Korea BBQ Buffet

…slurp!!! delicious!!! meat and meat and meat! plus they have some fresh vegetables, lettuces, rice and sometimes if you’re lucky they’ve got some california rolls as well.
This family owned restaurant are totally sweet and they are super friendly!~ People might complain how it’s really expensive or what not… but HELLO!!! it’s all you can eat! unless you were going to go to the ranch yourself and shoot’em, maybe you can get a better deal. But otherwise get over it. If you’re so cheap, make it yourself!!! lol!
For sides, there are whole bunch of stuff, like fresh greens, spicy softshell crab, sometimes california rolls, glass noodles, seaweed soup, potstickers, mini mackerels (re-​grill these at your table and it’s super crispy and delicious), calamari and shrimp, etc.
give them a try!
anyways, the owners are super friendly and super sweet! love them!
love love love!!!

Taking away one star for them NOT HAVING GALBI for their lunch buffet. Apparently, you have to pay $ 16.95 per pound of galbi on top of your lunch buffet price.
What a rip-​off!

I’d rather go to Palace Korean BBQ Buffet on El Camino Real!
I came for lunch and there’s no beef short ribs?!! Well, there’s no short ribs during lunch time at any Korean buffets in SJ area that I know of. They do have beef that’s part of the beef rib, but it was so bland. The pork was tastier, but pretty thin, so it can easily get overcooked. Chicken and slices of pork belly were good. They have no beef tripe. Squid was dry and smelly. There was not much to choose from. Other things beside the grilled items were japchae, hard-​boiled eggs, white rice, and bland wanna-​be fried rice. I didn’t even bother trying the kelp. Everything else was not appealing or recognizable.
Dessert: Orange wedges. Does a tub of fruit punch or thawed rice water count too? :-/​
Service was friendly, but the lady kept coming by our table, flipping our food and told us we should not put the veggies on the grill; only on the warm platform next to the grill because it might fall through. I guess they’re cheap on the charcoal? We grilled our veggies anyways.

MAYBE it’s because I live near Garden Grove that I was really disappointed with this place. I’m used to amazing KBBQ…
Sides kinda suck. They have the glass noodles I really like, but nothing else. I really hate it when korean places serve non-​Korean dishes. I mean, I don’t go to KBBQ for french fries. Or popcorn shrimp.
Besides the sides, the beef meat quality was good. The bulgogi was tasty and the other beefs were good. Other than that, chicken wasn’t that great. I didn’t try the pork, but the selection was a bit off. They had a lot of veggies you could grill and some unique things like squid (kinda chewy, but it was expected. I don’t know how long to cook squid!!!) They didn’t have brisket which broke my heart!
The price for dinner was waaay too high for the food they provided.
Oh, and it took them YEARS to get us water. And then to refill it. And then to bring the check. They weren’t even busy.

No long rib and the sides here are not impressive. Other than the spicy crab, they are lacking on the sides and for $ 25 pp for dinner, it’s not worth it. They had french fries, fried rice, and the noodles with a sign saying that it could be reheated in a microwave.
We ate the beef and the kalbi, but it would probably be better to buy the beef and diy.

All in all, decent selection and the service is excellent! If you don’t start cooking right away, the waitress/​hostess/​owner lady will get it started for you! It’s a little pricy in my opinion but I haven’t found one cheaper and here you get ice cream after your meal! They even got an already cooked, hot food section for the lazy asses who paid all that money and decided not to take in the full experience!
My grandmother used to bring me here on occasion back in High School, and I used to love it to death! I always liked to cook as a fat kid so coming here made me feel all fuzzy and warm inside. Then after high school I moved back to Hawaii and forgot all about this place because Hawaii has a ton of these and the quality and varieties back home were top notch! Anyways, 9 years later I;m back in SJ and not once did I even think of coming back to Korea BBQ. I didn’t even know it was still around! Well a friend wanted to eat Korean BBQ and offered to treat, so who am I to decline free Korean BBQ!!! =) I didn’t know which joint we were going to, but once we pulled up to the parking lot I immediately was brought back to the good old days with gramma (RIP). I had a great time that night and ended up coming back with the same friend just about a week ago (or less).
I would rate them a 5 star except I think the selection could improve and the grills could be better maintained. When I came here the last two times, we actually got seated at the exact same grill both times and the grills heat doesn’t distribute evenly. If we cooked on one side, it would burn fast and if we cooked on the opposite, it wouldn’t cook at all. Now that I’m older, wiser, and trained in Culinary Arts, I’m pretty God-​Like with cooking/​preparing food, but using that grill made me feel like a Demi-​God or lower… It coulda just been that one grill though, because the last time I went, there was a irritating filipino family who apparently chose the person with the lowest IQ to cook their food and the whole time all I could hear was «aye, it’s burnt. aye it’s burnt» and a bunch of screaming because their grill had about 2ft high flames!
Also, you have to ask for gochujang sauce and the fermented soy bean sauce. It is usually standard at almost all Korean places I been to to have this out but Korea BBQ doesn’t have any sauces out except vinegar. I really hate to say it but this is the biggest reason why they only got 4 stars from me. Those 2 sauces are very important flavors to add to the palette when eating Korean cuisine, and is the main reason why I agreed to eat Korean BBQ in the first place.
Anyways, I recommend coming here! The husband and wife owners are friendly, the food is great, and the memories last a lifetime!

