Seoul Kalbi Korean BBQ

Excellent charcoal kbbq spot! Be sure to make a reservation! Otherwise you will easily wait 1-1.5hrs for a table. But totally worth the wait.I really enjoyed grilling over the charcoal, it gives your food a nice, subtle taste of the smoke that you won't get on a gas or electric grill and crisps your meat nicely. Service was fast and attentive. If you don't mind smelling like heavy smoke, this is a great kbbq spot to come to.

We made a reservation for 10 PM but unfortunately, our experience felt rushed from the start. Not even five minutes after sitting down, we were told we had to place our order immediately because the kitchen was closing. If they're going to close the kitchen that soon, they really shouldn't accept reservations at that time.To make things even more rushed, they brought out a complimentary dessert before we had even started eating, which felt unnecessary. While the food was good and the service was okay, the pressure to order quickly took away from the overall dining experience.If you plan to visit, I'd recommend going earlier in the evening to avoid feeling rushed. Hopefully, the restaurant can improve its reservation policies to allow guests to enjoy their meal without feeling hurried.

A bit bummed compared to how much I raved about SK BBQ when I first tried it. My experience this time just did not hit the same. My friend and I arrived at 7:15 PM on a Monday and thankfully, we did not have to worry about waiting to get seated. In my last review, I did not mention that there are two menu packages to choose from: the Classic menu, which costs $45, and the Premium menu, which costs $55 and offers different types of protein choices that you cannot order from the Classic menu. What threw me off the most was the ban chan. I think because I had a few bites of this first, it slightly ruined my excitement and taste buds for the rest of the meal compared to what I was anticipating based on my last visit. Some of the ban chans tasted funky and overly salty (non-spicy bean sprouts, kimchi, spinach). My favorite meat to order this time was the Steak and Kalbi. Service was still decent, but I would lower it this time to an 8/10. It wasn't as attentive as I experienced last time, which is interesting because it was less busy and more calm today compared to my previous visit.

Ok, hear me out. I know we're here for the meat, but this is what really stood out to me:* POTATO SALAD!!!!!!!!!!!! * kimchi pancake* octopus (took forever to grill, but very tender)* perfect thinly sliced garlic I think I ate 3 clovesSolid KBBQ place with the full experience. Charcoal grill definitely added depth to the flavor. I wish the grill was a little larger, but it was good enough, and our charcoal was replaced a couple of times. Two people in our group kept getting blasted by the smoke. The staff was super attentive and on top of things. Empty plates never stayed on the table for more than two minutes.

This was the nearest KBBQ place and although the meat was good, I thought it was a little pricier than other places I've been to for $45 per person. The menu selection felt limited as well with sides like cheese corn, dumplings and japchae being an additional $5 each. I thought it was very cool that they used charcoal grills! It made the room very smokey which some customers were complaining about but the vents were strong enough to clear most of the smoke. We ended up being moved unprompted because the table next to us asked to move from the smoke being too much for them. Our food was already on the grill but they moved everything for us. It was a strange experience but otherwise fine afterwards. There is only street parking available. I don't think I will be returning but it was nice to try a new place!

