Gui Il Bun Ji BBQ Restaurant

Apparently this place is no longer around. BUSINESS CLOSED. Please update on Unilocal.It would of been nice to know beforehand that this place is gone out of business. Bound to happen when it is $ 10 AYCE KBBQ.

Unlimited KBBQ??? Count me in
It is cheap here but I guess you get what you pay for.
Meat quality is so-​so…

We started going here when they would do the 10 dollar special. Love this place! We make an event out of going here… mostly because we can’t move after all the bulgogi we devour and also because we reek of BBQ after. Love how close it is to the metro so we can always hop on and have a couple OB beers here with our food then walk back to the Metro.
Lots of options between the different all you can eat options.
there prices have gone up but still a pretty good deal for Korean BBQ.
Employees are super friendly and will always bring some cut up veggies for my little 1 year old to munch on and keep her entertained while they wait for the food to finish cooking.
Wish we still lived down the street from them so we could go more often.

WARNING: Prices have gone up from the standard $ 10.99 to $ 14.99 for dinner
At the original $ 10.99 price, I would’ve definitely given this place 4 stars. The meat selection is really great — They have tons of pork belly (wine, curry, spicy, garlic, thin-​sliced, etc.) and have options like pork skin, spicy pork bulgogi that other places don’t really offer, on top of the usual brisket and beef bulgogi. The side dishes were okay: They had spicy soy bean sprouts, plenty of kimchi, some japchae, potato salad, and some asian slaw that had a hint of wasabi seasoning in it.
The downside is that there is no real salad with the meat. I personally don’t like the taste of wasabi so I didn’t eat much of the asian slaw. The service also was AWFUL. The restaurant was virtually empty on a Saturday night and we had to ring up the servers countless times before they finally came on time to roll their eyes at us and rudely asked why they were called. They were very hesitant to switch the grill and walked away before we could make further requests.
The meat itself was both good and bad. They definitely are best at pork — their spicy pork belly and thin sliced pork belly were delicious but the beef brisket and beef bulgogi were 50% fat and had a particular taste to it (not necessarily bad).
I would definitely keep coming back to this kbbq joint if their price was lowered again, but at $ 14.99 I’m not so sure it’s worth it anymore — I’d rather visit other places with better quality meat for a little more money.

As someone who really enjoys eating cheap good food, I was shocked by the condition o this restaurant. There were noticeable cracks in the walls and ceiling but what appalled me the most was the condition of their restroom. I won’t go into more detail but the lack of sanitary control in some parts of the restaurant made me question how much I value cheap food over health risks.
Given that, the food was definitely above my expectations even surpassing some of my more favored KBBQ restaurants. The quality of the meat was good, with fairly sized marbling on the brisket and tasty marinade on their spicy pork bulgogi. However, these items are found on most typical menus. What impressed me the most and gave this restaurant a four star rating was their pork bone soup. The soup was new to me but definitely makes my mouth water just thinking about it. The creaminess of the soup and texture of the fall-​of-​the-​bone meat are to die for. Best of all, this soup has a refreshing factor that helps cleans the palate so for those who enjoy eating a lot, this can definitely improve your meat eating stamina.
Overall, this place had a decent service although initially our waiter was quite rude. Maybe he knew we were Chinese because once our Korean friend arrived, his tone of voice changed as fast as the wind.
TL;DR The restaurant is dirty and I say that in the best manner possible but the food is good until the pork bone soup which will allow you to die in peace.

As long as you know what you’re coming here for, you can enjoy it.
If you’re expecting high end KBBQ with a ton of choices, this is not the place.
If you want a cheap quick fix for some good chadolbaegi, this hits the spot.
It’s very cheap, especially if you pay cash.
My only suggestion would be to sit towards the front of the restaurant. The back can get a little warm and service is a little slower.

3 stars is me being nice about this place.
First it place is a bit rundown. There are holes in the roof and other visual issues. You can just tell that this place needs a revamp.
I love AYCE BBQ and I was hoping this place can be my new fav but it wasn’t.
Food was pretty good but it’s not the best. My fiancé hated it cause it looked dirty inside here was even a bug came near her and she got freaked out
I would probably never come back. Road to Seoul is still the best!

