Shin Chon

 

1

22

Alycia J.

Glenn Dale, MD

I went here last night with a big group of friends. It was great. We all ordered the...I can't remember the name of it, but it was their special bbq combo for 2 or 3 people.  As far as service, it was sufficient, there were language barrier issues, but it's the kind of place you go to to spend time with friends and enjoy the food, so I can't complain.I'm a BIG carnivore, so the selection of meat was amazing. I've never had Korean BBQ before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but to me it was delicious.

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Elite '08

74

121

Patrick H.

Crofton, MD

Thanks to the advice of Uber Yelper and Carnivore extraordinaire Su K. for turning us on to Shin Chon!  By far the best KBBQ in Maryland.  

We went this past Saturday night and the place was packed.  Organized chaos is a good way to describe the seating procedures, but don't be shy, push your way through the mob and go directly to the cashier stand in the back of the restaurant and tell them you want a table.  If you don't, you'll be standing there for a long time.  

We had the Pork belly and Galbi BBQ along with Galbi Dolsot BiBimBap.  The BEST Galbi ever.  Panchan are plentiful and we appreciated the steamed egg and delicious potato tofu soup at the end of the meal.  Service is very friendly and helpful.  I have a new favorite Korean restaurant.

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3

113

jason k.

Hollywood, CA

Shinchon is translated as  "Poor service.. poor service.. poor service.."  Actually, i think it's a county or city in Korea or something..  

Anyway, I took a very important guest to this place and they made us stand by the door way, ignoring us for about 10mins while there were plenty of seats.. The manager lady just told us to sit in an empty seat and didn't care much.  We sat there for another 10mins while 3-4 waitresses+1 female manager/owner just ignored us and refused to bring us any water or menu.  We finally got up and walked out...  It was especially upsetting because they weren't even busy!!!  About 4-5 empty tables!!!

These people don't give a damn about customers.

Poorly managed and several very lazy and confused waitresses.

Food is just a typical, overpriced Korean BBQ.   This place is an embarrassment to the Korean community.  Stereotypical "who cares attitude as long as i make money" restaurant.  Please, spend your hard earned money to those that want to work for it.. don't waste it on this place.

I recommend driving down to H Mart area and eat at a place called "Wang Galbi" (formerly Koean owned Chinese Restaurant).  (Located on the same street as H Mart, across  Double T restaurant toward North or H Mart) They have an EXCELLENT service, all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ for under $24 per person (that means you can choose to eat any type of meat on the menu including Galbi, bulgoki, etc.. etc...), and they treat you like VIP.  They serve everything that you'll find at Shinchon including dduk bo ssam (rice cake wrapping paper) I think Wang Galbi is fairly new and a hidden jewel.. it's not even on Yelp yet nor local listing...

Trust me, you'll regret going to this crap-hole place called Shin Chon... especially if you're taking a guest or if you're very hungry!

UPDATE:  I got the address for Wong Gal Bi and entered it into Yelp.  Enjoy!

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4

29

Christine P.

Glenn Dale, MD

FINALLY!!!! This place is opened back up for business. It took *3* freaking months to finish remodeling. The result? Eh. I mean I was expecting something extraordinary but no... But having said this is THE place for galbi.

If you have never been, you need to know it is at LEAST 20 minutes wait during dinner rush on weekends. You walk in, and stay at a wooden partition about chest high. Usually the owner (Mrs) is there to seat you. There is really no organized way of doing this. No number, no list... You just have to hope that she knows you were there before the couple who came a minute after you. If you are going to barbecue, the seats are longer to vacate. If you are ordering one-person portion  barbecue you won't be able to do it on the grill. I sometimes prefer it that way since the novelty of babysitting the meat on the grill ran out long time ago.

The portion is really good. If you eat like me one portion of galbi will satisfy you for the dinner and the left over can be served as lunch the next day. They have both marinated and non-marinated (tastes like American steaks) galbi (btw, you knew galbi is Korean word for ribs, yes?). Try both since both are damn good.

My favorite part of ordering galbi is that they serve you steamed egg in a clay pot. This is my boyfriends favorite. We have gone far and wide (annandale, rockville, wheaton, etc) for galbi and the steamed egg served at this place is the best.

Being that my boyfriend is American and is crazy in love with Shin Chon's galbi, I haven't tried many of their other bazillion dishes for the most part but here are some other dishes you may want to try:

-bibim neyongmyun: buckwheat noodle in spicy sauce. (side note: anything that has BIBIM in the title just mean you have to mix (like mix the noodle with the sauce or mix the rice with the herbs in case of bibim bap)) You can order the "small" if you order an barbecue entree.  This is a COLD noodle dish, be aware.

-dwenjang chigae: chigae just denotes anything that is a stew. dwenjang is Korean word for miso. Korean miso is little thicker and little darker than  its Japanese counterpart. Unlike Japanese miso soup, Korean miso stew has a lot more veg in it. I highly recommend this dish. Yummy.

-goonmandoo: fried dumplings. dumplings not so phenomenal but the sauce accompanying it is pretty good. they have appetizer portion and dinner portion. appetizer portion gives you 4 medium size dumplings.

-salmon skin roll:  not as good as GaRam but it is ok.

Waitresses are not that fluent in English but they can communicate enough for you to enjoy your dinner. Remember Americans, no yelling (just because they don't understand you doesn't mean they are deaf) and no talking like you are on slow mo cuz that gets little annoying.

They don't take reservations but they allow you to make one if you have a large number of people.

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Elite '08

143

230

Su K.

