Hong Dae Ip Gu

By far my favorite KBBQ spots in LA.
–service is great
–quality is great
–price is great. I would even say get the no-​AYCE because the quality is so great and the price is not that much different
–free ice cream after
–lots of banchan
–vibe: korean hongade. metal round tables, grungy hip vibe
–no wait
–big parking lot
P. S. I’m a Korean-​American born and raised in LA so I know my KBBQ lol

Free soju with small Pork BBQ for 2. Banchan are okay, nothing terrible, nothing memorable. It is probably more wise to order the AYCE for $ 18.99 if you’re hungry because you’ll get more food but the non-​AYCE menu is perfect for post-​Wiltern shows when you just need your drunken sodium fix.
Not too crowded so service is fair. They also have a security guard for God knows why.

This place is not good and I think I got food poisoning from here. I think their C grade also supports my food poisoning theory.
Their meats are not fresh or flavorful and they give you small portions. Their meat quality just isn’t good when compared to the rest of ktown. If you order the galbi, they only allot you one slab per person for your entire dinner, which I thought was a rip-​off. All you can eat is $ 18.99 or you can pay $ 24.99 for more expensive meats. Their salad and side dishes were not tasty, but the kimchi was decent.
There’s a reason there’s no wait here. If you’re lucky enough to be in LA ktown, go somewhere else — you have tons of way better options. Try hae jang chon, kang ho dong, or aghassi.

What a disappointment! Came here with high expectations and left wondering why I came here. Good reviews on Unilocal but not in my opinion RED FLAG– Came in at 6:15pm last Thursday and it was empty except for our party. It stayed empty till 7:30 and when we left, there were only a handful of tables occupied.
The interior was pretty standard for a Korean BBQ joint. Somewhat dated and the loud techno music was irritating. Wanted to break out my glow sticks and visor if you know what I mean.
We decided on the Gold AYCE option for $ 24.99. We started with their «fresh» ribeye steaks. It looked good but tasted bland. Disappointing. They were out of their prime unmarinated kalbi so we each were allowed one marinated kalbi bone. When it came out, it looked plain nasty. I’ve never seen so much fat on kalbi before. It didn’t taste right either. Next was their marinated boneless beef short rib. The presentation looked better but cooked up dry. Remember, these are the meats on the Gold option and they were all blah.
Next was the brisket and pork belly. The brisket was the best meat of the meal but it was pretty average. The pork belly was also average.
The side dishes and salad were meh. My favorite was the potato salad. Later, they brought out japchae but wasn’t
all. We ordered kimchee pancake and after one bite that was it. The steamed egg was bland and lacking salt. We ordered various sushi rolls and they were all regrettable.
The only bright side was the service but since we were the only ones here for the majority of the night, that was expected.
The icing on the cake was walking out and seeing the «C» grade on the window by the front door. Sorry, but I cannot recommend this place and will not return.

Had the silver AYCE for $ 18.99.
Thought the meat quality was great.
Favorite meats of the night:
1. Beef Brisket — just the right amount of fat.
2. Beef Belly — More fatty than brisket, but that’s how they’re supposed to be.
3. Pork Galbi — Liked that the marinade wasn’t too sweet, the pork was tender.
4. Large Intestine — this surprisingly was my favorite meat of the night. Fat-​Oozing goodness.
The service was great too. Love it when they come by flip and cut the meat for you.

We got here just as they opened at 5 on a Thursday evening. We were seated quickly and decided on the silver for AYCE bbq. It’s about $ 19 per person before tip. I think they’ve raised the prices recently.
We tried their prime beef brisket, marinated chicken, marinated pork brisket, kimchi pancake, pork rib, and steamed egg. The marinated chicken and marinated pork brisket were our favorites. Both were very flavorful compared to the beef dishes that weren’t marinated. There isn’t much of a sauce option at all other than the soy sauce with jalapenos in it.
I did like that our meal came with salad and rice wrappers to wrap our meat in. The banchan wasn’t the best I’ve had, though. They had japchae, which was good on the first round with some julienned veggies and all, but the second time was completely just plain except for soy sauce. Their tofu skins and kimchi were pretty good.
At the end, they also serve you a scoop of vanilla ice cream, which ended our dinner on a nice note. I’d come back mostly because of its location, speedy service, and decent price.