Gui Il Bun Ji is one of my go to KBBQ places because the food is good, the service good, and it’s not too pricy.
The meat quality here is always pretty decent. I’m not a huge fan of the brisket here because depending on the day, it tends to be fatty and just breaks apart and takes forever to cook. If you’re a brisket only person, go on to Bud Namu. However, everything else here is pretty amazing. The service here is also on point. It’s not a huge joint so there are usually only 3 – 4 servers. Every table has a button though so they’re really good about getting you what you need and being really nice about it.
The only caveat with Gui Il Bun Ji is that I’ve seen «inflation» hit this place hard. Inevitably over time, places raise their prices or do some other sort of budget cutting. In the years I’ve come here, they raised their prices, discontinued some of their more expensive cuts of meat, and severely limited the items of the $ 9.99 menu. I understand that expenses for a restaurant can get high, but I feel like Gui Il Bun Ji’s been the most severe of all KBBQ joints that I’ve noticed anyway. However, with that said, I still think Gui Il Bun Ji’s still one of my top Korean BBQ places.
There are discounts for cash. Most recently, it was $ 1 off for the $ 10.99 menu and $ 2 for the $ 17.99 menu if I remember correctly. These are dinner prices and I don’t know if lunch prices are cheaper or not.
$ 2 valet unless you come at an off time.

I’ve been here a few times and the service and food was satisfactory. However, on my last visit I had a bad experience. I ordered the brisket and the meat looked like it came through a shredder. The pieces of brisket were stringy and torn apart. On top of that, the service was terrible. I always have to ask repeatedly for more meat, salad or etc.
They barely have any side dishes. I enjoy their onion/​cilantro thing though. Reminds me of pico de gallo without the tomatoes. The pork bone soup is pretty good. Their salad is not the typical salad you would find at a kbbq joint. They use cabbage and has a bitter taste sometimes.
The quality & service has gone down from when they first opened. When they first opened, I came almost every other week. But after my last visit I don’t think I would go back.

This place is right across from Moodaepo. With that being said, you’re probably better off going there. The meat quality here is not that great. The meat is basically 50% pieces of fat. Well I guess you get what you pay for. The service is just average, nothing real special. This place wasn’t that busy so we probably got a little more attention.

Place is located in a scary looking, rundown strip mall on 7^th Street. Met some buds tonight for dinner at 6:30. It was dead. We got seated in the back part of the restaurant (big mistake). They brought out a dome shaped pan with kimchee and marinated bean sprouts ala Honey Pig. The pan was nice and large to cook a fair amount of meat. We got the $ 16.99 AYCE option. The side dishes were disappointing. Only jap chae and a weird raw onion/​cilantro side dish. Where’s the potato salad? The salad was made from cabbage, not lettuce but it wasn’t bad.
Of course we started with the brisket. It was the best meat here. The presentation was nice and marbled. It was tender and flavorful. Then we got the pork belly and garlic pork belly. When they came out, they didn’t look appetizing .The pork belly was super duper thick and looked frozen. The garlic pork belly looked discolored and dry. They both tasted as they looked. Lets just say I wouldn’t order pork belly here again.
We finished with spicy pork bulgogi. It was alright. Nothing special.
FYI, do not sit in the back part of the restaurant as there is no ventilation whatsoever. I felt like I was being roasted in a oven. I absolutely HATE eating hot food in a hot environment. It was unbearable. Servers came only when you rang the bell. All they did was bring out what you needed and took off. No putting the meat on the pan or cutting the meat. Not going above and beyond what I am used to at Korean AYCE restaurants.
I really wanted to like this restaurant but besides the brisket, everything else was mediocre. I should’ve ordered the $ 11.99 option instead. Also the excessive heat in the back and the lack of service prevents me from coming back.

