Korea House
The Austin Chronicle wrote about the Kim family's restaurant in January 1997. Marinated beef, chicken or pork was $7.95 and you cooked it yourself on a gas grill set into the table. Eater's Summer 2026 essentials map still sends people here for the same thing. The pond is still out front and the grill is still in the middle of your own table.
Why go
Korea House sits in a courtyard off West Anderson Lane in North Shoal Creek, in a shopping center with no street frontage. In 1997 the Chronicle called it the kind of address most restaurateurs would steer clear of,
and said the Kim family had built a following anyway.4 Nicolai McCrary reviewed it for The Infatuation in July 2023 and found the courtyard largely unchanged. The pond is still there: a small, lily-covered pond out front that adds a sense of serenity to the whole experience.
2 The barbecue is a la carte and you cook it.23 Eater's 2026 card lists what surrounds it: budae jjigae, the seaweed soup miyukguk, kimbap and kimchi jeon, with wine, cold sake, beer and a yuja ade of Korean honey citron tea, sparkling water, lemon and mint.1 Co-owner Mrs. Kim gives away free meals once a month to anyone who needs one.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the galbi, and cook it yourself. McCrary rates the meat against any grill in town:
Thick, well-marbled cuts of galbi crisp up and sizzle on the grill.
2 - Add the sliced duck breast, which McCrary says is a cut he rarely sees on an Austin Korean menu.2
- Do not treat the grill as the whole meal.
A few crispy mandoo or bites of hot honey chicken are welcome additions to any meal.
2 - Avoid: coming for sushi. The Chronicle wrote about a sushi chef here in 1997 and nothing published since mentions one.
What locals & experts say
- Eater Austin holds it on the Summer 2026 essentials map, filed as the homey end of Korean cooking in North Shoal Creek:
Dining at the casual Korean restaurant in North Shoal Creek is a perfectly homey experience.
1 - The Infatuation rated it 8.1 in July 2023, and McCrary's specific claim is about the side dishes: it has
the largest selection of banchan options we've come across in town.
2 - Kelly Stocker wrote it up for Time Out Austin in 2016 as a cheap lunch as much as a dinner:
The restaurant is your go-to spot for a quick and inexpensive lunch.
3 - The Austin Chronicle covered it in January 1997, when the tabletop grill was still unusual enough to explain, and listed the banchan on the table:
bean sprouts, kim chee, slivers of daikon and cabbage.
4
Good to know
- The tables seat four around one grill, which is how the Chronicle described the setup and how it still works.4
- There are ordinary tables too, and takeout, if nobody wants to cook.1
- Finding it: the entrance is off a courtyard, not off Anderson Lane, and the sign is small.4
Verdict
should-visit — Almost nothing else in this city has held one family, one format and one room this long, and the galbi is worth the drive on its own. Take a table with a grill in it; the Chronicle's setup, four seats to one grill, is still how the room works. The duck breast is the cut you will not find at the next Korean grill you walk into.