Coming here after a night in Hollywood on a Saturday night, this place had no wait unlike some of the other popular places in KTown (over 2 hours in wait time!), so not having to wait already bumps this place up a star. No wait, able to accommodate a party of 10, and affordable, this place definitely is a «hidden» gem, even though it is smack dab on Wilshire.
FOOD: We did the silver ACYE option ($ 18.99), which comes with a good list of meat options, although you can opt for the gold version. I think with our large group and our immediate hunger, we saw the silver option have plenty for our party of 10. We definitely ate and drank out fill of soju, Hite, and bulgolgi/​pork belly/​etc etc. I would say that we found the meat to be pretty good. The pork belly was my favorite, as long as you do not overcook it, so it does not get tough! The meat quality was alright, but hey, you are getting AYCE for $ 18.99. At the end, you get a scoop of ice cream, which people seem to rave about. I found the ice cream, and an odd sweet note, to the heaviest of heavy meals!
SERVICE: I read the previous reviews here and saw poor service. I think our service was pretty good, although some inebriation may have inhibited my ability to judge the service properly. I guess AYCE KBBQ is too much fun for me to care about service.
For all the Korean BBQ places you can get on Wilshire, I will saw Hong Dae Ip Gu is not a bad choice. I know that the competition is stiff, but I found myself satisfied at midnight in the great city of Los Angeles. Instead of wasting time to wait two hours at neighboring KBBQ joints, why not come here? No waiting is definitely a luxury in Los Angeles, especially Saturday night KBBQ.

BEST KBBQ PLACE IN KTOWN!!!
best service I have ever received in my life
I was very satisfied with the food and the service
Love love love this place

One of my favorite ayce kbbq places in the mid-​price range. Out of the three times I’ve been here, the servers were always on top of everything in terms of getting us meats and refilling sides.
The meats such as the beef brisket, and pork belly are solid. And unfortunately for my friends who hate «weird» parts of the cow, I can’t help but get the small and large intestines. The large intestines (daechang) is so good and is very chewy (honestly looks like a huge pogo stick) and succulent in taste. Usually kbbq places that serve these can screw up in serving really nasty, not so fresh intestines, but this place has really fresh, tasty ones!
Hong dae ip gu literally means gate to Hong Dae. Hong dae is a popular area in Seoul where there’s many trendy shops and restaurants that are popular among the younger crowd.
Overall, this restaurant has good food and really friendly servers. There’s a parking structure in the back of the restaurant and it costs two dollars with validation. They even give you ice cream at the end! Will be coming back soon!

WOW! I have never been treated so poorly in my life. Especially by the woman in her 40/​50ss with a bob haircut w/​bangs.
I’ve been coming here for over a year now and have always been greeted nicely and seated promptly, but last week totally changed that!
Long story short, my cousin and I come in at 8pm last Friday evening. We were told to wait, which okay whatever it’s Friday night and I did see 2 older gents chilling. They get seated, then a party of 6 get seated that just came in (pushed 3 tables together!), then they seated 3 more people. Please keep in mind after all of this, there were still 2 tables open … but they had us wait.
Not sure why or what the deal was that evening, but it was SO uncomfortable we left and walked somewhere else. The lady wouldn’t even give an explanation or status – totally pulled the English card when I approached the subject. And trust me, my boyfriend is «off the boat» from Japan so I’m not that dense, okay???
I would never come here again and will tell anyone thinking of having KBBQ to not come here. Bad news travels faster than good news, and KBBQ is a dime a dozen in Koreatown.
PS – it has a B rating anyways.