For an AYCE Korean BBQ joint, Gui Il Bun Ji BBQ Restaurant has some good ass quality meat. However, with all the neighborhood competition, I lost track of this business, so I now vow to make some repeat visits. I think they slightly remodeled and made some subtle changes to the menu. First, avoid the Combos A thru D and just stick with the AYCE options. I never noticed this before, but if you pay CASH, they’ll discount $ 2 per person.
Premium AYCE
* LUNCH — $ 17.99 (Regular), $ 15.99 (Cash)
* DINNER — $ 18.99 (Regular), $ 16.99 (Cash)
* Includes 22 different cuts of meat (including all kinds of pork, beef, some intestine and squid), with unlimited — steamed egg, bean paste soup, nurungji (scorched rice), and gamja tang (pork bone soup). This is an awesome deal. Remember, you’re getting choice meat here. The meat is not like Park’s BBQ or Soowon Galbi, but it does the job.
Regular AYCE
* LUNCH — $ 11.99 (Regular), $ 9.99 (Cash)
* DINNER — $ 12.99 (Regular), $ 10.00 (Cash)
* This option has a heavier discount, but you’re only getting 6 cuts of meat, with confusing rules on the additional sides. I kinda wanted to know what was up, but didn’t bother asking in fear of killing my buzz. Just trust me and stick with the Premium AYCE.
* Kids under 6 get charged $ 7.99 (Premium) and $ 5.99 (Regular).
* Leftover meat gets taxed $ 15 so don’t get greedy, unless you can put your money where your mouth is.
WANT TO KNOW?
— The large metal grill is similar to the ones you see at the Honey Pig chain. Enough room for everyone, but they won’t make the fried rice for you at the end. Just ask for the rice and mix it in yourself. No big thang.
— The ban chan is OK. You get rice paper, onion/​cilantro, potato salad, and the usual condiments.
— Check out the brisket.
— You should definitely French kiss and get some tongue.
— The kalbi is as good as it can be for AYCE. Time to warm up the kimchee and bean sprouts.
— The Notorious P.I.G. — they have my favorite, which is the thinly sliced pork and flavored pork (curry, wine, garlic), similar to the Eight Korean BBQ chain.
— I prefer the nurungji (scorched rice) and bean paste soup at the end. Really hits the spot after a hearty meal.
SEOUL TRAIN
What makes me laugh about this place is all the newspaper and magazine cut outs they use to plaster their walls. It’s been like this ever since they opened. A hint of South Korea in the 70’s that you just don’t see anymore.

The $ 18 price tag hits pound for pound at the mid level. The quality isn’t the best but u get a good variety of everything you’d order at the $ 25 level, like ribeye, pork shoulder, pork cheek, intestine, beef tongue, etc. also thought it was cool that gamjatang is offered as a soup choice. I like the dome shaped grill, it’s really easy to control how fast things cook.
they deck the grill with kimchi and sprouts in the beginning, but they don’t make the fried rice for you at the end, but hey, u can make your own. DIY! and so worth. The salad is a semi-​creamy Asian slaw. Soju’s cheap. A very decent place to get your fix.

This place is just whatever. I don’t see why people think this place is great. I felt misled by Unilocal.We had to pay $ 2 for parking. I took a friend visiting from New York here and felt embarrassed. The walls are plastered in old yellowed magazine pages. The staff here has terrible English. We asked for a pair of an extra pair of tongs and she brought out cow tongue for us and then we had to wait another 20 min for the tongs to come out lol.
The pork belly quality is definitely different /​better from the OC though.
After we finished our meal we went to have a smoke outside and a couple minutes later the waitress came outside and told us we didn’t leave her enough TIP… REALLY? Who does that That pissed me off. So we gave her more and just left.

«OMG, wah wah wah, the service is so terrible. Wah wah wah.»
DUDE and DUDETTES, you’re paying $ 10.99 for all-​you-​can-​eat KBBQ; what is there to complain about? Honestly, if I found hair in my food here, I know I wouldn’t have the right to complain. It’s $ 10.99 people. $ 10.99. For dinner. $ 10.99.
After I discovered this place, I realized how financially foolish it is to pay more than this price for ACYE KBBQ.
Sure, the quality of meat doesn’t compare to Kang Hodong, Park’s, or Chosun but people, it’s $ 10.99. For all the beef and pork you can eat. All for $ 10.99. Yup, $ 10.99. And it comes with delicious pork neck soup and a pot of steamed eggs.
And don’t complain when they charge you extra for paying with a credit card. It clearly says it on the menu and they ask you just to be sure. Don’t complain about the language barrier. Just shut up and enjoy the food =)

GIBJ what happened to you guys? You guys were my favorite AYCE KBBQ joint and sadly you fell from grace. Gone are those days with the short silver haired lady and the extremely friendly waiters. You now are replaced by a pony tailed manager and extremely unhelpful waiters. Your meat quality has also gone down the drain.
Sad day for KBBQ in LA.

