Seoul Oak

Prejudiced and unprofessional staff and just average Korean food. Now let me start out by saying that my father is in the restaurant business and I was raised by my stepmom (who was born and raised in Seoul) so I know more than a thing or two about Korean food.
I went to Seoul Oak with 4 of my other friends. We were originally planning to go to Monta Ramen however, they were extremely busy so we decided to try this place instead. My friends have never really had Korean food before but I convinced them to try it out and away we went.
As soon as we entered we were greeted by a seemingly friendly waitress that asked us if we wanted to sit a a normal table or at a grill to which we responded by saying we wanted to sit at the grill. I helped my friends navigate the menu and the waitress got out drinks. Now she actually messed up our drinks twice but we didn’t really mind. She was an older women (seemed to be in her 40’s) and her English wasn’t too great so we tried to be understanding. Three of my friends ordered some meat to be grilled and I ordered kimchi jjigae. One person in our party was a vegetarian and but wanted to try a particular noodle dish so we asked the waitress if it would be possible to order it without the fish. She told us that the kitchen could make the noodles without the fish and she went off and returned shortly with our sides. She kind of lingered around for a couple of minutes and talked to us about how it was nice of us to try Korean food and we sort of awkwardly nodded and smiled in reply. My friends were a little anxious to try their food and I assured them that they would be happy with their meal but I WAS SO WRONG.
From the moment our entrees arrived it was all wrong. First of all my vegetarian friend’s noodles arrived and had loads of fish in it. EVEN THOUGH SHE TOLD US THAT THEY WOULDN’T PUT FISH IN IT. So, we asked the waitress if we could get a replacement dish (WITHOUT MEAT) OR just get it taken off the tab. (This is standard practice at most restaurants) But she told us that she didn’t recall such a request and told my friend to just pick out the fish. So, my friend tried to pick out the fish and eat the noodles but lost her appetite.
Meanwhile my friends who ordered their bulgogi (that was to be grilled) arrived already cooked. And one of them actually received chicken… And we so we calmly told the waitress that their order was wrong. She disagreed with us and told us that our order was correct! I eventually told her that SHE WAS WRONG because WHY would we sit at a table with a GRILL and order meat that was ALREADY COOKED. She then became VERY defensive and accused us of trying to take advantage of her and try to order food for free. It was like she was bipolar because then she got all smiley and told us that the already cooked meat was better anyway and that everything would be taken care of then she just walked off. We all just sat there in shock and tried to eat our food but our meal was already ruined. We hardly even touched our plates before we decided to just get our check and leave.
BUT THATS NOT ALL. SHE CHARGED US FOR EVERYTHING ON OUR CHECK. She gave our vegetarian fish, and didn’t give us anything we asked for. The only thing she got right was the kimchi jjigae… We asked her why she charged us for all of this when we clearly weren’t happy with our food and even told her that we hardly ate any of it. She than got load with us and AGAIN tried to accuse us of trying to take advantage of the restaurant and eat for free. We argued with her and tried to get her to AT LEAST take off the messed up noodles that the vegetarian ordered but she wouldn’t even do that. She called the manager/​owner but he walked over and didn’t really say or do anything. We eventually just gave up and paid but left EXTREMELY UNHAPPY.
There are 4 other great korean restaurants that I would rather go to than go to that place again.

For the most part, I like Korean food. However, I don’t dine in many Korean restaurants because I always get ambushed by overbearing servers. Seoul Oak is no exception.
My favorite Korean spot in the east bay is run by this crazy older woman, who will yell at you, laugh with you, and take your chopsticks in order to demonstrate how to mix rice with seaweed. My friends and I dubbed our experiences at this restaurant as «lunch and a show». The server at Seoul Oak could give this woman a run for her money.
As soon as bf and I walked in, we were greeted by a very enthusiastic server. She sat us down, gave us a menu, proceeded to explain the menu to us, aggressively suggested what to order, and basically would not leave us alone. I went with the classic bibimbap and bf went with a mackerel stew.
When my bibimbap came, I poked around and tasted the elements to see how much hot sauce I needed to add. Our server was NOT OK with this. Nope. Not one bit. She proceeded to take my chopsticks and mix my dish for me. Really? What just happened here?
Their food was standard and on par with the other Korean places that I’ve eaten at. I thought their pricing was a bit high but, that could be attributed to their location on Spring Mountain. The food is a-​ok but, that server scares me. I’m switching to take-​out from now on.

Didn’t realize the restaurant changed owners, but the prior was much better. I came on a weekday for dinner, restaurant was empty with maybe 2 other tables. Service was very slow. There was only one waitress and she kept forgetting our order, though she did apologize whenever I reminded her.
The side dishes are now bland with only a few selection. Meat is okay, nothing special. Wasn’t too impressed with the new owners. Might as well stick to Honey Pig if you want AYCE krn bbq in vegas.

