Ohgane is a Korean restaurant in Oakland on Broadway and 31st. If you want good Korean food, then this is probably your best bet in the East Bay. It’s not transcendent like some of the other restaurants I’ve reviewed, but it’s quite good.
Decor: 6
It has the appearance of an upscale Korean restaurant, with lacquered wooden chairs and stone tables. It also has grills in the middle of each table with wood chips for charcoal. The disappointing thing is that a lot of it is fake. The wood chips are only semi-authentic because they’re supported by a gas grill directly beneath them. The stone is just a veneer. Also, I took an additional point off because it gets very smoky in there. Just as a warning, you will walk out smelling like smoked beef.
Service: 7
The service was prompt and generous. As a point of trivia, class in Korea is determined by the number of plates that you are served per meal. Lower class restaurants have 3-5 plates, middle of the road have 6-15, and upper class have 15-25 (more and it gets difficult to find table space!). If you’re Kim Jong Il, you have 2000 plate dinners while 3 million people die of starvation outside your palace walls. This place has about 22 plates, firmly upper class. A nice bonus was that each table has an electronic bell on it to call the waitress if you have a problem, most likely that your table and your date are on fire. So the service is quite good. Biggest problem – the waitresses speak English very poorly. You need a Korean speaker to appreciate the full service.
Food: 8
If you like marinated beefs, this is the place for you. The bulgogi and kalbi are marinated and very tender without tasting too saucy, much better than most people can manage at home. They also have sliced radish and leaves of cabbage to maximize your carnivorous enjoyment without getting that sickly sweet and greasy aftertaste in your mouth from eating too much beef. The side dishes, as mentioned above, are plentiful and delicious, with great variety and a wide range. You will find some kind of kimchi to love because there are at least nine different kinds, of varying sweet, sour, and spicy combinations. You don’t get much rice, but frankly you don’t miss it because there are so many tastes to enjoy and so many ways to clean the palate. It won’t take you out of this world but it’s very very good.
Ambience: 6
It’s fun if you’re in a big rowdy Korean group or with a bunch of guys who eat beef by the pound. Girls can enjoy it too because of the wide variety of vegetables, but you go here by a guy’s choice, not a girl’s. Koreans are a loud, funny, communal culture, so this is your place if you plan on yelling that you’re going to fight everyone at the table and then settling your dispute by who can hold their hand over a fire the longest or with a disgusting eating challenge.
Score: 27/40
Price: $30 per person (appetizer, drink, .75 lb of meat per person)
Verdict: Very decent. Slightly overpriced, but worth going if you’re a big eater and have a good group.
“A nice bonus was that each table has an electronic bell on it to call the waitress if you have a problem, most likely that your table and your date are on fire.” Priceless.