Choi's

The best dumplings I've had outside of Asia. Unique and tasteful cocktails. The service from everyone was second to none! I'd recommend to anyone looking for a great dining experience!

I wish I had taken more photos of the food because it was soooo good!

We got the Galbi bowl, fried oyster mushrooms, bao tacos (with kimchi on the side) and banchan salad. All were solid!

Our toddler loved the bao tacos (glad we got kimchi on the side) the order comes with 2 and they're delicious! He also loved the Galbi bowl (also has kimchi but we gave him the parts he liked before mixing together). The Galbi was so moist and tender, the bowl was great! The fried oyster mushrooms were spicy and perfectly fried. I honestly couldn't even tell they were mushrooms at first!! Eat this one while it's hot and fresh, they're juicy like you're eating meat - I was pleasantly surprised.

The service was great and they were so patient with all our questions. Can't wait to go back. Folks might think it's pricey but honestly was very reasonable for the quality and taste (but maybe because I'm coming from the Bay ?)

Came here for a friends birthday and had a reservation for Friday night. It wasn't very busy and can probably just walk in without a reservation.

This place is an upscale take on Korean food, located right in downtown next to Petco Park. I was really satisfied with the food! The galbi bowl and Korean Fried Chicken were my favorites as well as the scallops appetizer. I would skip on the octopus and the bulgogi Bao buns because they aren't really worth the price.

Overall the food was really tasty and I think it was reasonably priced considering the location and fancy ambiance. Also the free parking for 2 hours is such a big plus because you can't find many restaurants in downtown that have their own parking garage.

Service was also pretty good. They gave us all complimentary drinks when we sat down and the chefs came to greet us personally. They also gave my friend a free dessert for her birthday, the Hotteok pancake and ice cream, which was really tasty!

***Impeccable Service, Delicious Food, Highly Recommend***


I cannot stress how much this place is a must visit. First, the ambience was amazing with a great playlist of Korean music. I was impressed by the service and our server was very friendly and knowledgeable. We almost ordered every single dish off the menu. The crispy chicken and mandu didn't get a photoshoot because we ate it so quick! Overall I would highly recommend making reservations and checking this place out. You can't go wrong with any of their dishes in my opinion. They really made my friend's birthday memorable and the little birthday treat at the end was chef's kiss.

First, let me just this place absolutely amazing service. The aesthetics give a very upscale and modern vibe. The service was amazing and I would not be able to give any recommendations on how to improve.

Essentially when I was invited to eat out here by a colleague I was expecting it to be like Korean BBQ, but to my surprise it was not. We ordered various dishes on the menu which turned out amazing. Majority of these dishes are instagram worthy.
With it being so aesthetically pleasing, my experience is that it probably isn't going to taste as good as it looks, but I was wrong. There's a wide variety of flavors on these dishes.

Lastly, the drinks are great. Signature beer at the restaurant very crisp!

Tip: There is a parking structure nearby on 12th that allows you to park there for an approximate 2 hours just have it verified by the restaurant.

We visited Choi's on a Tuesday night and were impressed by the high ceilings, industrial design, hanging green plants, and a striking bar with a chandelier.
However, the food did not live up to expectations. The octopus was tender and well-seasoned, but the fried oyster mushrooms with arugula lacked a cohesive sauce or fragrant oil to tide the dish together, and the chili shrimp with pressed rice was neither crispy nor appetizing. The taco dish featured heavy, deep-fried bread that overwhelmed the stuffing, it needed some kind of fresh herbs to cut down the heaviness, and only the bossam stood out as decent. Cocktails were disappointingly watered down without flavor.
Despite the friendly service and thoughtful touches like personalized name card, the dining experience ultimately fell short.

I swear someone here is taking notes from The Bear! My partner and I had an incredible anniversary dinner tonight at Choi's, and I was so impressed I had to write a review immediately.

We ordered the banchan salad and two large plates and shared everything family-style:

Banchan Salad: 8/10. Fresh and crunchy, with a good amount of acidity. We're actually not big fans of the texture of raw kale, but the crispy fried onions added an even stronger crunch and created enough contrast in texture that made both components work very well together.

Korean Crispy Chicken: 10/10. Perfectly crispy and crunchy skin with tender moist meat inside! Also what a unique idea to add avocado to this. The bed of avocado mash was so creamy you'd think it would tip the scale into too heavy and fatty a dish, but the yuzu base and extra squeezes of lemon balanced it out well.

Galbi Bowl: 9/10. We mixed everything together to make a kimchi fried rice. The short rib pieces were so tender! I'm still drooling. Only critique is that I did not taste any truffle flavor.

The two large plates were more than enough food for two people. I really wanted to try the basque cheesecake but the huge portions left no room in my belly for dessert.

Service was great. The waitstaff were very attentive with water refills, taking finished plates/glasses from our table, and helping us locate the restrooms. My napkin fell off my lap at some point during dinner, and someone came to pick it up immediately and offer me a replacement. I also loved the special touches they added for our dinner, including the personalized card on the table, complimentary soju cocktails, and a pretty red rose!

To the business manager and/or owner, if I were to offer only a couple ideas to take your already great restaurant to the next level, I would suggest resetting the table (ie wiping down the table, replacing dishes and silverware) between courses. Another small detail, I wished our interaction with our server who brought us our food felt less rushed and that he took more time to explain each dish and its ingredients.

Parking was free and simple enough to find. There's a parking garage behind the restaurant on 12th Ave.

Prices were reasonable, especially for an elevated Korean fine-dining experience serving food with high quality ingredients and generous portions.

