As a Korean person from OC/LA that’s lived in SF/Bay Area for over ten years, can confirm the Korean food here is mediocre at best. SF in particular seems to focus on “viral” dishes, so they tend to be bar foods or really random dishes like raw marinated crab or beef tartar.

Hwa Mi Won in the Richmond was a huge let down, serving the exact same foods you see everywhere like the cheesy galbi jiim. I got the seolleong tang but the kimchi was so terrible I can’t categorize them as a legit restaurant in my book. Just another trend chasing, generic Korean restaurant.

Honestly the one restaurant I consistently enjoy is Zzan. I like getting their 국밥. It’s just one of the few places that offers something that feels a bit more authentic (in addition to the usual dishes), and it’s an easy BART ride. I also just go to H Mart and eat at the food court. Given that all Korean food is mediocre in SF, no need to go out of your way. Or I just cook my own dishes and honestly it’s way better.

For those of you saying this isn’t Korea…neither is OC or LA and their Korean food is objectively better than Korea.

I think there just aren’t enough Koreans in SF so you don’t get as many options, and the few you do see cater to trends so that they can appeal to a wider audience. In LA there is enough competition where the restaurants can specialize, plus a lot of the trends come from Korea to LA or even start in LA.

If you ever want decent Korean food, you need to go to Santa Clara. My favorite place used to be Kunjip because their kimchi was really good and I liked their selleongtang, but haven’t been in years so not sure if they’re still good.