When we went to The Friendly—immortalized in my post Discover Kearny Mesa’s Best Smash Burgers at The Friendly—we noticed some other nice looking restaurants we had never tried right on that little street by Steamy Piggy.
We decided to go back and try one. My son thought the menu at Songhak looked the best, so we tried it. I always like a Korean place where I don’t have to order all-you-can-eat BBQ, though that tends to be a treat when we have it.
It wasn’t the most bustling choice, but there were a few families in there on a Friday night. They were playing odd music, like really old cheeseball songs like Barry Manilow and Elton John—except—we don’t think any of those songs were the known versions by the known artists.
Shazaam couldn’t identify the songs, and my wife was certain that although the songs were close knock-offs, they weren’t the real artists. I have a hard time believing that they had an entire playlist of knock-off music, but my wife is convinced.
We did not opt for a BBQ table and we ordered:
- Buchu Pancake
- Corn Cheese
- Tteok Galbi Dolsot
- Dolsot Bulgogi BiBimbap
- Beef Bulgogi
The bon chon and the corn cheese were good, but my son thought the Dolsot BiBimbap wasn’t as good as usual.
I wanted to try the Tteok—a grilled minced beef short rib patty. It reminded me of meatloaf, and it really grew on me, but my dish was essentially the same as my son’s, but with more interesting meat and no egg. I did really get into using their sweet house chili sauce. It was really nice on my tteok.
The Buchu Pancake—though cheap and filling—lacked the onion flavor we expected.
I thought the Beef Bulgogi meal was above average. I am used to just meat and grilled onions, which tend to be delicious, but Songhak’s version was more colorful with green onions, white onions and julienne carrots.
I was happy enough with the food to go back, though I think my family was disappointed.
At under $80, I think we got a bargain.
Now there is one last thing… The service was technically good, but a little weird. They make a production out of things. Some might appreciate that, but for us, it was a little strange.
The best example was the carryout ordeal. The server actually stole my chopsticks to use to gather up the leftover buchu pancake. My wife was trying to shovel the leftover bulgogi into a box. She had a hard time doing it with the server standing there, just staring.
When my wife was done, the server made a production out of putting the boxes into a bag and fighting with the bag for like 2 minutes, trying to make the sides match or something. It was like two minutes of awkward silence.
Check out their website at:
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