Korea House

We came here on a late Thursday afternoon. There were no other customers except for our group of five. We ordered:
Spicy Chicken (it was really sweet)
Beef Brisket (pretty tender and not overly dry like other places)
Beef Bulgogi (decent)
Overall, food was average.
Service was unacceptable considering the low volume of people in the restaurant. You’d think they’d check up on us a little more frequently to see if we were okay or needed anything but they only came around twice. Also, staff was a little rude. They rushed us to finish cooking the chicken so they could replace our grill but it was still undercooked when we took it off. That wasn’t okay with me.
After our meal, the server didn’t read the receipt correctly. We had left them a tip through the credit card since we didn’t have enough cash on us, but the server came out and looked at us «not even a tip? Not even a dollar?» That was EXTREMELY unacceptable and unprofessional. After being pushy my friend gave him a dollar to leave us alone. This turned me off from ever coming back.

Came here with my mom and my mom’s friend. I think a lot of reviews mention the AYCE grill option, but we came for just a regular lunch and ordered a la carte. Pretty decent spread of banchan, and the food was not bad either. They did forget one of our items so we had to wait a while for it. Also, the servers don’t have the best English, but we were more or less able to communicate, and at least they were friendly.
A solid Korean restaurant for this part of Irvine!

I go here quite often. It’s good for a date, and ranges from $ 17 – 25 per person for all you can eat goodness. They always are really nice to me and the food is pretty good. I personally recommend their ribs! They have a rule for their all you can eat menu, that you have to have 2+ people to eat from the all you can eat menu. On Christmas they were nice enough to allow me to eat the all you can eat service anyway!
The only thing I would say is a downside is their menu is not completely up to date. Certain things are not the same anymore and it’s sort of misleading; But I’ve never had an issue here.

My parents and I frequent this place. At least once a week. Their lunch specials are great price. We never do All You Can Eat Korean BBQ. We go with a-​la-​cart menu items. Today, we got grilled pork with nappa cabbage wrap (bossam) with Korean miso stew $ 9.99, KalBi $ 9.99 and Korean cold noodle (NengMyeon) for $ 7.99 Everything = delicious. And their side dishes (banchan) is extra authentic! Kimchees are always very good. We were told owner grows some of Korean vegetables herself, so it’s kinda Farm to Plate, in Korean style!

Waited in front of door like an invisible person, went to sit down by myself, ring the bell over 10 times, said hello to the worker and did not draw any attention, decided to leave :)
NMV! I actually waited and the food was actually pretty decent hah.
The Korean waitress is very friendly and give my friend free rice!
The food comes with a lot of side dishes!
Excellent!
Next time just don’t stand in front of the restaurant like an invisible man, go inside and get urself a seat hahah, keep waving at the waiters! Trust me u will be noticed in 5mins

As a typical Mom and Pop Small Korean Restaurant, the service was mediocre. Traditional koreans (around 40 years old) tend to ignore younger customers and cater more towards the WAY older adults. I had to ask for my side dishes refilled multiple times because they would either forget… or maybe they didn’t really care.
I had the «Gam Ja Tang» (Potato Beef Stew) Which was really delicious. It had so much dried Perilla seeds (which I personally love). Only problem I had with the food was that there was only one piece of potato in my soup. There was also a lot of vegetables in the soup that were flavorful due to the long simmer which is a process to make a good «Gam Ja Tang»
Would I come back? — Only if there was nothing else better to eat.
Will I ever crave this particular restaurant? — No.

I was Just there, standing at front for like 10 minutes. The staff were passing right in front of me and pretending we were invisible !!

Service here can be better. I walked it, there’s a nice lady who welcomed me and explained the menu and everything. I told her we will be back because my friend and I are still trying to see what we want to eat… My friend and I were pretty hungry so we chose this place for all you can eat! It’s 19.99 for dinner*
Then when we sat down, the service was like … Once you sat down I feel like they just don’t care anymore because you’re inside their restaurant. I had to flag the lady down 3 times for a bowl of rice. Lol.
The meat quality here can be comparable to gen, the beer belly was tender and so was the brisket. I recommend coming here if you’re very hungry and wanted something like gen but don’t want to wait!

