Sam Won Garden Restaurant

I recently spend two weeks in South Korea so I have very specific flavors I'm craving. This is My fav Korean restaurant in town. 6 banchan options and generous portions!I've been going here before they offered AYCE and loved the food. In the past week I have returned for AYCE BBQ two times. I've learned if you are party of two for AYCE ask for half portions because they are huge. Everything is super delicious. The bulgogi is not too sweet and it's tender. The port belly is generous in size and amazing with raw garlic. My family loves kimchi and they keep it coming. The radish banchan is so good. I also love fish cake and it is served with banchan. You can get lettuce leaves for wrapping too. The tteoboki is also available with the AYCE and lots of soups, chicken, japchae...it's so good!I'll be back for more rounds! Also, I'm also thanked in Korean by the chef that is slicing the meat. Kamsahamida!!

We saw on Instagram that they were now doing AYCE Korean BBQ for $27-$40 so you know we had to come try it! We've been here before and the food was great! The restaurant is small but cozy. The atmosphere is very mom and pop like and all the servers are super friendly! I never have a problem with service here! You do have to cook the meats yourself here, which we love to do! When we came this time around, it was around lunchtime. Our waitress was super sweet and explained the AYCE options. Prices start at $27 and increase depending on the package tier. All the packages come with banchan (side dishes), appetizers, and meats. If you want premium meats, then the price goes up. I think the highest premium meats tier is like $40 per person. We decided on the mid level tier at like $30+ dollars. The table was set up with tongs and scissors to cut up our meats as needed. We were then given our banchan (which had kimchi, bean sprouts, broccoli, potato salad (my fav!), etc.) changed at every refill) and also dipping sauces (sesame oil and salt, soy sauce?, and ssamjang (soybean paste and gochujang). You can also ask for lettuce wraps and also rice to go alongside your meats. For the appetizers, we decided on Korean fried chicken, cheese corn, kimchi jjigae, and japchae noodles. Korean fried chicken: 8/10 - pieces were a good size, fried to a perfect crisp, and came with a gochujang dipping sauce! The flavor was good too and we enjoyed it! Wished our main dipping sauces came with gochujang though! Most restaurants provide it on the side as a condiment. Cheese corn: 9/10 - I absolutely love cheese corn and this did not disappoint! The cheese corn was sizzling and came perfectly melted! Cheese corn usually consists of mozzarella cheese, corn, butter, and some mayonnaise on a sizzling, hot plate. If you haven't tried it yet, you definitely should! The corn cheese tasted creamy and you definitely get that cheese pull! It does get a bit heavy on the stomach if you eat more than one serving! Kimchi jjigae: 7/10 - my friend got this and she said it tasted really good! It's essentially a stew and has tofu, kimchi, pork or beef, scallions, etc. I love kimchi jjigae as it's a very comforting and hearty stew. Japchae: 8/10 - my friend got this and she enjoyed it very much. Japchae is stir fry glass noodles (made with potato starch) with veggies and beef strips. Meats:Beef brisket: 6.5/10 - it didn't have flavor at all and came frozen. We were a bit disappointed that the meat came frozen and not fresh. We had to dip it in our dipping sauces to get some flavor. Pork jowl: 7/10 - I love pork jowl (pork cheek) because it literally melts in your mouth! These were good but it was a little tough. I'm thinking it's because these were previously frozen. It didn't have much flavor unfortunately, but it tasted better than the beef brisket. Galbi (Korean short ribs): 9/10 - these were really good. The marinated meats in my opinion tasted much better! The short ribs were fragrant and had a wonderful flavor. As it was grilling, I could smell all the spices and aroma. I love they added onion as well too because the onion's flavor becomes sweet after it's grilled. The chargrilled flavor was chef's kiss! Spicy pork belly: 8/10 - I enjoyed the pork belly very much and it was marinated nicely. Dipped with the sesame oil/salt mix, it was divine. I always get pork belly at Korean BBQ restaurants and this one definitely hit the spot! Overall, a decent place for AYCE Korean BBQ, but some of the meats need a little bit more flavor. Also wished some of the meats didn't come frozen but we had a good experience here. Will definitely come try this place again!

Came for the first time for a birthday dinner. I ordered the bibimbap and it was delicious! I also tasted some of the kitchen-cooked kbbq bulgogi which was also yummy and plentiful. It's a smaller, hole-in-the-wall space, but the staff did well keeping up with each table and providing prompt service.

The new version of Sam Won is just as delucious as the previous. I do miss Ms. Kim in the resaurant welcoming everyone. The inside is much more modern and clean looking. We did the AYCE BBQ. It was AMAZING. You can order a ton of different Appitizers/Sides and there are different levels of BBQ. It comes with korean bonchon (sides) that can be refilled anytime even without having the AYCE BBQ. the meat was so fresh there was a worker cutting the meat in the bar area. We ordered the kimchi pancake and the Korean fried chicken both were amazing! Check out the new Sam Won!

