant to my house. read more

More like a Korean tofu house in a fast-food version. Variety of choices, fast service and clean interior.

This place is not so bad. I believe some people complain about the food quality or sometimes the service but overall, unless when it's crowded, my experiences have been decent going here for the past 5-6 years. You can tell them the level of spiciness on the tofu soups. none, mild, medium, very spicy etc. go figure. The food is typical korean and they do a decent job. The kimchi is slightly on the un-fermented side - which I like better than the typical sour kimchi people know of. unfermented kimchi is just as popular in korea as the fermented ones, depending on personal taste. (just fyi) I think this place is not good for groups bigger than 6-8. Your food will be coming out later. They do decent job of making meats. I've never had much complaint about their food quality. The reason why i gave 2 less star from perfection is (1star) due to the service not being prompt. Part of this is because they are understaffed at times. Especially during the busy dinner hours. just to respond to other reviewers I never use discover card ever in my life so u can't judge them just b/c they don't take discover-lots of places don't. Also,almost all korean restaurants nowadays have switch on the tables to summon the waitress- it is commonly practiced in Korea. The next star taken out due to the fact that they use too much MSG. I like Vietnamese or other Asian cuisine but when there are too much MSG in the food i get dehydrated and it's probably not the best stuff to take in so much MSG in one meal that ur paying for. I do not work for any of korean restaurant franchises so don't get me wrong but the new tofu place on 6th + duarte (next to super A market) is definitely worth checking out if ur tofu/korean dish lover who does not want high level of MSG, they use very minimum amt if not at all and make awesome korean food without it. the new place doesn't show on maps and they also give u the fried fish :) read more

I recently came here after a day trip to the la arboretum and I'm so glad yelp helped me choose young dong. I normally go to bcd if I'm ever craving tofu soup but this place far surpasses bcd on service and taste. I got the dumpling tofu soup and my bf got the pork tofu soup. Both were pretty standard amongst tofu houses. However, upon being seated, the waitress immediately gave us a veg pancake, a bowl, salad and waters even before we ordered. Within minutes she also brought out our banh chan and we were simply in shock with the super speedy service. Both of our soups came out in no less than 5 minutes and they were piping hot, they also gave us the clay pot rice and I loved that they give us the pot itself bc both my bf and I let our rice sit resulting in burnt rice around the edges. Soo good if dipping into your soup for a contrast in textures. Overall, I think the kimchi cucumbers and kimchi were the best I've ever had at a tofu house bc they were so crisp and tasted so fresh. I'll definitely come back for the great banh chan and fast service. read more

Been coming here since I was in elementary school. This has always been the best location. Stone pot rice is consistently crispy unlike the location on las tunas next to the 168 market. Menu has recently changed but one really sad thing I just found out today is they no longer have the pancake! Please please bring it back. I would always order an extra pancake. One of my favorite most nostalgic dishes. read more

It's a local place when I go to visit my Family. We love this little place. When we do dine it, it's always on a Sunday because that's our family day. The sides are very tasty and their Pancake is awesome. Wish we could have more than one at times! All their food is very authentic. We cannot complain. We always come out of the restaurant smelling like Korean food. It's not very sexy but it's a sacrifice we have to make to enjoy great food. read more

Been going here for like the past 6 years and it's still the best tofu soup joint I've ever been to (and I've been to plenty around socal/norcal BCD/Kaju/Koba/etc.). They always deliver solid tofu soup and kalbi and bulgogi dishes. Their chop chae is bountiful and well made as is their cold noodle dish which is huuuge. Their ban chan(side dishes) tastes fresh and always has the green onion pancake thing. It does get pretty packed during prime dining hours though. Either way, I continue to come here and definitely will again whenever I need to satisfy my K-food cravings. read more

