Kimchi Korean Restaurant - Korean restaurant in State College - 1100 N Atherton St, USA

My first time at a Korean Restaurant and must say it was a lovely experience. We ordered spicy pork and seafood stew served with rice. I thought the stew consistency would be thicker but found the dish to be more like a soup….may be that is how it is… Nevertheless it was warm with seafood and tofu… just right with the awesome rains.

Food was excellent, service was super fast, and the prices are very reasonable. My new go to in state college. Photo is what we took home after stuffing ourselves.

I've never been to a Korean restaurant, I loved my first time. I loved the decor, real plants. We ordered a pot of green tea which was delicious and loved the little cups. I wish we could have added tofu to our dishes but it seemed they couldn't due to the way they put the order in. I'd love to go back and order something different to try. Very friendly and welcoming place.

Great Korean place! We were a group of 5, dined-in, service was really great and warm. We ordered spicy rolls, rice cakes (comes without the fish cakes and egg for vegetarians/vegans), bulgogi gopdol, chicken gopdol, vegetable japchae and spicy chicken udong. Flavors were on point, the spice had a good kick and heat to it. Would definitely visit again/get take-out. One of the must try Korean spots in the State College area!!

Edit July 2023: ever since business was taken over by new owners, food quality and service has gone down significantly. If i'm not mistaken, they are no longer Korean owned and you can tell by the taste of the food. Very disappointing during this visit. We got sat down, very few customers and waited over 15 minutes before someone took our order/drinks. No one checked in or asked for refills and we had to walk over a couple times to ask for our bill. Probably not going back to this place. Edit: We come here almost every week now and quality of the side dishes have gotten better. Staff are always friendly. It's the only Korean restaurant you should go to in State College if you want to experience home cooked Korean dishes. We ordered rice cakes, yookaejang, spicy seafood noodle soup and kids bulgogi. Rice cake was nice and soft. A little expensive for the amount you get. Great portions for the rest especially the kids meal. Side dishes are a no. Kimchi was too ripe and very fishy. Cucumber was ripe too. I prefer them a little crispier and fresher. Overall okay experience considering there are not many Korean restaurants in State College, PA area. Food taste wise I'm comparing with Korean restaurants found in the DMV area.

We were seated quickly but took 20m for someone to take our order. Food then took an hour and 15 minutes to come out. It was okay, not the best Korean food I’ve ever had. I got the spicy pork, LA galbi, steamed dumplings, fatty beef udon. All of the dishes were just okay, flavors weren’t special. The steamed dumplings tasted like they were frozen and microwaved. The table next to us (not even 2ft away) had someone sneezing and coughing loudly without covering his mouth. Overall experience was mid to say the least.

They do not know how to treat their costumers with a respect. I usually visit this place often for Korean food considering the fact that there aren’t much Korean restaurants in state college. But one day I ordered dumpling soup for to go order and the food came out differently than as usual. The soup would usually come with dumplings but they separated soup and dumplings in a different bowl. Because I didn’t expect this, I asked them why it’s different than usual but at first they didn’t give me valid explanation and asked me if I want them together. So I said yes and all they did was just dumping soup into a bowl that has dumplings. However I was a bit uncomfortable with the fact that the food wasn’t prepared in a usual expected way so I asked them if they can make new one for me. This is when the lady got very rude with me and told me I should choose to do delivery instead of pick up if I am worried. I am not sure what difference it would make and also delivery would cost me more considering delivery fee and they shouldn’t force costumer to do something that would cost more. In other restaurants, if I bring up some issue about the food to them, they would apologize and make a new food for me. But the lady at this place not only refused to cook new one for me but also came across condescending by telling me to choose delivery option and making it seem like I am the one who worries too much when all I did was bringing up the legitimate concern. She also got sarcastic and said “everyone’s food is same”. When a costumer raises a legitimate concern good business never treat costumer like that. Although this is one of the few Korean restaurants in town I would not visit here again.

have gone twice, food was great both times, i recommend the chicken karaage and peach oolong tea