The Best Korean Food in Washington

The name says it all: "anju" means Korean food made to go with a drink, and this gastropub on 18th Street takes that premise seriously, with soju, makgeolli, and beer running alongside a menu of fried snacks, rich stews, and banchan. Brick walls, wood floors, and a bit of funky art make it feel like a neighborhood spot that happens to be packed every night. The chef is a James Beard nominee, and the cooking has a mom's-kitchen warmth that earns that comparison without being sentimental.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Emerging Chef · Angel Barreto
2. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Scott Drewno and Danny Lee - The Fried Rice Collective
3. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Angel Barreto

A 22-seat Korean fine dining room where the staff never once mentions that the kitchen runs as a nonprofit focused on zero waste, letting the tasting menu speak for itself instead. Edward Lee's cooking gives traditional Korean ingredients a modern setting, moving through courses that land somewhere between precise and quietly surprising. The Korean spirits list leans into the esoteric, including a crimson makgeolli made with red yeast rice.

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3. Washingtonian #37 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

Soaring ceilings and a long bar give this Korean restaurant more of a neighborhood anchor feel than a quick-stop spot. The menu runs past the usual suspects into fiery stews and broths, steamed mandu, and vibrant banchan that lean homey rather than showy. The gamjatang, a bubbling pork-rib soup gone deeply red with gochugaru, is the kind of thing regulars order before they sit down. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The water arrives with a tray of cucumbers, lime, and lemon so you can pick your infusion, which tells you something about how seriously this Korean steakhouse in Vienna takes its choices. A six-course prix fixe builds around American wagyu cuts grilled tableside, but nearly every element is yours to configure, from appetizers to noodles to the savory finish. The kind of place where the decisions feel like half the dinner.

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A dry-aged rib-eye on a tabletop grill is a good start, but Seoul Prime is doing considerably more than that. This Korean barbecue steakhouse in Falls Church layers fine-dining ambition onto the tableside format, with a kimchi vinaigrette on burrata and a croissant pressed in a waffle iron for dessert. The beef tours give the meal a shape; the à la carte menu lets you freelance. Dressy enough to feel like a night out, smoky enough to remind you it's still barbecue.

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The polished metal trays arrive loaded with banchan, and the arrangement shifts every time, which is half the point. Baek ban is the format, a Korean rice-set meal with a main and a rotating cast of small dishes, and at this Chantilly spot the lineup might include cubed radish kimchi, sesame-glossed glass noodles, or a perilla-leaf omelet. The smoky-sweet bulgogi landed on the Washingtonian's favorite dishes list, so that one is worth keeping an eye out for.

1. Washingtonian Bulgogi Baek Ban · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area