Great big TV, great for sports. Somewhat interesting tables– a bunch are round tables connected, so you can seat eight or ten people with two grills.
Unfortunately that’s about it that’s remarkable in a good way.
Not that the place is bad, it’s just that their competition is so stiff.
$ 18.99 «silver» AYCE menu has some delicious things– two kinds of brisket, both of which are decent, a marinated pork cut, and the wine pork belly is pretty solid. The pork neck reminds me more of pork shoulder, nice texture but disappointing compared to real pork neck. The bulgogi is decent. and the makchang (beef stomach) was unexpectedly superb– just the right amount of chewy, yet flavorful. Best cooked well and cut into small pieces.
But other places offer beef tongue and galbi on their $ 19.99 menus, whereas here you have to pay $ 24.99 for the «gold» to get that. The more expensive menu does offer some worthy additions– shrimp and pork jowl, plus rib eye– but to see beef tongue relegated to the more expensive menu is odd and disappointing.
The ban chan is unremarkable and somewhat limited– potato salad, onion, soybeans, kim chi, and seaweed, and we didn’t see any dduk bo ssam (rice paper) either. Kim chi pancake appeared to have the kim chi liquid in it, no kim chi or anything interested at all, and man– they were super stingy with steamed egg. We had six people and got one steamed egg, despite asking for it three or four times.
Literally, I’ll walk the hundred steps to other places the next time. It’s not that it’s bad, but their competition is so much better.

Quality of meat is not bad and the service is great.
Not much more to say about this place, except that Albert the guy that served us is a very cool guy. Who also happens to be my friend! Haha.
It got pretty busy at around 8pm… so come early if you want some alone time with Albert.

$ 18.99 for the Silver AYCE menu, complimentary ice cream, nice service and NO WAIT!
My friends and I stumbled on this place when the KBBQ spot that we wanted to go to had a 2 hour wait. We Unilocaled this place and gave them a call and they told our party of 8 to come right in. Come right in on a Saturday night??? The silver menu has a majority of the standard meats you expect to see at a kbbq joint. The ladies there were so nice and didn’t rush us at all.
The meat, food and drinks kept coming! This place may not have the kim chee fried rice on the stone griddle like another place or any bells and whistles but whatever… no wait… good food… and nice service. come onnnnn.
Parking: $ 2 with validation in the lot behind the building

NO BBQ FOR YOU!
Friends, Koreans, Dragons, Countrymen, Gamers of Thrones… For so many of us that love the rustic feeling of sitting over an open flame, drinking the Korean equivalent of moonshine (Soju), ripping lemons open with the cap of that same soju… inhaling the delicious aroma of marinated (and non marinated) prime cuts of Cow… observing the unreal beautiful women hopefully sitting next to, or across from us… well…Hong Dae Ip Gu is missing the whole point of it…
By trying to be everything to everyone — that is, by trying to be a welcoming place to /​Non-​Asians or the younger generation who don’t want to smell like their food (crazy!)…the unstated rules here ruin the experience despite the attractiveness of the lady who enforces them.
1. NO CHARCOAL FOR YOU!
What made them great at the beginning, the soon abandoned due to… um…SMOKE? Yah. The stuff that goes in the air when you cook KBBQ. The thing we all smell like when we leave… and apparently, from the lines at Kang Hodong Baekjeong — people don’t seem to give a sh-​t about.
So gone is the flavor and that wonderful smell that is signature to what Korean BBQ truly is — at lt’s best. And then let’s move on…
2. NO GRILL FOR YOU!
Traditional grill which lets the fire (or at least gas flame) hit the meat with those little squares? Well they have them but staff argue with you about letting you use them. Apparently flame comes out and touches the food? Really? Flame coming out of a BBQ grill? Say it ain’t so.
3. NO FIRE FOR YOU!
Yep — they don’t like it or heat in general. So as many times as you try and cook your food by turning it up — they come by and turn it down. Apparently heat causes food to cook which causes smoke and owner doesn’t like SMOKE !!! In a KBBQ ?!? Can you believe it?
Result — you can «steam» your meat on the metal flat grill or slow cook it on the tiny open flame so you can end up with a nice even medium, dry nothing flavor. But what you can’t do is SEAR your meat. Sealing in the juices/​flavor at a high heat.
4. NO FAT FOR YOU!
No FAT. Yep. They cut the fat and any meat touching fat out of your steak when it’s cooking, both draining the juices and removing the main source of flavor. (plus using the same scissors for half raw meat as they do when it’s cooked.
But of course, fat can cause SMOKE and we will have none of that in a KBBQ.
In fact, the biggest issue with Hong Dae Ip Gu is…
NO COOKING FOR YOU!
I live in ktown. I’m quite well versed on cooking raw meat so that it comes out great. I don’t need these people messing that up. But they won’t take no for an answer apparently. Arguing with me and trying to «help» me cook the food by tossing it all in at once, cutting it to shreds (on a nice low or medium heat) so I have to race to hoover everything in my mouth before it dries out… how bloody annoying.
The general feeling here is that YOU exist for the restaurant, rather than the restaurant existing to provide you with service and an excellent experience.

