Yigah Restaurant

The inspiration

Yigah exists to serve expansive Korean comfort food, and Eater has already placed it on the 38 Essential Orange County Restaurants map for that menu . The kitchen leans toward bubbling soups and shareable dishes, the kind of food meant to be spread across the table .

What to order

• Braised beef ribs: loaded with green onion, a heartier take on the soup lineup .
• Gamjatang: a spicy pork back-bone stew with perilla leaves and big potato chunks .
• Crispy katsu cutlet: one of the dishes diners commonly add for the table .
• Octopus bibimbap: another shareable plate Eater notes people order alongside the soups .

What people are saying

The pattern Eater highlights is ordering family style: diners tend to pick a couple of dishes like the katsu or octopus bibimbap for the table, plus bowls of soup for everyone . Critics at Eater point to the breadth of the menu as what sets it apart, describing it as expansive Korean comfort food .

Why you should try it

If you are staying in Irvine, this is a chance to sit down to a proper Korean soup-and-shares spread, from ox bone broth to spicy pork stew . Eater counts it among Orange County's essential restaurants, so you are eating where the local critics send people .