Eric M.
Google
I wanted to name this "Nine Tings I hate about this restaurant" but I couldn't because there are more than nine.
The place looks like it could be good. The interior is modern and nice, and the bathroom appears clean and kept neat. That is basically the end of the positives.
The floors are insanely slippery and greasy in some areas. It honestly felt like a safety hazard. I was over cautious about accidentally dropping anything on the floor because it felt like it would come back greasy. It made me wonder if they are using real soap when they clean, because it felt like whatever greasey layer was being spread around instead of removed. Even the bathroom soap felt weirdly watery, like it was diluted.
Service did not help. One staff member was not receptive at all. He barely answered questions, was not attentive, and came off rude. Just grumpy.
The Food:
The biggest red flag is that they do not seem to understand how Korean BBQ is supposed to work. They tried to change the griddle while we still had food cooking. They swapped it mid-cook and put the same food back onto a cold surface. That is a basic failure. Now you have half-cooked food sitting there while the grill slowly heats back up. If you have been to legit KBBQ before, you know how bad that is.
And the BBQ itself is just not good. Even if this place was not labeled Korean BBQ, the food still would not hold up. It honestly feels like the BBQ option is more of a gimmick than something they do well.
The “bulgogi” is not bulgogi. The beef bulgogi is not thinly sliced or chopped, and it is clearly not the right cut of beef. It was thick sliced of chewy steak. The sauce tastes watered down, and the flavor is not even close to bulgogi. They were better off buying bulgogi sauce in those jars from HMart. The pork bulgogi has the same problem. It is chunks of thick sliced pork. It'$ bland overall, and the only strong flavor is an overpowering ginger taste. I have photos of the meat as described.
Even outside the BBQ, the food execution is rough. The scallion pancake was awful. It was more like a chewy mochi-like slab with barely any scallions or vegetables. They also served oranges at the end that they did not slice properly. That sounds small, but it fits the same pattern of sloppy basics.
The menu is also limited compared to other Korean BBQ places, and it shows. There was no banchan, no dessert (but oranges) and there were basically no appetizers either. It was pretty much just the seafood pancake. That is not what you expect from Korean BBQ, and it adds to the feeling that they are cutting corners and hoping the nice interior does the work.
Ventilation is another issue. There are no vents per table, so smoke just rises wherever. They even have these utility blowers at random corners, which is wild for a BBQ restaurant. Not sure if they're trying to dry the greasy floors or encourage air circulation bc of the lack of good ventilation.
To be fair, the make-your-own sauce bar is not bad. It is similar to other KBBQ spots that offer it. I did not try the hotpot, but from what I saw from others at my table, it looked fine. If people like this place, I would guess it is because of the hotpot and the nice interior, not because the KBBQ is good.
Price-wise, it is around average, but still overpriced for the quality you get. I have had solid Korean food in a Korean-populated area in Jersey, so I know what decent KBBQ looks like. Asian food in Philly is amazing so there is no way it cannot do better than this. The cutting of corners were so prevalent. This was absolutely disappointing.
I wonder if the business is doing well honestly. I can't imagine any fans of KBBQ would come here more than once. And if this is your first time, I would not recommend this as your introduction.