663123 Wed Oct 28 15:57:29 -0700 2009 2 4 Pacific Northwest 0 5138578 Palace Korean restaurant in Bellevue has finally opened. Went there today with my mom niece and brother for their $4.95 lunch special. Started with a sweet squash soup. I got a sip before handing it over to my 3yr old niece. I thought it was a bit sweet, but she seemed to love it. Banchan included bean sprouts, baechu kimchee, chonggak kimchee, seaweed salad, stir fried fish cake, steamed broccoli and spicy sauce, dried and stirfried pollack, and burdock root (i think) in a sweet sauce...Banchan was pretty good but nothing to write home about. I enjoyed it, but my mom said she thought it was 'meh'. For our entrees, we had dwenjang chigae (delicious!), kalbi tang (okay) and bibimbap (okay). The restaurant is beautiful and all the servers were very helpful, everyone helping any table that needed anything. They were slammed when we went. Seems like they're still working on the timing issues, as my brother was waiting a while for his bibimbap. Have to get used to using the buzzer on the table for assistance instead of trying to catch the eyes of servers. All in all, I was pretty pleased with the experience and am going to try their bbq set special for $12.99 one of these nights. Palace Korean Restaurant 15932 Ne 8th St, Bellevue, WA Wed Oct 28 15:57:29 -0700 2009 56183 soypower 1 5204271 Tried it tonight. The restaurant was newly remodeled (I remember it being an older Chinese-American restaurant sometime before...) and the service was generally pretty good. We got the $50 small BBQ combo plate, which came with chicken, pork belly, bulgogi beef, dweji bulgogi, and kalbi. We also ordered a bowl of beef soondubu. They also threw in a complementary steamed egg dish (gaeran jim). Overall, the food was OK. The banchan was pretty plain, and I thought the meat quality was rather low for the price. I think they were shooting for quantity over quality. The kalbi was the standout meat, I thought. I didn't think the BBQ was hot enough. Only the very center of the grill had enough oomph for a good grilling. I also thought the restaurant AC was on a bit too high, so our tea, rice, etc. got cold halfway through our meal. With that said, I think this is pretty much the best Korean in the eastside. But I'd much rather go to Lynnwood or Federal Way for better Korean if I have the time. Mon Nov 23 21:00:20 -0800 2009 5138578 108835 HungWeiLo 1 5204347 My impressions were the same as yours. There seems to be a heavy hand with the sugar, not only in the soup but the complimentary sweet drink that followed dinner. The banchan was okay as was the spicy beef soup. The interior was definitely upscale and the size of the menu made me hopeful, but in the end, I would still rather go to Seoul Hotpot for Korean on the Eastside. Mon Nov 23 22:11:08 -0800 2009 5138578 166668 chazuke