Hahn’s Hibachi
535 Irving St. (x 6th Ave.)
Hahn’s is located in one of my favorite areas – Irving Street. Very Inner Sunset, this area is littered with restaurants and bars that are all pretty tasty and varied. A nice little walk from my apartment, bbg and I venture out there on weekend nights for grub. It’s a pretty good change in scenery, plus you feel better about gorging on (insert your favorite food here) and then walking the mile and a half home.
Anyway, we’ve passed by Hahn’s every time we’ve been to Irving. It’s one of those “oh we should go there some time” but you never ever go there type places. It’s small, couldn’t fit more than 20 people in the place that was probably once a cafe. The decor is simple if not lacking. There’s a counter immediately ahead of you when you enter the door. Many people stopped by to pick up orders, so it seems popular enough and convenient. When we first walked in, we were unsure of what we were supposed to do – order and sit or sit and wait to be served? No one was behind the counter, so we were bold and sat. The cashier/waitress came from out back and saw us and immediately brought us menus. It wasn’t hard to get her attention since we were the only customers there besides another couple. Perhaps it’d be slower if there were more take out orders or generally people in the place. It was quiet, but only because it was dead. A few times people came in to order and were talking with a friend or chatting on their cell phone and that was loud. I couldn’t imagine the ruckus if the place were packed. On to the food!
I ordered the soft tofu seafood soup for about $11 before tax and tip. The soup comes out boiling hot in one of those iron type bowls, which is set on a wooden plate. I was saddened that our waitress didn’t crack an egg in it, but oh well. The soup comes with rice and a lettuce salad. Waiting for the soup to cool down, I munched on the salad, which was pretty good eats. Typical iceberg lettuce, shredded, with some shredded carrots and topped with a miso-style dressing. Very good, maybe a bit too creamy.
The soups come at varying degrees of spiciness: mild, medium, and hot. I chose medium, which turned out to be a good idea since it was pretty spicy. Spicy, but not really more tasty. I think you just get to pick the level of burning your mouth experiences. The soup itself is very very very mildly fishy tasting, which is actually a good thing since I don’t like fishy-ness all that much. Sadly, that doesn’t mean that there were other flavors to compensate for the lack of fishy-ness. The soup is red, though I’m not sure why. It’s good, but pretty watery and doesn’t taste like much. Compared to other Korean tofu soups I’ve had, this was pretty mediocre.
As promised, the soup came with soft tofu, which was plentiful. I liked the big chunks throughout. They added substance to the plain soup. The soup had a couple pieces of shrimp and then pieces of an unidentified seafood. I want to say it was squid, but I really don’t know. It was white and came in skinny sort of tube shaped pieces and tasted mildly fishy. It was pretty chewy, but not impossibly so. Overall, it only slightly bothered me that I didn’t know what it was.
BBG got the BBQ spicy pork. The dish came with bean sprouts, salad, and rice. I ate his salad and he gobbled up the pork. It was spicy enough, but the portion was tiny (especially when compared to what you can get at Steve’s Korean BBQ in Berkeley). He was satisfied, but I’m sure he could’ve eaten a lot more.
Most people ordered the Bi Bim Bop and looking at other reviews on the place, it seems like that’s where it’s at. Maybe next time, if there is a next time for me. BBG said he’d go back, perhaps I’ll tag along. Lastly, aren’t hibachis Japanese? The place serves udon and tempura, so there’s more to the mystery.
Overall: Ok food for this small joint. Seems like it’s really made for takeout, generally nothing special. Considering the fact that there are about a billion other restaurants in the immediate area – ones I like a lot and others that I’d like to try, I probably won’t be back any time soon. Mediocre.
Rating: 3/10
choice chow 
Leave a comment