I would strongly recommend you use the valet option if you come! It’s not worth the hassle to find parking when you can just pay $ 3 to get it taken care of (especially with a larger group)
What’s there to say about this place? It comes as quite a standard AYCE in koreatown. As such, the meat and variety is what you’d expect (with a couple «special» marinades). Would say that in the noise of all the AYCE-​kbbq places, this fits somewhere in the average.

Our group came on decision to eat KBBQ, after been walking countless hours in the L.A. Auto show. There is was a lot of selection in K-​Town, but we ended up this one, since it got four stars, and also have AYCE!
There was parking spot in the lot, but we were force to pay the $ 2 valet even though we park ourselves. There was no waiting despite is Friday night. The décor is modest, could some remodel. We choose the $ 15.99 AYCE option, if you paying credit card it cost $ 2 more each person.
They got the usual stuff like brisket, beef tongue, and pork belly. The steak is only one piece for two person. There were no short ribs in this price.
Overall, the meat was not bad but for this price cannot be complain. We told them staff that we choose to paid them in cash, instead they foot us the bill with the added $ 2 each for credit card. That was shady business tactics, it was all in Korean text. The staff didn’t offer any apology for their mistake, and I don’t think we would come back here. There’s such so many choices in Korean town.
(*￣m￣)

Came here last night for dinner and had a pretty good meal.
A few notes…
The $ 9.99 AYCE sign is for lunch only so don’t be tricked by that. The dinner AYCE is actually $ 12.99 but if you pay cash, it’s $ 10.99.
The service last night was a bit off. The servers were nice but forgot some things we requested so we had to ask twice. Also, it wasn’t very busy but everything seemed like it was taking a long time.
The food is where this place gets its 4 stars. I tried the Chadol, pork belly, garlic pork belly, dirt pig pork belly, pork neck. All very good. My favorites would be the garlic pork belly, and the dirt pig pork belly.
Also, I love the onion/​cilantro side dish they bring out. Sort of a mexican flavor but it goes well with the meat.

Goodbye Gun il bun ji. You’re forever gone for good in my book.
I’ve noticed that recent Unilocal reviews for gun il bun ji was going downhill. I thought to myself, «Could it really be that my favorite ayce kbbq restaurant is downgrading?!» I couldn’t believe it until I experienced it first hand so I came to gun il bun ji this past Saturday with my boyfriend and his parents to witness the madness myself. Lo and behold, my fellow Unilocal reviewers were right and gun il bun ji has become this horrendeous ayce kbbq I’ve ever been. :(
My breakdown:
–Service: HORRIBLE. I mean it’s a korean restaurant, what can you expect? I’ve noticed that previous owner looking short haired lady and the employees no longer worked there. Maybe they had a change in ownership? Anyway, these unfamiliar employees were beyond rude. Our party walked in and even though the employees knew we were waiting by the door, they didn’t even bother to recognize us and kept setting up their banchans behind the counter. For about 2 minutes, we stood there without recognition by the employees. Not to mention my boyfriends parents are rather old and his dad is handicapped and uses a cane to walk/​stay up right. I mean come on now, what’s so hard about seating the customers when there are bunch of empty tables!
–Service pt 2: The waiters/​waitress never offered to change our grills unless we asked. I mean we waited to see if they’ll offer to us for a while. After 4 rounds of grilling, we gave up and asked for grill change.
–Service pt 3: The waiters forgot to bring our water. We were left unnoticed so I had to request for water for our table (This was after we finished the 1^st order of meat).
–Food: Only thing good was brisket (standard) and their tongue. Tongue is noteworthy because I don’t come across many ayce that serves good tongue but other than that, their food is okay. They’ve also decreased the amount of banchans.
–Sanitary: Have you guys heard of pantry pests? Pantry pests are various kind of tiny bugs that like to consume stored food products such as flour, cereal, dry pasta, and etc. Well guess what? I found one. Yes, on my rice paper that I was about to eat. To make things worst, I discovered the grain bore after I ate a full serving of rice paper to myself… Yep, not the best feeling in the world. I almost wanted to throw up immediately.
With all that being said, it is safe to say that I also vouch that gun il bun ji is no longer the same as before. I strongly recommend everyone to avoid going here & find another ayce kbbq to go to.