This place most of the time is not that busy whenever I go there and eat. The meat quality is better than 2 years ago since the change in management .
The price is quite reasonable in my opinion. If you are not gonna eat that much you can go for an AYCE lunch menu. If you are meat lovers you might have to go for an all day AYCE menu which offers lots of meats, octopus, pork belly, intestines, tongue and etc.
The staffs are very nice and friendly, also they recognise the regulars.
If you feel like having a buffet this restaurant offers lunch special like Mul Naeng Myun (Korean Cold Noodles) and Galbi set for only $ 16.

19.99 for all you can eat…
This is comperable with its other Spring Mountain Rivals. However there was nothing that really stood out with this place.
The all you can eat menu boasts an eclectic mix of meats. ranging from the typical staples to inclue beef brisket, kalbi, spicy pork and ribeye. They also had a few other things like cow intestine, gizzards and baby octopi +1 point for variety.
The brisket came in the typical thin sliced roll fashion however it was frozen –1 point. It was also unseasoned –1 point.
The ribeye came unseasoned whole steak versus the diced marinated version that their rivals serve. So it was nothing special either.
The Kalbi was the small bone type. The meat was already gray as if it had been marinating for days.
The Small intestine was not cleaned very well. When I cooked it some spooge came out of it. –1 point.
The best dish was the Spicy Pork. It was in large pieces and very fresh.
Long story short, tis a good place to stuff your face with spicy pork however there are better places on Spring Mountain…

The general consensus on finding good Korean food is to go to L.A. For the most part, I would probably agree. I am always craving superb Korean food and will go to great lengths to fulfill that urge.
Although no place serves up cheunggukjang, a strong fermented soybean soup. Many do serve gamjatang. If you like a spicy pork bone soup filled with veggies and potatoes, this is the dish for you. While in Korea, it was a ritual for my group of friends to meet every week to get a big pot of this. Usually I do not order this and stick to the mainstream stuff because I do not want to be disappointed. To my excitement, the pot came with a mountain of greens and sesame leaves. Under the mound, there were five bones with a decent amount of meat on them, a bundle of noodles, and four potatoes. The taste was good, but not spectacular. For $ 25.95, it can easily feed three. The pickled banchan were more on the preserved side. The fresh items like the spinach, beansprouts and fish cakes were delicious.

Solid place to pig out on all you can eat BBQ.
We came here with a bunch of friends after some bouldering at Kraft. Got lots of kalbi, bulgogi, pork belly, even some octopus. All were pretty good and service was decent despite only one waitress serving the entire place.
Played Titanic with our Hite and soju. lol

For some reason this place is always so empty when I go in. This may be because the price is a little higher than surrounding Korean restaurants, but the Bi Bim Bap here is by far one of my favorites. They serve it on the hottest stone plate, so it toasts the rice just oh so nicely. The staff is really nice and service is good.

Came here solo on a Friday night. I was debating just going to bed, since i work at 3am, but my craving for Korean food was too much to overcome in my weaken hunger state. Anyway, i decided to give Seoul Oak a try since I see the AYCE sign when visiting Monta Ramen next door.
The waitress that was working was super nice and I think rather attractive. She suggested that i move to the next table when i told her I am interested in the AYCE option, because the ventilation system at the next table was better.
The food ordered here comes in plates, so it is not one of those AYCE places where you get a plate and select what you want to eat and how much. So when my order came out for the beef tongue, I had to ask her to only grill ¹⁄₃ of the full plate that she brought out. She was fine was that. And I ordered a few more items (marinated beef ribs, boneless beef rib-didn’t like this as much as I would like, marinated chicken, marinated sliced beef, marinated pork ribs-​spicy and I think is a little hard to grill and cook properly). Overall I like the food and love the banchans they served, which included the Korean spicy soup.
The place does not smell like it is too smokey either. +1, but your hands will smell if you do the grilling, which is pretty much unavoidable unless someone else does all the cooking while you do just the eating.
Price for AYCE is $ 19.95. Not the cheapest but not the most expensive either. They also offer lunch specials that is pretty reasonably priced during lunch during the weekdays up to 3pm. I will be sure to come back and check that out in the next few weeks.
I think this is a 3 stars establishment, but bumping it up on the attentive and friendly service, especially since one waitress is looking after the entire restaurant.