Ok, I'll admit. I'm addicted to this place. Since coming back from my Korea trip I really needed something to scratch the itch. But I'll also comment that the food here is slightly altered to suit more of an American taste.The seating here is quite nice. They have cute booths in the back where they can let to do a traditional kbbq experience with the grill in the middle of the table. If you're not into grilling your own meat the kitchen will bring it to you on a hot plate and then you'll u can sit in the middle area that's not a booth if you're more comfortable sitting at a table. To note: if you want to grill your own meat you have to order 2 meats. They'll explain it to you. Everyone is very accommodating.The first time I was here I ordered the Al jiggar which is a codfish roe stew. It was so fragrant. I wouldnt recommend it for the uninitiated, but I'd you're more experimental with your food experiences, I love the strong seafood taste of the soup. My friend ordered the galbi, and of course it is always lovely. I love how they marinate their meats here. I came here a fortnight later and got their squid stir fry. It was sweeter than I'm used to and very saucy. Perfect for all that rice you get. This time my friend ordered the grilling meat and her boyfriend got the seafood udon. They loved their orders, so that's all I can say on that, since I couldn't finish all my food. For me the amount of food they give us approximately 2.5 meals amount wise, so it's quite a bit. Even if it's like $20+ per person, you really get what you pay for.They have kdrama playing on 1 TV near the door and kpop music videos on the one by the bar. It's really an aesthetic. It's dark in here, but it really adds to the ambience. You can tell it's truly a mom and pop shop. And I can't recommend it enough. I love it! I keep coming back!

The best all you can eat AYCE Korean KBBQ in Jacksonville; so much flavor, quick service and the meat was extremely high quality. Great price, and a locally owned place instead of the generic KBBQ chains. 100% recommend, will never go anywhere else!

Sam Won has been a go to spot for me for over the past 8 + years. I've tried other Korean bbq options here and Jax, and keep coming back to my lil hole in the wall spot over here. I think what you get for what you pay is very fair, the service has always been very good, and so is my food each time I make the trip over here. Sam Won is the type of place that after you visit once or twice, you know what you are going to get each time you come in. It's reliable. Their bibimbap is my all time favorite. Normally I get it in the hot stone, but this time decided to try it in a regular bowl, and add an extra egg to it. Still just as delicious. Their homemade hot sauce they bring to the table with the bibimbap is very tasty. If you require a little extra heat, just tell your server and they will bring a much hotter version of the same sauce, to your table. I greatly appreciated that - custom! The glass noodle appetizer shown in the pics was extremely delicious. That was a new try for me and I will be ordering that again on my next visit! The spicy pork was not overly spicy. I'd classify it a mild to low end medium heat for those of you who like a little spice, but not too much.

B+ for Korean BBQ in Jax! I would definitely dine here again. The food is authentic Korean and tastes good for the most part. The service was friendly and attentive. The restaurant is small and cozy. The pricing is comparable to an all-you-can-eat (AYCE) Korean BBQ place, in which the amount for one dish + one appetizer equals the typical amount you'd pay for one person at AYCE. So if you want more bang for your buck you might choose an AYCE. But I guess the plus here is that you can bring home leftovers, whereas at an AYCE you typically cannot. I rate the food a B+ because it tasted good. I wasn't blown away, but I was definitely satisfied. Theres a good selection of dishes and drinks. The quality of the meats were good. And the sides were fresh. We ordered beef ribs, thin sliced beef brisket, and beef prime rib eye. The bulgogi, or beef prime rib eye was cooked in the back and the rest was brought to the table to be cooked by us. We also got rice, lettuce, a sweet dipping sauce, along with sides that included pickled radish/carrot combo, bean sprouts, kimchi, and seaweed. We also ordered corn cheese and tteok bokki as appetizers. The beef ribs had a great, savory flavor and the tteok bokki was so soft and delicious. They were my favorites. The thin sliced beef brisket could have been sliced a bit more thinly. And the beef prime rib eye was cut into perfect bite sized pieces, but the marinade was just average. The corn cheese had more mayonnaise than I was expecting. The rice, lettuce and sides were fresh and paired well with our meats. I dipped my meat in the sweet sauce and asked for sesame oil. Add salt to that and dip your meat in for some added flavor. Our server was friendly and very attentive. She came by multiple times to refill our side dishes and drinks. We sat at the table with blackboard walls and they had a cup full of chalk at our table. My niece had fun drawing on the wall, and it was cool to see previous customers' art work. It was an enjoyable experience, and I would recommend this place.

Pretty good spot if you're ever craving Korean food! Very cute interior and quick, friendly service! There are a variety of complimentary side dishes that are served for the table. The seafood pancake was delicious and a must try! The Kimbap was a little underwhelming because there was too much rice with less flavor/texture than what I'm used to; the Seafood Udon was a little salty for my liking. Jjam Pong was a really good mix of spicy broth with seafood and noodles. Portions were sizable and there's a lot of options on the menu!

DO NOT GO TO THIS RESTAURANT! The food was awful. Cold and nasty. I had bad stomach pain after eating there. They added auto Gratuity and added MORE tips to my credit card without my authorization! Scam! Check your credit card! Need to report this business!