I’ve had Koran BBQ a few times before at other establishments, and I would say this was my favorite of all. Not sure if it was the group I was with, plain and simple good vibes, or other but I had a blast.
A friend of my wife had invited us for a dinner get together, and upon first arriving it was a little had to find, but once we found it the good times rolled.
The food was great, and just when our BBQ plate is almost over the staff quickly comes in with a new plate. The environment was also fun, and there was a little interaction with other groups there. Long story short, everyone had a Fantastic time!
I look forward to coming back!

I don’t get all the great reviews. I’m debating between 2 stars and 3 stars. Do maybe 2.5 stars and I’m nice enough to round up.
The menu is limited for all you can eat. I don’t even really like all you can eat and usually i think most of them are just ok like nothing special but I think this place is one of the bad ones.
I think it’s not worth paying the extra $ 8 for the gold $ 24.99 ayce over the silver $ 16.99 because you only get one steak between 2 OR 3 people (it was only 2 for 3 ppl for hs) and you only get one dinky small pc of galbi on the bone per person. They offer marinated and non marinated but you can choose only one of the two. Then there’s only the tongue, pork jowl, shrimp, and jumuluk that sets the gold apart from the silver.
I skimmed the menu and realized there aren’t many options.
The meat quality is just whatever and the service is sooooo slow. And they love to lower the heat secretly so it cooks slower. So slow cook, small portions and slow to bring the meat. I guess they think this way they can have you eat less?
Really wasn’t impressed.
And I swear this was their other strategy to make us lose our appetite. After we order they make us wait a while and then they come around asking if we wanted anything and we are like we are still waiting for the last order !
Maybe I went on an off day or maybe all these reviews are from their friends. The place wasn’t even at capacity but everything was so slow.
Sorry for the bad run-​ons. In a rush and just wanted to express my disappointment.
For this price I would rather go to oo-​kook which has waaayyyyy better quality.

Eight Unilocalers including myself came to this new KBBQ joint on Wilshire near Western in KTown on a Sun night. Tim C. was the instigator and he invited some very cool Unilocalers that I became yfs with, as well as came to know on a personal level.
We ordered the basic AYCE for $ 16.99, and added a couple of bottles of draft makkoli, a Korean liquor made of wheat & rice, which gives it a white color — $ 8.99. Val was the instigator in this case. The meat we ordered included brisket, pork belly, chicken, bulgogi, pork rib, spicy pork bulgogi, and squid.
All of the meat was very good and nicely seasoned. My favorites for the night were the pork belly and spicy pork bulgogi. There were 4 types of banchan: Kimchee, Potato salad, Seaweed, and Onions. In addition, the side dishes included steamed egg and kimchee pancake. All of the foregoing were good, but I like more banchan, and there was no radish paper: 4 Stars overall.
The service was really good. The three servers were constantly asking us if we needed anything, refilled our banchan, and were just nice people. They all joined in a racous version of Happy Birthday for Val (it wasn’t her bday, but Tim played a joke on her — LOL!). She did receive a big bowl of ice cream and a glass of plum wine though: 4 Stars. The ambiance was basic KBBQ joint, although there was a big TV at the front of the restaurant: 3 Stars.
It is amazing how complete strangers can meet over food and get along so quickly. It was like the United Nations: Tim is Canto, Aya T. is from Japan, Stephanie G., her plus 1, and Noemi M. are Latino, Kimberly L., whom I thought was Chinese, but Spanish is her first language, and Val an AfAm girl from East TX, and me who speaks Hawaiian & Spanish (but barely any English — LOL!!!). We were sharing pics of our food adventures, dogs and discussing restaurants and places we would like to go (French Laundry seemed to be on everyone’s list). Mahalo nui loa Tim for setting this get together up. I can’t wait til the next one!!!

