This is a perfect place for drinks/ friends gathering, because they have great atmosphere and excellent service! As we know it’s a Korean fusion but they don’t have so much options on the menu and the prices are slightly high. The urchins tasted bitter and I expected high quality due to that price. The beef tartare and seafood(crab) pancakes were very salty which we could not finished. A small bowl of white rice was $5 ? the fries was among the “best” compared to other dishes. But overall, we enjoyed the meal because the service was excellent!
If I could give more than 5 stars, I would! The food, drinks, and service here are phenomenal. Aside from the delicious beverages (I loved the cham-pop and watermelon sugar) and food (you really can't go wrong with any option), our waiter was so kind and attentive throughout the night. He gave great recommendations and insight to the menu and never rushed us. He even offered to bring more lettuce for my sangchu ssam when my ratio of lettuce to fillings was getting off! I would recommend Kpod to anyone dining in Philly and I can't wait to try more of the menu.
I first heard about Kpod from a friend of mine who knows I love a good Korean fusion restaurant. University City is home to few Korean restaurants so it was a welcome addition to the Ucity lineup.The first issue I have is the price, a traditional seafood pajeon (seafood pancake) is around 10$ at most Korean restaurants that I've been to (including restaurants in Korea). Here it's $24! Almost a 250% increase in cost.My biggest issue is that the menu is unclear on much of what is offered to consumers. I've been craving crispy pork belly for a while, so I wanted to try out their pork belly ssam platter. This is where the issues begin, they never clarify what type of pork belly is offered: ssamgyeopsal (crispy pork) or suyeok (braised/steamed pork). In Korean cuisine, pork belly is cooked several ways and the way that it is served here is steamed. On the menu they never mentioned what type you get so I was fully expecting thick cut ssamgyeopsal and received suyeok. No big deal, I still enjoyed it but it fell flat.The second issue I had was with the size of my meal and the fact they charge almost 5$ for side dishes. They provided lettuce leaves, rice and ssamjang (which was barely enough for two pieces, let alone the measly 5 they offered). Here's the problem I have though, for FIVE pieces of pork, it cost me almost $30 and there wasn't enough ssamjang for it. I know its a higher end restaurant but portion size does matter. I had more rice and leaves than meat!Now I do understand that this is a fusion restaurant so coming in as someone who loves traditional Korean food I may have been set up for failure, however, I think they need to really reassess their platters and costs because it's not balanced.I spent over $50 on one meal for myself without any drinks or appetizers. The mandoo dessert was seved on a plate and was almost too spiced to eat comfortably.
Went tonK Pod after flying in. Loved Pod. Well K Pod is horrendous. Hard to believe this is a Stephen Starr restaurant. Service was atrocious. Server was the bartender AND had 4 other tables. Food — worse. The Butter fries were a greasy mess. Seriously- I love fries. These were a mess. Bibimbab was equally bad. Flavorless and inedible. Finally, managers talking at the host desk with no clue what was going on. Had to interrupt their chatting to get my check. They were oblivious and not supporting their staff in any way! Again - hard to believe this is a Starr restaurant. Don’t waste your time or money!
I'm not one to complain about meal prices if the service, food, and atmosphere is worth it. A two person lunch was a total of 70$. Completely overpriced for small portions. Aesthetic, vibe, and service was top notch. Come here for cute Instagram pictures....not necessarily a good meal. University has way better Korean food options, especially for lunch.
I’m torn. Maybe 3.5 but not sure if it’s worth the $$The place is beautiful though.The honey butter fries were good. Just like the chips.I do t know if I liked the spicy rice cake - the rice cakes were a bit small and more crunchy than chewy.The dumplings were good and big!I ordered a kimchi fried rice to go, without having the menu, and did not realize it’d be an extra $8 for bulgogi. Im not sure if fried rice should ever be $21….
I had an excellent dinner here last night. KPOD is the new restaurant formerly POD which now serves Korean style food.I was honestly blown away by some of the food options here as many had amazing flavor and creative aspects. We started with some drinks. The Cham Pop and Seoul Mate cocktails were both great. Very creative and with a good flavor.The food here appears to be served as it finishes so certain foods will come out first and all super fresh. The spicy pork dumplings were exceptionally good as well as the sushi rolls. I would definitely order this again.In addition to this, the honey butter fries were probably the best thing I have tasted in Philly. Super crispy and with a pleasant flavor. It is honey butter, but it is not super sweet and has a really good umami flavor.Pork ramen and the glass noddles were pretty decent and had good flavor. But nothing like a good bone marrow broth. Still a good amount of food and flavor.The Korean fried chicken wings were pretty spicy and had good crunch, but honestly was lacking flavor. I was hoping for something other than chicken and spicy flavor, but thats basically all it is.Overall a really great spot that I will be returning to. The aesthetic is amazing and service is out of this world.
Such a great experience eating here! Went with a group and we all ordered food to share and everything was amazing!! I tried foods I had never tried before and was not disappointed. I can’t wait to come back and try some more new things!!
Great experience. Awesome ambiance with fantastic food and service, great rack of meat!
The menu and design have definitely changed compared to when the restaurant was called Pod. The overall atmosphere is still modern and nice, and the service was very attentive and fast. As for the food, the portion sizes were quite small given the prices. The spicy salmon hand roll and kimchi-butter shrimp ssam platter were decent but not outstanding.