Surawon BBQ

I only come here a few times cause the place is across from my house. And not many people come here. To find out I know why. Horrible service. Takes 30 – 40 mins to ask for refill. Oh sodas are not refillable. And there is one short lady that is always watching the tv. So no help to the other workers there. I came here on Valentine’s Day. Only one waitress. I walked in and this short lady shaking her head (I think she’s the boss), waiving her hands saying we r full. No room. We r full. When there is no one waiting and there is like 3 tables that is not taken. The people that was there before me look very upset and hungry. There were 2 – 3 group of people left upset and have not eaten. I will NEVER EVER come here again. Good luck!

Every time I came here I’ve had a good experience. I’m sad that there are so many negative reviews for this place because the meat quality and food options are actually pretty good. Most of the negative reviews on here are about bad service, but I feel like I’m not too affected by it because in my mind, that’s just how older generation Korean waitresses roll.
The main reason why I like this place besides the decent meat quality for the AYCE price is the vegetables that they provide. If you ask for it, they give you uncut lettuce, perilla leaves, and a green onion mix thing that I’m sure a lot of health freaks would love. This place is more traditional than modern kbbq places, and the people are more older gen Korean too. So try it out without expecting to get served like the average middle to high SES folks would.
—-update — -
they changed their menu recently, so no more free veggies unless you pay a little extra. kinda sad about that.

Came here around 4 the sign said it was open, door was wide open walked in they said it was closed because management was closed. Never coming back

I love this place but I’m so disappointed when we went today. Went to the restaurant to eat around 9:45pm. They said they close at 11. Even at Unilocal it says they close at midnight. Ugh

THIEVES– Such horribly poor service. We were 2 of only 6 people in there, and still we had to ask our non English speaking waitress for water three times before she brought it. Also we didn’t even get sides brought to us until our 2^nd serving. Meat was hardly meat, all grizzle and fat. ALSO TO TOP IT ALL OFF, my boyfriends phone was stolen while we were here. Never going back, not even worth one star.

Great food awesome service. All there food is good. What a great value for what you get. Not far from Knott berry farm or disneyland. So worth the drive to not eat around the amusement parks.

Their prices are misleading. I went in at lunchtime on my own. The hostess pointed to the $ 9.99 AYCE menu item and said that it would be $ 14.99. I said that I didn’t understand, and she thought I meant that I didn’t understand because of her accent, so she brought over a different waitress. The new waitress pointed to the $ 9.99 offer and said that it would be $ 11.00. I asked why it would be more expensive than what was shown on the menu and she explained that was the price for two or more people. There was no fine print, this is just something you have to find out for yourself, or by reading this review.
I have no idea if the food is good or not, I just left.

Food was good, they offer a 9.99 option which is the only reason why we tried it in the first place! Unlimited ice cream as well! Give it a try, limited side dishes but it’s tasty, meats are marinated well, if other places are packed, definitely give this place a try

This place is quiet and has a good ambiance the waitress was so kind and gave as the side dishes. We ordered 9.99 and the meat got prepared so quick. Awesome staff and good price

I want to clear any bad reviews from this restaurant.
I love the late hours, I got there around 10pm and it was empty. The ajumas were really nice. I greeted them in Korean and they seem to like it when you try to speak their language. They kept coming to our table asking if we were ok, if we needed more meat or drinks. Very attentive. There was one ajuma that was a little serious but you have to understand the difference in culture. Koreans aren’t accustomed to being friendly and smiling to non Koreans (at least not the American Koreans). Overall, I loved the service and the food. The price was really good! I usually spend around $ 55-​$ 60 for two people but we were 3 adults and our bill was lower than $ 60
I will definitely go back!

I came here for their all you can eat 9.99 kbbq and was disappointed. The 9.99 included beef brisket, beef belly, pork belly, marinated pork belly, and marinated chicken. I ordered beef brisket, pork belly, and marinated pork belly. The pork belly was pretty much the same thing as brisket — same thin slice meat, but with a little more fat — and it tasted almost the same. The marinated pork was practically not marinated. I think I might’ve seen the tiniest bit of sauce on the pork, but it definitely did not taste like any flavored marinade. The 9.99 did not include any pancake, tofu soup, steamed egg, or any other dishes besides the five meat choices.
Although the food was disappointing, i can’t complain about the price. It wasn’t crowded for a Saturday night, which is a plus. Service was good as well. There are definitely better ayce kbbqs, but since I was looking for something in the area, I’m ok with the place.

