We got the raw oyster and bossam with lettuce wrap, korean fried chicken, raw marinated shrimp, and the corn cheese tater tots. I never would have thought that raw oysters and pork belly would go well together, but they do! It was quite a nice pairing with the banchan that came with it. The corn cheese tater tots were addictive and my favorite. I’d come back just for those! The raw marinated shrimp was my second favorite thing we ordered, the sauce for the marinade was great with the rice it came with. It had a nice salty and tangy flavor to it. The korean fried chicken was also really great. While it wasn’t flavorful by itself, the sauces it came with were great. It was fried perfectly and was great. Overall, great value for the amount of food we ordered. Would definitely come back again for the corn cheese tater tots and raw marinated shrimp, and to try the other things!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Zechang He
The experience was just so-so. This was my second time going there. I was very hungry and wanted to order quickly, so I showed the staff a picture of beef shabu-shabu, but he actually said it wasn’t something they had. I found it very strange— even the hot pot base in the picture had their restaurant’s logo on it. That he could say something like that really put me in an awkward situation. Was he happy about it? In the end, with a confused look on my face, I just ordered something else since he said they didn’t have that.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 1
Jill Roberts
More like 3.5 stars, to be fair - this is is kind of a tough review.
Ilcha is good, but there's maybe some room for tweaks in a super competitive area for restaurants.
We were a party of four, so I'm writing this as a group review.
The very good: -Portion sizes. Absolutely huge. Everything is family style. Order accordingly. -Bulgogi Jeonghol (Hot pot with wagyu beef). So tasty! Lots and lots of yummy ingredients. Plenty for four. Cooked on the table burner, which is the best way to have it. -Yuja tea (citrus-honey). Warm, sweet, and comforting. -Service. Seriously the best service - the staff is amazing. Super attentive and efficient. (We all feel disloyal to not give more stars overall.) -Ingredient quality. Excellent. Enough said.
The good: -Atmosphere - It's a dark, sleek, quiet, modern space. Would be very cool for a date night or catching up with friends. The walls could definitely use paint touch-ups - the burners on the table create some kinda distracting soot and/or oil stains. Bathroom lighting could be less stark (yes, this a *very* minor quibble). Also, it's really hard to find the entrance, but maybe that's intentional? -Galbi - Marinated beef short ribs. Very solid (is there bad galbi?). -Corn-cheese tater tots. These are fun to eat, but I suspect the bulgogi ones are way better. -Prices. Not inexpensive, but pretty reasonable for the portion sizes, etc.
The not-so good: -Banchan. This is the one instance where the portions are small. We all really prefer more types of side dishes and larger portions of them. The dishes themselves were just OK. We were offered a refill on the daikon, which was nice. Noting that no rice or kimchi is included. -Fried chicken. Just very large pieces of plain fried chicken not sauteed in any flavoring. Sauce is on the side, but it just didn't impart that yummy flavor. (This was the only really disappointing dish.) -Cocktails - The soju sparkling cocktail sounds fancy on the menu but it comes from a can. A $13 can. It was...fine?
I'm not sure we will go back to Ilcha, but there were many people dining there happily, so maybe it's just us.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Nowyouseeme
Highly recommend raw shrimp appetizer.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
MC
Hella mid
Gita Syahrani
Great experience!
We were 2 people and decided to go there early without reservation and got lucky to get seated right away. The staffs are very friendly and helpful.
Tried their soy marinated shrimp with seaweed and egg yolk rice which was so good!
Also had their wagyu hot pot - the portion is very generous including the beef, we ended up taking it home with containers that became our meals for the next 2 days. Their fried chicken is cooked well and very flavorful. Definitely a fusion more modern Korean cuisine but still had the signature taste.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Korean Fried Chicken, Hot Pot, Wagyu Beef, Raw Shrimp Marinated in Soy Sauce
Loren Louie
Really good food, best fried chicken in the city!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Grace Liu
the raw marinated shrimp is tasty the budae jjigae was less impressionable
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Jeff Ho
Ilcha offers good Korean food and drinks. We had a great time. We ordered 3x of each. Braised pork belly, half dozen oysters $42, waygyu beef bulgogi, tater tots $20, fried seaweed spring rolls $10, spicy ramen hotpot $38, sweet pancakes and fried chicken $36. Our party of 14 ate most of it but had to take some of it home. For drinks, we mostly did soju and beer. The soup and fried chicken were my favorites. Service was excellent. They even help us cut a cake onto 14 pieces. Awesome job everyone at Ilcha.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Korean Fried Chicken, Hot Pot
Ashley Hung
The shrimp was weirdddd I didn’t enjoy. The sauce was okay but it tasted like really stringy sashimi. The rice that came with the shrimp was delicious though. The soup was pretty average but in a good way, I liked it a lot and they packed it with ingredients! Fried chicken was really juicy but the fried parts kept falling off. I don’t think they mastered the art of fried chicken.
