Mama’s Diner: Affordable Korean restaurant in Richmond
This month, we were invited to check out Mama’s Diner, a new Korean fusion restaurant now open in Richmond. Mama’s Diner specializes in offering high-value tasty meals with the price range of what you may find in a food court.
I love Korean food and I also love some actual affordable prices! Here is how our experience went and everything we got to try.
The vibe
Mama’s Diner is located in a pretty busy food complex with lots of different options (and lots of free parking!). Richmond is notorious for bomb Chinese food, so I actually think it may be strategic to offer a different kind of cuisine in this area as I didn’t see any other Korean restaurants in this complex.
The inside of the restaurant is not large but they can fit quite a large number of tables comfortably. The inside looks modern with light wooden furniture, concrete/gray walls and has a nice cafe aesthetic. Chairs were plush and comfortable.
We were seated at a table of 2 but we ordered so much food they low-key also gave us the next table so we were sitting at a table of 4 ๐ . Lots of table space for all of our dishes!
Menu is pretty straightforward but no photos. I was happy to see that prices were quite affordable, ranging from $8-43. They have a variety of smaller side dishes, soup or rice sets, and sharable hot pots. If you are looking to order a soup + rice set as a dinner for 1 person, you’ll be looking at under $20.
Food review
Here is everything we tried. Prices are rounded to the nearest dollar.
Disclaimer: We did receive a $100 voucher to try Mama’s Diner, so almost everything we ordered was free.
Side dishes (free)
Before our dishes came, we were given 4 side dishes banchan that are free. You will often see this in Korean restaurants.
The 4 side dishes were sweet potato, kimchi, radish kimchi and beansprouts. They all tasted pretty average to me but I didn’t expect much from the side dishes either. The sweet potatoes did seem a bit more cooked than other restaurants, where the potato is mostly boiled and then tossed in a sweet sauce. This one resembled more hashbrown cube texture.
Bulgogi dolsot bibimbap ($16)
Here we have a rice set featuring bulgogi, marinated slices of meat in a sweet and savoury sauce. You mix it with the rice and veggies in a hot stone bowl.
For $16, I would consider this bibimbap on the larger side – there is a generous serving of bulgogi meat and rice and honestly, I would have a hard time eating all of it alone. It even came with a small bowl of seaweed soup.
My only criticism is that the stone bowl wasn’t hot enough and even though we let the mixed rice sit in it for awhile to make crispy rice, the rice never crisped up.
Seafood pancake ($15)
One of the items we decided to order right away was this seafood pancake. We eat at a lot of Korean restaurants and we find seafood pancakes usually cost around $30, so for $15 we definitely wanted to give it a try.
The pancake is smaller than the $30 pancakes I’ve eaten, but since it’s $15 I’m not complaining. It is still easily sharable and there is a reasonable amount of seafood in the mixed batter. Overall, I found it quite tasty and a good deal.
Sizzling cheese buldak ($18)
This dish is a new addition to the menu so we decided to try it. It came on a sizzling plate and looked very appetizing. If you know what buldak is, you probably think of that black and red instant noodle packaging. Buldak is essentially “fire chicken” and it is usually quite spicy. So on this plate, we have chicken, rice cake, and cheese all sizzling in a spicy red chili sauce.
I actually cannot take a lot of spice, but I was able to eat this dish fine and I think that is mostly due to the cheese as it cancelled out some of the spice for me. Again, good portion for the price and I would recommend it for anyone who likes cheese and spiciness.
Beef + Dry chilli stir fry ($18)
This was a dish we added on last to meet the $100 voucher, but it ended up being one of our favourite dishes of the night! The beef stir fry also came on a sizzling plate so it gave it some smokiness. The beef was cooked in this slightly spicy sauce and we just found the sauce to be really tasty and addicting – tastes very good with just some white rice!
Mama’s beef bone soup ($15)
This soup and rice set also drew my attention due to the giant beef bones sticking out of it. It came out sizzling and just made me feel so cozy.
The beef bones were for the most part, quite tender. It was relatively easy to pull the meat off with our chopsticks and it was easy to eat it with the soup. The soup was quite light and clear, so it wasn’t heavy or creamy. I think this is good for someone looking for a lighter but comforting meal.
Mama’s rice black sausage ($15)
This is their take on sundae, a type of blood sausage in Korean cuisine. I felt this dish was a little bit different from the blood sausages I’ve tried before – it was a tad bit more bland than usual. And I was surprised that it only came with 7 pieces since it was categorized under rice sets in the menu and it was priced at $15. It felt more like a side dish or appetizer.
Garlic eggplants ($8)
I love eggplants so I was excited to order this cold dish. The eggplants were looking real plump and juicy and had a nice garlicky sauce on top. I did think this dish was more Chinese than Korean because I’ve actually been trying to cook garlic eggplants at home.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: โญโญโญ
We ordered way too much food at Mama’s Diner! We were trying to reach our $100 quota to use our voucher, but at their prices, we had enough food for 2 dinners and 1 lunch.
My favourite dishes were the beef stir fry, beef bone soup, and the seafood pancake. Value-wise, I think the bulgogi bibimbap and the cheese buldak are good choices because you get so much food from it.
For the prices, the food is good quality and hearty. You can definitely be full for $15 per person, which is pretty amazing for Lower Mainland price of food nowadays. Overall, I would say the food is good/average for the price point.
Sincerely, Loewe