Korean Restaurants in East Riverdale

Introduce your palate to Asian food that isn’t Chinese or Thai with today’s deal: $15 for $30 worth of Korean food and drinks at Mandu in Dupont Circle, one of the few authentic Korean restaurants in the DC area.Besides, they’re only cute because they taste so good.

Rice Bar's trained chefs transform fresh, authentic ingredients into artfully crafted Korean delicacies. Creatively plated meals, such as shin ramen noodle soup ($8.95), launch eyes into frantic semaphore, preparing the tongue for imminent food landings. The talented chefs whip up a variety of authentic Korean and pan-Asian fare, though they specialize in the blending techniques of bibimbap bowls constructed from white rice, protein, veggies, and gochujang, a fermented red-pepper paste that ties all the flavors together. Diners can introduce taste buds to a signature bibimbap such as spicy chicken ($9.95) or kalbi ($11.49) or send chopsticks bobbing for personally chosen comestibles in a design-your-own bibimbap ($6.49).

Lauded for both its cuisine and its atmosphere, Woo Lae Oak seats diners in spacious tables, booths, and portable pods, in which they can enjoy a distinctly Korean-American blend of abstract wall furnishings and traditional Korean artwork. The expansive bar, centered about a large fireplace with a modern tile hearth, features ample space for enjoying Soju and sushi. Please call ahead to confirm your reservation.

Korean specialties such as barbecue short ribs, kimchi, and—of course—tofu soup fill the menu at this casual restaurant with outposts in Annandale and Centreville. Among the chefs' crowning offerings are steaming bowls of bi bim bap that cradle bulgogi (Korean-style marinated beef) as well as heaps of bean sprouts, corn, and fried egg. Depending on personal tastes, the spice levels of each dish can be custom calibrated from ultra-mild “white” to three-alarm “spicy spicy.” But not all dishes served here come to the table piping hot, including the cool naegn myun soup, a refreshing summer dish loaded with buckwheat noodles, slices of beef, and hints of Noreaster.

Though rooted in Korean culinary traditions, the dishes at Red Holic might feel familiar even to those foreign to that gustatory language. Seven types of kimbap—a translation of the maki roll—enfold everything from spicy squid to Spam within a soft blanket of white rice and sweetened radish. Similar to blood sausage, soondae encases noodles and veggies within pig intestine, toppoki dishes pair rice cake with egg or dumplings, and Holic meals frame sautéed beef or Korean-style pork as the centerpiece. As if the flavor profiles and colorful ingredient weren’t enough to entice the senses, Red Holic stays true to its name, surrounding guests in a crimson wonderland speckled with white-topped tables and solid black chairs. To fill the wall space, reliefs feature domestic themes, including clotheslines laden with pins and a watering can hanging over flowers, constantly suspended by the cooks’ telekinesis.

At Palace Korean BBQ, diners watch as meats sizzle atop tableside barbecue pits, flanked by a colorful mélange of marinated vegetables, rice, and Korean condiments. In addition to Korean barbecue, kim-chi, and bi bim bop dishes, Palace’s expert chefs chop fresh ingredients and simmer them in teriyaki sauce or roll them into fresh sushi and sashimi. Their sharable Japanese shabu-shabu dishes also warm empty bellies.

Decorated with minimalistic earth tones, Asian masks, and dark wooden tables and chairs, the dining room fuses traditional and contemporary elements better than a supercomputer glued to a horse-drawn carriage. Throughout the eatery, bamboo stalks spring up from square pots, glowing in the same neon lights that illuminate the fully-stocked bar.

At Hot Spot, there are as many chefs as there are customers. That's because every customer gets to be the chef, and be in charge of creating and cooking their Asian-fusion hot pot. They start by picking out a type of steaming hot broth, which they will then use to cook their chosen meats, seafood, tofu, and vegetables. To pair with this, they can then create their own blend of dipping sauces from varieties such as the garlic, soy, and green onion sauces. Once meats and vegetables have cooked to a desired texture, clients can dip them in the sauces for added flavor. Each meal comes with as much as you can eat, which allows guests to invent many different dishes without building their own kitchen in the dining room.