HamaHippo Korean Kitchen

A Korean restaurant located in Fullerton near Brea. It’s tucked away in a mall that’s not easy to find, so I’d passed by many times without noticing this place, but it turned out to be a hidden gem. Overall, the dishes had a stronger sweetness than saltiness, which I personally liked since I prefer sweet flavors. The side dishes were clean and well-prepared, and the staff were friendly. Although I don't understand that customers have to cover the card transaction fee, everything else about the restaurant was quite good.

Phenomenal experience. Staff was excellent, one even helped my partner who has nerve damage cut the meat off of the bone for his soup. The food was delicious. I got the spicy squid.

This was one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life. I had the tofu beef stew medium spice with all the fixings on the side. I also had an ice cold Cass beer which I have had before. Bohye was very attentive and gave me great recommendations. I will definitely be back next time I’m in the area.

Always a happy time when you find an authentic style Korean place. The potatoes from the ban Chan ommmmggg my new favorite dish.

We’ve been coming here ever since it opened , and I’m so thankful we have this excellent Korean option on this side of Fullerton. They have a wide variety of items , which is great to open up your palette to the various Korean flavors beyond the typical bbq that most associate Korean food with. The owners and staff are very thoughtful, and are a big part of the reason of why we enjoy coming here. My favorites are the galbi tang, the pajun(pancakes) and the wings. Oh also the gamja tang is delicious!! Kid friendly!

My extremely picky 9-year-old made me promise that everytime we go to the Fullerton area we MUST eat at HamaHippo! The food is elegant, comforting, intentional, authentic and honest. I had the Hama chicken and it was gloriously sticky with a punch of flavor. The service was warm and made us feel like family. I brought my niece and nephew from Dallas because they only have Chinese food near them. They loved everything. I will keep my promise and we will be back.

Atmosphere/Vibes - It's very casual and chill! The place is neat and relatively simple, there wasn't a whole lot going on but that's okay because it's more about the food. I think just being simple and clean is better than decorated/cluttered and dusty. Service - Very sweet service! They didn't fully speak or understand English super well but did their best to understand, so if they seem to be struggling then just be patient with them. They are so kind and friendly! At first, they did accidentally give me the beef bibimbap (which is the one pictured because I forgot to take a photo of the tofu one) but quickly pointed out their own mistake, apologized, and re-made it! Luckily I didn't eat yet but I would've found out anyway since the nature of bibimbap calls for mixing everything together! My mom had an unfortunate accident right in the parking lot because she tripped over one of the parking beams :'( Scraped both her knees real bad and was struggling to walk. They were kind enough to let us take the table closest to the entrance door. At the end of our meal, we were also given a small complimentary cup of shikhye (Korean rice punch). Food - Overall, the food was delicious! The kabocha banchan was SO GOOD. It's like a sweet, soft, and caramelized kabocha. I would've gotten a whole plate if it was possible! Pajeon: The seafood one is typically the most popular but since I'm vegetarian, I went with the scallion! It's tasty and hearty 🙂 I missed it because every other Korean restaurant only ever has just a seafood pajeon. This one was a little bit thicker than I'm used to but the flavor is still good!! Very filling. Tofu Dolsot Bibimbap: I usually love the hot stone bibimbaps versus the og one. There will be bits of crispy rice because of it so it's perfect. Bibimbap is such a balanced meal too because you have veggies, a protein, and your carbs. The bibim sauce and sesame oil that you mix into it make it super flavorful. I highly recommend the dolsot! Just be careful when eating because it's hot. Bibim Naengmyun: I did not eat this because it's not vegetarian but my mom did. She really loved it and appreciated the fact that they gave her less noodles since she normally doesn't like to eat that much. She thought the dish was very refreshing and tasty! Her only note was that she wished they gave more broth but I'm sure you could always ask for more when ordering.