Daniel B.
Yelp
BBQ Corner II is an old Buford Highway standby. Located in Asian Square, it's been around for as long as I can remember. In late 2013/early 2014, BBQ Corner closed and re-opened, fully renovated with a fresh, cleaned-up interior and a new storefront sign to boot. Since the renovation, the menu appears to mostly be the same except there's no more dim sum. There's a lot of authentic Chinese cuisine. I consider it Cantonese comfort food.
The restaurant is open late, which is great. Sunday to Thursday, 11am to midnight. Friday and Saturday, 11am to 2am. Wednesday closed.
This is a simple, casual, no-frills restaurant. Fish tanks still greet you at the entrance, but they aren't as dirty or dingy as they once were. As before, the carpeted dining room is one big open space with a collection of tables. All furniture is new as of the renovation. The round tables seat up to eight each. There's a large TV mounted high at one end of the dining room.
There's an astonishing 270+ dishes on the menu not including the 60 lunch specials offered Monday to Friday, 11am to 3pm. When it comes to Cantonese food, they serve just about everything and that includes the popular big three items: BBQ pork, soy sauce chicken, and roasted duck. They serve soups, clams, mussels, oysters, fish (grouper, tilapia, sea bass, sole), shrimp, scallops, squid, egg foo young, beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, Chinese hot pot, congee (rice porridge), rice dishes, lo mein noodles, pan-fried noodles and rice noodles, and noodle soups.
Dishes range in price from $6-10 each for rice dishes, congee, and noodle soups to $10-16 each for bigger entrees. Each lunch special runs $7 or less.
Generally, I think the food is decent to good. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the aforementioned BBQ pork, soy sauce chicken, or roasted duck -- the restaurant's best sellers. Each is fresh and flavorful (and appetizingly greasy) in its own right. These are the types of chopped, roasted meats you'd find at a street stall in Hong Kong. At BBQ Corner, you can order any combination of these three (A7-A9, A12-A13 on menu). The red pork is my favorite (I love the succulent charred bits) followed by the duck with its delightfully crispy, oily skin. The soy sauce chicken is meaty, also with glistening skin. Some of the (white) meat can be dry, but it's not uncommon with this type of chicken. The meats are garnished with cilantro and pickled radish.
Try the fish maw and crab meat soup (B13) or braised shark fin and crab meat soup (B14). I grew up eating fish maw soup with my family. Fish maw is a fish organ also known as swim bladder or air bladder. It has a delicate and fluffy texture and is mild in flavor. I like to add red vinegar sauce to my fish maw soup for extra flavor. Shark fin soup is unique, considered a Chinese delicacy, and often served at special occasions (like a Tuesday night at BBQ Corner).
I'm happy to report that BBQ Corner serves ong choy, my favorite Chinese vegetable! This vegetable is known as Chinese water spinach, pak boong in Thai, and rau muong in Vietnamese. It's a leafy green vegetable notable for it's crunchy, hollow stems. Prepared with garlic, BBQ Corner's ong choy is absolutely delicious and I highly recommend it. My second favorite vegetable dish is the snow pea leaves with garlic (L15). It's prepared similar to ong choy and also quite tasty.
Another popular dish is the sizzling beef steak with black pepper sauce (H12). I actually happened to take pictures of this dish before and after the restaurant's 2013-14 closing/re-opening:
Before (circa 2010): http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/bbq-corner-2-atlanta-2?select=zkkSND1_W750QijT8APx1g#zkkSND1_W750QijT8APx1g
After (circa 2015): http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/bbq-corner-2-atlanta-2?select=44DI75s6m3JBj6KMCQykQA#44DI75s6m3JBj6KMCQykQA
It's a savory beef dish served on a skillet with the meat, vegetables (green bell pepper, white onion), and sauce still vigorously sizzling. Admittedly, the cuts of beef are cheap, sometimes mushy or rubbery, but satisfying nonetheless. The hissy, smoky presentation of this dish gives it a little "wow" factor.
If you're adventurous, I suggest ordering the pork intestine with sour cabbage (K27). If prepared improperly, pork intestine can taste and smell awful. Fortunately, the pork intestines I've tried at BBQ Corner are quite good with no unpleasant taste nor odor. The sliced intestines have a soft consistency with a somewhat distinct aromatic flavor. The cooked sour cabbage goes well with the intestine.
The dry beef chow fun noodles (P4) are scrumptious. One order is quite filling and can be split among multiple people. Wide, flat rice noodles are pan-fried with slices of beef, bean sprouts, scallions, and other veggies. Most people, regardless of palate, enjoy beef chow fun. The noodle soups, particularly with roasted duck (S4) or BBQ pork (S6), are good as well. These soups use thin, delectable egg noodles.
Service is fine.