Cheap Food Critic

827 Southwest 2nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97204

Tues, Wed, Thurs – 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Fri, Sat – 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Sun – 12:00 pm – 6:00pm

There’s something about Korean food in a taco that is just amazing. Koi Fusion is no (Seattle) but they are representing Korean tacos for the people of Portland. This location is located in the same pod as Gonzo, Fuego de Lotus, and a beer cart so there’s stiff competition near by.

I got the beef tacos for $2.50 each and a pork rice bowl for $7. The pork was well marinated but again not quite as flavorful as Marination’s. The pork rice bowl was also really good. It pretty much tasted like bulgogi. The kimchi was a nice touch though, it added a little kick to the mixture of brown rice, bean sprouts, and cabbage.

Overall it was delicious food served cheap and fast. The atmosphere was also very nice with the hippies playing their instruments in the background and beer being served.

Yelp – 4.0/5.0 Stars (189 Ratings)

5008 Maryland Way
Brentwood, TN 37027

Mon-Fri 10:30 AM – 3:00 PM & 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Sat 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm

The short time I’ve spent in the Nashville-area I didn’t see many Asian restaurants. So when I was recommended Soy Bistro for lunch I was a little skeptical. I did a quick Yelp search and notices that there were a decent number of reviews and it still had five stars. I was still a little suspicious. You don’t really see many place with that many reviews and still have five stars. So I have to try this place out for myself. I came here in a group of six right at noon so I was expecting to stand around waiting for people to leave but we were luck and got a table pretty quickly.

When you walk into this place you will notice the menu on your right side. Pick between their different tacos or rice bowls. I tried a little of both with a chicken traditional bowl for $6 (plus $2 for meat) plus tax and a beef taco Korean style for $2.50 plus tax. The taco came out first and was really awesome. Very reminiscent of Koi Fusion in Portland flavor-wise. The taco had bulgogi beef with some type of slaw on top. Much like Koi, this place was way above average but still playing runner up to Marination in Seattle for Asian style tacos. The rice bowl was really just fried rice. Again really delicious and above average. The rice was really moist and they gave you plenty of chicken. The portions for the rice bowl was pretty big. I was really stuffed after trying to finish the whole bowl.

My only complaint was that they close for two hours between lunch and dinner. I tried to come back around 4:30 PM the next day for a to go order; unfortunately, they were not open for dinner yet. Despite the weird closure times, I was pleasantly surprised to get such good Asian fusion food in this area. Seriously though, who would have known there would be this awesome of an Asian restaurant in Nashville, TN (Brentwood, TN to be exact).

Note – Very fast service. Great for a quick lunch.

Yelp – 5.0/5.0 Stars (51 Reviews)

1412 Harvard Ave
Seattle, WA 98122

Mon-Sat 11:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sun 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Depending on which location you go to you are either in a small restaurant in Capital Hill or at a food truck in some random location (check their website for current location).  No matter where you are, either location will be serving up delicious Asian style tacos, Spam sliders, and kimchi fried rice (my favorite).  The fried rice comes with chunks of kimchi as well as an egg to top it off.  I normally also add pork to my fried rice to make it a little more filling.  For their tacos they have a pork, beef, chicken, and tofu.  I thought all of the meat tacos (have not had the tofu yet) were good but the clear winner for me was the pork.

For under $10 you can get the kimchi fried rice with your choice of meat and a taco or a Spam slider.

Yelp – 4/5 Stars (176 Ratings)

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