Do Re Mi House

*** Do Re Mi House has closed

***An update on De Re Mi House can be found here.

Yes, I know it's a strange name. Can you guess what kind of food Do Re Mi House serves? Let me give you some help:

Do Re Mi House serves Korean BBQ and basic Korean dishes in a small dining area, that almost feels "homey", or even like a little countryside Inn perhaps. I've never seen this place reviewed or mentioned anywhere, and the only reason I really know about it, is that a Gal at one of those "mailbox" places once told me that she takes Her Family there because it's affordable, and the food is good. So I've been dropping by off and on for the last few years.

The best bargains are the lunch specials, ranging from $5.99 - $7.99(Kalbi). For lunch this past week I had the Daeji Bulgogi ($5.99):

This "box/bento" style lunch consists of a small portion of BBQ spicy pork, rice, a green salad, 2 pieces of mandoo, and some panchan. The pork was flavored well, it's simply pork bulgogi with gochujang, and was moist, tender, slightly sweet, mildly spicy, and well flavored. The panchan is routine,except for the marinated potatoes, which I love. And the mandoo is terrible, a wrapper like thin cardboard, and not worth my time, neither was the green salad.

What sets Do Re Mi House apart was the service. Alot of places have a low-margin lunches going, basically inexpensive lunches in hopes of attracting volume. Many of these places do what I call the "dump and duck". That is once your order is placed, everything is "dumped" at your table, and the server "ducks" out, never to be seen until your check comes. During this lunch, for instance, the Young Lady saw that I plowed through the panchan, so she came by with two more bowls, saying, "you like kim chee, here's some more". Noticing my rice was running low she asked if I needed more, and brought me a bowl, as well as filling my water 3 times. So by the time I left, what started as a small lunch ended up being a little larger.

One evening I stopped by and ordered the Dak Bulgogi ($10.99):

There was a good variety of panchan, all totally routine,  except the potatoes which I enjoyed. The portion size of the chicken seemed deceptively small, I say deceptively because I couldn't finish. The chicken had a bit of a sweeter taste then I'm used to, but was perfectly fine. I enjoyed the carmelization and the onions on the bottom. The chicken was also well marinated, I've had many instances where the chicken is quickly marinated than cooked, with sauce added at the end, leaving the chicken somewhat bland. As I was eating the Waitress came by and said, you liked the potatoes, right? And brought me another little bowl of the potatoes:

Do Re Mi House fills a niche right below Boo Cho and Buga, in price and quality. I've seen groups of students and families coming in for dinner. The BBQ is not done at the table. Lunch is much more inexpensive, though the portions may be a little on the small side, I've always left satisfied, if not stuffed. Service has always been good.

One short funny story. One night I was just having the Chicken Wings ($6.99), which were fine, but they had changed the recipe since I last had them. They used to be battered and spicy, and now they were just deep fried:

I was having this with some rice and panchan, when an older Lady sitting and eating at the front table, watching Korean Soap Opera, would get up every so often. She would grab a fly swatter and start killing flies in the front area with extreme accuracy. She would eat a few bites while watching the television, get up, and "whap-whap" get a few flies, clean up, and go back to eating and watching her show. I'm assuming she worked there, but am not quite sure...... So I guess there's free entertainment on certain nights? BTW, the flies never really made it into the restaurant with her around; she was deadly accurate!

DO Re Mi House
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste M
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 565-2085

Comments

[Kirk]

Hi Denver - Thanks for sropping by and commenting. You know, we shop at Zion nearly every week, and still have never eaten in the food court, I guess we should. Thanks for the recommendation.