I’m a very happy customer of Palace BBQ, but my brother wanted to try a new place… After talking to a friend, he told us to go to Korea BBQ Buffet. So hubby, brother, and our friend, and I went to this place…
First of all, its in a kinda shady strip mall over the bridge from Valley Fair. We walk in and there is only maybe 2 other groups? That’s fine, its a Monday night… what do you expect. But as I was looking at the different options, I realized that there really aren’t many options! You have beef, beef, or beef, and pork or pork. Okayyyyy. All of the other stuff in the buffett (fried potstickers, fried rice, chow mein, etc) looked kinda old and nasty. I tried a few things and they all tasted either super oily or super stale.
Price-​wise, they’re about the same or a little pricier than Palace. Sorry, we won’t be back.

I’ve only been to Korea BBQ Buffet two times but those two times were awesome!
I don’t remember much about the first time because I was sucky at cooking my own food but this second time was great! I went here as a lunch treat for my bf and we were on spring break so why not?! We walked into the restaurant and it was completely empty. A young fluffy man walked over and seated us immediately. He seemed nice and helpful. He let us get some raw meats while he started the fire on the grill. We grabbed some plates and took some tongs and got some meat to try. The bacon there was super fatty and we only burned it lol. Instead, we got the spicy pork (which was the best tasting meat there), chicken and beef. I loved the chicken. It was probably the best cooked chicken ever. I feel proud of myself. Haha anyway, I also got some cooked food too and tried the fries. OMG They tasted like McDonald’s fries, which might have been the case. Hahahaha but they were so delicious. Mmmm.
In the end I was satisfied but I felt cheated when the cans of soda that we got were two bucks a pop. I think it would have been more valuable if there were a soda machine instead of lil’ cans of soda. Oh well. Now we know. We also received a free scoop of super vanilla-​y ice cream.
At about $ 15 dollars per person for lunch, I think I might be back when I’m craving Korean BBQ again.

I’m an impulsive online shopper and Unilocal deals are going to be the death of my wallet. I’ve bought 4 different Unilocal deals since last September and I had yet to use any of them until yesterday. Took my Lil Bro out to eat and I figured this was the most opportune moment to use this particular deal.
For the deal, I really enjoyed this place. If I had to pay full price for this, I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it as much though. Maybe 3 star worthy instead of 4.
Things to note:
— Great service from start to finish. Could be because I handed the Unilocal deal right away so she knew the experience was going to get reviewed but whatever. We were there way past closing time and they didn’t try to rush us to leave which was nice
— We got a total of 2 pounds of kalbi to share between the 2 of us (the limit to the deal). There were also some other stuff that were unlimited like rice, noodles, kimchi, etc but all I got was corn and white rice. Tried a gyoza but it was cold. The other stuff was pretty limited too since we got there an hour before closing time. The meat was AWESOME though. We also shared a large Sapporo.
— Since the hostess/​waitress automatically piled 2 pounds of kalbi on us, we totally didn’t finish it so she let us pack it up and take it home. I was hoping for that since I’m sure they wouldn’t want to waste food and they were the ones to lay it on but it was still nice.
— We also got free ice cream to go with our meal which was a nice touch.
— For all of that, the whole meal came out to $ 10 for tip (plus the $ 25 I originally spent on the gift certificate but it was so long ago I didn’t really notice it). Not bad at all.
Would I come back? Maybe. I definitely wouldn’t be treating anyone out to dinner here the next time around though.

