Palace BBQ Buffet

Post closing eulogy special edition:
Palace BBQ
Usually when I hear about a place that closes that means something to me, I feel compelled to write an eulogy to give proper respect during their existence. In the case of Palace BBQ, I was torn. I stopped giving my business when they stopped doing kalbi during the lunch service. Yeah yeah I know profit margins and escalating food costs… but I wasn’t a dinner customer so there was a low chance that I’d ever go back.
The past few weeks I drove by at night and saw the place dark around 9pm. Oh no… looks like they closed shop but I refused to believe it. Only after checking Unilocal did I realize that it was true.
So long and farewell Palace BBQ for many years of good meats and clothing that smelled like meat too.

As I come to post my review, I am saddened to learn that this place has closed. The galbi ribs and the bulgolgi were enough for me to want to come back. A variety of stuff doesn’t interest me as much as a few items that are excellent (although the buffet does offer many other little appetizers, seafood to grill, and pork belly). Banchan here wasn’t too impressive but I’m a carnivore first, so it’s not a big deal for me, hahah.
Excellent price for what you get here. Maybe too cha and not enough profit is why they closed =(

Over the years, PBBQ evolved from a great price-​to-​value AYCE to a low-​value-​big-​$$$$, if– you-​can-​afford AYCE. Don’t get me wrong, I literally grew up with this place, but it was a love-​hate affair.
I’ve seen it go through generations of waitresses (efficient service to sluggish service), ownership (from happy to grumpy), food offerings (from large to skimpy spread) and price (from affordable to astronomical). The clientele too has changed much. It used to be close friends/​families festive gatherings for B-​Days. In the later years, it had been mainly high-​paid, soju-​guzzling techies and KalBi-​stuffing wannabe Koreans.
Maybe its the right time to retire this business. The ownership is probably laughing all the way to the bank or enjoying a well-​deserved Tahitian vacation and scheming the next KBBQ comeback.
I wouldn’t really miss it, but I’ll miss the fragrant BBQ aroma on a nippy fall evening. Until the next KBBQ resurrects in the same location, I will go to LA K-​Town for my KBBQ fix. RIP PBBQ.

Best korean BBQ buffet in town. I’ll miss it!

This place is good for short ribs. I literally ate nothing else. Its a little more expensive than other KBBQs. $ 30 for AYCE Dinner. They also have chinese food buffet in there, but I had none of that. I ate here in 2012.
I hear this place is now closed. It didnt seem super crowded when I was here on a Friday night back when I ate here. Nor has it been crowded when I shopped next door at Hankook Korean supermarket every so often.

Closed as of 12÷29÷15. Sad times.

Officially closed 12/​29/​2015. Was a great place to go with my cousins since finding a place that could fit 20+ of us was always a hassle during the holidays. Hopefully this doesn’t mean Gen is going to have longer waits since there aren’t that many AYCE BBQ places in the bay =/.

DO NOT COME HERE: this place has permanently closed down starting on December 29^th, 2015 and is not reopening!!!

Palace was alright. Our waitress wasn’t very attentive or nice. She refilled our lettuce twice but didn’t refill our waters.
The food was buffet-​style. Our favorite meats were the spicy pork and the kalbi. I really enjoyed the spicy blue crab side dish (it’s my favorite korean side dish)!
After dinner, you’ll need a shower and a new change of clothes because your clothes, skin, and hair will smell of BBQ.
Don’t forget to try the sweet rice punch. It reminds me of when my grandmother used to make it for me when I visited Korea.

I’ve been coming here for a couple years now. They have a good selection of meat and their kabli quality is better than most AYCE Korean BBQ spots I’ve been to. The main reason I come here is for the spicy soft shell crabs. The only other Asian buffet I know that has soft shell crab is Tatami seafood buffet.
*Also you can eat for free if it’s your birthday but the catch is you need a minimum party of 4.

The food is so good the. Even at the time of black out that never stop my eating because the beef and pork bbq are so so good.

AYCE KBBQ!!!
Do those letters mean nothing to you? If so, then move along. If they mean everything to you, then keep reading.
All-​you-​can-​eat Korean BBQ means meat, meat, and more MEAT. You know that primal carnivorous feeling that you have inside of you sometimes when you see a piece of meat? That instinct that tells you to just dig in and rip it apart with your teeth? Well, dear Unilocalers, you can let those urges loose here. You can grab plateful after plateful of raw meat and then cook it to perfection at your table. You can choose a variety of slices; from bulgogi beef and teriyaki chicken to pork belly and ox tongue. (There’s also a variety of hot food and soups for those of you who are more omnivorous.) After all of that carnaging, cool yourself down with a cup of sweet rice punch and fruit.
Palace BBQ also offers free birthday meals (with the purchase of another meal at full price, of course; sorry, no lone birthday dinners here!). It’s quite a deal to know that you and your party can sit down for an unlimited time and eat until your bellies are bursting. The price is $ 19 for lunch and $ 30 for dinner; the latter is definitely pretty costly, and I haven’t found the price difference to be worth it, so we usually go for lunch.
And don’t try to go to Palace without your friends or family and pretend you didn’t. You’ll come back smelling like BBQ all over your body; clothes, hair, skin, EVERYTHING. Smoky and delicious.

