Yong’s Kalbi

The amount of food was a nice amount for the price you pay. I had the combination Korean chicken, mundoo, and meat jun. Korean chicken is similar to Teri chicken, mundoo filling was not portioned equally, and the meat jun had too much egg batter. Side veggies were alright except for the daikon which had too much vinegar.

Oh wow this was good. When we walked in we saw locals of many cultures and knew it was good. Kalbi beef is the best. The green dark veggie side is awesome pipinola! Chicken katsu a safe bet if your too scared to adventure. Soups are amazing ! Must try it!

Delicious traditional Korean food.
Reasonable price and good service. You can pick 3 side dishes that are included. The entrée took a bit to be prepared but I can tell they made it fresh.

We were desperate for Korean food so we checked this place out. We ordered the chicken with bulgogi. It also came with two Gyozas. This is exactly what we needed and we were pleasantly surprised! We will be coming back for sure.

My family ordered the Galbi, Katsu, and Tofu Soup, which all were good. However, I was disappointed with my Bulgogi plate. The meat was just so dry… Probably wouldn’t order it again and would just stick with the Galbi– which seems to be the popular dish here.
It was nice to know there are a few Korean restaurant’s here on the island, but this place is just OK.

They make fabulous Saba (mackerel). Delicious sides, not sweet. I get the kimchee, ferns, and seaweed. Tasty free barley tea. My favorite place to grab lunch in Waimea. Not a fancy interior, but who cares? It’s about the food.

Excellent food for Korean plate, reasonable, clean, and nice Mom & Pop shop. Love the pipinolo ban chan — that’s Kamuela!

Place is not as clean as desired but food compensated this point. Bi-​bim bop witb tofu really tasty but the star was the beef noodle soup, mmmm delicious. Unexpensive and really good. Hard time trying to understand Mr. Yong. jjja a spaniard and a Korean speaking english…

Err, ok. Reviews misled.
If you love the food here, it’s a great acid test that you consume too much sodium in your diet daily. Pretty much all the flavors were … salt. Never tasted kimchi like this before; realized the predominant flavors were wrong and weird – and predominantly salt. You will be disappointed coming from anywhere you are used to (more) authentic Viet, Korean, or Japanese food (yea, restaurant claims to serve it all).
Chicken was ok. Two kinda of fish, tofu, kimchi, seaweed all just salty. Maybe not mouth pinchingly salty, but still way too much.
Family claims to have seen flies land on food from across the restaurant. Also there was a sticker in our food, so «??». Not sure about the owner. Not nice to us but nice to some other people.
Why two stars? Chicken really was okay. Uh.

I’ve been reluctantly going here for many years because it is one of the few korean eateries on the island. And before this last time, one of the best kimchi I could get by the gallon. But, this last experience warrants a review as I will never be returning there again.
So, I’m there for my monthly gallon of kimchi, and I usually get something to go for dinner later on with the family. This time I ordered a relatively new item on the menu, kimbap, which is essentially a sushi roll with assorted veggies and usually beef, shrimp or tofu. They were on the pricey side, as all their menu items are (as Mr. Kim the Christian makes sure he makes his), but 20 min. later I was standing in front of him as two other customers came in, ordered, got served, and were eating as I continued to wait a couple minutes more. I asked him what’s taking so long, and his general arrogance so akin to many short, korean man (as I am a korean woman who knows) couldn’t even break in that moment to apologize to a customer but only reply «That’s how long it takes.» Screw you, Mr. Kim, I’ve made those rolls before with my grandmother and she’d roll you under the table. Your money-​grubbing, rude attitude isn’t warranted by your mediocre food and from this last batch of kimchi, your ever growing decline of quality and pride in your food that I’m used to seeing in Korean restauranteurs. Never again.

I absolutely love the food here… Tasty and affordable. service was friendly too… Korean chicken was spot on. Soooo. I live in Hilo. And I guess Kalbi Express would be something to compare… But this place is waaaaay better… I’ll be coming back whenever I pass through Waimea.

One of the best Korean spots on the island. Can’t go wrong with the bugogi and chicken combo. Typical sides but very flavorful and traditional. I usually order the Ox tail soup and fried rice with a side of the fried mandoo. The Seafood Jun is also a great dish that’s very filling.

