Steve’s Bar-B-Que

Okay, I never went to Steve’s BBQ until after I left UCB as I was a vegetarian during my college days. But since then I have come back to my carnivorous roots and boy have I been missing out! Well it’s not the most tastiest BBQ I have ever had, but for the price and the quantity, it’s a college student’s dream. It does get busy and crowded during dinner and lunch times so plan accordingly. There is only street parking or you can park in one of the garages nearby.
The last time we came here though the kim chee was a bit fermented to the point of bubbly? So I deduct them a star. Other than that. I could come back in a heartbeat especially if I’m craving some comfort food.

Uh I ordered the Korean chicken soup but it didn’t taste Korean at all… It tasted sort of like a more homemade version of Campbell’s chicken soup, but it really was not authentic Korean. It was pricy too. Side dishes are also rather strange, especially the bean sprouts.

Okay I’m not gonna lie, I LOVE this place. I used to come here every time I finished RSF for my protein and carbs.
Yes I agree, it should really be called «Steve’s Mexican BBQ».
Yes the side dishes (kimchi and bean sprouts) are bland and tasteless.
But you are not here for frills and thrills. If you want a lot of meat and rice, then this place is your jam. Just get one of the Chicken, Pork, or Beef plates.
Chicken is solid. Small chunks of charred chicken, juicy and delicious.
Beef is my personal favorite. It tastes the best when cooked fresh, not so good when in a takeout container and eaten 15 minutes later. I love jamming the beef with the soy sauce and red sauce. Beef + sauce + rice = heaven
I think the pork is pretty good as well. I’m not normally a fan of spicy food (or Korean food for that matter), but something about this spicy pork really gets to me.
To this day, Steve’s Korean BBQ is my gold standard of how a beef plate or spicy pork plate over rice should taste. I know it’s not «Korean», but it’s damn delicious. Every time I visit Berkeley, I come here to eat.

Cheap and fast — but that’s about it. Kimchi was disappointing and that’s the barometer for any Korean joint.

Pretty cool korean food joint
One of the food «restaurants» in the «ghetto square», this place serves primarily Berkeley students on a budget. It’s way back in the «ghetto square» so you have to walk all the way inside to find it. Most of the item prices are normal, but they also offer cheap lunches during the afternoon to students around the area
I got the short rib soup, which was fantastic. Huge portions, served hot. The soup was very well-​boiled with a lot of flavor inside. They also put a lot of ingredients in it, so you never run out of stuff to eat as you dig deeper. The short ribs were soft, indicating it’s been boiling in the soup for a very long time – niceeeeee. The flavor was also really good – just the right amount of spiciness
On top of that you also get a short side of kimichi-​like lettuce, and some bean sprouts. Nice stuff
Definitely worth coming back again and again

Context: Love this place! I used to date a Berkeley dude and come to the Asian Ghetto all the time with him in my college days. I was showing my family around the campus today (what Asian family vacation to California would be complete without a tour of Stanford and Berkeley??) and decided to round out the authentic Berkeley experience with the Asian Ghetto.
Food: I got the spicy BBQ chicken with the low carb option (atop salad). The guys were nice enough to not add additional oils on top my food and I suspected they gave me almost double meat portions… Or are their portions just this big? Either way, I now am upset that I don’t live near Steve’s. I literally told my siblings that they need to go to school here so I can come and eat at Steve’s and other Asian Ghetto places while visiting them. #asiandreamssquared
Conclusion: banchan, chicken, salad, extra hot sauce. DO IT. I’ll eat Steve’s meat any day. Wait…

I really don’t like this place. The chicken is dry, wait time is forever. Rice is hard. This isn’t my place inside Asian ghetto. I suggest trying kimchi garden or toust.

Do you need a pile of no-​nonsense Korean– esque meat? These guys have got you covered. The flavors are middle of the road, but the nice heaping portion gets them another star. Om nom short ribs for days!

Decent cheap Korean BBQ in the Asian Ghetto. There’s chicken, spicy chicken or beef as a combo for lunch. For the price, you get a lot — lots of rice, cabbage and kimchi and meat. It’s not the best BBQ I’ve ever had, but for the price I could see how it has been a mainstay here for awhile.

I love this place. When I’m not in Berkeley I dream of this food. It’s right across the street from campus and it’s quick if you don’t have time to eat all you can eat kbbq but still need to satisfy that craving! When I went to school in LA, my campus had a place like this across the street too, but for a bbq rib plate, it was $ 18 instead of the $ 10 it is here… Plus, they gave me about ⁴⁄₅ less meat than Stevie’s bbq does. Such a rip off now that I look back at it!!! The food is awesome and it’s such good value for us college kids.
This place also had free hot tea and the workers are super nice!

Short and sweet tidbits…
– It’s cheap
– I ate here hella times as a Cal undergrad, and still do all these years after graduating
– Tons of meat and rice (I always get short rib)
– I admittedly have slightly lower standards than others, thus the 5 Stars
And now I’m hungry. Off to get another short rib plate.

The good:
— It’s CHEAP. The lunch special spicy pork is under $ 7 and still a sizable portion. I felt full afterward. It comes with a healthy helping of kimchi and bean sprouts in addition to rice (of course).
— The spicy pork is almost bacon-​like, thin and salty strips over the rice.
The not-​as-​good:
— The kimchi is a little weird. It’s more sour than it is spicy, which I wasn’t a fan of.
— The spicy pork wasn’t all that spicy. I really like spicy food, so maybe I have too high standards.
Overall, I’d go back for the cheap eats, and I can see why it’d be popular with the Cal kids so close by.