Came here for a new years eve meat happy meal. It was pretty damn good and the portions were huge even on the fixed 1lbs meat menu.
We did the $ 25 for $ 50 of food option and it was a damn good deal if you ask me, we left stuffed full of the 2lbs of meat and tons of buffet food plus a few beers.
Nice people running the place and it was clean.

We purchased the Unilocal coupons for this restaurant. $ 25 for $ 50 worth of food. The coupon was unclear as to what you got exactly. It just said 1lb of meat was $ 18, and you also had access to the hot food buffet. It also mentioned wine/​beer, but apparently that was not part of the coupon. We purchased 14 certificates total.
The first time we came, we used 10 certificates total for our family of 30. Out of pocket was $ 250 for $ 500 worth of food. We ordered 20lbs of meat, and everyone had access to the buffet. The food was not consist ant, and the meat was very hard to chew through.
The 2^nd time we came, we came with 5 people, and planned to use 2 certificates. We ordered 4lbs of meat. They kept saying 5lbs. We kept repeating 4lbs. Keep in mind we went with my Korean momma and daddy in laws, so they were speaking Korean, not English. After we finished eating, we got the bill and they charged us for 5lbs. We kept saying we only ordered 4, but they said it was mandatory that it was 1lb per person. We said just last week we came with 30 people and only ordered 20lbs of meat and it was ok. They again repeated it’s mandatory 1lb. of meat per person. Seriously, can 1 person really eat a pound of meat?
We now have 1 coupon left. I’m so agitated at this place I don’t even want to come back. Horrible customer service. You don’t just ADD something to someone’s bill, and then make them be stuck with it. How could I know they gave us 5lbs of meat instead of 4lbs? Like I’m supposed to bring a scale with me when I eat?!
I am going to request a refund from Unilocal.I wonder if their return policy is as friendly as Groupon’s.

I’ve been going to Korea BBQ since I moved to the South Bay 11-​years ago and remember it being packed for lunch and dinner, but there was never a wait, which I loved! But I eventually got introduce to Palace BBQ. I was craving KBBQ last night and didn’t want to wait the wait at PBBQ so I figured we’d go here since it’s been awhile.
Things haven’t changed, the resto is clean, same setup but it was way empty, there were only four other occupied tables. I noticed there was a sign posted at the buffet about some small dinner pricing but, I wasn’t interested, I heart my meat!
What I love about this resto is that they have a great assortment of meat, which is quite tasty, the best Jap Chae, their grills cook lightning fast and they have some government issued air vents. Every other KBBQ joint I’ve been to, along with Hot Pot City, I always leave fearing I’ll run into someone I haven’t seen in awhile and smell so damn smokey and greasy, but not here. I mean my clothes smelled but, it was close to nothing. Also, the service here is way friendly and polite, moreso than at PBBQ.
What I don’t like about this place well, just like every Asian buffet, their hot food, except the Jap Chae is blah and avoid it and every Asian buffet as much as I can. Also, their prices went way up, it’s now $ 27.95 for dinner, insane! At PBBQ it’s $ 26.95 but feel it’s way worth it there. It dawned on me that me that after we walked in, three other tables ordered the small dinner, which I later found out was $ 16 per person and only comes with three pieces of meat, per person. Of course, I noticed one dude go up for more meat eventhough they ordered the small dinner… sheisty, I swear.
Overall, I don’t think the s/​o wants to go back here, just because of the dinner price compared to Palace BBQ but, I still like this resto and think it’s a great alternative, especially since PBBQ is closed on Mondays… boo!

Way too many times my friend and I forget that Palace BBQ is closed on Mondays and we end up here. Not that we necessarily prefer Palace to this place (we do), but… Palace is sort of our mainstay Korean BBQ place.
Nonetheless, I’d say the kalbi here is of comparable quality. It’s good! It’s everything else that might make you lean one way or the other.
— The grills at Korea BBQ Buffet are wired mesh over charcoal (with gas below), instead of the iron grill (gas only) that you’ll find at Palace.
— The kimchi at Palace is crisper and fresher.
— Both don’t have the coiled up beef ribs for lunch (probably with good reason).
— Palace is just a larger operation in general. Korea BBQ Buffet has less «polish», but chances are you won’t have to wait (as long, if at all) for a table.
Lunch for two on a weekday came out to $ 34 (tax incl.).