I added this place to my list of favorites. Every dish slapped especially the fried chicken. Solid service and quick.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Andrea Santos
solid upscale korean restaurant great for catching up with friends or on a date. food ranges from decent to amazing and interior can be a little loud.
raw marinated shrimp: must try dish!! so juicy and flavorful
korean fried chicken: well fried and juicy. nice banchan.
shabu shabu (don’t remember the type): skippable. meat lacked flavor
albert V
Had their Ganjang Saewoo - Soy cured shrimp. Super tasty umami flavor! Get it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
YU-SHAN LIU
I absolutely loved the marinated crab and shrimp at this restaurant! I'm usually very sensitive to the fishy smell of seafood, but there was none here — which shows how fresh and well-prepared the ingredients are.
The egg yolk rice that comes with it was delicious too. Pairing it with seaweed and a bite of the marinated crab created an amazing flavor combination — rich, savory, and incredibly satisfying. I will definitely be coming back.
The only downside is that the lighting inside is quite dim, and the space tends to be a bit noisy — more suited for group gatherings than a quiet meal. But if you're dining with friends, it's a great spot.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Korean Fried Chicken, Budae Jjigae, Raw Shrimp Marinated in Soy Sauce
Sujoy Guha
Amazing service. Vibes are amazing. I’ve been here 4 times no hiccups. 5th time however, my stomach is churning after eating the fried chicken. I smelled it and it was fishy but I was so hungry I ate it anyway. Restaurant should do more food quality checks. It’s an amazing spot for the most part but yeah the stomach issue sucked.
We got the raw oyster and bossam with lettuce wrap, korean fried chicken, raw marinated shrimp, and the corn cheese tater tots. I never would have thought that raw oysters and pork belly would go well together, but they do! It was quite a nice pairing with the banchan that came with it. The corn cheese tater tots were addictive and my favorite. I’d come back just for those! The raw marinated shrimp was my second favorite thing we ordered, the sauce for the marinade was great with the rice it came with. It had a nice salty and tangy flavor to it. The korean fried chicken was also really great. While it wasn’t flavorful by itself, the sauces it came with were great. It was fried perfectly and was great. Overall, great value for the amount of food we ordered. Would definitely come back again for the corn cheese tater tots and raw marinated shrimp, and to try the other things!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The experience was just so-so. This was my second time going there. I was very hungry and wanted to order quickly, so I showed the staff a picture of beef shabu-shabu, but he actually said it wasn’t something they had. I found it very strange— even the hot pot base in the picture had their restaurant’s logo on it. That he could say something like that really put me in an awkward situation. Was he happy about it? In the end, with a confused look on my face, I just ordered something else since he said they didn’t have that.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 1
More like 3.5 stars, to be fair - this is is kind of a tough review.
Ilcha is good, but there's maybe some room for tweaks in a super competitive area for restaurants.
We were a party of four, so I'm writing this as a group review.
The very good:
-Portion sizes. Absolutely huge. Everything is family style. Order accordingly.
-Bulgogi Jeonghol (Hot pot with wagyu beef). So tasty! Lots and lots of yummy ingredients. Plenty for four. Cooked on the table burner, which is the best way to have it.
-Yuja tea (citrus-honey). Warm, sweet, and comforting.
-Service. Seriously the best service - the staff is amazing. Super attentive and efficient. (We all feel disloyal to not give more stars overall.)
-Ingredient quality. Excellent. Enough said.
