The Crew

The crew is located in the sunset district. We went on a Friday night and parking wasn't too bad! I was actually surprised to see how not packed it was. We were craving Korean food and appreciated how late this place opened. Immediately walking in, it felt like cool pocha vibes. Their playlist was soooo good. I also would say they have really good experience. The waiters checked in on us often and refilled our banchan multiple times. The salad was my favorite!

As for the food, I would rank it a 7/10. It was decent but nothing too crazy. Ranking the items we got (best to least): Seafood pancake, pink rose tteokbokki, kimchi jjigae, and then the kimchi fried rice. The seafood pancake was doughy and lots of toppings! I really enjoyed it. The pink rose tteokbokki had that perfect creamy carbonara flavor. The tteok was a bit overcooked tho but the long noodles was a perfect texture. The kimchi jjigae was decent! My boyfriend thought it was too fermented but I thought it was perfect. Not that much kimchi in the soup and it felt a bit thick. The kimchi fried rice was ok... we got it with beef and the egg drop. The egg was cool but I felt like I couldn't really taste the beef.

I marked it down a star since I felt like it was a bit overpriced for the quality but overall, decent food. I would want to try their drinks next time!

We came with a group of 8, and the atmosphere was really fun! Not too noisy but not boring either.

The food was outstanding, as usual.
The staff is kind and coming to check on us often.

Definitely becoming a classic in SF for Korean food for us!

Finally! A place to try in the Sunset. This Korean restaurant has all the staple Korean foods to eat including tofu soup and kbbq. This place is pretty small so there's probably always a wait.

Galbi Tang (4/5): this dish includes beef brisket, bone, noodles, and egg. This was Korean soup has the best galbi tang broth I've ever had. It was soothing and flavorful at the same time. However, I thought it lacked the amounts of meat and noodles.

Korean Cheese Balls (5/5): This mochi ball was basically a Korean Mozarella ball, it was cheesy na flaky at the same time.

Chicken Tonkotsu (5/5): The sauce was sweet and paired well with the chicken. The chicken wasn't too dry, but it was very plentiful.


Honey comb ice cream (4/5): This honey comb was a bit too sweet for me.

Definitely check this place out.

4.24.24
Dinner post pickleball session around 8pm - no wait.

This spot reminds of your typical Korean bar, but serves more than your typically fried foods. I came to try their soup and seafood pancake.

FOOD:
They have your traditional Korean food - tofu soups, kalbitang, various pancakes, kalbijim, and they also offer kbbq. We opted for:
- banchan: they offer a pretty good selection and the kimchi was fresh.
- seafood pancake: we were pretty impressed with the size, taste and generous amount of seafood. I would say top 3 seafood pancakes I've had - and I've had my fair share of seafood pancakes - I ALWAYS order seafood pancakes at Korean restaurants :)
- tofu soup mild: this was the perfect amount of spiciness and came with an raw egg as usual and a plus for including purple rice.
- kalbitang: I always order this as it is my fav type of Korean soup. But their was okay. It didn't come with much glass noodles and did not come with egg strips or the wasabi soy sauce to dip the ribs. The flavor of the soup was pretty good overall.

AMBIANCE:
Neon signs and dark vibes so the late night bar scene. Not the biggest spot, I can imagine it can get pretty busy here during the weekend nights.

SERVICE:
Very friendly waiters!

Verdit:
I would return to try their other items.

After seeing this restaurant on Instagram, I came here for the honeycomb rice wine combo. Unfortunately, this was the only memorable part of the meal, as they cut the honeycomb tableside ($10 per slice though). The food was pricy for the quality you get, and the flavors didn't meet my expectations.

The biggest disappointment was the seafood pancake ($23.95); it was burnt and therefore, bitter, and every single one the shrimp pieces surprisingly had the tails still on! You could maybe get away with that if the shells were fried crispy like in tempura, but this was not the case. Different than the American style, the garlic fries ($13) were tossed in a garlic sauce, which gave the fries an odd stale and soggy texture. The beef in the kalbi tang ($24.95) was a bit tough.
The 8 piece wings ($18.95) were fine. I wouldn't come back.

