Chingu Korean BBQ Caroline Springs — Restaurant in Melbourne

I recently visited Chingu Korean BBQ and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the meat. I wasn’t expecting it to be that good, but it truly exceeded my expectations. My personal favorite was the Wagyu oyster blade—absolutely delicious! However, the meat portions were on the smaller side, which was a bit disappointing.

As for the side dishes, they were just okay. The corn cheese was pretty standard, but the fried tteok-bokki wasn’t what I hoped for. It wasn’t very crunchy and was actually quite mushy with powder cheese on. I ended up grilling it on the table grill to make it crispier, which did improve it. Unfortunately, the sauce it came with was ketchup, which didn't work for me. I found it much better when paired with the spicy red Korean sauce. We also ordered two corn cheese but the second one never came out and we were still charged for it unfortunately, I’m sure it was an honest mistake since it was very busy but still not the happiest with that.

The budae jjigae hotpot included in the set was also just okay, though it was a bit bland for my taste. It would have been nice to have the option to choose kimchi jjigae instead.

Service-wise, the experience was a bit mixed. The owner, who I assume was the cheerful and kind woman attending to us, was amazing. However, some of the other staff members were not as attentive. We were seated without being given menus or water, and had to wait for 10 minutes until someone spoke up to ask for menus.

The atmosphere at Chingu is vibrant and lively. The highlight was definitely the cow that comes out with music for birthdays—it's hilarious and added a lot of fun to the experience.

Overall, I’d give Chingu 3 stars. It’s a great local KBBQ spot with some highs and lows, and I would definitely...

What a cracking night at Chingu! It was our first time, and we were totally blown away. The owner kicked things off by taking our order with such a friendly vibe, making us feel right at home. Then Sandra, our absolute legend of a server, jumped in to guide us through cooking our meal at the table. She was so patient and even helped carry things out to keep everything running smoothly. Top notch service! 😊

The food was unreal. The stew beef soup was hearty and bursting with flavour, just pure comfort in a bowl. The oyster blade and short ribs were grilled to perfection, so juicy and tender. The marinated Wagyu beef was a proper standout, packed with that savoury goodness. The spicy chicken brought a nice kick, and the creamy cheesy corn was pure indulgence, all gooey and delicious.

We were so impressed with their care for halal dining. They do have pork on the premises, but the owner and staff were super mindful, making sure everything was spotless and halal procedures were followed to a tee. They even wrote on our menu with a texta to highlight the halal options, which made us feel really looked after. Sandra double checked it all, ensuring our meal was perfect and stress free.

Every staff member was genuinely lovely, and the vibe was lively yet relaxed, perfect for a fun night out. We had such a great time and are already keen to come back. Huge thanks to the owner, Sandra, and the Chingu crew for an epic feed and awesome...

A very decent Kbbq spot, especially if you’re looking for a clean halal friendly spot. Servers were quite attentive, they made sure our grill was always clean and they hung around if we needed anything. The food was excellent, I loved the meats and you can definitely taste the freshness and quality.

However, my review goes down only when it came time to pay. Firstly they were really pushing for cash (which we didn’t bring) and once we told them card they informed us of the 5% surcharge (which wasn’t not written anywhere, but we were absolutely fine with). Although we mentioned the happy hour discount and one of the older Asian women did not allow for our server to apply the happy hour discount, even though it was a Thursday and we arrived between the allocated time slot. Her excuse was that Friday does not count as a weekday - but there is absolutely nothing on this signage that suggests otherwise. Extremely unprofessional, desperate, and downright unethical behaviour from this place - which is why my review goes down so much.

So many other lovelier kbbq spots I would recommend and simply due to the management’s behaviour this is not one I would continue to support.

Unfortunate, but you live and you learn. I just hope they learn to either specify their signage or stop with the ridiculous...