Korean Hot Pot

Do you want the best Korean food in Philadelphia? Then look no further than Seo Ra Bol. It's off 5th street in North Philly, and if you don't believe me, then you can at least believe that Craig LaBan guy. He thinks so too. My mom took me here for another birthday dinner. Sweet.


Lots of banchan before your entree(s) arrive. Yummy. They give you quite the random variety.

Seo Ra Bol is one of these places that always gives you free food. We got these grilled mackeral, on the house. Good, too.

Instead of the usual staples like galbi or bibimbap, we went crazy and got something completely different - a korean version of hot pot. There's 8 different varieties, and the menu says "for 2 persons cook at the table". Ok, if this is for 2 people, then it's for 2 very large people. Perhaps sumo wrestlers. Linebackers, maybe? Definitely not 2 fairly small korean ladies. In any case, we went with the golnak jungol. This came with galbi meat and octopus, along with a plethora of veggies and tofu. You can see just how big, tremendous, and colorful this is. And it comes in a nice and spicy sauce.

While it was cooking (the waitress cooks it for you), we decided that some noodles would be lovely to add to this. We asked, and they brought out a thing of fresh udon noodles to put in there. You see, Seo Ra Bol is this accommodating. Once it cooks up, it's a deliciously bubbling cauldron of veggie, meat, seafood, and tofu. You can eat it with just the noodles that we got, or with rice. In any case, this was good.

Notice the aftermath. We put a good dent in it, but seriously, 2 more people could have eaten this with us and been plenty full. Another good thing about this place is that unlike most korean places which have crappy service, this place actually has decent, if not almost good service. The waitresses are super friendly and they are attentive. The food comes out fast, and it's authentic and good. They also have kick ass lunch specials. Even though it's in a seriously sketchy neighborhood, for once in awhile, it's definitely worth hiking up to. Don't worry, they have cameras on their parking lot.

Seo Ra Bol

5734 N. Old 2nd St

Philadelphia, PA

215-924-3355