This time we came during lunch, and got seated immediately. I was wondering why there was no wait and realized after. The appetizers are all old and they allow them to sit there getting bad. The meat selection is significantly less than dinner time’s. There is no kalbi (what’s the point then??)!! I was only interested in the spicy pork, out of everything we tried.
Chicken gizzards are so tough and crunchy (is that even normal? Don’t even know but I spit it out right away). The tripe was ok, squid ok; not much flavor.
Pork belly and spicy chicken were fine, not spectacular.
Service was horrible. I had to wave them down in order to get the grill changed after it was black. And that was the ONLY time the grill got changed.
I stood up to get their attention and the waitress started coming over towards our direction – only to grab somebody else’s cup and took off, never coming back to help our table.
Basically, one word for this experience: BASIC. NEVER COMING BACK AGAIN. Trying out Gen next time instead.

Seated immediately on a Friday night, awesome! About $ 30 per person for weekend AYCE dinner.
I immediately made my way to the buffet. I had intended to grab a bucket of meat, but I got distracted by all the other sides they had to offer.
Sides:
— Bland, mediocre sushi
— Seaweed salad
— Banchan (kimchi, namul, etc)
— Chow mein
— Egg rolls
— Sweet and sour pork
— Potato salad
— Variety of soups (miso, seaweed, etc)
Meat:
— Spicy pork was my favorite
— BBQ beef and short ribs were great
— Baby octopus and squid was tasty
— Shrimp was meh
— Chicken was decent, but not memorable
— Pork belly was tough and bland
— Didn’t try the tripe or gizzard
Dessert:
— Fruit (grape, pineapple, melon)
— Soft serve, in which you have to walk up to the counter and ask the server for it
Drinks:
— Usual soft drinks
— Sapporo
— Cinnamon punch had a great kick to it but I could only handle a few sips before it burned
— Sweet rice punch was definitely the winner! I drank like 3 cups.
This place is mostly self-​serve so don’t expect extraordinary service, which I didn’t. As long as our waters were filled, we were satisfied. Grill was a bit too small and heat was definitely uneven.
I didn’t like how the server came by after only an hour (and no where near closing time) and asked if we were done cooking. I clearly replied, «No» but she turned off our grill anyways and brought us the check. Alright, I get the hint…
Overall it was nothing special and I’d rather spend the money on AYCE sushi.

UNBELIEVABLE. The PRICE went DOWN recently but still serve with best quality foods! Can’t be better. Must come.
They have about 10~12 different kinds of meat choices and so far they used most delicious marinated sauce than other BBQ buffets.
If you want to try diverse Korean side dishes too, I think this is the perfect choice. If you’re planning to come on dinner time you MUST try famous SPICY-​RAW-​CRAB with rice.
.Now no reason to hesitate since the price has changed.

Food (lunch): 3.5 stars
Spicy pork is all I needed, but the selection for other items is good even for lunch. The bulgogi beef was very tasty as well, and I thought the price was quite reasonable for lunch. They had a selection of some sushi that looked like it belonged in some refrigerator at a cheap supermarket, so I didn’t try it, but the kimchi and other similar side dishes were pretty tasty. I’d come back to get my Korean BBQ fix in. They also had good soups (red bean soup, etc.), but I skipped those in favor of, surprise, more spicy pork.
Ambience: 4 stars
Ambience is pretty good and I’d say for groups of up to 4 it should be fun. Beyond that it may get harder to sit. We came around noon on a Sunday and had no trouble whatsoever sitting with no wait, which was a bit surprising.
Service: 3 stars
Nothing was bad, but it wasn’t the most attentive place. We had to ask to get our grills replaced even as the guy was walking around with the grills carts and ours was clearly well past its time to be replaced, but once we asked he replaced it without any complains. It’s simply the kind of place where you have to ask for things, rather than expect things to be done proactively

