[Irvine] [Korean] Juju Pocha

Juju Pocha
14775 Jeffrey Rd, #B
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 786-2412

We saw a flyer with coupons at a boba place for this new Korean restaurant, Juju Pocha.  The pictures on the flyer looked good.  We gave it a try on our date night this week.



This restaurant is in the A&J plaza, but off to the side where Wienerschnitzel is.  I think this place used to be another Korean restaurant.




The waitress told us that they've been opened for 2 months.  Maybe because of the location is kind of hidden from the other shops and restaurants in this plaza, while every restaurant was packed, this place was empty.



They offer a few dinner combo special, which is cheaper than ordering the items alone.  We decided to go with combo E.  It includes steamed pork with oyster, spicy pork stew, and beer or soju for $37.99.  We saved about $10 by ordering the combo.


Edamame / Korean Pancake

The meal started with free edamame and Kroean pancake.  Edamame had no taste.  Korean pancake was pretty good.


Banchan

4 banchan: fish cake, spicy radish, bean sprout, and cucumber.  What?  No kimchi?  The waitress probably forgot, but she brought the kimchi half way through our meal.  The banchan was alright.  The cucumber and bean sprout were my favorite.


Hite Beer

I love Hite beer.  It tasted similar to Taiwan beer.  Very light, crisp, and refreshing.


Bossam ($19.99)
Steamed Pork w/ Oyster & Spicy Thin Cut Radish Salad

We had Bossam at Yongsusan and absolutely love the dish.  Seeing the Bossam picture on Juju Pocha's flyer was the main reason that made us want to try this restaurant.  Their bossam came with steamed cabbage, steamed pork, spicy radish salad, and raw oyster.



The way to eat it was to put everything on the cabbage and wrap it like a roll.  I like the radish salad.  Oyster was fresh, but still tasted a little too fishy for me.  The pork wasn't as tender and soft as the one we had at Yongsusan.  Dr. P said the quality of the pork at Juju Pocha wasn't that good.  We were really looking forward to this dish, and was a little disappointed.  It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't as good as Yongsusan's.


Gamjatang ($19.99)
Spicy Pork Bone Stew w/ Potatoes

Gamjatang came in a huge pot.  I think this combo is big enough for 4-6 people.  It was filled with pork ribs with big bones, potatoes, and green veggies.



Look how big the pork piece was.  I like the meat near the bone because it was really tender.  The soup wasn't that spicy.  It was good that there were a lot of vegetables in it.  But we had much better version at Ham Ji Park.



Juju Pocha has really nice booth seating.  I think it'll be a great place for friends to hang out to have a beer or two.  Service was good.  Our waitress was nice, and pretty, too.  haha....  Food-wise, it wasn't too bad, but nothing really stood out for us that night.  I think the best Korean food is still at LA Korea town.

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