Laurel, MD

Shin Chon is translated as Great BBQ. Well, not really. Truth be told, I have no idea what it means. But they sure have great Korean BBQ! Christine P. and I are both Koreans, so trust us: if you live anywhere near Ellicott City, head to Shin Chon. For those that despise Woomi, it's worth the drive if you're tired of heading to Koreandale.

Food - the lure here is dduk bo sam. Some Koreans can give you the whole frikkin history of this dish, as well as provide a dissertation on the subtle differences between Red Mango and Pinkberry, but I cannot. I can tell you however, that it goes like this: they provide sheets of rice paper covered in oil to keep them somewhat separated. You take a piece of meat, freshly grilled at your table, some Koreens (Korean Greens - lettuce, scallions, and sauce), a slice of pickled radish, hot chili sauce, and soy bean paste and wrap  all of them in a piece of rice paper, consume, and repeat (see pic). It is uber/numoo/muy/tres/mak/totemo delish! To get your hands on this delightful bounty, you must order the following specials (the most expensive one can serve 3 average people, 2 fat people, and 5 Korean girls):
Brisket + Pork: $34.95 (note: the menu calls it brisket, but it's essentially unmarinated bulgogi).
Brisket + Galbi: $44/95
Brisket + Pork + Galbi: $54.95
All of them come w/ egg casserole (VERY good) and a slightly spicy soy bean/miso-esque soup - good if you're used to it. The meat is also cooked on a turtle pan. Again Pinkberry dissertation folks can probably tell you how a turtle is significant to Koreans, but I just thought it was cool being a Terp!

If you're a carnie who has friends who aren't too fond or privy of KBBQ, get new friends. If that's not an option, Shin Chon also has some other good dishes.
Naeng Myun ($11), Dolsot ($11.95, w/ galbi $13.95), soondooboo ($9.95) - not nearly as good as Lighthouse but decent. The spicy monkfish soup - Agu maeuntang ($13.95) was savory! Would definitely hit the spot in the winter. All the soups were very good and the side dishes were plentiful. The table was really crowded though.

Location - Here's your primer for this location: the seating system is very disorganized. This mainly has to do w/ the layout. They have several tables for grilling that seat anywhere from 6-8 (they can add 2 chairs at the ends) and several tables in the interior that seat 4, some w/ vents, some w/out. It all comes down to luck of the draw when finding seating. I came w/ a group of 8 and a group at a large outer table just left, so we were seated right away, while I saw several couples waiting for an interior table - obviously, they won't sit a table of 2-4 at the larger tables. In all, I'd say they could seat about 18 parties MAX. Tip: once you enter the restaurant, look for a lady roaming the restaurant who is not dressed like the others and who goes to the Cashier area frequently- this is the owner. Approach her and let her know you'd like a table - do not wait to be approached or you may wait a while. Once you let her know, do not leave the entrance - it's cramped but fight on! And try to make eye-contact with her as much as you can.

When we came on Saturday, a waitress almost gave a table to another party while I was waiting for them to bus it, but I let her know that we were waiting and that we had a large party and we got the table. The moral of the story: be aggressive for your KBBQ.

Service - The service here is very friendly and attentive - those are relative statements. I speak decent Korean, so I typically get good service, so not sure how you true Korean-Americans will fare. Koreans love American money...errrr, people. I saw a couple dining and they seemed to be having a decent time.

They were remodeling for 3 months and frankly, it wasn't much of an upgrade. Just know that you don't go to a KBBQ place for service or ambiance, you go for the food, and you'll love Shin Chon. Koreandale is getting far too expensive to drive out to for good Korean eats, so Shin Chon is as good as it gets for me!

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Elite '08

23

61

olivia d.

Upper Marlboro, MD

this is why i know i will be returning: dduk bo ssam.
rice-cakey, meaty, spicy, grilled goodness.

friends (mostly from ca) have been raving about dduk bo ssam for years, and now.. finally!... i see why. dduk bo ssam pairs the usual korean bbqed meats with wrappers made of rice cake. it's kind of like a thick vietnamese spring roll wrapper... if it was made of mochi. and i know that sounds so simple and dismissable. but it really elevates the flavor and adds to the texture. plus it eliminates the need to include rice when you're wrapping your grilled meats up. (note to newbies: you could eat the meat straight, but you really should wrap those babies up in dduk or the thinly sliced circles of slightly pickled radish or the big lettuce leaves, add some of the curly scallions, and some of the reddish brownish spicy sauce, and maybe some slices of garlic and green hot peppers. and stuff the whole thing in your mouth.)

they have a full menu, but i recommend going with one of the "jung shiks" that su listed below. the only thing i would clarify is that when he says "brisket," he's not talking about your typical texas bbqed brisket or your jewish mama's brisket. it's more like a thinly sliced beef you grill to your heart's content.

so stuff yourself silly at a price less than a steakhouse slab of meat at shin chon. the only reason why i'm not giving 5 stars is because the service is spotty. this is typical of many korean restaurants, but still... like everyone else says, be assertive when you need something and you will be ok.

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80

448

justin p.

Fayetteville, PA

Another great Korean restaurant in the Ellicott City area.  You know it must be good, because it is always crowded and mostly with Koreans.  There are usually a few other non-Koreans besides me, but we are definitely in the minority.  If you want to get away from the typical bi bim bap or kalbi, may I recommend the ohjingo (squid) pokkum?  Diced up squid served with a hearty portion of onions and peppers on rice with a very (but not too) spicy red pepper sauce.  My favorite.  Also good are the hae mul paejon (seafood "pancake" for lack of a better word, but not sweet or breakfasty - try it, you'll like it) and the jigae (stews) with seafood or soft tofu.

PS - in the Lotte Plaza shopping center.

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