DJK

I love olleh, they have great side dishes (a lot that most kbbq don't offer) and the service is always really great too. by far the best bulgogi I've had compared to other kbbq places

Gaja. Oceanside. Robot servers. Fun night.

You can add yourself to waitlist on the drive up.

The Fire Spot

Jeong Won BBQ on Convoy 💯

Manna BBQ has several locations and a vegetarian option. Your wife can order some items on the menu and the bonchon (sides) is mostly or all vegetarian. They won’t give them to you automatically, you need to request them. One or two people can be designated as the cook who will put the meat on the grill, turn it over, and serve when ready, etc. Ask your server for the most popular options. Don’t get chicken- it takes forever to cook.

Gen used to be my go-to until they changed owners and the quality of the meat went down.

Enjoy, go early to beat the crowds!

Well, it depends on what sort of experience you want. If you want AYCE kbbq, then your vegetarian wife will likely have to pay full price and then only eat from like 10% of the menu. If it doesn't need to be AYCE, then you can pick a traditional Korean restaurant that has bbq (most of them do anyway) and wifey can pick something vegetarian, as this will be easier here.

AYCE options you can look up would include Manna bbq (I like the mira mesa location as it has great parking), 356 bbq in mission valley plaza, and Olleh in convoy.

DJK (Dae Jang Keum) and Buga are both in the convoy area, both are more traditional (non AYCE), and they definitely have some vegetarian options on their menus.

Either way you go, you'll have a good time. Enjoy your meal!

Song Hak is a great spot for this. It’s not charged per person, rather it’s by ‘package’ with a set amount of food. Their meat is high-quality and their menu of vegetarian sides is more extensive than most. Convoy, of course

At Buga you can usually convince them to let a vegetarian order bibimbap and not AYCE KBBQ.

Don't get me wrong, Manna is great...

But give Fire Spot a try because they use charcoal grills and it's amazing.

Seconding DJK for al carte. For AYCE, Buga is my go to. Curious to hear what everyone has to say. Has anyone tried Gaja in Oceanside? I’m practically to the point where I’ve been to most Kbbqs in San Diego lol.

Kogi or Gen are my go-tos

You aren’t going to get a straight answer on this because everybody likes different things. Some people like the menus with intestines/tongue/jowls/etc., some people like to grill over charcoal, some people like the cheapest AYCE KBBQ they can possibly find, some people hate waiting in line or making reservations, some people look for good quality meat.

Would help to clarify what you’re looking for.

There's so many options so I guess it's best to pick the best one with the best meat.

Kogi and 356 are really good because they use USDA prime beef. The marbling on the meat is really great.

Every other option like Gen, Manna, etc, don't really use high quality beef, so their beef isn't as tender/marbled as the other choices.

I recently went to Olleh and that was pretty good too.

Yup, l don't do AYCE. If I was inclined towards AYCE would probably go to Olleh. Been going to DJK since they took over Bochoo(?). Both do/did cook over coals instead of gas.

We’ve been here 3 times now and the Brisket Miso Soup is an absolute fave! They also have a soju freezer that makes the soju extra cold and refreshing!

Buenas @silversambas and SYM for this thread! I came across this last night and couldn’t get past three words in your post…Brisket Miso Soup…My wife and I decided that a visit to K Bar-B-Que Guam was necessary, so we went today.

Ok…just got back from K Bar-B-Que Guam. We give your family’s restaurant a very solid

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

We had the brisket miso soup, the hangover soup, and the Galbi. All were delicious, along with the banchan!!! Your dad and his staff were very nice and friendly too. Shoutout and thank you, Wu!

I’m trying to get this post out as fast as I can because “I ate the all of it” and here comes the K Bar-B-Que food coma.

For real though, we’re going to be visiting and recommending K Bar-B-Que every chance we get!

I love soups lol. What other soups do you have on your menu? And do you do to-go orders?

Moving to Guam this summer. We will stop by !

Nice, maybe I can go tomorrow for lunch. Is this in Harmon Industrial Park?

Not really small bites but very casual. Sue’s Korean Kitchen in Mira Mesa I don’t really know of anything like Dang Sung Sa down here if you’re referring to the ambiance. If someone does I’d like to know.

Chon Ju Jip is good for banchan then hot pots.

Not much for BBQ, though.

Min sok chan and zzan

Thang thang

If price isn't a restriction - 10 Butchers. Nothing comes close, not Chungdam (which is 2nd place, had to kick them down a notch since they stopped carrying their dry age steak option). If you go all out on A5 Wagyu and A4 short ribs, you're looking at maybe $120-$150 without drinks.

Mid-range - Consider some non-Korean BBQ options like Shimofuri or Gyu-Kaku. Gyu-Kaku in particular, I think has improved a lot in the past few years. I left very impressed and very full the last time I went. About $70 each including 1 serving of alcohol. We ordered enough such that they had to slow the service as the table was overflowing.

Budget options - Gen AYCE isn't bad for its price but waiting time can get crazy some times, Gooyi Gooyi is popular, though be prepared to smell like roast pork afterwards. Also for late nights, Tobang is a fave. Not sure now, but they used to open till 1am or something.