I highly recommend Choi's for celebrations or just a casual night out to eat some great Korean food. They truly go above and beyond to give you an amazing dining experience. I haven't even finished digesting this meal, but I'm already looking forward to the next time we're back LOL- I still want that cheesecake!!

Great food, great Ambiente, great service.

Here what we liked ranked:
- Galbi Bowl: Juicy rich flavor beef. So good! Don't mix it!
- Korean crispy chicken: nice sauce, nice crunch, juicy. It was great! A bit pricey. But good presentation and good taste. Personally I found cheaper versions like Don chicken slightly better though
- Bulgogi Bao tacos: nice crisps outside. My cousin liked it. I found it ok
- paper wrapped shrimp: nice crunch, airy, not too heavy. Sauce was a bit too standard.

What we would skip:
- pork belly bossam
- scallops
- mushroom arugula (was the worst dish)

Dessert wise:
Clear winner - the cheese cake. It was great! Ice cream was alright, would skip it.

I celebrated my birthday at Choi's and had a wonderful experience. Our group ordered the following:

1) Bonchon Salad - Cucumber, Arugula, Kale, Sesame Seeds, Crispy Onions, Balsamic Vinaigrette
2) Scallops on the Half Shell - Scallop Tataki on the Half Shell with Korean Chili Oil, Barrel-Aged Shoyu, Micro Cilantro, Sesame Seeds
3) Pork Belly Bossam - Sous Vide Pork Belly served with Kimchi, Lettuce, Gochujang Sauce
4) Galbi Bowl - Beef Short Ribs with Smoked Truffle Sea Salt, Green Onions, Kimchi, Sesame Seeds over Rice
5) Hotteok with Vanilla Ice Cream - Pan-fried Pancake filled with Brown Sugar Syrup, topped with VanillaIce Cream

The Galbi bowl was the highlight for me. I was also very impressed with the Hotteok dessert, as I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

The vibe in the restaurant is really exceptional, and it's situated right in the heart of downtown SD, near the baseball stadium.

This is a relatively new restaurant, and I will be rooting for their continued success as they are really doing some exceptional things.

I wanted to love this place, because Choi's has a great concept to fill a much-needed niche, the elevated Korean fusion cuisine. After having been to Osamil in NYC, I had very high expectations of how good it can be when done right. The gorgeous promotional photos also evoked a high-end fine dining experience, but the actual dinner just fell a bit short. That said, I think this was a solid 3.5/5 star experience, and I may come back in another few months to give it another try.

The handwritten name card with a cute little flower was a great touch. We were greeted by the host promptly and our server came over with water service and also to explain the menu. Service was definitely excellent.

We were a little confused by the "banchan salad" which really looked and tasted like a kale salad. The bean sprout salad was great, very light on the truffle salt taste, which is a good thing. It was a very small portion and we needed two orders to share between 4 people. A little disappointed that we do not get any other true banchan as we normally would at any other Korean restaurant.

Next came the scallops on the half shells, which our server described as similar to cooked oysters. The scallops were teeny, and over powered by an excessive amount of shoyu. The seaweed salad it came with (you know the neon green ones at most sushi restaurant) was not the most inventive and didn't particularly make sense with the scallops, but hey I don't mind it. Would've been better with some citrusy or pickled accompaniment to balance out the saltiness, though. The rice paper wrapped shrimp confused me when it first arrived, because it looked like a tempura shrimp, when I was expecting a rice paper roll, but it was cooked very nicely with a good crunchy and decent sauce. This was followed by crispy bulgogi bao, which was just a bit greasy, but I appreciated the texture compared to a steamed bao. Filling was delicious.

For the "large dishes," we got the fried oyster mushroom, which honestly still looked like an appetizer, and lacked the umami I associate with mushroom. The pork belly bossam was much more substantial, and came with fresh lettuce for wrapping. It was probably my favorite dish of the night, absolutely would order again, but I did wish for some perilla leaves instead of just plan lettuce. The fried chicken was not as crispy as it should be, probably because it was sitting on the bed of mashed yuzu avocado, and the sauce was too sweet. Also, I love yuzu, and I love avocado, but this combo is strangely off-putting. The galbi bowl had excellent classic Korean flavors, but the rice was mushy and clumpy. Even the dolsot did not save it or add any crunch.

To close out the meal, we got the black sesame cheesecake and hotteok. If I closed my eyes and ate these, I would never guess there was black sesame in the cheesecake. The hotteok had the flavors of churros, encased in a nicely chewy dough. It is not as hearty as the hotteok I tried in Korea, but a very good light finish to the meal. Also would order this again.

As for drinks, I got the Jeju mojito, which came with a couple perillas leaves (yay!), but tasted fairly light, as expected with a soju cocktail. The rest of the group got Tokyo sour, Gimhae Airport and Gangam Way, The cocktails were all very pretty as pictured, fairly well-balanced, but the depth of flavor isn't exceptional. I am impressed by the different sojus and shochus available, even with a flight option. However, we brought our own red wine ($25 cork fee), so will have to explore the rest of the drink menu next time.

This place was easy to find, but the parking garage was not. There is a map on their website, instructing us to go to "Retail Parking Garage in the Park 12 premise, on 12th Avenue" but we only saw ACE parking, and the gate was closed. We gave up and just found street parking. Luckily it was not a Padres night, because there'd be no parking anywhere, and that 2 hour validated parking would come in very handy. While the immediate block around the restaurant was brightly lit and looked clean and new, just a couple blocks away there were quit a few people loitering around, so just be aware of your surroundings if you did park on the street.