The good:
-Atmosphere - It's a dark, sleek, quiet, modern space. Would be very cool for a date night or catching up with friends. The walls could definitely use paint touch-ups - the burners on the table create some kinda distracting soot and/or oil stains. Bathroom lighting could be less stark (yes, this a *very* minor quibble). Also, it's really hard to find the entrance, but maybe that's intentional?
-Galbi - Marinated beef short ribs. Very solid (is there bad galbi?).
-Corn-cheese tater tots. These are fun to eat, but I suspect the bulgogi ones are way better.
-Prices. Not inexpensive, but pretty reasonable for the portion sizes, etc.
The not-so good:
-Banchan. This is the one instance where the portions are small. We all really prefer more types of side dishes and larger portions of them. The dishes themselves were just OK. We were offered a refill on the daikon, which was nice. Noting that no rice or kimchi is included.
-Fried chicken. Just very large pieces of plain fried chicken not sauteed in any flavoring. Sauce is on the side, but it just didn't impart that yummy flavor. (This was the only really disappointing dish.)
-Cocktails - The soju sparkling cocktail sounds fancy on the menu but it comes from a can. A $13 can. It was...fine?
I'm not sure we will go back to Ilcha, but there were many people dining there happily, so maybe it's just us.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Highly recommend raw shrimp appetizer.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Hella mid
Great experience!
We were 2 people and decided to go there early without reservation and got lucky to get seated right away. The staffs are very friendly and helpful.
Tried their soy marinated shrimp with seaweed and egg yolk rice which was so good!
Also had their wagyu hot pot - the portion is very generous including the beef, we ended up taking it home with containers that became our meals for the next 2 days. Their fried chicken is cooked well and very flavorful. Definitely a fusion more modern Korean cuisine but still had the signature taste.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Korean Fried Chicken, Hot Pot, Wagyu Beef, Raw Shrimp Marinated in Soy Sauce
Really good food, best fried chicken in the city!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
the raw marinated shrimp is tasty
the budae jjigae was less impressionable
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Ilcha offers good Korean food and drinks. We had a great time. We ordered 3x of each. Braised pork belly, half dozen oysters $42, waygyu beef bulgogi, tater tots $20, fried seaweed spring rolls $10, spicy ramen hotpot $38, sweet pancakes and fried chicken $36. Our party of 14 ate most of it but had to take some of it home. For drinks, we mostly did soju and beer. The soup and fried chicken were my favorites. Service was excellent. They even help us cut a cake onto 14 pieces. Awesome job everyone at Ilcha.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Korean Fried Chicken, Hot Pot
The shrimp was weirdddd I didn’t enjoy. The sauce was okay but it tasted like really stringy sashimi. The rice that came with the shrimp was delicious though. The soup was pretty average but in a good way, I liked it a lot and they packed it with ingredients! Fried chicken was really juicy but the fried parts kept falling off. I don’t think they mastered the art of fried chicken.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
I added this place to my list of favorites. Every dish slapped especially the fried chicken. Solid service and quick.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
solid upscale korean restaurant great for catching up with friends or on a date. food ranges from decent to amazing and interior can be a little loud.
raw marinated shrimp: must try dish!! so juicy and flavorful
korean fried chicken: well fried and juicy. nice banchan.
shabu shabu (don’t remember the type): skippable. meat lacked flavor
Had their Ganjang Saewoo - Soy cured shrimp. Super tasty umami flavor! Get it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I absolutely loved the marinated crab and shrimp at this restaurant! I'm usually very sensitive to the fishy smell of seafood, but there was none here — which shows how fresh and well-prepared the ingredients are.
The egg yolk rice that comes with it was delicious too. Pairing it with seaweed and a bite of the marinated crab created an amazing flavor combination — rich, savory, and incredibly satisfying. I will definitely be coming back.
The only downside is that the lighting inside is quite dim, and the space tends to be a bit noisy — more suited for group gatherings than a quiet meal. But if you're dining with friends, it's a great spot.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Korean Fried Chicken, Budae Jjigae, Raw Shrimp Marinated in Soy Sauce
Amazing service. Vibes are amazing. I’ve been here 4 times no hiccups. 5th time however, my stomach is churning after eating the fried chicken. I smelled it and it was fishy but I was so hungry I ate it anyway. Restaurant should do more food quality checks. It’s an amazing spot for the most part but yeah the stomach issue sucked.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Loading...