Incheon Restaurant 인천식당

We had the Beef & Mushroom Jeongol for two. Jeongol is a Korean-style hot pot. It was excellent and highly recommended. While the menu is limited, I'm told that they will soon be expanding it. I can't wait. This restaurant serves food common in the Incheon area of South Korea, which is near Seoul. Hence, the variety of foods is a little different from the other Korean restaurants and definitely worth trying.

The food is so bland it's almost like they forgot to put salt. Also overpriced, given that there is a lot of filler instead of the good stuff. I won't come back here.

Very average food and overated IMO. Very turned off by bones in fish. Service was okay. Ambience is fine for small or medium sized groups.Many more better Korean restaurants and this will not be my first pick again

KenScale: 7.5/10Visit: January 2023After we moved to the DC metro area a couple of years ago, my wife Jun and I have often visited Annandale in Virginia for weekend grocery shopping. Having done a Korean grocery shopping at a tiny H Mart store in Koreatown when we lived in Manhattan, Jun was pleasantly shocked to see gigantic Korean grocery stores in this town with a large Korean immigrant population. On the other hand, we struggled to find a go-to Korean restaurant in the area. Part of that has to do with Jun's awesome cooking at home, but also given our Korean heritage the bar we set for a Korean restaurant can be impossibly high at times. Could Incheon, which was featured in Washington Post's 2021 Fall Dining Guide, finally break the spell of mediocre Korean restaurants in Annandale? Our recent visit unfortunately left us wanting for more.We were hoping that the five-course tasting menu from the kitchen led by chef Justin Ahn (a relative bargain at $70 per person at the time of our visit) would show a nice combination of traditional and modern in our native cuisine. What we didn't expect was that the menu was geared a lot more toward pan-Asian than Korean. Yes, we grew up eating fried snacks, but the lamb croquette with mushroom and parmigiano was unmistakably Italian in its essence, even though it was actually quite delicious. While the second dish of green curry noodle with an assortment of seafood was also capably executed, it brought us memory of our college years when we first countered Thai food instead of our childhood when we would've had Korean noodle dishes such as kalgooksoo. Things started to go downhill from there. While Jun and I both love duck breast, we weren't sure it was the best match to the lettuce ssam where we would normally have pork or beef. The worst dish was the last savory course, a version of Hainanese chicken rice that didn't really have anything Korean in its plating or flavor. It was a very puzzling decision to put this on the menu at a Korean restaurant. The dessert of the night, a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream, was solid on the other hand.The restaurant is open only three days a week from Thursday through Saturday, but it won't be terribly difficult to secure a reservation so long as you don't book at the last minute. The atmosphere of the restaurant was also somewhat strange; Jun thought this place might've originally been a Korean pub that got re-purposed into a restaurant. You can complement your meal with Korean-inspired cocktails or spirits, and there is a wine pairing too that was decent but not particularly memorable. Maybe we showed up on the wrong night but we sincerely wished Incheon showed us more in terms of what the kitchen do with Korean flavor and ingredients. It was certainly hard to characterize the restaurant, at least based on our visit, as a quintessential Korean restaurant. Our search for a favorite Korean restaurant in the DC area continues.

My mom and I came here on December 28 2023 for a celebratory dinner in honor of her retirement. She's old school Korean, so I wasn't sure if she would like the "fusion" aspect of it, but she loved it and had been raving about the food to everyone. So it's got umma's approval! We had a reservation but we didn't actually need one; there were only one or two other tables that had customers. Not sure if it was just because it was an awkward holiday date between Xmas and New Year..? This place definitely deserves all the patronage. Decor was simple and elegant. Service was friendly and quick. I had mentioned in my reservation notes that it was for my mom's retirement, and they gave us two flutes of Prosecco on the house. I loved that the Bossam came with the perfect amount of wraps, including perilla leaves. The beet dip was sweet and savory and tasted so fresh. Noodles in the kimchi beef pasta were chewy and delicious (and for anyone who is spice-averse--it's not spicy at all!). The dessert was also perfectly sweet and nutty. I personally don't like coconut flavors (unless it's coconut curry, idk why) but the coconut played well with the other flavors! I'm going back again tonight with my mom on her suggestion--they've definitely got a new fan in her (and me!). Check their website for special event dinners, like Valentine's Day! I wish they had their menu on their website; that's the only thing I find lacking.

