Bun'd Up

I LOVE this place! The food is always made fresh to order and packed with the best flavors! Shout out to Lou who is always so nice and sweet! He never gets my order wrong and he's always so nice when I have special request lol!The vibe here is cool since there are so many fun varieties to choose from. I've never had anything nasty, EVERYTHING on the menu is worth trying and has amazing flavor. Definitely going back and recommending to everyone I know!

I've visited Bun'd up a few times and it's pretty good. On my recent visit, I got six buns: two each of Spicy Fried Chicken, Korean BBQ Beef (Bulgogi), and Shredded Pork Belly. Each bun was a few bites. The buns themselves were very tender, and the fillings were very flavorful and colorful. I liked each about equally. Avoid the pork belly if you don't like pineapple. The chicken patties were a little dry but still ok.I ordered through Uber Eats and the standard price was $5 per bun, but they were running a 1/2 off deal so my total was $16.50 after tax. I think $5 per bun is pretty expensive. You need at least three buns to make a medium size lunch meal. I would pay maybe $12 total.Bun'd up is a small, basic stall in Union Market. My food was ready when I got there, about 15 min after ordering. Not much to say in the way of service or ambiance.

You order from a tablet at the counter but can talk to the staff to request changes to your order as needed -- if you are kind, they'll hook you up! For example: my 7-year-old son LOVES their crispy tofu buns, but he doesn't want any of the sauce, so I always order on the tablet and then explain the situation to whoever is working. They don't mind serving up some plain tofu + buns, and hopefully they get a kick out of my kiddo's tofu obsession.As for me, my favorite is the Korean fried chicken. Perfectly gochujang-y and topped with scallions. Get less than three and you'll regret not ordering more. As this is a booth in Union Market there are no tables directly linked to Bun'd Up. Plan to grab your food and place a spot outside or anywhere else in the market.

So good & flavorful!I didn't visit the actual restaurant, I stopped at their vendor stand during a weekday farmers market for lunch. The line was long so I automatically assumed they were good, right? lol. Well they were!

I tried to order food but the employee who was sitting there scrolling her phone was unable or unwilling to take my order. She indicated I needed to order on a kiosk, which I have no intention of doing.

If you like a lot of salt have the fried chicken bao bun. Bulgogi is spicy and the cold bun cools it down.

(RATING 3.5 stars)Decided to try out Bun'd Up while visiting Union Market on my most recent trip to D.C. I'm a sucker for a good bao bun sandwich and Bun'd Up had some great flavors to choose from off of their menu. Staff were patient with questions and were professional during interactions. I ended up ordering the two chicken buns. They were okay; not bad. Bun'd Up's offering is unique to all of Union Market, so that alone makes it worth the stop. My order consisted of their 2 for $11 special (singular buns cost $6). As noted above, I ordered the two chicken buns: Spicy Fried Chicken and Sweet Soy Fried Chicken. The buns themselves were a great texture and cooked perfectly, although a little small. Definitely the highlight to the sandwich as it should, based on their name. The chicken pieces were sized proportionally to the buns. The respective sauces for each chicken piece tasted good, but the chicken pieces I received did not seem to have an even coating of the sauce leaving various parts of the chicken dry. The coleslaw added a nice crunch and a bit of freshness to the buns. Perhaps an asian slaw may have complemented the taste better with the bun flavors. Again, nothing abysmal to the buns in terms of taste. They were average, especially for the price point. Perhaps my expectations were too high or I caught them on an off day. Bun'd Up has a great offering they're bringing to Union Market patrons and they are worth a try if you're curious about this type of take on the traditional bao buns. I might recommend trying other buns that aren't the chicken ones as this may elevate the taste and quality for you.

Went to their mobile spot at a local brewery - they were okay.The best I can say is that the baos are nice and pillow soft. The beef bulgogi was okay - nothing to really write home about. I tried a single pork belly bao, which was much tougher than I'd expect from pork belly. Child #1 tried the chicken rice bowl, which had some nice rice and pickles, but the chicken was kinda gross - dry texture.The guy taking orders was a bit spacey - he messed up my order and I ended up having to go back and reorder what I thought I'd ordered the first time.I don't think I'll seek this place out, but if I'm in a similar situation of them being the sole food provider, I think I'd get the bulgogi baos again.

Great bao buns, loved the shrimp one the most! Good option for a light bite in union market.

-2 for service.I'm a regular at bun'd up. I love the spicy and sweet soy chicken buns. A three pack is enough food to hold you, you might want one or two more if you're really hungry.The accompanying picture is from my order today. Typically there is slaw on top of both of these but I guess they were out (the person who checked me out and served me the food didn't mention this, just served it to me without it's accompaniment)As much as I love this place, the service is consistently abysmal. The cashiers, who are also servers are genuinely pretty uninterested and impatient with interacting with customers. The guy who checked me out today was the same and on the phone the whole time, before serving me these buns without the toppings. So if you don't care about subpar service, this is the place for you!