If u r hungry this is the place to do it
I was a fan on the first beef selection but not the second one. Service was awesome and for AYCE can’t beat the price

Have made several visits here… it’s good, solid Korean food. I’d skip the bbq and order an entrée… I usually have my Korean co-​worker with me, so Language is no barrier and we get great service. I’ve noticed other reviewers complain that the service is slow and I’m guessing they don’t know to PRESS THE BUTTON at your table. That is the norm for a Korean restaurant… they leave you alone until you PRESS THE BUTTON! Like I said, this place is A-​OK but if you are in this area, you are better served at Shik Do Rak.

Gross.
Terrible experience. Overcharge non Korean diners. You kidding me? Cheat and rob people out of money… Can’t believe this place: I used to really enjoy it. Also serving bad meat. Telling us that they were out of everything then served more people things they were «out of.»
Bull, gross and unsanitary. Sadly there’s a few good workers left. A guy and a older woman. Sorry to the good employees here. The rest, well you guys suck.

Highlights
+ Side Dishes
+ Big Menu
— Small Grill
— Bad Meat
— Slow Service
I can see what the hubbub about the service here is like. I went there on a slow afternoon with enough waiters to service the tables, but shockingly the service was slow. Initial water took long, the meat orders were delayed and far in between and they just didn’t seem to happy to be there. The meat quality (in AYCE) is questionable as it almost had a rubbery texture. Overall I’d forego Korea House if you’re going to the AYCE and drive another 15~20 minutes to other KBBQ.

The worst service i have ever had, i had to go walk into the back to see if anybody was working!
Then my 70 year old korean mother in law walked into the back yet again to have our order taken!!!
Waited 10min for our drinks, then finally the meat comes out which is the fattiest meat at a korean bbq. And then the lady just piles it on the grill! Next i ask for some rice which takes another 10 min, at this point im so mad i just tell her we are done and want to leave! My mother in law was still charged $ 40 after how unhappy we were with the service and meat!
Do not go here! Also horrible english!

Waited for 5 mins at the door staring at the menu.
We even rang the bell and the bus boy walked past us. The lady by the tables didn’t even acknowledge us.
For this ridiculous price at least have good service.
No wonder there were only two tables filled
Won’t be coming back.

How do I give zero stars? We went here for lunch and found caterpillar in the tofu stew. When we brought to the waitress’s attention, she said that these things happen in restaurants. She did not think it was a big deal. Wtf?!?
***8/​7/​2015: Update of the above review***
The owner of this restaurant reached out to me directly to apologize for this situation. His response to the worm is:
«Please understand that we grow most of our produce organically in our own gardens. Although we meticulously go through all our produce to ensure quality, since no pesticides are used, it looks like this little grub got past our inspection. I assure you that the grub will not to any bodily harm to you.»
I appreciate the owner reaching out to me directly to explain this situation and it really meant a lot. He also offered us a discount for our next meal, which I politely declined as that was NOT my intention when I posted this review. I was just mad and frustrated by the waitress’s attitude towards us. I hope that the owner will offer better training to his staff to avoid situations like this in the future.

We had a big party here and were able to reserve both of their private dining rooms. There are not many places in Irvine that have rooms, so it’s nice that these each fit about 15 or so people. The food was great for the price since we were able to order lunch specials for all of our guests. They liked the kalbi and bulgogi and dak bulgogi a lot. The bibimbap is good as well. I had no complaints about the service here whatsoever. The servers were very accommodating and they worked really hard to fulfill the needs of our guests.
Yu was especially helpful in making the reservation and assuring the food and service were great. We had a really good experience dining at Korea House, still a classic place to get good Korean food for lunch.

NOTE: they don’t take the free coke/​sprite coupon they have listed on Unilocal.I chose to come to this kbbq instead of others for that reason alone and they said they couldn’t give it to me –_–
Ok I came at around 8:20pm and saw that they had a poster that said lunch price of $ 15.99 after 8:50pm so I was like damn I’m going to have to wait, but I mentioned it to the workers and the korean lady was nice enough to give me that price at 8:20pm. Which is probably the ONLY reason why I’m giving this place 3 stars instead of 2. LOL Because the servers were nice.
BUT I do not recommend coming here. They have HORRIBLE SERVICE. Not in the «oh she’s rude af» way but the type where THEY DON’T SERVE YOU AT ALL. I literally had to ask a thousand times for everything. SO ANNOYING –_​– They literally seat you and take your order and barely come back after that. There wasn’t even anyone else really in the restaurant smh.
Probably the cheapest kbbq in irvine you’re going to find at this time though. The meat/​egg/​etc. aren’t shitty though. The food is pretty decent, but you will def get full just WAITING for your food to come!!!