I have heard about Palace BBQ as a pretty decent kbbq spot but I thought it was just okay — pretty pricey ($ 30/​dinner) for subpar kbbq. It’s a spacious restaurant with lots of seating so we didn’t have to wait when we arrived at 8:30pm on Sunday. They have quite a selection of meats for you to select and bring back to your table to grill. In terms of ready-​to-​eat food there was japchae, variety of kimchi, sushi rolls, rice, soup, and fruits.
We tried the spicy pork, beef tongue, brisket, pork belly, shrimp, and kalbi (short ribs). The meat was on the rougher side except for the kalbi which was very well seasoned and tender. I just had my fill of kalbi, ate a few banchan sides, and called it a night. The grill was not the easiest to cook on since the heat was not distributed properly — it seemed we could only eat food that was cooked on the left side of the grill.
In summary –
Pros: lots of seating (minimal waiting), lots of open space which means you don’t leave smelling like kbbq, kalbi was delicious
Cons: Other than kalbi, the rest of the meat was so-​so (a bit rough)
Unlikely to return. I’ll just wait until the hype (and line) dies down at the Gen Korean BBQ

Ok this place gets.
4 stars for food quality
2 stars for service
Would have gotten another bump up IF the service was a bit better. Mind you that I came in with a group of 3 at about 11:40pm, so it was not even busy during this time or while we were eating.
There is A LOT of variety of meats to choose from, spicy chicken, teriyaki chicken, pork belly, spicy pork belly, beef brisket, beef — along with other buffet options — vegetable tempura, sushi, fried rice, egg roll, steam rice.
There are NO sides here, but I guess the buffet portion makes up for it.
The meat quality is pretty good, as I said about 4 stars.
The servers only came by 4 times at our table. Twice to change the charred grill, and twice to take our dirty plates after the initial sit down. They were not very attentive to us or any other table around us. All I wanted was some more sesame oil sauce… The grills here are fairly small too, I cannot put all the meat I got at once, I have to take my time to eat while I wait for some to cook and put more on after…
I would definitely eat here again, but I am glad it is self-​serve as the servers do not come by often enough to refill your sauce, take your plates, or even refill your drinks.
Lunch came out to be 18 $/​person, 68 $ for 3 people and 3 drinks.
*TIP* — During lunch there is NO FROZEN YOGURT SERVED… so lame…

Fabulous place if you’re not watching your calories! :) 3.5 stars of yum! This is actually a great place. The only reason I rated this 3.5 instead of 4 stars, is because of the limited side dish choices.
We stuck with the BBQ beef and the spicy squid. Both were nicely marinated and had great flavor when cooked. There is a grill at each table, and you grill the meats right in front of you! I think they have an option of cooking it for you as well. Seriously a good place to visit if you want to overload your tummy with tasty meats.
The staff were attentive. They changed out our grill automatically when it started to retain a good amount of charring.
I would definitely frequent this spot more often it there were more options for side dishes. If I am ever on a carnivore kick this is the place to go!

It looked so appealing from the photos. The grab-​it-​and-​serve-​it-​yourself concept seemed so tempting. Breathing in the appetizing aroma nearly clinched the deal for an awesome time.
but damn — expectations were not met.
Maybe I held them too high having experienced plenty of other Korean BBQ AYCE elsewhere. Coming in here felt more like dining in our local dreary buffet (not to completely bash on that, at times that weird craving sets in). I needed and wanted more oomph from this restaurant: service, selection, quality, and table-​top grilling experience.
The beef was probably the only thing that made an effort. It was succulent and very flavorful. However, no matter how good LeBron James is, a champion needs the supporting cast. Kudos to you bulgogi! Maybe one day your draft picks will come.
LUNCH (11:30 — 3 pm)
Weekday (Tue-​Fri):
Adult: $ 16.99 + tax
Child (5 – 10 yrs): $ 8.99 + tax
Weekend (Sat-​Sun):
Adult: $ 18.99 + tax
Child: $ 9.99 + tax
DINNER (5 pm — 10 pm)
Weekday (Tue-​Thur):
Adult: $ 29.99 + tax
Child: $ 14.99 + tax
Weekend (Fri-​Sun):
Adult: $ 29.99 + tax
Child: $ 14.99 + tax

A friend recommended Palace BBQ to me so I have been waiting and waiting to come eat here. Finally, yesterday was the day! I was expecting there to be a wait to get a table. But we walked in at noon on a Sunday and half the restaurant was open. Luckily I was hungry so I was totally happy with this.
Palace BBQ is the type of buffet where you go to the buffet line and grab your raw meat yourself. I assume they have less selection for lunch — which was just beef tongue, brisket, pork belly, squid, chili pork, bbq beef, and chicken. The only thing I was interested in was the beef, and since I only grabbed one I thought I might as well try the chicken too. In the other buffet lines they have sushi, cooked food, side dishes, soups, rice, fruit and jello, and a couple drinks like sweet rice punch and cinnamon punch!
The grill is small and it’s smoky. They never came to change it once. The beef was surprisingly really good! The entire time I just ate beef, radish, kimchee radish, and jobchae. I didn’t fill myself up 100% since we were planning to go for dessert, but I easily could have thanks to the AYCE option.
I think I definitely overhyped this place in my mind, which is unfortunate. Or maybe it’s better at dinner time. But for now I’m still going to stick with my favorite BBQ place that I only have to drive 7 minutes to get to.

