Dong Hae II - Arden Hills, MN

If ever I’ve been to a restaurant that is hit or miss crap shoot, it’s Dong Hae 2.  Service is either stellar and attentive, lackadaisical and uncaring, or outright absent.  Usually within the same visit

A perfect example was a 5pm dinner reservation for a Grill Your Own Korean BBQ table.  There may have been one table seated in the traditional dining room, and four or five in the KBBQ side. We were seated promptly, then ignored for 10-15 minutes.  When a waitress finally arrived, she was one of the most disinterested waitpersons I’ve ever run across.  It was almost as if mentally she was concentrating on an imaginary phone in one hand while taking our order with another.  I’m fairly amazed that everything we ordered showed up.  Then halfway through, I believe a manager took over, and she was fantastic.  Even changed out our grill plate halfway thru

The second time we did the BBQ, the staff was much more present this time.  We were seated quickly without a reservation.  A minute or two later a young lady came over with glasses of water.  She was competent, but the guy who came after was fantastic.  Friendly, kind to our daughter, and on top of everything 

Other times I’ve dined alone, and had attentive friendly service

*shrugs*

As for the food . . . I am by far NO expert on Korean, so I can’t tell you about authenticity, and I can’t complain much if I didn’t care for something that I’d never had before.  It may seems below that I’m writing a novel, but there are still a ton of their dishes I haven’t tried.  Someday maybe the hot pot.  The sushi I think I’ll pass on altogether

Banchan

Banchan another visit

Take-out Banchan

To start, the banchan are ok.  Nothing to get excited about.  Usually four or five small ramekins, randomly can be marinated bean sprouts, pickled daikon/carrots, fish cake, steamed broc.  If you’re lucky you’ll get some mac salad.  Almost always kimchi, and the one time I wasn’t served it, the server was surprised I’d notice it was missing, and promptly went back to bring me some

Tempura Shrimp

For apps, their Tempura Shrimp was excellent with a nice light batter and a perfect fry.  Their Seafood Pancake was loaded with seafood and green onion; the leftovers heated up perfectly in the oven.  I’d order those again in a heartbeat

Seafood Pancake

Agedashi Tofu

Their Agedashi Tofu is great as well, and a must order for the lady.  It’s maybe damning with faint praise to say that it’s better than version served at SuiShin Japanese restaurant in North Oaks

Their Korean Styled Chicken Wings, “Fried wings drizzled with a spicy sauce”, didn’t light my fire, but they were certainly crispy enough and fried nicely, and there were eight pieces instead of the six the menu lists. The Deep Fried Dumplings are nothing special, nothing bad

Had my first bibimbap, and probably my last. Not that it was offensive or inedible.  I’m sure it was up to snuff.  It was truly sizzling, and the few “scoops of the crispy” at the bottom were nice.  But overall it was as boring as I expected, which is why I haven’t ordered bibimbap before.  Like Pad Thai.  All the amazing exotic flavors that the Korean and Thai cuisines offer, and, not shockingly, the most blah are the ones that are ubiquitous in Korean and Thai restaurants in America

Soft Tofu Stew

Their Soft Tofu Stew was pleasant, a nice comfort dish.  The Japchae with Beef was a boring and lacking much beef.  I requested a spicy sauce to go along with it, and was brought a dish of unspicy chili sauce 

Japchae with Beef

Bibim Nengmyun

Bibim Nengmyun Unburied

Bibim Nengmyun, “Cold Buckwheat noodles mixed together with a spicy sauce” for $15.  Could easily feed two people if they don’t care how little meat was there.  When the lady ordered this at the restaurant, there was visible broth, but on my takeout order it appears they mixed it with the noodles when packing.  There was a metric TON of the off-putting red spicy sauce.  I spooned off as much as I could.  I’ve no experience with it before, but the noodles were chewy and stretchy.  Nice flavor overall

Yakisoba

The Yakisoba was nothing to write home about.  A meh noodle dish that the kiddo inhaled

Jjamppong on the menu, Jjambbong on the receipt.  “Noodles in a spicy broth with various seafood”.  Boiling on arrival, but nowhere near extra spicy hot as I’d requested.  The broth was fine, but could seriously have used some pop.  Maybe a jolt of vinegar?  

The big problem was the lack of seafood.  I’ve never had the dish before, and maybe that’s normal, but doesn’t seem right.  It’s obviously a multi-person dish, and the server didn’t give any kind of heads up that maybe I was over ordering.  I could barely finish a quarter of it.  I may have eaten more if there hadn’t been an extreme lack of seafood in it.  Maybe 95% noodles and broth.  Looked like a typical frozen seafood mix from an Asian grocery store, and VERY little of it.  Don’t know if that’s normal, but even if it was half the broth and noodles, it would have been skimpy.  Three/maybe four SMALL shrimp, Three/maybe bits of mussel meat, one? inch sized hunk of imitation crab, half a small crab boiled to mush.  Squid easily made up the majority.  Even the green onion was skimpy

Chicken Bulgogi

 

Unmarinated Scallops

Shrimp, Mushrooms, Unmarinated Scallops

Ready to roll

Grilling

Grilled

As for the Grill Yourself BBQ, we’re big fan of it.  The kiddo especially loves the experience.  All the banchan, watching her meat cooking.  It’s not a cheap date though.  We’ve done it ala carte instead of the combos.  The Beef Bulgogi, marinated shrimp, and they were kind enough to give us plain scallops instead of marinated as on the menu.  Usually comes with one big hunk of onion

One time with a group, we found out the hard way that it’s not advisable for seven, even six, people to try to eat at the grill tables.  Just not enough room, and they don’t have tray tables you can put things on.  Since they can’t move the grills, it’s not advisable for more than four people, really

The Jinro Grapefruit Soju was delicious.  Usually soju seams limp, but the grapefruit added some much needed bite, bitterness, and brightness.  $17 tho?

How about the ambiance?  It’s a large space, and what little ambiance there might be is tainted with crap everywhere.  Boxes of product stacked here and there.  A Christmas decoration on the floor behind a plant in June.  It’s the kind of thing that’s normal in say a small mom and pop joint, but Dong Hae seems to be aiming higher class, and cock blocks themselves.  Gordon Ramsey would have a shit.  It could be easily remedied with maybe some blinders.  What it shows is a concerning lack of care 

Still, Korean food isn’t easy to find in the Arden Hills area, and they ARE more hits than misses.  I’ll be back occasionally, and the kiddo can’t wait to grill at the table again

*NOTE:  There’s a 4% surcharge on cards.  Not egregious, but when we went for the big bank Korean BBQ, I was sure to bring cash

**NOTE:  It should be no surprise that it gets a bit hot and stifling at the grill tables, so if you have a usb rechargeable telescoping “Magic Fan” like I do, bring it

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www.donghaemn.com

Dong Hae II - 3845 Lexington Avenue North, Arden Hills, MN

651-797-3911