The 11 best Korean restaurants in Austin

Big eaters, rejoice! This spot in a strip mall off Howard Lane is known for its all-you-can-eat barbecue tables. Beware: tables are limited, so make sure you make a reservation. The non-AYCE price point is a little bit higher than the average Austin Korean restaurant, but on the plus side, you’ll taste the hard-to-find flavored sojus. Stop in for lunch, and you can take advantage of bento box specials.

This north Austin mom-and-pop Korean restaurant is one of the city’s go-to spots. With an extensive menu and banchan selections, all diners will be pleased. Classic items like beef bulgogi, various bibimbap, and seafood pancakes anchor the menu, but more adventurous eaters may enjoy the spicy silken tofu stew with shrimp, squid, and mussels or Korean blood sausage stew. Terra beers, servers who speak Korean, and great happy hours set this place apart.

Austin's first tortilla-wrapped kimchi comes courtesy of Chi’lantro, which has grown into multiple brick-and-mortar locations across town since first launching as a single food truck back in 2009. For a quick, cheap, on-the-go lunch order the spicy pork burrito, but be honest: the best time to enjoy these delicious cross-cultural eats is after the bars close. 2 am kimchi fries, anyone?

This bright and modern restaurant boasts several wooden booths, each housing a grill table and a separate bar featuring beer, wine, sake, and spirits. Although the menu highlights soups, bibimbap, noodles, dumplings, and bulgogi, the eatery is most well-known for its Korean barbecue. Selections include fresh beef short ribs, boneless beef, marinated pork ribs, chicken, brisket, pork belly, cow tongue, and jumbo shrimp.

Think of Gangnam Zip as a place that makes people feel comfortable, no matter how familiar they are with Korean food. Simply choose one of the many protein options (beef ribs, bulgogi, spicy chicken, chicken teriyaki, and spicy pork), select rice or noodle, and add sides, or try one of their K-ramens and specials like the kimchi fried rice. Guests can dine in the clean and bright space or choose mains and banchan from the prepared foods refrigerator to take home.

Mom’s Taste is less of a restaurant and more of a take-and-bake specialty shop. This small market can be difficult to locate because the sign is relatively nondescript. Once inside, shoppers will find pre-packaged Korean banchan, marinated meat, prepared soups, seaweed salad, kimchi, and assorted authentic fresh items labeled in Korean.

Hidden in a business complex on Anderson Lane, this modest restaurant with patio seating has served Korean barbecue, hot pots, and sushi for over 20 years. Choose from marinated beef, pork, pork belly, and ribs and grill them tableside. Meals are often served with a variety of banchan. The restaurant is your go-to spot for a quick and inexpensive lunch (we love the mini kimbobs).

A staple of the downtown lunch scene, Koriente is more than Korean food. It’s a garden fresh eat-the-rainbow twist on Korean cuisine. Devour healthy options, home-grown and locally sourced vegetables, rice, and noodle bowls with your choice of tofu, beef, mahi-mahi, ahi tuna, or chicken. Unlimited miso soup and salad, bubble tea, and bright Korean-inspired bowls are the eatery’s staples.

Though the South Lamar newbie opened during the big freeze of ‘21, things have been anything but cold. Jjim braises their meats until they are so darn tender that they fall right off the bone, so go straight in for the Beef Short Rib Jjim (a medium feeds two); a cast-iron with chunks of super soft meat, vegetables, sweet soy sauce, steamed rice, and your choice of kimchi, mozzarella or glass noodles.

Grab some Korean comfort fare at this cozy little eatery on the Drag. Enjoy eclectic interpretations of traditional Korean dishes (think bulgogi with rice and glass noodles, for example), and check out their brilliant selection of K-bubble teas, which include milk, green and frozen varieties. Yum.

Attached to the Han Yang Korean market, Manna is a fast-casual spot serving inexpensive Korean dishes and sushi in north Austin. Notably, the menu features a selection of traditional porridges, including pine nuts, vegetables, abalone, mushroom, and oyster. Soju, baekse-ju, and makgeolli (Korean spirits) are also available, and they also have a grill selection.