I've been to The Crew before but it's definitely been a minute. Their interior looks a lot different now and feels more cozy.

We got their King Tonkatsu ($19.95), Tofu Soup ($18.95) and their Makgulri ($14). I thought their Tonkatsu was okey, it definitely was very big but wish it was more juicy. My friend got their tofu soup, the mild one, i tried a little bit and it had a slight kick. I don't really drink so my friend mainly drank the makgulri. We wanted it with the honey comb but didn't realize it was a separate price for it ... the waitress made it seem like it comes with it and if you want more of the honeycomb then you'll pay extra. We were a little bit ticked off but it was whatever lol To get honeycomb it is +$10.

Overall Rating: 3/5

it's hard. rating this lower than when i had them back in 2021. there's just a lot they've changed and not for the better.

there's a few things that made this place being a homey, reasonably priced, delicious restaurant to being an overrated, average tasting/not worth it, intense yelling zone.

they've renovated their restaurant. awesome. lovely. they've also changed their menu to be more trendier and to include stuff i have admired from shows. however the service and quality doesn't meet the expectations of was presented to me via social media, or of what i thought the food was suppose to taste like.

what was good? the cheese kimchi pancake. always a fan favorite and glad they didn't take that off the menu. it's so thick and cheesy, it's giving pizza. galbi/kalbi is standard. nothing special. banchans good! lots of variety.

what was not good? the rose tteokbeokki. it was really not good. it wasn't creamy, it wasn't spicy, it wasn't really anything and the flavor itself was just off. i wish i listened to the other yelpers who also felt the same way. the honey makgulri was just the aesthetics because of the honeycomb has the white stuff, it makes the whole drink gritty, with hard white bits stuck to your mouth and have to spit out. the sweetness didn't blend/mix with the alc especially because the drink is cold and in order to melt honey, it needs to be hot. and finally, the service.

service itself was really poor. the servers don't check up on y'all to either take order, check on the food/table, give the bill at the appropriate time, etc, nor does they acknowledge us if i was getting their attention. it's clear they bit off more than they can chew and i hope they can work on quality of service, instead of them just giving half baked service as they're overworked themselves.

crew if you reading this, bring back the Pork Jjagleri, it was so good and yummy.

This place somehow blew up with the Honey Makkgeoli and while it was a good hearty Korean meal, it didn't necessarily wow me to the point I'd come back. It's sort of in between a pocha and sit down Korean restaurant.

Note - the honey in makkgeoli also causes the drink to be a bit waxy

Ordered Dishes - Spicy Pork, Fried Chicken, Kimchijigae, Tteboki, Kimchi pancake. Favorite dish is probably the spicy pork

Finally went back to the Crew after going several years ago. The interior of the restaurant has changed (for the better) and the food was delicious! My party of 2 went on a Saturday but we got there 30mins before opening since they don't do reservations. They get busy quickly so I suggest getting there early!

Food Ordered:

Kalbi half portion -bbq (9/10): the meat wasn't overly greasy and was perfectly marinated! I do wish it was a little hotter even though it was on a hot stone plate.

Corn Cheese (10/10): one of my fave dishes at the Crew! The cheese was so gooey and hot and had the perfect amount to compliment the amount of corn.

Mozzarella Corndog (3/10): to me this wasn't worth since you can get mozzarella corndogs for cheaper at asian markets and this one was covered in way too much sugar. There also wasn't much of a cheese pull.

Kalbi Short Rib Soup (9/10): I'm a sucker for Kalbitang and the broth for this was perfect. I wish there were more bones, but that's my personal preference.

The Crew Wings - Garlic (9/10): the taste was amazing, but with the sauce it does lose some of its crispiness.

Drinks Ordered:

Honeycomb Makgeolli (9/10): if you like sweet honey drinks, this is perfect for you! It got a bit too sweet for me towards the end, but I still enjoyed it.


Overall for 2 people, we finished everything and enjoyed most of the items we ordered. We're definitely planning on coming back and trying more items!

Delicious and crisp pork belly, juicy and crunchy fried dumplings, and delightful bulgogi--even though I ordered through delivery apps, the food here was amazing. Would definitely come again, especially to try out the seafood pancake.