Hong Dae Ip Gu was my very first non $ 10 ayce kbbq experience and I must say it is definitely worth the extra money! Let me break it down:
Parking: There is $ 2 validated parking behind the restaurant, which in my opinion is great considering how hard it is to find parking at any restaurant in korea town.
Décor: I really like the vibe in here. It is almost reminiscent of a sports bar/​restaurant, in Korean version. It is very clean in here and does not have that stuffy, smokey, meaty, stench that many other kbbq places have. Also, although the tables are small, they are set up in a way that you do not feel cramped.
Food: Great! The quality of the meat and side dishes here significantly stand out in comparison to other places!
I am deducting one star only because of an inconsistency on my bill here. The first time I came to this place with a party of 6 we were not charged gratuity yet the second time I came here with three people I was. I didnt understand how or why that happened and the waitress was kind of rude and couldnt explain this to me.

When my friends asked me to pick a place for large group of us to meet up for AYCE KBBQ, I turned to Unilocal to help find a new spot for us to check out. Hong Dae Ip Gu didn’t have that many reviews, but I decided to give it a chance because the reviews it had were great. Plus what sealed the deal was that it offers the following three items:
1) potato salad
2) steamed egg
3) rice paper
My usual fave place for AYCE (Oo Kook) does not have 1 or 2 (although I’ve seen some pics of potato salad lately, but they haven’t had it when I’ve gone). And while 3 isn’t essential nor traditional, I totally love wrapping up my meat in thin rice paper — It’s always an added bonus when kbbq places have it. The rice paper at HDIG was a bit hard but I still devoured an entire stack by myself. :)
We tried almost every meat, but my two favorites were:
Wagyu triple layer beef: similar to but better than the brisket (chadol). I found the chadol to be on the tough side here.
Pork jowl: so yummy and unique — it’s a cut that not all kbbq places offer. If you haven’t tried it before, TRY IT.
The banchan (side dishes) were fairly standard. I LOVED the kimchi. It was perfectly ripe, and they kept refilling it (along with the other banchan, although we did have to ask a few times for refills instead of auto refills).
Overall, service was great. Multiple servers attended to our table, helping us grill the meat, changing out the grill surfaces every so often, refilling our water and banchan, asking if we needed anything, and even bringing us free beer as «service».
Parking can be found on the street or valet in the lot behind the restaurant (there’s a rear entrance from the lot).
After we went, I saw that at least 3 other friends ate here, within the span of a week. Word must be getting out! :)

Torn between 4 and 5 stars, but the service was the BEST I’ve had at a AYCE Kbbq restaurant, so I’m giving it 5 stars.
Décor: Reminiscent of casual bbq joints in Korea. Think KangHoDong Baekjong for a similar vibe.
Food: I like that they have combos and AYCE options. The combos are pricier, but it looks like they give you better quality meat. We got the AYCE silver, the briskets (there were two kinds) were awesome. Also the pork belly was real good too. I don’t understand how someone thinks 16.99 is expensive for AYCE (a reviewer below)… srsly? I thought it was such a good price, and next time, I’d be interested in trying the combos. (they have AYCE silver for 16.99 and gold for 24.99)
Service: Excellent! The servers were SO nice, and everyone from the lady to the older guy to the younger waiter (sorry don’t know any of the names) were so personable and attentive. We had 3 orders of meat and they changed the grill 4 times! Banchans were re-​filled quickly.
Parking: In the back for $ 2, so worth it.
The lady told me they changed ownership 2 months ago, so I don’t think they’re well known yet. The place was about ¾ full, so if you’re jonesing for Kbbq and don’t want to deal with the wait at KHD, Haejangchon, Palsaik, Hamjipark, etc then this is a great option for you!