It’s been a few years but the food is still just as good as I remember. All the combos are great and the Korean jigaes (stews) are excellent. I see a lot of ppl getting the bibimbap.

Yong’s Kalbi has solid Korean food with large portions. The restaurant itself is located at the end of the Waimea Shopping Center which is a strip mall. For those tourists, just pull into the McDonalds at the light and keep going to the end of the strip. I guess that makes this a hole in the wall, but I’ve been to sketchier places.
First timers should just order a combo. Try a little of everything. I ordered #24 — Kalbi, Korean Chicken and Fried Mandoo. You get three choices of sides — for me it was the kimchee, clear noodle and I believe tempura fried poi (it was purple). And a side of rice. All of the food was very good, but I do prefer a stronger spice base.
When I return to Hawai’i I would most likely order from the Korean Specials (#26 — 46).

I love Yong’s Kalbi. My go to plate is the #25– Kalbi, Shrimp Tempura and Chicken. mmmm! I love their ponzu sauce thats served with it! For sides? I usually get the pipinola, kim chi and japchae noodles.
Decent prices for what its worth… an average about $ 10-​$ 12 a plate. Friendly and homey atmosphere. I wouldn’t necessarily call this a hole in the wall, however its not the fanciest. Just a local spot to go in and enjoy!

I’m in hawaii for a week and the hotel I’m staying doesn’t have a good restaurants. I’ve had decent sushi in this island but this place is hands down my favorite. The fact that I’m korean helps a lot that a korean place run by Korean people…
I got kimchi stew and it tastes so yummy! I always crave my moms Korean food and this place is sort of close to what my mom would make!

We went to Yong’s Kalbi for a cheap, tasty, and filling Korean plate dinner. I had the fried mandoo plate which was pretty good. My husband had the spicy pork plate which he enjoyed.

Four of us had lunch here yesterday. Unassuming place with a huge variety of menu items. Took us a little while to scan the wall and figure out what we were going to eat. Although everyone enjoyed their food, I think the #4 Spicy Pork was probably the best item on the menu, in the city, and on the whole island! Well, for Korean food at least!
I could have gorged on this meat all day long, but the serving portion was large enough that I could barely finish the plate … but I did. It was so good I forgot to take a photo of the food, but I did get a fantastic photo of the empty plate!
I totally recommend this place to anyone searching for some authentic Korean food. They have many other items on the menu, but stick with the Korean stuff — that’s why they call this a Korean restaurant. My wife got #22 Combo and I had to help her finish it. Tasty stuff here. It’s a hole in the wall, but located in a shopping center.

Huge portions of food. Decent prices. Probably a 3.5, if i could give half-​stars; a solid 3, but not quite fabulous enough to push it into 4 territory.
Bummed that the Bi Bim Bap was not sizzling like I’ve had it before elsewhere — it is room temperature here. Opted instead for the #22 combo. Combo plates come with three vegetable choices (four if you forego rice). The #22 comes with BBQ Chicken (lots of it), a big piece of nicely-​seasoned Bulgogi, and two fried Mandoo.
Long rice was good. Kimchi was serviceable. Everything was tasty, just not the best I’ve ever had.
Owner was… efficient. Not effusive by any stretch of the imagination, but not rude.

After going Off-​Roading at Waipio Valley Lookout, I was starving and for some reason craving Korean food. I don’t know why…
Yong’s had 4 stars on Unilocal,so decided to give it a try. Located at a strip mall with plenty of parking available.
Most of the restaurants in the Big Island are very welcoming but NOT THIS ONE! The man who I believe was the owner was unfriendly and borderline mean! He gave a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes when we weren’t ready to order. Hello, we just got there 2 secs ago, Chill Brah! We were the only ones in line!
We ordered the kalbi and bulgogi combo and each came with two sides of your choice. Instead of asking politely which sides I wanted, he said «Pick two» with a mean tone. When I wasn’t able to answer right away, again he gave a heavy sign and rolled eyes… WTF! Seriously, Chill the F out!
I noticed other customers (non-​asians) come in and he was pleasant with them… WTH!
Bulgogi: dry, tough and wasn’t cut.
Kalbi: tastier than the bulgogi.
Sides: jap chae was good.
The mac salad and rice was so tiny, two golf sized balls… booo!
All in all, food was OK (3 stars) but because of the mean grumpy man, minus 1 star. Blah!