My friend experienced Incheon's tasting menu and recommended it to me, so we made a reservation and came in on a weekday. The restaurant was completely empty, so I don't think it's necessary to make a reservation. They are not doing the tasting menu anymore, so you can order whatever you'd like to. It's tapas style with the plates being kind of small so make sure you order a lot!I thought the atmosphere was great and I love the vibe of a more upscale Korean restaurant. The food was pretty great and I loved the service. I'd definitely recommend coming back.- Kimchi Pasta: 5/5, my favorite- Octopus: 4/5, some parts were better than others... didn't seem too special or Korean- Leeks: 5/5, this was a unique dish that I loved- Mushrooms: 5/5, loved the mixture of mushrooms and ricotta- Pate: 3/5, I would not order this again. It was a cool thing to order but the taste wasn't anything special

Food was very tasty, with generous portions. 5 stars. We had the cold soba noodles and the pork lettuce wraps. The pork filling was pretty sweet, and the sauce that came with it was flavorful but not too spicy. Service was attentive enough, 4 stars. Ambiance was quiet enough at lunchtime that we could have a long conversation and no trouble hearing each other. Prices were very reasonable for the portion sizes. Would definitely go back.

Truly a hidden gem! I came here with a group of 3, and it's a slightly upscale restaurant that has a wonderfully curated small menu from Chef Justin Ahn. The menu draws inspiration from Korean classics and flavors but has its own twists. We tried almost everything on the menu and shared it family style! 5/5 Beets: This dish was essentially a beef tartare but with beets! Roasted beets are paired with pears, gochujang, and served with crispy wonton pieces. Besides the texture of beets not really being able to match the texture of beef, the flavors were otherwise spot on.5/5 Shrimp Toast: The toast was perfectly fluffy with a garlicky/ herb flavor, and it was an amazing vessel for the shrimp. This was definitely my favorite dish of the night, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who comes to Incheon! 5/5 Bossam: The bossam was fantastic! My only wish is that they had ssamjang that didn't have walnuts in it since I have an allergy. 4/5 Steak: This was supposedly a koji-aged flat iron that was served with two different sauces. I thought this dish was good, but I would skip out on it for the next time. 5/5 Pasta: The pasta was kimchi and beef served with a cheese-like spread on the side. This was definitely an unexpected pairing of flavors, but it was amazing and worked really well altogether!

Amazing food and flawless service from everyone we interacted with. The dining room is an intimate. Will definitely be bringing friends and family back here to share the experience.

Overall- Dined July 2024 for pre-fix ($75/person) dinner.- While the food is nicely prepared and service excellent for a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, it isn't worth the price tag.Food- All the dishes were very good and nice variety, but the portions overall were small, finishing the meal still hungry.- Most Asian restaurants are generally family-style, but this is a pre-fixed menu with no substitutions. Not worth going with a group any larger than 2 since you don't have the benefit of trying multiple different dishes. You are basically committed to the tapas selected for you. - No substitutions is a killer because even though they ask about dietary restrictions, they recommend just not eating the dishes that you can't eat.Service - Our waiter was very, very nice.Ambiance - This dining experience is confusing. Trying to be an upscale, pre-fixed menu in a hole-in-the-wall venue.- Maybe if you put the food and service in an upscale restaurant or keep the venue and have this be an a là carte menu or drop the price, it would have better value.- Would recommend either going to a true family-run, authentic Korean restaurant or a real fine-dining restaurant.