This is my spot!!! I like it here more because service is better compared to Palace BBQ. Although the prices have gone up ($ 16 for lunch), it’s still cheaper to stuff your face here then to go through all the trouble of making kalbi at home (most asian supermarkets sell korean style short ribs for $ 4-​something a lb).
The meats are marinated very well, especially if you like it sweeter tasting. They also have the whole selection of pickled vegetables and side dishes to accompany your bbq.
besides a couple items, the pre-​made food isn’t that good though.
If you want to sit down and eat right away instead of signing a waiting list this korean BBQ is where you need to go!

I came here b/​c Palace BBQ (in Sunnyvale) was closed, and I was very pleasantly surprised with this place!
They had the rolled beef which was delicious. Meats well seasoned, and the best part was they also had some charcoal as part of the grill for that extra oomph while bbq’in.
Also — unlike Palace BBQ, they also give you a hotpot burner! So you can make yourself some delicious hotpot, toss in your shrimp and beef and kimchi etc, AND eat meat fresh off the grill.
The people here were very nice as well. Would recommend this place over Palace BBQ. It’s smaller but the rolled beef and the hotpot make it worth a slightly longer trek.

+ No wait for a table.
+ Great service with clearing plates, refilling water, even helping with our incompetent grilling.
+ Meats were juicy and nicely marinated.
— They raised the prices significantly since the last time I was here (see photo).
— Selection not as food as other places & cooked foods weren’t very good (sat there for a while it seems).
— I was really excited for their green tea ice cream at the end and they brought out vanilla :(

I went here earlier today for lunch and I am still full! I love my Korean BBQ and absolutely appreciated how welcoming and wonderful the service was. Came here with the family because my dad is very familiar with the place.
First of all, it’s not in the best area, but just look for that plastic Horse on West San Carlos and you’ve found this place!!! The price for lunch was that bad, it IS all you can eat meat, which doesn’t normally come that cheap. I’ve only eaten at other places like this for dinner so the price was fair to me.
Once we walked in we were greeted and seated very quickly. She started the grill for us and even placed our first round of meat on the grill. Overall, our waiters were very sweet. Refilling our water and also making good conversation. She even gave us a nice little helping of vanilla ice cream to end our visit.
The variety of the buffet really isn’t that much. I believe they offer a boiling pot as well to do things like tofu and such. I wish that they had more side dishes and their kimchi didn’t have enough kick for me. Their JAPCHAE is SO GOOD, probably the best I ever had. Other than that, for Korean BBQ I don’t usually need much, just a bowl of white rice and a bunch of MEAT!
The grills that are here are a little old and they aren’t as high tech as some of the newer places but they do the job. Remember, no wooden chopsticks near the fire kids! You have to be a bit careful with the little bursts of flame. But the waiters were really good about changing the grill when it got too charred and helping lower the temp when the meat was cooking too fast.
Okay so the meat…
— Kalbi (short ribs): These were amazing! Usually I tend not to get this meat at other places because they usually have the least amount of meat. But the ribs here are a good portion
— Bulgogi: They all have a great marinade that is the sweet and juicy delectableness that is amazing.
— Chicken: Always my least favorite at BBQ cause the take the longest to cook, but again, it was very juicy!
Overall, I would come back here for their great service, probably on a weekday because they have cheaper prices. Wish they had more side dishes in their buffet, but their MEAT experience is a must try!

