Sorak Garden, Backlick Road in Annandale

[Kibbee Nayee]

[if I did my search correctly, I cannot find a separate entry for Sorak Garden. But if I'm wrong, our leader will redirect this post.]

I am a sucker for Korean buffets, and the Total Buffet on Rt. 50 at Rt. 28 in Chantilly is one of my usual haunts. I had lunch with a friend at Sorak Garden today, and it was quite good.

The Korean sushi buffet itself is worth another trip. There must have been 20-25 different types, including soft shell crab roll and very nice tuna and salmon nigiri. Then there was the soup station, which I avoided, but the waitress came by and offered miso soup which I gladly accepted. Not sure if the miso soup was at the soup station or not, but 2-3 large pots were on heaters at the soup station. The hot and cold foods -- salads, panchon, beef/brocolli, chicken/pepper, mung bean paste, kimchi and on and on -- were pretty good, although not nearly in the category of the better Korean restaurants. Overall, this is a deal at about $15 per person, and I ate more than what would be considered a pro-rated bargain.

It was also nice to see a lot of Koreans in the place, making me feel like it is acceptable to the indigenous population. I wish I had a tour/taste guide to help me through the various options, because I probably would enjoy it even more. The place was relatively packed at noon.

This place is worth a return trip or more, and anyone wishing to try a $20 Tuesday here is more than welcome to generate some attendees.

[sweth]

[if I did my search correctly, I cannot find a separate entry for Sorak Garden. But if I'm wrong, our leader will redirect this post.]

I am a sucker for Korean buffets, and the Total Buffet on Rt. 50 at Rt. 28 in Chantilly is one of my usual haunts. I had lunch with a friend at Sorak Garden today, and it was quite good.

I haven't been to Sorak Garden in a while, but it, Hee Been, and Il Mee are the Big 3 for AYCE Korean along Little River Turnpike--all are pretty good, though there are non-AYCE places that are better quality.

[Soup]

It has been at least 6 months since I was last at sorak. I went this weekend and my hiatus from this restuarant was well advised.

Service: very slow. Surprising since the place was very empty.

The food: The bibimbap was solid. The Nangmun was really good. I would actually recommend their nangmun highly. The toppings were a bit skippy for the price though. The soups, we order a bunch. And they all really sucked. The broth had no flavor. the veggies in it were tough and old. green onion was so fiberous that it could not be eaten. But the worth was the banchan. It was just out right poor. only got 6 dishes and they were really mediocre at best. Nothing inventive just standard stuff.

I noticed they had new menus and the prices have increased a bit on the new menu.

The food (especially the banchan) was below par for annandale korean and the prices were above average. i think I will not be going back for another 6 months.

Soup

[Escoffier]

It has been at least 6 months since I was last at sorak. I went this weekend and my hiatus from this restuarant was well advised.

Service: very slow. Surprising since the place was very empty.

The food: The bibimbap was solid. The Nangmun was really good. I would actually recommend their nangmun highly. The toppings were a bit skippy for the price though. The soups, we order a bunch. And they all really sucked. The broth had no flavor. the veggies in it were tough and old. green onion was so fiberous that it could not be eaten. But the worth was the banchan. It was just out right poor. only got 6 dishes and they were really mediocre at best. Nothing inventive just standard stuff.

I noticed they had new menus and the prices have increased a bit on the new menu.

The food (especially the banchan) was below par for annandale korean and the prices were above average. i think I will not be going back for another 6 months.

Soup

Our experience (albeit 2 year ago) mirrors your exactly. Not only was the service slow initially, but there were times when it seemed non-existent. When we arrived, we had to wait for someone to seat us, then we waited for menus, then we waited for someone to come take our order and then we waited....and waited...and waited...for our food. The panchan came nowhere near measuring up to Gom Ba Woo. I had dolsot bibimbap and it was okay (but that's a dish that's really hard to mess up), I don't remember what Grover had but it wasn't memorable anyway. A huge, empty room, six servers standing around and very few customers on a Saturday afternoon doesn't speak well for any restaurant, much less one that tries to be up-scale Korean.