We were suppose to eat at a restaurant next door but they weren’t open yet — my dad didn’t have much time so we walked into here since the sign said ‘open’. We walked in and no one was in the restaurant. No customers, no workers. We heard things towards the kitchen area — after we yelled «hello» 5 times, a woman walks out and counts us and goes straight to a table then walks away. It took about another 5 minutes til she came back to take our drink orders — another 5 minutes to get the drinks & so on. Service is horrible & i was expecting the food to be bad as well — it was okay. Surprised me — but nothing i would go back for.
We were the only people there for about 2 hours — as we were leaving, a group of 2 walked in.
Not quite sure what this business is trying to do — i mean sure, everyone has down-​time but when customers are in your restaurant, you’re suppose to be on your toes and make sure everything goes accordingly.
I’ll just stick to Moodaepo in Rowland Heights.

Definitely an underrated Korean BBQ restaurant.
Meat quality and service were good. Definitely under-​staffed, so be patient and stop being an ass. There’s usually one or two people working here, but when we were here, one ajumma was holding the fort down.
The ajumma was really sweet and brought more soju bottles when we were running low and constantly refilled our waters and brought more napkins for the table. We weren’t in a hurry, so we told her to take her time, since more customers were pouring into the restaurant. One thing, though — the naengmyun was just meh.
here’s some advice: instead of getting an ayce option, order their combos. you’ll get better meat quality and you’ll go home happy and full, instead of gross and full.

Ordered a Togo order 40 minutes ago and they still have not even started cooking it
We got so fed up that we left
It would have been understandable if they were busy but there were hardly any customers inside. Don’t waste your time or money coming here.
This place needs to close down and someone else who values customers should open.

2.5 stars. It wasn’t bad, and you get plenty of food for $ 9.99. You can choose from beef brisket, beef belly, pork belly, marinated pork belly, and sweet and spicy marinated chicken. Our favorite was the marinated pork belly — it wasn’t too fatty like it usually is at other places. I personally thought the chicken was really good, but my parents thought the marinade was too sweet. Just be careful to check if it’s cooked all the way through since the marinade is a reddish color, so it’s hard to tell if there’s still blood. The brisket was pretty good the first round, but the next one was more frozen so it took longer to cook and therefore got tougher/​drier. Ban chan was limited, and the sliced radish wasn’t crunchy.
What really took away from our experience was the service. There was literally one guy working the whole restaurant — luckily for him, there was only us (table of 4), another table of 3, and a table of 4 – 6 older ladies. But even then, we had to ask for things several times, and we ended up just giving up because we didn’t want to bother him more! We felt bad for him, honestly. But, at the very end of our meal, we waited so long for our meat to come out that we had to turn off the fire ’cause our grill was getting so burnt. He ended up changing it for us, though, so it’s not like the service is bad. It’s just slow and inefficient.
FYI’s:
— you have to ask (or at least, we did) for the radish paper and rice paper
— be careful of the build-​up of oil and grease beneath the grill; ours kept popping and the flames got a little much so we flagged them down to dump out the excess oil
— they didn’t turn on the fan above us, and I don’t know why — but we didn’t ask about it ’cause they were just so backed up and we didn’t want to cause more trouble

Let’s start by mentioning that this review will not be written by an ayce kbbq rookie. I’ve been to numerous places from Garden Grove to LA and everything in between several times each so I feel qualify to give a thorough review of this place.
It definitely made it on my top 5, actually the more I think about it might be my first or second favorite. I’ve ranked the places I’ve been to from highest to lowest.
Surawon (the best… see below)
LA Palma (amazing, cheap, best meat, service, salad and sides, all around)
Red Palace (cheap, many choices, but always loud and pack. Brisket isn’t the best in my opinion)
Stars (expensive but highest quality, nice looking)
Hwangs (great meat, cool table, but pricey)
Jays BBQ (amazing service overall everythin average)
LA Family House (closed, super late hours, tasty)
Furosato (overall average, standard 9.99, great as back up)
Lee’s BBQ (loud and pack at times, but tasty and cheap)
Ma Dang Sae (horrible service standard price and meat, side dish sucks)
Every where else (average)
As you can see most places are average and has their own pros and cons. This place is one of the few with pretty much no cons and extra pros.
First it’s usually empty because it’s somewhat hidden, away from most restaurants, and Unilocal use to say closed all of the time. Perfect for quiet time, no wait, better service. But when you catch them at a busy time, the are currently understaffed but you will get service. Every worker is very nice, hard working, and not ignoring anyone. Kbbq is one of those experience that requires many attention from waiters… more salad, more beef, more rice paper, more water, more sauce, I played with fire and now need it relit, more side dishes, more soju, more meat again, more sauce, more rice, I dropped my chopsticks, more napkins, etc.
Second pricing is great. They just started doing all you can eat again this month. Pricing is 9.99, 13.99, 19.99 all includes great items worth every penny. Quality is high basic includes delicious beef brisket, beef belly, pork belly, marinated pork belly and chicken, spicy sweet chicken, marinated pork. Sides are plenty, unique, fresh, and tasty. Combo b includes all of the above and intestines, fresh vegetables, big spicy peeled shrimp marinated, marinated squid, steam tofu and more! Yum! After 8:30 is 2.99 soju or regular 4.99 now that’s cheap!
Food is seriously good. All the marinated dishes is mixed with a variety of onion, pepper, and other vegetable for fun flavorful grilling. They change grill when necessary. Soda is cheap and water is good too.
This place is definitely underrated and definitely deserve 1 chance. It will win you over. Opens late like midnight, and not strict if you come late like other places, and they did stay after hours just for our one group. Very nice lady who owns the place. It’s tied with my all time favorite la palma bbq but this just edge out with its choices of meats and seafood.

