Evan Woods
This family-owned Korean restaurant resides in a faded strip mall in southwest Fort Worth, near the intersection of SW Loop 820 and McCart Avenue. Don’t judge it by the dicey parking lot.
That’s all a part of the charm of this diamond-in-the-rough restaurant, our go-to in the city for authentic Korean cuisine. Once inside, you’re greeted with the unmistakable fragrances of sizzling bulgogi, barbecue spareribs, and other aromatic dishes that have kept Sam Won Garden open, through thick and thin, for nearly 20 years.
The restaurant is cherished by those who live close by and in-the-know foodies who’ve kept mum about it — because, you know, they want it for themselves.
And rightly so. It’s untouched by anything related to time. No silly food trends, no hip décor. Just solid and inexpensive Korean food, served in a warm, homey atmosphere.
Evan Woods
“That’s how I describe it to people who haven’t been here,” says Sunnie Chung, who runs the restaurant with her mother, Sylvia. “It’s authentic Korean food served in a place that’ll remind you of going to your grandmother’s when you were a kid.”
The restaurant is known for several dishes. Among them is dolsot bibimbap, a hot stone bowl filled with cooked rice, shredded beef, a sunny-side up egg, and any number of vegetables, from zucchini to carrots. Throw on as much hot sauce and soy sauce as you want and mix everything together. The bowl is so hot, you’ll hear the snap, crackle, pop of the rice burning at the bottom of it; the burned parts of the rice are the best.
Another must-try dish: Korean barbecue spareribs, which you can cook yourself at a special table equipped with a charcoal burner, or you can let the kitchen do its thing and serve them to you on a big sizzling platter, grease still sputtering when it hits your table.
There’s a wide variety of soups for both Korean cuisine novices and those who know their way around a good seolleongtang (beef broth and noodle soup). Our favorite is the kimchi jjigae, a spicy, hearty stew filled with a mix of pork and diced tofu. One of these days, we’ll get around to trying the yeomso tang, a goat and veggie soup designed to, according to Korean legend, restore energy and boost vitality.
The popular Korean pancakes are served as appetizers but are so big, they may as well be a meal. In both size and how they’re served, they’re more like pizzas than pancakes — topped with various ingredients, such as leeks, seafood, and jalapenos, and cut into pizza-size slices.
Elsewhere on the menu, there’s a varied assortment of fried rice dishes, seafood dishes — both exotic and not — and hot and cold noodle dishes.
Much of Sam Won’s appeal has to do with the amount of food you get. Many of the entrees are served with small, refillable sides of pickled cucumbers, spicy kimchi, soft potatoes, and other veggies, all delivered to your table via a squeaky wheeled cart, dim sum-style. Part of the Sam Won experience is anticipating what sides your server will wheel out since no two visits, when it comes to these tiny treats, are ever the same.
Owner Own Chung opened the restaurant in 2005, a time when there were few Korean restaurants in Fort Worth proper. As a result, it became an instant hit, popular not only with area foodies but expats who missed the food of their homelands.
Evan Woods
“I’m not sure there’s a better compliment than someone saying, ‘This tastes like what I grew up eating,’” Sunnie says. “And we get that a lot.”
The restaurant is, and has always been, stubbornly low-key: It barely has a social media presence, and seldom does the family advertise in local media. Instead, the Chungs depend on regulars, word-of-mouth, and an occasional story, like this one.
There have been times, over the years, when followers feared it had closed, especially during the pandemic when sometimes it was open and sometimes not. To-go orders helped the Chung family survive the most crushing days of COVID.
Many thought the restaurant would close for good last year when Own Chung passed away after an accident at the restaurant.
Following a long pause, Sunnie and Sylvia reopened.
“The community has been so supportive, especially when we lost our dad,” Sunnie says. “Regulars were coming in, tenfold, spending their time and money here to support us, to make sure we stayed open. We would not have made it through COVID, my father’s passing, all the things we’ve endured as a restaurant, without the community’s love and support. They’re the reason we’re still here.”