My family and I love this place. It is quite the drive from SF but we try to plan our activities out in this area.
The AYCE has gone up in price a bit but I think it’s still a great deal. The spicy pork, spicy squid, fried tempura and pickled radishes are all very good.
Come on your bday with a valid ID and receive a free meal ;)

Mmmmm. Korean meat heaven!
Having been to Palace a bunch of times when he was younger, the roommate decided to revisit and organized a family dinner. Being a huge fan of Korean BBQ and all things meat, I made the drive to SJ for dinner. We went on a Sunday night, so dinner was $ 29.99 each for adults.
My buffet strategy? Start off with the meat! They offered the following meats for grilling.
*Bbq beef
*Spicy pork
*Short rib
*Spicy chicken
*Beef tripe
*Beef brisket
*Pork belly
*Seasoned beef
*Chicken gizzard
*Spicy squid
*Baby octopus
*Shrimp
*Pork tongue
*Chicken teriyaki
My favorite was the short rib. Pieces were on the smaller side, but it was AYCE, so I didn’t care. I just grabbed a huge plate. The roommate’s fam really enjoyed the spicy pork. They also give you lettuce, ssamjang, jalapenos and garlic so you can make your own wraps.
They had a section with banchan and various cooked dishes.
*Egg roll
*Happy family
*Sweet & sour pork
*Steam mussel
*Fried rice
*Steam pork belly
*Potato salad
*Vegetable noodle
*Cucumber kimchi
*Kim chi
*Radish kimchi
*Spice crab
*Spicy squid
*Bean jello
*Bean sprout
*Chow mein
*Fried yellow croaker
*Beef meatball
*Green bean
*Fried chicken
It’s worth it to get one plate from this section so you can try a little bit of everything. The roommate actually grabbed a plate so we could share. Plus, I love spicy crab and spicy squid. And the kimchee is great in wraps!
There were other stations like Soups: Miso, Seaweed, Pumpkin, etc, and a station in the middle with sushi, cold noodles, fruit, etc. I didn’t really try much there as I wanted to eat the meat! Don’t forget dessert as they have soft serve. I grabbed some strawberries and made my own sundae.
You will walk away smelling like BBQ and your tummy will be very happy about it!

Food: 3 Stars
Service: 2 Stars
I came here with a couple of friends for their lunch buffet. Compared to other Korean restaurants I’ve been to, the meats here are definitely lower quality. The non-​marinated beef was really tough and nearly impossible to chew. I thought the gizzard was interesting after being introduced to it by my korean friends.
They also have some really nice marinated beef that you can grill. We were actually quite surprised by the tenderness of that particular meet. The Pork tongue was chewy and finally the pork belly was by far my favorite meat that they had. It was tender from the fat on the meat and at the same time so flavorful.
In terms of other offerings, they have a lot of cold kimchi variations which I thought was nice. They also had some Chinese entrees to the side which I thought was a little weird but tasted decent. In terms of quality for those entrees, it was basically like take-​out level from an Americanized restaurant so I wouldn’t go for those too much in the buffet. They had several different kinds of soups and I always like to try the Seaweed soup when I’m at Korean restaurants.
The cold noodles with egg had actually partially solidified in its bowl and was stuck to each other. They only had two varieties of fruit I believe which left me craving more. For the price, it isn’t too bad, especially at lunch, but I might actually prefer going to a traditional Korean restaurant and order precooked meats as they would give better cuts and fresher/​quality side dishes.

Honestly, I was afraid to come here for lunch on a weekend because of other reviews saying it is not a good as dinner.
Don’t worry about those reviews, its $ 18.99/person and the selection is still huge.
Lunch:
–There’s no short ribs, sorry guys
–Spicy pork, chicken, Teriyaki beef and chicken, pork blood, etc.
–All the different assortment of ban-​chans (jelly, seaweed, kimchi, etc)
–Hot entrees of chow mein, friend rice, sushi, sesame chicken, etc
–Cold fruits, puddings, rice drinks, soba noodles, etc
–Hot soups: seaweed soup, pumpkin soup (TRY IT), etc
Overall, it was worth the price! No time limit, attentive service (it was the opposite of the other reviews), and a family of happy tummies! Don’t be too picky or have super high expectations, then you’ll be fine!
Come early, the line starts 20 – 40 minutes before opening! Although it’s for lunch it still gets packed! Beware!