Wow this place really knows how to give you proper service!
So I planned out a birthday dinner and made reservations here for 11 people at 6:30pm. When I arrived, the restaurant was pretty empty, making me feel a little uneasy about booking the party here. But my thoughts were quickly interrupted when the lady came over and greeted us very warmly. She showed us around the buffet tables and explained to us how the dinner special would work if we preferred that.
DINNER SPECIAL is $ 15 per person which includes 3 pieces of meat (choice of beef or chicken) and access to the rest of the buffet (excluding raw meat). The buffet had other food which included kimchi, tofu, shrimp, mussels, salad, corn, fried rice, chow mein, tempura, mushrooms, CA rolls, bbq chicken, shredded pork, rice (in big rice cookers), jello, etc.
It sounded like a great deal since the REGULAR DINNER price is $ 28 per person, and really — none of us can eat that much meat to get our money’s worth. So we settled for the dinner special. Keep in mind that if you order the dinner special, everyone in your group is expected to do so as well (and vise versa).
Anyways, so some people were running late to come due to work so we went ahead and started the dinner with the birthday boy. I asked her if there were any birthday specials and she told me that usually the birthday person gets to eat free BUT only with 2 regular buffet orders. Since we had ordered the dinner special, she wasn’t sure if we could do that, so she went to go ask her boss. Surprisingly, not only did our birthday boy get to eat for free, the boss also threw in 2 extra plates of meat, chicken and squid as a birthday present!
So although the special sounds very little (at 3 pieces of meat each), we had plenty and even more than we could finish. The lady even grilled our meat for us, making sure the food is cooked just perfectly. Mmmm deeelish!
After we had our fill and were ready to go, the lady brought out complimentary GREEN TEA ICE CREAM as a treat. But that’s not all! Then she brought out 7 BIG TOGO BOXES filled with food from the hot table, placed it right in front of my face, and said, «an extra birthday present for you!» She had packed fried rice, gyoza (potstickers), CA rolls (sushi), tempura, and japchae (korean clear noodles) for us and provided little togo boxes so we can divide it amongst ourselves. It was such a surprise. Granted, it was late and they probably just gave the extra food to us so that it wouldn’t go to waste … but it was a nice gesture nonetheless. FREE FOOD = :D

Lunchtime is definitely the better deal for this place if you want all-​you-​can-​eat. We came for dinner and they do have a special dinner price if you only want 3 pieces of meat, plus all – you-​can-​eat from the hot food table. This turned out to be plenty of food for me and hubby (3 pieces each, mind you). $ 13.95 per person instead of the all-​you-​can-​gorge price of $ 27.95. Just something to keep in mind if you can’t eat a huge amount of meat.
The owners got us set up at a table right away, and when we’d chosen our meats, the grill was hot and we had ice water on the table. I like the scissors — great way to cut the larger pieces of meat after cooking so they’re more manageable with the chopsticks. Overall, the service was very attentive.
The meats were decent. The spicy pork wasn’t terribly spicy to me, but that’s okay; there’s a bowl of chili paste at the end of the buffet table. I think the chicken was the best of the bunch I tried, flavor-​wise.
The prepared foods are okay — nothing amazing, but certainly edible. I liked the tempura veggies and I couldn’t get enough of the marinated bean sprouts — OMG YUM. The other stuff was nothing memorable.
And each time I’ve been there, I have not left the place stinking of bbq — so that tells me they’ve got good ventilation over the grills; always a good thing.

I ended up going here instead of Palace BBQ because they are not open on mondays which was a downer but when we started eating we noticed that it was a much better feel and taste. It feels much more open than Palace BBQ and we didnt have to change grills like at Palace… the meat was actually marinated here and it was good!
the woman probably one of the owners was SUPER helpful and helped cook food for my teenage brother and his friends. We came for my boyfriends bday and she was even nice enough to light the candles on the cake and cut and serve it for us. the service was great and it was for a good price too. the selection was good and i loooove kim chi and they had lots for me =)… we had a couple of bottles of the Soju which was good =D
we had a group of 14 and my bfs dinner was FREE because it was his birthday… i liked it and will definitely come again.

I dragged my SF friends to south bay for Korean BBQ after raving about Palace BBQ. Since this is sort of my ‘hood, I gave directions and somehow ended up here. Without having read the huge sign, I walked in thinking, «maybe I forgot what Palace looked like and where it was, because this is not familiar at all.»
The obvious didn’t occur to me until later… yes, we were definitely NOT at Palace. Give me a break, I was hungry and delirious!
You know how Korean service is always terrible unless you’re Korean? None of us were Korean but the owner came to our table to cook for us… although I think that defeats the purpose of self-​serve grilling (hey, I wasn’t complaining). Attentive Korean Service? That’s a paradoxical statement.
The meat is legit, but lacked in variety of marinades. The side dishes were weak in terms of quality and variety. It’s about $ 2 cheaper than Palace, there is no wait, and the service is ridiculous in a scary, creepy good way. But it’s something I’d recommend ONLY for lunch if you have to because dinner is much more expensive.