The Prince (cool bar in K-town) & Soot Bul Jeep (Korean BBQ)

The Prince
3198 W Seventh Street
Los Angeles, CA 90005
A former British hotel/bar in Korea Town now with Korean owners but never remodeled (thank goodness!). It has the eerie charm of a once posh downtown bar now rundown with all the old furnishings, paintings, and general decor in place.

And if that's not enough to motivate you to drive out to K-town, maybe this will - the Korean bar food (an entire menu of items!). Authentic down to the $20 dried squid, that goes oh so well with drinks. It's hell to pull apart and doesn't look very lady like, lucky for me my husband did the honors while I chomped away, but oh so delicious!

The bar's patrons included hipsters and alcoholics alike. Bottles of Remy Martin line one side of the bar.

The prices are on the high end (a dirty martini is $12), but there's the old/cool factor without being too divey that's enticing, and I have to say again the authentic Korean bar food is da bomb. I'll be back and I'm taking friends with me for bragging rights to having found & experienced a cool, unique bar.

Soot Bul Jeep
3136 W 8th Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90005
We went here after our cocktails, just because it's within walking distance (a block away) from The Prince, but then we realized we had been here before. As soon as we sat down, we remembered why we never came back.

They use real wood for charcoal which can be very nice, but here it's extremely hot and dangerous as a result of cheap grills and poor protection. The whole trying to avoid 3rd degree burns while grilling your chicken isn't any fun. The grill is so hot in fact that if you leave your meat on one side for a tad too long it turns black. I couldn't help thinking of all the carcinogens we were eating. Another downside is they skimp on the number and variety of the side dishes.

After dinner, you come out feeling barbequed yourself and in need of a shower to get the smell out of your hair.

The food was cheap (our bar tab was more than our dinner), but the food just isn't that good and the experience is terrible.

When I declared it was the last time I'd eat here my husband responded, "Honey, last time was our last time. We just didn't realize it was the same place."