Kristen H.
Yelp
Being Korean from NOVA, I've always been told that the best KBBQ is in Annandale, but Firepan may have permanently changed my mind about that. I made a reservation for nine people for 7:30pm on a Sunday about three days in advance, but you can usually make reservations through Yelp for smaller parties within a day or two of planning to eat there (I'd highly recommend doing this: it can get pretty crowded if you try to get a walk-in). Located in the ever-popular Eden Center and surrounded by a plethora of Asian markets and restaurants, it's telling that this restaurant has lasted despite having so much nearby competition!
The restaurant itself looks small from the outside, but is fairly spacious inside, with high ceilings and reverberating music pounding from the speakers, accompanied by large TV screens playing both K-pop and American hit music videos. Since we had a reservation, we were seated almost immediately by a friendly hostess, who led us to our expansive table with two clean burners.
We were first served a generous amount of banchan - everything was good, with a lightly dressed, refreshing salad, slightly sweet cubed pickled radish with jalapeños, julienned spicy pickled radish, and pungent, crunchy kimchi. Their pickled radish wraps are also especially good served with the succulent meat!
My party opted for the AYCE Option A ($29.99/person), which comes with a wide variety of meats, but doesn't have all of the premium options that come with Option B ($34.99, and comes with some more beef/seafood options) - we found that the variety was plenty for us! They brought out a tray of seasonings and sauces for each of us to sample: a savory soy-garlic sauce (great for), ssamjang (a rich, spicy soybean paste), orange chili sauce (I found this a bit too sweet for my liking), salt and pepper, and gochujang (a red chili paste). Each sauce pairs well with a different cut of meat (I like to go sweet/spicy for the leaner meats, and more savory/spicy with the fattier ones).
Additionally, you can also ask for Doenjang-Jjigae (spicy soybean soup), Soondubu-Jjigae (spicy soft tofu soup), and Gyeran-Jjim (Korean steamed egg with dashi) on the side to accompany your meats, as well as unlimited rice. I particularly enjoyed the Soondubu-Jjigae, which was soul-warming and had perfectly soft tofu and al-dente vegetables, and the rest of my table loved eating the steamed egg with rice and soy sauce, but I would be careful not to fill up on these sides!
We first started off with the Chadol-Baegi, which is thinly sliced brisket. This is a true test of how good a KBBQ spot is, since this isn't the most flavorful/fatty cut of meat, so you can really assess the quality of the beef. The meat was well-marbled with a good flavor, and paired really well with the gochujang.
Then, we moved onto the Firepan Steak, which is a thicker cut of meat marinated in the classic Korean galbi marinade, which is a sweet soy-based sauce with a touch of garlic. This was fatty and delicious, and tasted like LA-galbi (except it wasn't on the bone), and we loved it paired with the tart acidity of the radish wraps.
Once we'd had our fill of beef, we tried the Spicy Pork Chop: this was absolutely delicious, and definitely an underrated cut of meat at Firepan. It was tender and juicy, with the perfect combination of sweetness and spice in the marinade. At that point, we saw another table order a large plate of lettuce to make ssam (traditional Korean lettuce wraps), and we did the same: the pork paired with the fresh, crunchy lettuce was out of this world!
Lastly, as is customary with KBBQ, we cooked the fattiest cut of meat: pork belly/samgyupsal. We sampled both the Unmarinated Pork Belly and the Spicy Pork Belly, the first being savory and umami when paired with sauces, and the latter packing a good kick while still letting the richness of the pork belly shine through. Again, these were both insane paired with the lettuce wraps and a good portion of ssamjang/gochujang to cut the fattiness.
Since we had three teenage boys in our group, they were ravenous, and when they saw an advertisement touting a promotion where leaving a review merited a free Corn Cheese for the table, they immediately jumped on this deal, writing a quick Google review and showing our server. Within five minutes, a steaming dish of the famous Korean "drunk food" came out. Being lactose intolerant, I couldn't sample this, but my friends described it as "life changing."
Overall, Firepan was an amazing experience, with friendly (though not always efficient - we had to ask multiple times to get our grill pan changed) service, delicious food, and a menu with a wide variety at a great value! I personally liked this better than Kogiya, and it's closer to DC, so I guess I've found my new go-to spot for KBBQ in the DMV!