Angela C.
Yelp
Solid place for all-you-can-eat BBQ in a mall in Little Tokyo - good fast service, OK quality of meats and banchan station (not bad for the price) in this bustling place.
LOCATION / PARKING / VIBE:
Manna Korean BBQ is located in a mall with parking - don't forget to validate your ticket before you leave. The space is large with dark tile / dimmed interior and they turn up the hype music as the evening goes on. There's reminders to please do not be wasteful with food, with $1 off each diner if you finish what you order and $5 charge if you don't. Totally support not wasting food!
SERVICE / SEATING / RESERVATIONS:
Our party of two on a Friday evening around 6pm was attended to and seated immediately - looks like reservations are only taken for parties 10+ and there were already a few smaller groups seated as we were taken to a smaller half of a table with a grill ready and hot. The service was attentive throughout the evening! They are quick to ask you whether you'd like to put in another order or refill your water or change out your grill surface.
ALL YOU CAN EAT:
We opted for the AYCE BBQ "Black" Menu which is the premium offering at $49pp (AYCE "Gold" Menu was at $34pp). This comes with access to the salad/banchan bar and cooked-to-order options (creamed corn, steamed egg, cold noodles; the steamed egg came in a hot little pot which kept it steaming for a while). The bean sprout salad was the best choice at the bar for me but shoutout to the tofu soup (unabashedly medium-spicy) and kimchi as well! There are all kinds of choices there (jell-o, cucumber kimchi, fried rice, fries, sushi, potato salad, soybean paste, and more) which was great to see.
The table has 4 seasonings you can pour / put yourself in your dipping dish (including the nice crystally gray-white salt they have, light sesame? oil, and two others (looked like soy-based and a spicy-based) that we didn't try).
I'm a huge fan of beef tongue so the "Black" Menu was the pick for me, and it also comes with premium offerings like rib eye (served as a whole steak!) and pork cheek and fall-off-the-bone kalbi. You grill your meats yourself to your desired doneness and get a pair of scissors for the bigger cuts like steak. The meat quality is OK, some of the cuts of meats are a little too fatty (pork cheek, ribeye) so we used the scissors to cut them off (they didn't count it against us).
The fans above the tables are quiet and didn't vent out the smoke too aggressively but no matter, a side effect of KBBQ is that smokey BBQ aroma right?
Left full and satisfied! Easy to walk in on an evening and eat as much protein as we like along with as much banchan as we desired. Good!