Worst experience here EVER. Been here a few times, but tonight, service sucked BIG time. Prices went up, but quality is still so-so. I wanted to try a new place, but hubby wanted to come here since it's closer. We got seated pretty soon, but they didn't give us place mats and utensils until they gave us our salad, ~5-10 minutes. We were sat in between two parties and subsequently got forgotten over and over. We ordered our foods and everything took a while to arrive, the ban chan, the rice...the chap chae took FOREVER. The spicy tofu wasn't even spicy:( And the chap chae was just ok, really greasy:/ The table next to us got better service cause the guy spoke to the waitress in Korean. When we were almost done, I asked for check, boxes, and a couple of the side dishes. She told me she had to charge me a dollar each for the side dishes when I used to always get them for free. She came back WITHOUT my boxes and check and asked if I still wanted it. I told her no thanks. She never came back with my boxes or check, I had to ask a different waitress. She never checked up on us or refilled our water. She did, however, went out of her way to refill the table next to us when the guy asked in Korean. A girl was refilling table next to us, but this Korean lady ran for a pitcher of water and helped the party next to us. At this point, I refused to leave a tip. We were ignored, not helped at all unless I flagged her down, and the special service because the guy spoke Korean therefore got special service left me irate. Check finally came and I told hubby I have the right to refuse to leave a tip. I could tell he was reluctant, but you need to earn your tip as a server. Ignoring us, giving other people special service pisses me off. I hope that guy left her a nice tip. read more

Came here to try it out. Pretty large place for a decent amount of people. I like tofu, so it was a good choice. Got the spicy tofu soup with Korean bbq, and spicy cold noodles. I will give advice not to get the spicy cold noodles it tasted horrid lmao. Service was a bit slow when there wasn't many people around. The spicy tofu was okay and the bbq was a bit overcooked. 3/5 for slow service and the really mediocre food. read more

Worst service ever!!!!! No smile, throwing plateson your table, and didn't even put the food in front of you. When you raise your hand for service, the waiter pretended they didn't see you. Also the food quality is bad. Kimchi taste horrible!! Will not come again for sure. Bad experience!! read more

I've been going here for tofu ever since discovering it. Soup is spicy at just mild. Everything solid about the bulgogi-oyster combo. The side dishes are the best, especially the kimchi and seaweed. read more

I'll say upfront that I'm not a huge Korean food connoisseur, being that I'm cheap and frequent all the inexpensive pho places in the area. I'm not sure if all tofu is meant to be so unflavored and boring - I definitely remember Arirang's tofu being way tastier than what I got at this place. Granted, it was very soft and not at all firm like some reviews mention, but it was just so... bland. The dumplings I got in mine were not good at all, either. Presumably whatever flavor was in them just got boiled out into the soup, but they must have not been flavorful at all to begin with, given the state of the soup flavor. I'm fairly convinced that this was legit hospital food they served us. The meat was good, the chicken nice and tender. Bulgogi was whatever, nothing special. Bibimbap suffered the same fate as the tofu, rather bland and furnished with minimal (and tasteless) meat. The pancake... also tasteless. I'm beginning to think they don't believe in the use of salt here. I'm fond of the super garlicky bean sprout appetizers, but that's about it. The combo is a lot of food, provided that you have a smaller appetite than most. I could barely finish my chicken, and that was with touching the tofu as little as possible. If I ever come here again (chances are very slim), I'm only going to get a meat dish and stay far, far away from the tofu dishes. Waste of a few extra bucks. read more

We used to come here all the time when food was still good and service was still good. Then it changed ownership, and everything else changed with it. Now you have to wait in the door when literally there are numbers of empty table available because they don't have enough servers to attend everyone. Then after you're seated, you have to wait a long time to order, because not everyone takes orders. Then you have to wait for a long time for your food, and it's no longer the "same" food as it used to be. I usually order number one with spicy tofu, and now the tofu pot is only 2/3 full and the broth is super thick and gross. Tofu used to be soft and now it's somewhat firm, like the other reviews, it does taste like the tofu has been sitting in the broth for a while. Beef ribs used to be juicy and tasty, and now it's dry, chewy and grossly sweet. Banchan are really tasteless now, they're only there for the purpose of having a side dish, and by no means of good tasting, so majority of it were left untouched. If you want to have good tofu pot, please don't be lazy and drive to the San Gabriel location off the San Gabriel and Las Tunas in the same plaza as 168 market. read more