Looking for good Korean food in the $8 to 20 a person range. Attractive decor and setting is a plus, but not mandatory.

Other asian food recommendations welcome - we try (and usual like) just about any kind of food, even the real hot stuff. Bring on the garlic and peppers!

Cannot answer your specific request. However, when you have a free hour or more read through all the post on this website. The SF food-obsessed are your probably your best resouce for this as opposed to Fodor's.

http://www.chowhound.com/california/...francisco.html

ChatNoir,
You have lucked out! The Korean barbecue restaurant is a staple of the bargain-eats scene in San Francisco.
Here's how it works. You and your buddies (this really is more fun with more than one person) sit down at a table that has a pit and grille in the center. The (usually) complimentary appetizers come first - plate after little plate of pickled veggies and the like. A helper comes along with a bucket of white-hot coals and places them in the pit. Some restaurants have electric grills, but I prefer this more exciting method. Then whatever meat you chose arrives, raw and sitting in its marinade. You grill at your own pace and to your taste. It's fun.
Geary Street has a lot of these places, in between, say, Arguello Avenue and 20th Avenue. Just take a ride on the No. 38 bus and look out the window.

Another Korean restaurant which is not a BBQ place, but very good, is on Taraval Street at 30th Avenue. I've never known its name, strangely enough, but I have eaten there numerous times and thought it was very good. Usually the Koreans outnumber the round-eyes at this place by about 15 to one - I think that's "genuine" enough for anyone!

Sounds great, so now I know exactly where to go.

I lived in Seoul for three years and my back still hurts from sitting cross-legged on the floor and kicking back drink after drink of sojou after a huge Korean barbecue meal. After a few belts, even the fermented winter kimchee starts tasting good!

Hot Pot on 10th Avenue at Arguello has great Korean BBQ that you cook your self. Good selection of meats, seafoods, and vegetabless. It is $10.99 for lunch and $12.95 for dinner. (Can you tell I eat there way to much??)

'scuse me? 10th at Arguello? where's that? aren't they parallel? is Arguello the 1st ave?

It's Clement @ 10th, bus # 2 from downtown. Or line 38 runs a block away. Or line 1 on another side.

Hey, I love to give "bus advise"

AHHHH! Thank you Faina!! 10th and CLEMENT!

All right! See you there some day!
Just don't toss at me those tortillas

ChatNoir,
Since you probably are more experienced than I am on Korean cuisine, tell me please the name of those delicious pancake-type things with chopped scallions in the batter! I believe the last time I ate at the 30th & Taraval place, the servers slipped me some as a freebie, and I was hooked.

dovima, you are talking about Boo-Chim-Gay (Korean Pancakes). You can buy the batter mix at an asian store and make your own. People put scallions in them, but you can make them many ways. Two of my favorites:

chopped white onions and zucchini

chopped white onions and seafood, usually shrimp or squid.

We add a pinch of salt and sugar to the batter plus some black pepper. You can also add chopped hot peppers if you want to experiment. Just be careful when adding fillings not to thin the batter too much or they will become runny and fall apart. Use a very hot griddle or frying pan.

A little messy but oh so good.

Thanks! I will add Boo-Chim-Gay to my vocabulary and my menu.

My favorite Asian restaurant so far is Straits Cafe on Geary Blvd, at the corner of Parker. It is small, casual but nice, not too expensive, nice decor but most importantly, the food is great. It features the cuisine of Singapore. It is very popular, but I think they may take reservations.