(This restaurant is now *CLOSED* )

10023 107 Avenue NW, Edmonton

*Disclaimer* – I went back here in the summer of 2016 and it’s dramatically different. They no longer have Japanese food, and to be honest, it has gone way downhill. I wouldn’t really recommend going here anymore.

I’ve been quite busy the last couple months, what with going to Hawaii, and then going to Vietnam/Thailand for almost a month. I’ve definitely been lagging behind on my blogging… but it’s back to reality now.

So right before I left for vacation, I had the chance to finally try It’ All. It’s located right in the heart of chinatown, beside Emperor’s Palace, so there’s a lot of meters around, but not so much free parking that I know of. It’s owned by the same family that owns It’ Sushi in Spruce Grove and It’ Dog by the University. For Dinner, it’s 36.99 and for lunch it’s 23.99, and Sunday is dinner price all day. To be honest, I don’t think it’s worth it for dinner, it’s a bit high in my opinion, and I can eat a lot. Lunch is much more reasonable, even though there are few less items you can order, so I went on a Saturday and it wasn’t too bad. I posted links to the lunch and dinner menu at the end.

The interior is quite big, with a decent amount of seating. There are small booths all around the edges with seating in the middle. You can order different kinds of appetizers, Korean grill, sashimi/sushi and other specialty items, and then go up to grab some other dishes like Korean Banchan and entrées. I tried to go with a little bit of everything since I went with a group, so we could try as much as possible.

It’ All is really good for having a variety of banchan. At most Korean restaurants that I’ve been to, it’s usually kimchi and beansprouts, and I find that depending on the day you go, you can get something different. Here, you can try all of the different kinds of banchan (like Korean side plates). There’s Kim chi, pickled radishes, seaweed salad, bean sprouts, etc. I’d recommend trying a little bit of everything!

Next, there are other Korean hot dishes such as bulgogi, dukboki (spicy rice cakes), Korean fried chicken, etc. A definite favourite of mine was their Korean Fried Chicken. It’s similar to the chicken at It’ Dog, and it is delicious. Nice and crispy, and definitely worth trying if you haven’t had any Korean Fried Chicken before.

I had a little bit of everything, so all the different kinds of bulgogi, chicken, rice cakes, all the banchans, egg rolls… it was a pretty filling first plate! Now on with the kitchen items…

The sashimi was relatively good. The salmon was really fresh, but a little bit on the thin, but the tuna and red snapper was not as good. One thing that was really good though, was the scallop sashimi, which was surprisingly good.

The Korokke was pretty good. It’s basically mashed potatoes, with some veggies and meat and then deep fried. It can be a bit filling though, so I’d get no more than one of these, and would maybe even share just one so you can fill up on other stuff.

The takoyaki was a little bit on the dough-ey side, but it was still pretty good. It’s octopus make into a ball of dough batter that’s deep fried. Still worth a try if you’ve never had this before! They don’t compare to the ones at Izakaya Tomo but still decent!

The deep fried squid was also pretty good. It was a bit different from the other squid that I’m used to. It had cinnamon in the batter, and there was a bit of a sweetness to it. It was served with a spicy sauce and was pretty enjoyable.

The fish Katsu wasn’t great, to be honest. It’s relatively dry and bland, and served with a dollop of mayo. I definitely left this until the end, and was tempted to just bury it in my other food, but I just sucked it up and ate it! I hate wasting food. Nothing compared to the fried basa at Watari, which is amazing each time I have it.

 

The tempura was pretty standard, I usually don’t like tempura vegetables, I feel like it’s a waste of space in my stomach. The same can be said about their gyoza, which we had a few of.

Now… as for the Korean Grill, you only get an option of LA short beef ribs, pork belly, and boneless short ribs for lunch, and you’re missing sirloin steak teriyaki, grilled mackerel, and dduck galbi, which you can get at dinner. I wasn’t too fussed about this, because I read/heard that the LA short beef ribs and the boneless short ribs were better to order anyway! Personally, I always like the LA short beef ribs, and they did not disappoint. It’s a relatively good cut of beef and it always tastes pretty good. Definitely recommend this.

Lastly, we got the Gam Ja Tang which is spicy pork bone soup. This was pretty decent, as for as pork bone soups go. I find that the broth of this dish is generally on the bland side. Not great, but not bad. I’d say give this a try if you’ve never had this Korean dish, but it’s definitely not my favourite thing in the world.

There are also pastries and Korean popsicles that you can get for dessert, but at this point after standing back up and sitting back down, I completely forgot to take pictures. They have an assortment of glutinous rice pastries, and some cakes. At this point, I was way too full and did have a bit of all the desserts, but I took a popsicle and brought it home and had it later because I was just way too full!

Overall, I’d say I enjoyed my experience at It’ All. The service is relatively standard for Asian restaurants. There’s a large variety of things to try here. I do like that you get so many options here, but still, I’d find it pretty hard for me to muster up 37 dollars for dinner here. I could definitely see myself coming back here for lunch though!