Sometimes when traveling one must deviate from doing the tourist route and do a bit of traveling adventure. Venturing off The Strip to Chinatown, a vast area comprised of more than just Chinese culture, is easily made with a taxi and some luck. We had intended to go to one of the sushi places for lunch, but we did not know that many off Strip nabe joints are only open for dinner. So there we were stuck in C’town without a clue. Sometimes serendipity (no not the one at Caesar’s) takes over and leads you to where you may not have gone. Such is the case with Seoul Oak. I perhaps never would have even looked at it but I am so happy we did.
Despite our pescetarian limitations and that of language, we ate like royalty attended to by an extremely nice and accommodating server. In a BBQ restaurant. And not knowing a word of Korean. It was if we fell through the Earth and landed in a foreign land. A good thing! The little dishes were delish, varied and obviously made with passion. The Kim Chee and its friends fresh, flavorful and zippy. I believe that the owner as well as most of the staff are women. Woo hoo!
We had bowls of this and plates of that. Oh the pancake. We expected a wee lil thing but it was huge! Like a pizza huge. And sooo good. My cold noodle dish was tasty as was The L’s rice dish. And in an act of karmic retribution, I am sure my table manners were not «culturally accurate» so to speak… :))) And we finally got opportunity to try some Korean rice wine which was milky, effervescent and easily quaffable! Kooksoondang. :)))
This is not a fancy place. In fact we almost left as we were not impressed but what failed to impress the eyes was made up ten fold with our nice server and amazing foods. I do not know much about Korean cuisine but I know I lloovvee this place. Is it the bestest? I don’t know. We enjoyed. A lot. And the price for this repast the likes of which will live on in your memories for a very long time? Before tip and cab fare? $ 35. Seriously. Have a look at my photos. A feast Babette would envy, LOL. So much so that we canceled our dinner reservation at Mesa Grill. Next time, Bobby Flay!
I have been to Korea briefly, lol, and if Seoul Oak is any representation of the goodies Korea has to offer, perhaps an exotic journey should be on Our Must Do List. For now Seoul Oak is on my Best of Vegas, Baby list.

So you know, no thoughts regarding the BBQ.
They are so sweet, but the other evening when the sundubu craving hit, this was a disappointment. For some dumb reason, we decided to go somewhere besides our standard DJK. There was something off. As soon as the little boiling cauldron hit the table my nose knew there was danger. It tasted like it was made with stinky tofu, and the banchan did not seem super fresh. Sigh.

Going, going…
Gone is the awesome waitress who had tended to our every whim on our frequent visits.
Gone is my favorite spicy pork dish.
Gone were the flavors I had grown accustomed to.
Gone am I to greener pastures and better Korean food.

I am definitely a fan. My boyfriend and I used to go here so much that one of the waiters, Leo, ended up remembering us and would stop to chat, and even one of the older ladies would recognize us as well! This is very uncommon in «China Town» so this is another reason why I will never change my mind about Seoul Oak. They have some of the best selection for a pretty standard price.
For the Korean grilling, it’s $ 16.99 for AYCE.
The banchan changes based on what resources they have but, overall it’s always good! I LOVE their kalbi, and they even have dessert at the end, which is usually rice punch (MMMMM!!).
I’d recommend it to anyone who is a carnivore and is looking for something away from the strip and main China Town.

I like it when my initial impressions are turned upside down. I admit, I was cranky the moment my family and I walked in the door. I was starving and we ended up at Seoul Oak because the Korean restaurants closer to the strip were bursting at the seams, packed with customers. We decided to drive further out and find a place with no wait.
Seoul Oak had few patrons. There was only one waitress (owner/​wife?) who was handling all the tables. I was unimpressed by the service, initially. But the food made up for this. We didn’t opt for kbbq, instead ordering the bulgogi dolsot bibimbap and yoogaejang. Both were quite good. My parents are picky about their Korean food and were satisfied with their dishes. I also ordered the bibimbap.
The presentation was interesting– instead of coming out on a hot stone pot/​bowl, the bibimbap was served on a hot stone plate. I’ve never seen this before, but I really enjoyed it. I also think it created more burned rice b/​c of the surface area– delicious. The banchan was great. We loved the kimchi, which they make in-​house. We bought a jar to take home. Solid place! If you can impress my parents, you know it’s pretty good. Definitely worth checking out.

New management took over this place, so I tried it again.
I love the idea that it is all you can eat, but they serve the meat to you instead of having it sit in the buffet area for hours.
The meats were better in quality now than before. I went by myself during lunch and I had 4 items from buffet menu. I had the marinated beef kalbe, thin sliced pork belly, shrimp and squid.
I was pretty impressed with everything except for the shrimp. It was soft and danty as if this shrimp was malnutritioned. However, everything else was delicious and cheap! $ 15.99 per person all day and even for dinner! You cannot beat that!
I have gone back 3 other times already and each time there is not that many customers. I would still go back there for more Korean BBQ!