Tucked away in an unassuming strip mall on South First Street just north of William Cannon Drive is Seoul Restaurant & D.K. Sushi, a longtime South Austin eatery offering classic Korean fare and authentic Japanese sushi rolls.

Korean-born owner D.K. Lee purchased the restaurant from his brother in the early 1990s, according to J.T. Ochoa, who helps run the business through cooking, waiting tables and overseeing managerial tasks.

Ochoa, whose grandmother was a friend of the Lees, said he has been eating at Seoul Restaurant & D.K. Sushi since he was a child. There is a strong sense of camaraderie among the Korean community in South Austin, Ochoa said, which manifests itself in the restaurant’s longstanding customer base.

“There are some Koreans in South Austin, but a lot of the Asian community in general is in North Austin,” Ochoa said. “If you are Korean in South Austin, you know who is here.”

Traditional Korean dishes such as bulgogi, or thin-sliced barbecued meat, and bibimbap, or Korean mixed rice served with meat and vegetables, can be found on the menu along with a variety of sushi rolls made with fish fileted in-house.

The eatery shies away from contemporary trends and instead offers sushi options one would find in Japan, Ochoa said. Named after a former chef, the Mike Roll includes fried tuna and homemade sauces and is the most popular sushi option, Ochoa said.

“There is no one here who is Japanese, but everything [the sushi chefs] do is traditional Japanese,” he said.
The recently introduced chef’s special menu will include rotating items created in-house, Ochoa said, but for the most part, the restaurant looks much like it did when it first opened over 20 years ago.

“My boss says if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Ochoa said. “The key to our success and why we have lasted so long is that we haven’t changed too much. We have people who have been eating here since the first year we opened.”

Seoul Restaurant & D.K. Sushi
6400 S. First St., Austin
512-326-5807
www.dksushi.com/south
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Fri. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat. 4:30-10 p.m., closed Sun.