Sorabol in San Francisco, California: A Restaurant Review

Sorabol is a quick serve Korean restaurant that basically specializes in meat and noodles over rice. They claim to have been the first to introduce Korean cuisine to northern California in 1979. No offense meant to the people of Sorabol if that turns out to be true, but I find that one a little hard to swallow, I mean 1979 is a little late for Korean cuisine to still be some sort of unheard-of exotica in American culture. But hey, if they really did, thanks a bunch guys. Good work.

Sorabol's dishes are done in Korean BBQ style, mostly focusing on beef and pork dishes. Usually the entrees are served over steamed brown rice with Korean "chap chae" noodles and little slices of carrots and other veggies. Entree item choices are barbeque beef, barbeque chicken, barbeque short ribs, spicy barbeque chicken, spicy barbeque pork, stir fried tofu, lemon chicken, grilled salmon, grilled eel, stir fried shrimp, or veggie curry. Of course, the salmon, eel and shrimp stand a bit pricier than the other entrees on the menu, but most of these dishes clock in at between six and seven bucks. That's just for the entree, no drinks or side bonuses.

The food here is, on the whole, quite decent. The price seems a bit high, but that also seems to just be the way it goes both here at Stonestown and in San Francisco in general. One discovery that I was happy to make here was the unfortunately named Yuck Ge Sang, better known as a spicy beef soup made up of "chap chae" noodles, green onions, tender beef brisket, egg and mung bean sprouts with either white or brown rice served on the side. Whatever else happens with the food here, I'll remember it fondly for introducing me to this particular dish, which I will now go on to seek out further afield.

If you visit the official web site (linked below), some sort of a coupon is promised if you fill out some fields with personal information. I didn't bother to try doing this, but if anyone has please feel free to leave a comment on what to expect!

I guess Sorabol is more or less about as healthy, fast and tasty as you can hope to expect from a food court. If you get lured into Stonestown somehow, it isn't a bad choice at all.

Sorabol
3251 20th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
# 415-753-5959
http://www.sorabolrestaurants.com/