Also - If you want to go the whole "same same but different" route - Try Chinese-style steam pots like Fresh Elements in Daly City, there's another one in Oakland that I forgot the name. Seafood is the game here, but they serve meats as well. Price differs greatly whether you order the live king crab or not.

P.S: I do not recommend Jang Su Jang at all. Other people's opinions might differ.

This is my opinion as a korean (though I don't think that qualifies me) but where my family has always gone growing up is Hansung galbee on El Camino. What I'll say about this place is that 1. Cheaper than chongdam 2. Meat is amazing but not the best (10 butchers has better quality) 3. Best side dishes / compliments to the meal out of any restaurant in this area. 4. They use charcoal for their grilling

To expound upon point 3, often times kbbq is eaten with dwaenjang jjigae (bean paste stew) or naengmyun (cold noodles) and they're amazing at this restaurant. The other side dishes and entrees there are top quality too.

Not as crowded and this is usually where people in my korean community (1st and 2nd generation korean Americans) will go to get kbbq for special occasions.

I like YaqiniQ... if you are looking for all you can eat bbq.

There's only two places that still do Korean bbq in the area with charcoal (this being one), it used to be much more frequent back in the 90's. My understanding is that due to permits new places can't use charcoal or it's cost prohibitive, unless they got grandfathered in by having it in the past.

With that said, the charcoal BBQ is amazing. It really does add a ton of flavor. You will smell like BBQ though so plan accordingly.

Price and quality of food mismatch. Its okay. Was king for a while, but the competition caught up and overtook it. With 10 Butchers, we are at LA-level now. Used to drive down to LA 5-6 times a year pre-Covid, and K-town was always a must go (Sun Nong Dan and Quarters are some of my faves).

Within the last few years, 10 Butchers and Daeho basically brought the LA flavors up here.

Edit: And its not just K-town, Din Tai Fung, Meet Fresh, Boiling Point, 85C bakery in the last 5 years or so. The only Asian item I still want them to bring up is Jade Phoenix Dim Sum and Half Half (Ban Ban) Boba Tea. Other than that, I only go down to LA for sushi and live crab / clams at Quality Seafood (at Redondo beach)

Heck, I used to go down to LA for chicken rice (Savoy specifically), then the chicken rice game in NorCal blew up big time.

Try YakiniQ. Very reasonable price. Good bbq and price in general.

I always loved Tobang in Santa Clara. Not a fancy place but the food is great.

If you are just exploring, I think the safest option is Gen though I do not like how crazy crowded it gets. My personal recommendation is non-korean but its the same thing - Gyu-Kaku (Japanese). Their serving portions are smaller which allows you to try more stuff. Also the cooking for yourself part might be kinda fun for you.

Note: When it comes to cooking - The staff at 10 Butchers, Chung Dam, Tobang does the cooking right in front of you. I do believe for most of the rest you have to cook it yourself. For the life of me, I cannot remember who does the cooking in Gooyi Gooyi.

Ko Ryo Jung, also helps that it’s AYCE !!

Yellow cow but it’s not ayce. The combos are great though- you get so much food! The meat quality is really good and the banchan is amazing

I’m not an AYCE fan, so Baekjeong in Torrance.

go to moon bbq #2 in ktown then lol

If you’re a fan of pork belly, then Palsaik in Torrance. Gotta get the signature combo with the 8 different marinated pork bellies.

I don't even know if the food is the best, but the aunties there are. Perfect mix of kindness and shaming-- it's what I'm looking for in a KBBQ

DJK kbbq

Taeguki. Garlic butter is unreal

Manna bbq. Much cleaner than olleh and better ventilation (smoke taken out from the side of the grill vs on the roof at olleh). Good quality meat too - my korean mother approves and prefers manna over olleh edit: spelling

Olleh in Convoy. Kogi is good too but imo olleh has better customer service and options

Buga Korean BBQ is my favourite in San Diego. They have my favorite banchan and the highest quality meats for AYCE in SD. Their service can be hit-or-miss and they can have a long wait because of how their dining room is set up, though.

Second choice would probably be Olleh due to their variety and consistently solid service.

My baseline is Manna BBQ. Multiple locations, the two I've been to seem to be of same quality. It's relatively affordable at ~$30/person.

356 is (in my opinion) similar to Manna, I think their sides are better, but it's also more expensive, I think it's closer to $40/person.

Taegukgi was also okay, seems better if you also want drinks compared to manna? This place also sits around the $40/person.

Olleh I haven't been to since it changed from Road-Em, the service was really bad at road-em, might be better since changing names? Seems to be one of the more lower priced options.

Prime I haven't been to since it changed from standard menu to all you can eat. It was really good before but I assume the AYCE meat quality is lower. (Online says it's ~$30/person)

Jeong Won used to be the ultimate cheap KBBQ when I was younger, their thing is that you self serve (both meat and side dishes).

DJK is my favorite non-AYCE kbbq. I'd suggest just going with one of their set menus if you're not sure what to order.

Gen in mira mesa - I don't have any good reason to say so but I hate it, my friends love it. I haven't been there since before the pandemic, but it's probably ~$35/person

Dae Jang Keum

Jeong won

Olleh is pretty good

Kogi BBQ in Kearny Mesa!