Ahhh, Steve’s, the poor man’s KBBQ. Read: cheap Korean food for college students.
Let me just say that I’ve been here enough times that the sweet Korean lady upfront started to recognize me, so READ ON, my dears!
Overall, Steve’s is… well, the first sentence kind of said it all! While the quality isn’t up to par as some places you’ll visit in Oakland, for the price that you’re paying, it’s more than worth it. As a small Asian girl & self-​proclaimed carnivore, I usually order the BBQ short ribs because (1) it’s literally a bunch of meat and rice & (2) it’s enough meat & rice to last me 2 meals– 3 if I’m not too hungry. DEFINITELY worth the value. And as for the meat quality? It’s not «too» bad, but maybe that’s because my college takeout food standards are low?
tl;dr: get the BBQ short ribs. Enjoy.

With a name like Steve’s Bar-​B-​Que, I was super skeptical of the Korean BBQ served here. But if you ask around, a whole lotta Berkeley grads will tell you they travel from far and wide just to come back to have a taste of good old Steve’s.
I love Steve’s, With succulent marinated meat
First up, the meat is super tasty! I’ve had the chicken, the galbi and the bugolgi. Admittedly, the bugolgi isn’t the best, but the galbi and chicken are definitely amazing — tender, amazingly flavored and downright delicious. Next the rice is always so soft and fluffy and fragrant. I’ve always really loved the rice there for some reason, don’t judge. Whenever I was having a tough time coping with finals, I would order a Chicken platter and inhale that delicious lovely rice and suddenly all my troubles seemed miles away.
In short, ignore the totally inauthentic name. Steve (whoever he is) sure knows his ways around a Korean barbecue.

Although food is decent, the place is infested with insects. Found a cockroach in the tofu soup!

Really sad they increased the price. The food is decent and the portions are decent. Plus side is that is super fast.
I do prefer dot island grill though because it’s cheaper.
The employees are super nice so that’s the reason I come back :)

Don’t understand the complaints about this place being inauthentic Korean BBQ. I mean… DUH, it’s right in the freaking name. Steve’s, not Kim’s or Park’s. They make no claim to being authentic. Right when you walk in, there’s a clearly non-​Asian clerk ringing you up and the kitchen is in plain view, with nobody of Korean descent working the grills.
Anyways, great location right in the heart of Asian Ghetto. If you need a quick fix of Korean BBQ, they aren’t usually crowded and they serve your order pretty fast. The rice leaves a bit to be desired but the meat is awesome, considering it’s not a sit-​down BBQ type of joint. I’m never been a good judge of kim chi, but it’s serviceable to me.

Steve’s BBQ has the best beef shirt ribs out of all of the places in Berkeley.
Beef with Vegetables: thinly cut beef mixed with carrots, broccoli, and mostly onions, served over rice
Short ribs: marinated beef ribs grilled and served over rice
I recommend Steve’s if you’re searching for good Korean BBQ in south Berkeley!

The most common complaint I hear about this place is that it is unauthentic food specifically because Mexicans are cooking it. Since I’m not Korean, I’m not going to pretend like I seriously know what «authentic» actually means. But I do get annoyed when people specifically point out who is actually cooking the food. Take a good look at most restaurants — I’ve never seen a Japanese restaurant that didn’t have majority Chinese and Mexican chefs. I’ve seen plenty of Chinese restaurants with Mexican chefs. Do I still call it authentic Chinese food even if I know it’s made by Mexicans? If it’s cooked correctly, absolutely. MANY places have people of other ethnicities cooking the food. It’s not about who makes it, it’s about how it’s made.
That said, I don’t find much difference between the food I get here and the food I get at other Korean restaurants. You don’t get the full menu you would find at other Korean places, but BBQ is in the name for a reason. As for quality, I actually like how the food here is packed with flavor, and you get far more meat than bone and fat. I almost always go with the short ribs (#4).
Prices are high compared to other places in Asian Ghetto (around $ 10), but pretty cheap compared to other Korean restaurants. And for the money you pay here, you get a gigantic serving of rice and meat, probably at least twice as much food as you would get at other Korean places (I’ve seen anywhere between $ 12 and $ 18).
As for décor, it has the same hole-​in-​the-​wall feel you get at all the Asian Ghetto restaurants. But I almost always took food to go. The one time I ever ate inside the restaurant itself was after a brutal day with three finals during freshman year (let’s call it a victory meal), and it is pretty relaxing in here, versus somewhere like Gypsy’s.

Came here for the first time. We were craving ramen but that place was cash only. Boo. It was on a Thursday so it wasn’t busy at all. But looking at the tables, it seems like it could be crowded on weekends.
The ambiance is alright. No music but not awkward. The guys that work there were really friendly. The bathroom involves a key but you gotta search for it haha. There’s a panel you have to push aside to find that bathroom door.
Since I was craving soup, I got the spicy beef bowl. Good BIG portion, and it comes with a bowl of rice, sprouts and kimchi. Yum, kimchi. The soup was good and hot, haha. I couldn’t finish it all so the cashier was nice to hand me a to-​go bowl with a bag.
Overall, it was good. Not too fab, but good food for where the area was.