Good service. There is 3 options for ayce bbq.
There is a $ 9.99 option but I got the $ 13.99 option instead because that one comes with spicy shrimp, squid, steamed eggs, and intestine. Yum! They also have $ 2.99 soju starting at 8:30pm. So cheap… I got two bottles of soju last night. I might go again today.
Dot dot dot
Update:
I went there again tonight. I hate all the negative reviews. This place is underrated. The owner/​waitress is very nice here.
I got the $ 13.99 ayce again… and two bottles of soju @ $ 2.99 each. The squid and intestine is so good. It was busy tonight…
For all the negative reviews here… really guys?
I really cannot imagine anyone giving negative reviews.
I am going to be blunt… food here is cheap and good.
If you do not like it, take your CHEAP-​ASS elsewhere.

K BBQ at its finest here in the Cerritos area. This is definitely our go-​to place. It’s a small hole-​in-​the-​wall and the service is a little lacking. But once you get past that, you can really come to appreciate the quality of the ingredients. They provide fresh veggies and banchan, where you can tell that they bring in their own from the farm. The owner specifically told us that she brings it in from her own farm, or maybe she works with a particular farm to get the fresh produce? Either way, it’s FRESH.
My dad was in the mood for some sizzling marinated pork, so we tried it for the first time last time and it was on point. We asked for spicy, and they brought on the heat! Perfect amount of heat and sweetness from the glaze, and it came out on a sizzling platter, which makes it even more delicious in my opinion.

One of the other local KBBQ places was packed, so waiting wasn’t an option. I had read a variety of reviews about this plaza so we headed over. I couldn’t remember the name of the specific restaurant so we just chose one. The wife wanted her BBQ fix so that took us to this shop. The health rating was «A» so we went on in.
We were greeted and this place was at about 70% capacity. The main room and side room all had people eating away. The table staff cleared a table and we were promptly seated. The floors were clean and not a greasy-​sticky mess that some other BBQ places are. The bathroom was equally clean. So far doing well.
We’ve had Korean food but pretty touristy, the menu had unfamiliar items. We chose the $ 9.99 AYCE basic. The banchan dishes were out pretty quick and we dug in while waiting for the meats to arrive. I was expecting a salt fest but these were not, very tasty and the hotness of the chili seasonings came through. We’re both wimpy when it comes to spicy-​hot foods though we really liked the taste of these. (Said while wiping the sweat from our foreheads and eyes. :)) The meats we chose were the beef brisket, and pork belly. Typical basic eats that were tasty.
Service was attentive if more on the relaxed side. Our server asked if we wanted any additional banchan dishes and we didn’t feel left to hang in anyway. We’ve been back 2 additional times to try other menu selections. Each of our visits we’ve been treated well and left with happy stomachs.
On our second visit we had the $ 45 combo selection and at the recommendation of the server she suggested the octopus spicy rice. They made it less spicy for us and this was a dish we absolutely enjoyed!
This place is nice for families and older crowds who want to enjoy eating in a quieter more relaxed environment. Our total eat time is about an hour and 15 minutes per visit, this style suits us. It is unavoidable that you will leave smelling like KBBQ but that is part of it. ;)
The parking lot is smallish and well spaced. Get there early or after the rush, the restaurants there will fill it up quickly on a Friday or Sat evening. It is also well lit so that is a plus.
We’ll be back.

aged and nothing fancy small strip mall location… convenience the factor in visit. ayce bbq back on the menu and taken off again. back and forth… shabu shabu added… hard sell on the shabu shabu and taking… standard sides of banchan served… sweet cooked potato cubes, kimchi, quick pickles, etc… mayo salad tasting quite off, so requesting to take away… the shabu broth similar in taste to sweet udon broth… single dipping sauce also sweet… beef fine and vegetables refill complimentary… shabu shabu on the sweeter side overall… watery sukiyaki flavor… beer and soju overflowing cups non-stop…free complimentary plate of duck to try in the shabu shabu… actually was better than the beef… korean charm and free soju bottle service provided… free duck and soju excellent… good service to overindulgent customers…
$ 54.99…4 pork meats meal is really good deal and feed 4… pork belly, pork slices, marinated spicy pork and pork instestines… soup included… intestines were pretty bad, but everything else was fine… hope they keep this special