Korean Grill House — Restaurant in Markham

This place has been around for many many years and the last time I visited was ages ago, so given an upcoming celebration, our group decided to revisit this spot given their reasonable prices. We made a reservation for our dinner on a Thursday night but it wasn't very busy during our stay. Despite this, our party of 8 was still seated beside a family of four, even though there was ample space elsewhere. Regardless, this wasn't a big issue. Our frustration lies in the fact that they gave our party of 8 only 2 grills even though there were 3 at our bench, they just didn't want to clean it... And the family of 4 at the table next to us also had 2 grills. Make it make sense? This affected our overall experience since we had to huddle 4 people per grill alongside the amount of food we had at our table. We could have otherwise spread out and sat more comfortably but we wanted to make sure everyone could reach the food.

Overall, their menu selection is very small. We found ourselves ordering the same couple varieties of meat because there wasn't much to choose from and items lacked any sort of flavor. The only really well-marinated item was their bulgogi beef. There's also not a whole lot of condiments to choose from, so it's not like you could mix your own sauce to pair. The spicy sauce that you could order was also blander than I expected, given this is a Korean spot. Also, unlike other AYCE BBQ places where you can order unlimited varieties of dessert, they only offer each person a bite-sized scoop of mango ice cream to end the meal.

My biggest issue was with cross-contamination. We ended up being very hesitant in ordering their raw (e.g. lettuce) or precooked side dishes (e.g. bean sprouts) after seeing how they handled our food. Inevitably, everyone that night got bouts of diarrhea which I can guarantee was not from eating undercooked meat because we made sure to cook things well-done out of fear of getting sick. The place itself is also not very clean, which is evidenced by how slippery the floors are.

The best thing was likely the service, particularly the older gentleman that was serving us. He was very attentive in refilling our waters and clearing empty dishes throughout our meal.

All in all, we will unfortunately not...

I’m so upset to give this review. We couldn’t enjoy our food at all because the staff were trying to kick us out. Had to rush to eat and couldn’t enjoy our moneys worth.

We came in at 10pm knowing they closed at 11. They said we only have 15 mins to order so we still stayed. Restaurants don’t kick out their customers exactly at the closing time. Not even Gyubee does that!

Restaurants usually finish up all their duties and cleaning then at the absolute most, then tell the customers the restaurants is closing. If we knew they would close exactly at 11 we wouldn’t have stayed.

The staff didn’t even let us know that they’re gonna kick us out at 11 knowing we ordered so much food! They should’ve communicated to us 30 mins prior Atleast! Not 5 mins before closing lol. All they said was “okay, what do you want me to take away?” Me and my friend were so confused because why would they let us order so much food just to take it back. And we asked are “do we have to leave at 11?” And they said “yes. You have 10 mins to leave”

After leaving the old man said “come earlier next time”

Such a big disappointment. Maybe if you communicated that you were gonna kick us out exactly at 11 I would have never even even stayed. Although we left at 11:18 it took time to for them to get the bill, clean our table, and split the bill and us paying, and I had to go to the washroom to fix the food I dropped on my clothes from rushing to eat.

SECOND. they never told us tip was included in the bill and directed us to the tipping screen. So we assumed tip was not included because they directed us to the tip screen. We ended up paying tip on top already and the server watched us enter the tips knowing too was included 😭😭. I work at a restaurant as well so I know every receipt was a date and to me stamp and record in their POS system. Its not entirely their fault because we should’ve looked at the bill but they also should have told us :/ I hope we get our tips back because it not fair we paid tip on top of our bill that comes with tips...

2 stars. I'm a huge fan of ayce barbecue and have it once per month. After trying this one out i could say that nothing here meets my standards.

First of all, the tongs provided are a complete joke. Like seriously? The cheapest tongs at dollar store would beat this one, extremely short and hard to use. It can even pinch your middle finger.

Second, the gas stove is also subpar. The heat is uneven, and not meant to be controlled by customers. Pan is not pre greased or non-stick as well, meats stick to the pan a lot. Especially the salmon! Yes, they expect you to grill naked salmon meat on ungreased iron pan! What a disaster, they just disintegrated as you can imagine (what's left of it tastes good though) Also, all the meat are too salty, probably an attempt to make you eat more rice and less meat. Only plain rice is served, and noodles are limited quantity, one serving is literally one mouthful. Only soy sauce for dipping, no dry dish or anything else (not that you need it, for how salty the meats already are) Kalbi were sold out. A common practice for budget ayce restaurants, intentionally letting the most costy stuff be sold out to cut down cost. The meats are not bad but the cooking experience completely ruins it. Short rib is the only thing i would recommend, but it's also the most salty one. Maybe the salmon as well if you are fine with how 50% of it will be left permanently on the pan. Not skill issue, i consider myself a bbq expert.

Side dish are fine. Not as good as gyubee but 2/3 the way there. Menu could be confusing though. I thought 'potato' is for grilling but it turned out to be a cold dish of chili potato. Dessert is only icecream and you cannot even choose flavor.

Would recommend if it's 30$, but it's 44$ after tax and fee so not worth it at all, i regret going here instead of sticking to shinta, gyubee or other ones i...