COME AFTER 8:50pm on weekdays to get the lunch special price of 15.99!!! PLUS they do not acknowledge the Unilocal offer for a free coke or sprite!!!
Arrived on a Wednesday night with my starving beast of a gf at approximately 8:20pm and the lady said it was fine that she would give us the lunch special price. Thank God or us being the cheap ass college students we are would have prolly waited outside in the cold till it hit 8:50.
Overall restaurant wasn’t crowded at all. There were bout 2 other parties in the whole restaurant. This is the reason why I don’t understand the poor service. They had 3 employees working. Only one of the ladies seemed like she cared a rats ass bout serving us. The meat came out really slow and we had to keep asking for simple things including rice paper or sauce. I really hope it wasn’t a language barrier but looking at past reviews I ain’t the first to complain.
The only thing that is saving this place from getting less stars is the steamed egg. I judge these basic kbbq spots by the egg. This place had BOMB eggs. Only if the waitress brought out more like I asked for. The meat was decent. I’ve had way worse quality meat. At least they put the meat on the plate in a cool hip way for better pictures for instagram!
So in the end come here if you Tryna save money in Irvine. Just beware you will have to work for it to get your food!
IG: robeanoo

Korea House makes the grade for Kbeebz in west Irvine.
This restaurant has sat proudly in the same Uni Park/​Turtle Rock location for decades and it took me until last week to finally walk in to kill a seemingly insatiable Kbeebz fiending. The reviews are all over the place, so I kind of threw Unilocal out the window and walked in with an open mind and I liked what I experienced. The service could be interpreted as a bit gruff, but considering that I came to packed house on a Friday night I think they were concentrating on the crowd, which suited me just fine.
The Kbeebz comes in 3 separate price points. A $ 15.99 base level is available off peak hours and seemed like the smart money had I not come during prime time. There was also a $ 24.99 premium level, which seemed overly fanciful for me so the $ 19.99 mid range option got the nod and offered all the usual KBBQ suspects and even some fun alternatives (Spicy Brisket, anyone?).
The Bulgogi was definately on point as was the marinated Short Ribs and the aforementioned Spicy Brisket. Meat quality was fair, if not good considering the cost of admission and remember it is AYCE after all.
The banchan dishes were all fresh and quite flavorful, no complaints on the small dishes from me. The Kimchi was a touch sweet but still very paltettable and I just realized I totally forgot to ask for my personal fave bantam, moogunchi. Damn, that is regrettable but moving forward…
The fact that a Korean based menu was able to survive west Irvine’s culinary dark ages alone is a gigantic feat to be proud of. Add in ownership changes and the sudden competition arriving en masse over the last 5 years and one has to admire Korea House’s tenacity if nothing else. With reasonable prices and a quality product, they can count on my return.

From four stars to one star! Beware: The restaurant has had a change of ownership and the quality of food and service levels are significantly different.
I came to the Korea House about 9 months ago (Sept 13) with 25 of my colleagues. We had a really good time, as the food quality was nice and the service was good. A new change has come, and I don’t know if I like it…
I literally had to call the restaurant 6+ times to get someone to pick up the phone and to make a reservation. I again brought 25 of my friends to this restaurant to have a celebration, and I have to admit that I was a bit embarassed about the food quality and service. We all ordered the $ 19.99 choice AYCE dinner.
The food: As you can see from the new 6+ pictures that I posted about the food, they serve lower than average quality products. The meats are not only poor quality, but mismatched. The portions are very small and skimpy (notice the tempura combo for 5 people was small). The low quaity of food was consistent across almost all orders of Kalbi, bulgogi, boneless kalbi, tempura, spicy pork, squid, etc.
The service: With the 25 of us in the private room, we had 1.5 workers assigned to our tables. The waitress was quite stressed out with the number of people at the table and it surely showed in her service levels. *Funny thing is that after I paid the entire bill for 25 of my guests, she was the sweetest pie ever! She asked how our meal was, if we had a nice time, etc… Despite her poor service, I gave her a 20% tip. She didn’t deserve it, but I understand that she has to make a living.
Every 6 – 9 months, I bring a group of about 25 people back to the restaurant. This is 25 NEW customers for the restaurant to add to their clientele list. I don’t know if I’ll be returning to the Korea House anytime soon, if they don’t clean up their food quality and service issues.
Food Grade: D–
Service Grade: D–
Worth the Money Grade: D–
Overall Impression: D–