My group was craving some Korean BBQ so we decided to come here for dinner. I haven't been here in well over 6 years probably so it's interesting to see what's changed. The stand out change was the additional seating as they removed the large banchan cart that use to be in the middle of the restaurant. I assume they removed it due to covid probably but I was sad since I prefer to get the items I like. Especially when we were a party of 5 and everyone had their favorites so some items like the potatoes were gone in seconds and we didn't want to keep asking them for potatoes over and over again. The meats were pretty good though it depends. We really enjoyed the Wagyu Butcher's Cut as it was very tender however when we re-ordered it, they were out so we only got one portion of it which not everyone has a chance to try. So that was a bummer :( The bulgogi was flavorful and delicious. We got 3 portions of it. However, the 2nd portion was quite fatty but still good. The chicken bulgogi was juicer and tender and was surprisingly a favorite with several people at the table. The meat portions were sizeable and they came by to take additional order every time we cleared out our previous meat order. I do wish, however, for certain items they would give bigger portions. For example we ordered Zucchini and it was just 3 slices on a small plate. I even asked for double portion but they only came out with one. Other times certain items we ordered never came out. We weren't sure if they were out or just forgot. Most of it were sides and/or appetizers, which again I just wished was in the cart so we can grab it ourselves. I also wished they had a menu on the wall instead of a QR code or have both up. I'm usually the designated cook so I'll be in the middle of it while they come by so then I have to stop everything I'm doing, whip out my phone while hoping my hand is clean, to order additional items. Speaking of cooking, the grate is also curved for some items like the zucchini and smaller pieces of meat will just fall off the sides so really only the middle portion is ideal for grilling. Because of that, grilling takes a while for a party over 3 or 4 people. It made me wish there were 2 grills so we can get more meat on the grill which then goes in our tummies. I think ideally a group of 2 per grill would be perfect.So all in all the dinner was good, just not amazing. I would give it a four star however the price bumped it down for me. I understand this is a charcoal bbq which has a cost as well as a benefit. However $45 is quite steep to me. Although I enjoy the smokiness of cooking over a charcoal grill, I think I rather pay $32.99 instead at Seapot or The Warehouse for AYCE BBQ. Give it a try if you haven't had charcoal bbq however I personally would return maybe every other year if other people really wanted to go.

Charcoal kbbq! There's not many places in the Bay Area that serves this style of kbbq, so I'm glad to have found this place. I recommend placing a reservation beforehand through Yelp, or be prepared to wait.The charcoal brings out a nice smokey flavor to the meats. I'm not usually a fan of bulgogi, but cooking this over a charcoal grill REALLY changed my perspective -- one of my favorite meats that night! Be sure to check out the special items they have listed on the wall as they're included in the AYCE (mussels, beef tongue, etc.)The menu also comes with Korean dishes, with some premium options for an extra surcharge. We ordered the tofu soup and kimchi pancake, which both tasted homemade.The only con I'd have to say about this place is that our servers should come by more to change the grill/mix the charcoal. Towards the end of our meal, we weren't able to properly cook our last few meats. Otherwise, very unique experience!

Really tasty food and fun experience. Staff were very friendly and helpful to us newbies. Would definitely go again!

We just got home from SK Korean BBQ and there was so much to like and love about the restaurant. The food was top-notch and I thought everything was perfect except for the Chicken Bulgogi, which I feel was probably a one-off, so I'd be down to try it again in the future when we go back because we WILL be back. At $45 per person, the food isn't cheap, but no way you aren't leaving there stuffed, so it's actually worth the price.We were fortunate to be able to go early (at 5:15pm) on a Saturday night, so we had zero wait for a table. I can definitely see this place getting packed on a weekend night, but we managed to get out of there when it was full, but before any line had/would have formed.I also can't thank them enough for how sweet they were to my son. Another huge plus for me (which was noteworthy enough that I mentioned it to our friends who ate there with us) was that I'm 1/2 Korean and as such, I'm not fluent in the language, but I speak some Korean (most importantly, I know how to speak Korean food - a.k.a., I know how and what to order at a Korean restaurant in Korean) and they never once looked at me like I was an idiot, which is what I usually get when I go to a Korean restaurant without my Korean Mom in tow.Anyway, outside of the one hiccup with the chicken, there wasn't one bad dish on the menu. All of the meats were perfectly marinated, the banchan was ALL delicious, while the egg soufflé, the ssam-chu-ssam, the soon ddubu and especially the kimchi pancake were all on point. My husband loved that the meats were all cooked over the mesquite wood, which is great because so many places now use gas for grilling meat at AYCE Korean BBQ, which isn't terrible, but it's definitely not as good as cooking the meats over wood.Thank you so much to the proprietors for an excellent meal and for being so kind to my son, which I appreciate more than you know!! I feel terrible that I was so busy cooking and stuffing my face that I didn't even get any pictures of the food. I did get a cute picture of my son with the Santa cutout next to their Christmas tree, so I'll include that picture with this review. Next time we go I'll update my review with photos of our food.

I visited on a Monday evening so it was very slow and easy to get a table! You can find the menu on a QR code. Service was prompt and friendly.I was impressed by the cuts of meats and flavor. The bulgogi was a favorite! And the charcoal experience was new but definitely tasty! I would eat here again!