DAWA Korean Restaurant - West Haven, Connecticut

Kendra Nguyen

The best Korean food I have had! The portions were great for the price. The Korean pancake was perfect. The servers were very attentive, and we also received a sushi roll on the house. My partner and I are excited to go back. We ordered the D1 dinner special for two, and it was so filling. The restaurant was also very spacious and nicely lit. It is a great place overall. We highly recommend coming here.

Nicole Bartner

So, I don’t think Dawa is a chain? At least I can’t find any evidence that it is a chain. But it feels and tastes like a chain…

And what I mean by that is the vibe is “fast casual chain restaurant” and the food is of the quality I would expect from a chain: not particularly high quality, not particularly tasty, extremely meh sauces. Which is too bad.

Hypothetically Dawa is a “full table service” restaurant. And, may God strike me dead I am about to speak negatively about service in a restaurant. But, honestly, there is almost no service to speak of at Dawa. By that I mean someone will take your order and someone (else) will bring your order. If you need anything else in-between of after you are entirely on your own. I mean it did not appear possible to even get someone’s attention at any point during or after my meal No one checked in. No one would make eye contact. Mainly there wasn’t even anyone in the room. Whatever, I took a napkin off the table next to me. When I wanted to pay I decided that I must have to go up to the host station/desk and pay, since there was zero sign of anyone returning to my table.

But when I started to get up from my table the original waitress did come and bring the check. So I guess you’re not supposed to go up and pay…

Bottomline: This is not what I would consider a “full service” restaurant.

While I love Korean cuisine, I really do not like Soju. So this is probably my fault, for wanting to eat Korean food, but also drink Sake. There was one cold Sake on the menu, so I ordered it. $25 for a bottle. To put this in perspective: I have had plenty of cold sake that I enjoy for less price than this. So I was not worried about the price point. This sake was actually undrinkable. I have had A LOT of sake my friends. A LOT. This somehow tasted like bad apple juice?

I mention this because someone at Dawa, hypothetically chose this apple juice sake to serve. Which makes me really, really question the judgment of whoever is making those decisions…

The banchan was okay. Not terrible Not particularly good. The potato was not good. I know that they are meant to not be cooked super soft. But this potato was so hard I question if it was cooked much at all. Flavors were meh. As in whoever is making the banchan is not using the best quality oils, seasonings, etc etc. Can you buy banchan pre made I’ve never heard of that. But if you can then that’s what I would say this was…

Things I ordered: Tteok Bokki, Kimchi Jeon, Hwae Dupbap. Just so we’re clear: These are all things that I have eaten before. Many times. So I’m judging the food at Da.Wa against…BETTER Korean food.

Every dish was disappointing in flavor and ingredients. If I had to guess I would guess that the Tteok Bokki sauce came out of a jar/can/bottle. Very flat flavor profile, no depth, not delicious. Korean Pancake, when made with the correct ingredients is tender and crispy fried and creamy delicious. This was not I mean it was fine. If you haven’t had really good Korean pancake.

The Hwae Dupbap was not good. Hwae Dupbap is basically a sashimi version of Bibimbap. So it is rice with basically a fresh salad over it and then topped with all sorts of fresh, raw fish. When the Hwae Dupbap was put in front of me I could see that the fish was not, shall we say, “as fresh as it could be” (i.e., not the best quality). It was topped with Tobiko that was CLEARLY not great. I could see that before I ate anything. The salad portion seemed to be that kind of pre package coleslaw mix you can buy… I’ve never been served that in a Korean restaurant before. As in the salad portion was raw cabbage sliced super fine. Which is, actually, incorrect.
Not an enjoyable meal.

If the food had been DELICIOUS I would have ignored the lack of service. But both of these aspects were not something I would be interested in experiencing a second time. Oh well.

If you’ve never had Korean food before this is probably fine. Maybe meat items are better than non meat items I don’t eat meat…

Daniel

This place is modern, clean, with very friendly staff. They begin by bringing out and assortment of different Korean starts such as kimchi, pickled cucumbers, sprouts, and a few other things to get you started. All very good.

I had the braised beef in broth with a side of rice. The broth was flavorful and the beef perfectly braised to where it was falling off the bone.

Wife had the bebop and she basically said hmmmhmmm the entire time while eating it. She kept mentioning she wad in happy town due to all the veggies she was eating lol.

We also had the fried chicken for appetizers. Very good and crispy.

Only downside is the cost. Apps, and main meal, with a generous tip came to $65. So it’s pricy but thats the norm these days.

Definitely check this place out.

Khraig Schupp

I drove by this restaurant multiple times and always told myself I'll review them soon. Tonight, I decided to stop by on my way elsewhere. I couldn't have been happier with my decision.
The restaurant itself is beautiful and clean, decor is phenomenal, the atmosphere is relaxing, and the food is amazing.
I ordered a chicken fried rice dish that was delicious, The surprise side of kimchi won my heart (as was the other sides). The sushi, which is always fresh fish, is the best I've had so far.
I'll definitely be returning to try other dishes. I recommend anyone around the West Haven area stop by and try them out. Located just off I95 exit 42 Sawmill Rd.

Andrew Kosarko

Let me just say this - the food I was familiar with, the bbq short rib / onion was perfection. Tender, perfectly cooked and a great flavor, as it should have been for it's price lol.

Sticky rice was good. A simple dish, but I have seen places mess up rice. So I was happy.

Now the side dishes? I didn't know what they were. Beans obviously, and I was able to figure out the red one was kimchi stew. Spicy and not really in my lane. Now I tried the other one, it was alright but I didn't eat much more - I have a thing about not eating something if I don't know what it is lol.

Lastly, I got a Korean soda, Milkis. It was definitely good, and had a sweet creamy flavor but still the consistency of a soda that's not over carbonated.

All in all, a very good, but very expensive meal. This is not one that I'll get often because of the price, but it is definitely HIGH end quality and worth it once in a while if you can afford it!

Jace Lightwood

I went here today for my Birthday with my aunt and everything was so good the staff were super kind and we had so much fun we had ordered a bunch of stuff and each one was ten out of ten

Wanda Santos-Perez

The staff was cordial. The food was fresh and flavorful. We ordered the spicy brisket beef soup and the seafood spicy soup. Both were very good, if you enjoy spicy food. It was my first time trying the kimchi pancake as an appetizer. Very nice!

Danny Hyun

Expess way 인근에 있는 한인식당. 한식 전문식당이며 맛이 좋다.