The best Korean BBQ hands down in chicago is Solga.

Hi everyone, I stumbled onto this site when doing a search for various fine dining in chicago and am excited to share my own personal knowledge to other foodies. Anyhow, I'm a 29 year old Korean American who wanted to simply talk about my favorite korean bbq place in chicago, Solga. Many of you probably haven't heard of it yet since it's relatively new and for some reason it's not searchable on metromix.

Solga
5828 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
Tel: (773) 728-0802

Anyhow, I've pretty much tried most, if not all the korean bbq places in chicago and the burbs and Solga is the best. First and formost, the "Kalbi" (short ribs) are of the highest quality, thick and tender slabs of meat which will actually fill you up. Secondly, the flavor is very obvious and you can tell the meat has been marinated well, while not being overpowering the flavor cannot be denied. And thirdly, they give you a ton of meat, I have problems finishing my order, yeah you can go to an all you can eat place for about the same price but ever since I went to solga there's no point in this, it's quality cannot be beat.

Also, they have a great selection of ban-chan (side dishes) which were very fresh and their other menu items will not dissapoint, but ask for the kalbi and you will not be dissapointed. I prefer to have my kalbi already cooked on a platter so I can just start eating, I don't have time or the desire to cook on the tabletop myself and eat piece by piece but that' just me. Anyhow, if anyone else has tried solga let me know what you think, after I went here I don't go anywhere else for Korean Bbq. There are some other great korean bbq places, for instance garden buffet is all you can eat and a great deal, and for overall polish and interior beauty Woo Lae Ok up in rolling meadows cannot be beat, (although rather expensive for the amount of food you get) but for the best Korean bba which will leave you dreaming of more, Solga simply cannot be beat.

Pretty well-known here, see:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t= ... ight=solga

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=28319

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=55901

There are more ...

FoodSnob,

Welcome to LTHForum and thanks for the interesting post on Solga, which is a favorite.

While I agree the quality of the beef is top-notch, the one downside, at least to me, is Solga starts with a mix of charcoal and gas and, when the charcoal runs out, does not add more charcoal. My Korean BBQ preference is live charcoal, no gas.

My current favorite Korean BBQ may be found at Hae Woon Dae. Live charcoal, good selection of panchan and quality meats.

Korean BBQ, and Korean food in general, is an oft discussed topic on LTHForum, happy to have you posting.

Here are a couple of past posts on Solga.

Solga 1
Solga 2

Enjoy,
Gary

Hae Woon Dae
6240 N California
Chicago, IL 60659

LTH,

Solga was bustling Monday, large group in the back party room, tatami rooms full, tables at capacity and food/service remained quite good, service especially so. Amazingly the staff was running, well, ok, really more of a fast trot, but nothing I'd ever seen before.

I'm not talking about one person, but all 4 or 5 waitress moving at quite a clip from kitchen to table, refilling water, bringing food, taking orders, smiling, polite, efficient and, even more amazing, they looked happy, in good moods, as if they were pleased to be so busy.

We had a quite good version of Sam gyeop sal (stir fried pork belly with kimchee) which was ringed with tofu and our single order of galbi was the best non table grilled I've had. (Solga, like most Korean BBQ restaurants, require a minimum of two orders of BBQ for table side grilling.) Abundant panchan and rice tinted with red beans rounded out or very nice meal.

Enjoy,
Gary

Solga
5828 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
773-728-0802

Ooh, nice to have another Korean-American "foodsnob" on the site. Welcome, good sir!

I have to agree that Solga does what it does pretty well, but I felt compelled to mention that in-house karaoke is also available in the private rooms in back (to the left when you enter) for larger parties and reservations. If they can get the mics working, you, too, can sing along to Christmas classics (like "White Christmas") and Korean children's songs alike! Best enjoyed with uninhibited family members and friends. (Okay, there's a large English selection as well, but that's what our group was into at the time.)

Signing off for now,
The Fast Food Snob

Have eaten at San Soo Gab San and really liked the table BBQ and all the condiments. Will try the other places mentioned as Korean BBQ is great food! -Dick

The family and I tried Solga last night based on your recommendation and I must say thank you! I haven't tried any other Korean barbecue places so I can't compare, but we all thought the food was wonderful. What really impressed us, though, was the kindly and attentive service, which started with the parking attendant outside. We were asked numerous times how we liked the food, whether we wanted any more panchan, if there was anything else we needed. This was not a put-on - the servers seemed genuinely interested in our well-being.

Unfortunately none of the barbecue tables were free when we were there. We're looking forward to trying that experience in the future.

Has anyone gone to Solga recently? I went with my family this week and thought it was horrible! I understand they're under new ownership but the banchan selections are not as numberous and fresh, (no potato salad, horrible odeng, and slimy and unfresh bean sprouts) and other than the kalbi and Naengmyeon, we were not satisfied with the quality which is shocking since I have long considered Solga the best Korean bbq in the city. The octopus was laughably bad, with a rubbery texture and no flavor from the spicy sauce at all, even my parents found it inedible, and they aren't picky with Korean food at all. The dumpling soup was too salty and the mandoo was overcooked. We were the only ones in the entire restaurant at 630 pm on a monday night, sadly, and this experience coupled with their recent groupon offering makes me wonder that the lack of traffic here isn't an isolated occurance. Just wondering if anyone else shares my dissapointment with Solga, which shocks me.

FoodSnob77 -

Perhaps an edit of the thread title is now in order to reflect your revised opinion.

That's really sad to hear - I tended to agree with the high praise you heaped on Solga in your first post.

I loved the high quality ingredients, friendly staff, spotless grills (though gas only, the last couple times I went), myulchi bokkeum on request, and that delicious sujeonggwa served at the end...they were also extremely accommodating with the gluten-free requests for our celiac-having friend: she'd bring her own gluten-free soy sauce, they'd take it in the back & quickly marinate some plain beef with it, grill it up, and bring it out to her on a separate plate.

It'd be a damn shame if your recent experience signaled a downward spiral.

FoodSnob77 wrote:The octopus was laughably bad, with a rubbery texture.

Which brings up a good question, which I've been meaning to ask for some time. Has anyone EVER ordered an octopus dish at a Korean restaurant, and not received a piece of rubber in its place? I have braved octopus at a good dozen-plus korean spots of all types in the city and beyond, and have not yet gotten a tender bite. I'm pressed to think, sadly, this is just how korean octopus is.

Just had octopus on the grill at San Go Gap San North, Good but it depends on your def of rubbery. The octopus was not precooked and all three of us felt is was good.
Octopus if briefly cooked goes through a 'rubbery' stage so before I grill octopus I slow poach it and then grill. Frankly its not worth ordering unless the octopus is served alive and wiggling.-Dick

Hoping for an update
I am looking for a near-north suburban K-BBQ that will accommodate 12 at the same table. Will travel to the city if the experience will be worth it.
Thanks for all suggestions!
Jill

jilter wrote:Will travel to the city if the experience will be worth it.

San Soo Gab San
5247 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 334-1589

=R=

jilter wrote:near-north suburban K-BBQ

Also available at
San Soo Kab San
7901 Golf Rd, Morton Grove, IL 60053
(847) 972-1252

bweiny wrote:

jilter wrote:near-north suburban K-BBQ

Also available at
San Soo Kab San
7901 Golf Rd, Morton Grove, IL 60053
(847) 972-1252

Not live coals though, at Morton Grove.

=R=