I’m So Fancy, You Already Know…
Jang Su Jang is that Korean restaurant that you bring your friends, family or significant other when you’re celebrating something-- whether it’s your birthday or anniversary or promotion.
It’s also one of those places you go to with your date.
It’s upscale, fancy and most importantly clean. Or at least it feels sparkly and clean. I’m going to focus specifically on the Milpitas location, but the original is located in K-Town in Santa Clara.
Let’s face it. Milpitas, up to a year or two ago didn’t have many choices when it came to Korean food. Even know, I can name all the decent Korean restaurants in that city on one hand. So when Jang Su Jang opened up about a year (or was it two) ago, I was excited. No longer do I have to drive all the way down to Santa Clara to get decent Korean food, I can just hop onto 680 and hop off a few exits later.
Located in the same plaza as the other Korean restaurant I like (I see what you’re doing here, Jang Su Jang), the restaurant shares the lot with the means of Lee Sandwiches, Tofu House, formerly Party City (now Goodwill), Milpitas Buffet (is it still there?) and a fairly new Paris Baguette.
Anybody else see a pattern here? Three Korean based facilitie in the same plaza?
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| Galbi |
Jang Su Jang Milpitas shares a similar layout and feel as its sister restaurant in Santa Clara. Tinted glass windows and an ornately decorated sign on the outside reveals an extravagant interior. I’m talking dark wooden floorboards and wooden panels and dark wooden seats-- you get the idea.
It just feels expensive.
Inside the restaurant is sectioned off to smaller booths for smaller parties and an open room to the left and private rooms for larger parties on the right. The booths are broken down into BBQ tables and regular tables. When you’re making a reservation, they’ll usually ask you about that. There’s ample amount of space to walk around without feeling claustrophobic.
Asian restaurants are notorious for cramming as many tables as possible into a room to accommodate the maximum amount of customers, but Jang Su Jang utilize the large space as efficiently as possible while leaving room for you to breathe.
As for reservations for these fancy celebrations, Jang Su Jang Milpitas are more lenient about their reservations than Santa Clara and I think that’s primarily because they’re not as crowded as Santa Clara. Not to say that they AREN’T crowded-- if you wander in on a Saturday night at 7 PM, you can expect at least a half an hour wait-- BUT they don’t get the insanity of Santa Clara.
When you first enter, you are greeted by the hostess or host at the front who will hand you a buzzer. Take a seat in the waiting area or in some cases, you may need to stand if there are a lot of people. It fluctuates depending on the time and day. I’ve only eaten at Jang Su Jang for dinner, so maybe it’s a little different for lunch.
After your buzzer goes off, you’re escorted into the dining room and depending on your party, it’ll be a booth, open room, or private room.
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| Tofu Stew (Medium Spicy) |
Their menu isn’t super extensive, there’s just a lot of photos. They have your usual tofu soup, bibimbap, bulgogi, galbi, mandus and etc. that you’re familiar with and they have other dishes that are more catered towards the Korean palate.
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| (Clockwise) Tofu stew, Bossam and Bulgogi |
I personally can’t get enough of their bossam wraps. One order is enough to feed two people if you plan to order other dishes and if you order the one for 2 servings, it’ll be plenty for a family of 4.
I love it so much that I have multiple photos of it from different visits.
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| Bossam |
It’s essentially a steamed pork dish (flavored with star-anise and other spices) that you wrap in the boiled napa leaves and you add in the different radishes for flavor and crunch.
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| Put together! |
It’s flavorful, crunchy and the steamed pork is GOLD.
Whether you can eat it neatly is another problem. So maybe don’t order that on your first date.
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| Always. Good. |
The BBQ is decent and the ladies there do all the cooking for you, but there are cheaper and better tasting options in the Bay Area. Also heads-up: you have to order a minimum of 2 dishes, in order for them to start the grill for you.
Since they’re amply staffed, there’s always someone checking up on you to see if you need anything or if you want more tea or water. And if they ARE swamped and you want to hail someone down, just press the handy-dandy button on the side of your table and it’ll notify a server to come by your table.
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| Ban Chan is also in rotation. A little different every time. |
Before you feel weird about “alerting a server” to your table, just know that they put the button there because they expect you to use it. And it’s pretty commonplace in Korea. So go ahead, push the button!
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| (Top - Down) Spinach, Japchae and Kimchi |
So how much can you expect to pay per person? Eating at Jang Su Jang will set you back at least $15. Expect to pay more if you’re ordering BBQ. And when you ask for the bill, they'll give you Yakult (or well the Korean version) as a dessert. For those that are unfamiliar with Yakult, it’s a yogurt drink that’s very popular within the East Asian community. I think we all have some version of Yakult, in the same bottle, same taste, but different name.
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| Apple/Onion salad, marinated bean sprouts and potatoes |
Is it worth it? Yes. I take my family to Jang Su Jang and every now and then I make a visit myself. It’s the safe option when it comes to Korean food and probably the most upscale choice when it comes to Korean food in Milpitas.
What do you usually order when you’re at a Korean restaurant? With Fall peeking around the corner, how do you stay warm? I say that, but we’re still in the 70s in San Jose.
269 W Calaveras Blvd
Milpitas, CA 95035
