Yup Dduk Irvine

Friends intro me to this. Korean mild is level 10 for me haha.Big bowl to share amongt 5 ppl, with some leftover.

Our first dine in experience. We walked in and took the last empty table. The waitress then told us to get up from the table as they were seating the party that walked in after us. She thought we were part of another party. Instead of confirming or apologizing and rectifying the situation she told us we can get on the dine in waitlist and wait another 30 minutes. I guess we were never meant to dine in.

Nothing like tteokbokki to end of a night. I was visiting UC Irvine and this restaurant is located so close to campus. I had heard of this chain in the past and after looking at reviews I was so excited to try it.We got the level 1 mild and it was definitely a good amount of space. The server was kind enough to give us extra pickled radishes. The portion was huge! The tuna rice was so good. The fried foods were also good at the beginning but later became a little too oily. We added hotpot noodles to the yuppduk and while it sounded good, the noodles were super long and got stuck together which made it a little difficult to untangle.Overall, can't go wrong!

This place is alright. Overhyped and gave me yobagoya. It's EXTREMELY spicy beware! I have a good spice tolerance and even the MILD killed me!! I was in a lot of pain and it was kind of miserable eating it. The flavor tastes too junky and cheap I think they legitly use the fire chicken ramen packets bc it tastes like a cheap powder flavor? Like a dish that you'd enjoy at 3am after drinking. This should be combined with a Korean beer bar with fried chicken, pancakes, and other stews, not just a standalone rice cakes restaurant. I've had much better rice cakes elsewhere! We tried the chicken feet too and it wasn't tender at all like at dim sum. It was pretty tough to eat. Would not recommend.

Thought it was an interesting spot to try in Irvine and tteokbokki sounded yummy. It's small and so it was full even before 6pm for dinner. The service is friendly. You can order takeout and eat at the patio tables outside but not a lot of lighting so it's pretty dark out there. I didn't realize they use the Yelp waitlist so I would recommend adding your name in advance if that's an option.A good sharing portion for 2-3 people. We got the yupdduk and added egg ramen. Like everyone says the extra mild is still pretty spicy. That's just the nature of tteokbokki so beware if you can't eat spicy. Probably why they have things like yogurt and milk drinks in their fridge. I didn't think we would get two boiled eggs so that was a plus. The ramen also came separate instead of in the bowl. While it would have fit fine and saved extra packaging, it actually helps break up the spiciness to have it cold and plain.We also got the spam mayo rice. The rice to spam ratio was off, skimping on the rice and the spam was definitely over salted. Spam is already salty so it doesn't need to be seasoned that much more in my opinion. If there was more rice, it would have helped. I kind of wanted soondae too but it was pricey and I didn't think we could finish everything.If you love tteokbokki, definitely suggest trying. If you can't eat very spicy foods then you should share with a bigger group and get other items like the fried dumpling too.