Chingu

This late-night Korean spot was such a vibe, and I really loved the overall aesthetic. The atmosphere alone makes it a great place to hang out and catch up with friends over food. The dishes we tried were solid across the board, but the kimchi fried rice stood out the most. A lot of places tend to go heavy or too light on the sesame oil, but Chingu gets the balance just right, which really made the dish shine. Overall, it’s a fun, reliable spot for late-night Korean food with a great ambiance.

This was a great spot to feed a large group of 12 for $25 each including tax and tip! The food itself was delicious and we tried so many menu options by splitting everything family style. The space was filled with really cute decorations and I loved the Soju bottle wall that casted a light green glow. The only issues we ran into were slow service and they messed up our order. However, the food quality is worth the wait and the slight mishap. Still highly recommend eating here!

Very disappointed, overpriced. Was originally very excited about this new Korean restaurant in San Mateo. However, after spending $60 per person post tax and fees, I feel like there are better choices in San Mateo with the same price. Tofu soup - it has plenty seafood inside, but tastes very mid. Korean fried chicken - probably my favorite along the 3, but the honey flavor is too sweet / heavy for me. Grilled wagyu: it is very hard to chew at the beginning, then it’s overcooked later. There’s no way for us to tell when is the right time to eat it, and no one came to help / explain. A waste of money. The store itself is pretty cute.

Cute spot for sharing small Korean plates with your chingu (friends :)). The atmosphere is quite nice and service is good. We got the bulgolgi stew, spicy pork, and chicken wings to share. I would say the stew was flavorful and the toppings were great but the meat quality was a bit lacking. The spicy pork was okay, pretty standard. The chicken wings were probably their best out of the three! Overall come for the vibes but don’t expect the absolute best Korean food.

We had a weird experience last night here at Chingu. We’ve been here many times before, but this time was just odd. We came in asking for a table of 3, and we were told we had to wait for 30 minutes. There were a few open tables, but it seemed like the host was holding those tables for his friends. We finally got the call to come back as a table opened up, and the host was passive aggressively kicking the chairs around to make space for our party. He didn’t seem happy to get us a table. It was busy and loud, so he may have been irritated by the crowd that night. We get seated, and the first thing the host does is tell everyone keep it down. He did the whole "if you can hear me clap once…clap twice" thing that you do in classrooms. He said it’s too loud, and he needs everyone to talk with inside voices and to keep it down. He proceeded to sit with his friends at a table and laugh and hang out with them. Very weird experience. I’d most likely come back because I do like this place, but not sure if Saturday nights or that specific night was a special quiet hours night.

I like that they are open late. I have been a couple times, the cheese corn and bulgogi fries are good. Lots of soju

thank you aaron for a great bday experience! we had originally planned on eating in SF but due to the crazy blackout that happened, we came down here to downtown sm instead. so happy we did, because not only did we have some fantastic kimchi jigae/beef ssam/tteokbbeokki/steamed egg, we also had a delicious soju shot courtesy of aaron’s recc. would highly recommend this restaurant! -the thankful ladies who were freezing out in the cold