Cuisine: Korean
1526 Bethel Road
614.459.8070
Open until 9pm
Arirang was first recommended to me by a Hungrywoolf reader (Thank you Molly). It has become my favorite place for Korean food, and I thought that it was still a wonderful secret until G.A. Benton from Columbus Alive wrote his humorous post about it this week.
From the outside you would never guess that this little grocery store has a restaurant in the back. You order at the store’s front counter and then take your ticket to the open kitchen at the back of the store. Find a seat and wait to be signaled to when your food is ready. There is no table service so you go up to the counter and collect it yourself. The menu has recently been updated and is in English and Korean with a clear indication of which dishes are spicy. There are three price brackets ranging from $4.95 up to $8.95.
With its extremely bright fluorescent lighting and slightly sterile feel, Arirang is not somewhere to go for the atmosphere but what it lacks in ambience it makes up for with the food. It is also extremely clean, good value and you can do some shopping while you are there.
Your meal will come with the traditional banchan (a selection of small dishes, including the requisite kimchi.) and there is an urn of complimentary barley tea as well as a water cooler.
My favorite dishes tend to be the spicy ones but there are plenty of options for people who do not like spicy food. Some of the beef soups are very lightly seasoned. The dolsot bibimbap (mixed rice in a stone pot) is also not spicy and comes topped with lots of vegetables, sprouts and kimchi. The egg was fried with a soft yolk rather than the raw egg that is often served. As well as large steaming bowls of soup and noodles there are also stir fried dishes and I really enjoyed the stir fried pork.
The picture at the top of the post is kim-bap, a Korean roll (a vegetarian sushi style roll) and we have enjoyed the crispy pancakes both mung bean and seafood.
The soups are extremely hot in temperature and usually arrive at a rolling boil. If you are really hungry, order a pancake or a roll to eat while you wait, to prevent searing your mouth. Also a good idea not to go right before they close – it’s hard to eat steaming food in a hurry!
alt.eats.columbus 
Thanks for pointing me in the direction. Will definitely be checking this out to satisfy my kimchi craving!
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Has the cafe closed permanently?
We’ve heard conflicting things. Last was that it might reopen on December 1st. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.
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I lived in Korea for two years and I’ve never had bibimbap with a raw egg.
Perhaps there are regional variations within Korea? This jives with everything I’ve read and seen on bibimbap.
I’m from Korea, and we don’t have bibimbap with a raw egg (usually fried, either sunny side up or over easy). Maybe the above reviewer is confused? Sorry tacodrew, as far as know, regional variations (which we do have) don’t count in terms of donness of eggs in bibimbap.
I meant as far as “I” know… 🙂
Went there for the first time after reading this review and have to agree the food is delicious and great quality. My friends and I ordered 4 different dishes and shared so we could sample more variety. We all really liked every dish. Great prices. Who needs fancy service when the food is this good and so affordable! Highly recommended.
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Is Arirang big enough to accommodate a group of 7-9 people?
It is… I’d guess they can seat 24 in total. It may be hard to all sit together, though.
They were almost packed on Friday for lunch. Excellent food and great value for the money. The seafood/tofu soup was the highlight of our meal but the bibimbap and squid were tasty as well.
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