Kobi Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Vaughan

I found my experience with this restaurant to be much less satisfying than I was expecting, given the stellar reviews that I had read beforehand. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the 2-star and 3-stars because their experiences were more in-line with my own.

I made a reservation a day in advance, as some had mentioned it gets really busy. And indeed, it was really busy. We walked in and noticed about a dozen people sitting in the waiting area. Fortunately we had reservations so that was not an issue. I then noticed that there were many empty tables, which was a bit confusing until a friend pointed out that they were all reserved. So...if you can get reservations in, do it.

The restaurant looks nice and clean. They occupy two units, so there are two entrances up front leading to two different areas, but then you realize they're both connected in between. There are decorations here and there, with nice black walls between tables. There are several booth rooms for medium-sized groups (4-6) that are pretty nice. Each table comes with a bell that actually works unlike some places. Washrooms were no good though, compared to the dining area.

Their menu comes with some usual korean dishes like stews and bibimbap and stuff. They have a nice collection of drinks to choose from.

Flipping over towards the end, you'll see their table BBQ section. The way it works here is you must order at least two orders per table. Most of the items count as one order, so you're going to have to get two. In terms of cheese BBQ, they have spicy chicken and cheese, squid and cheese, as well as a seafood and cheese (which comes with a bunch of different seafoods). You're basically looking at $40 per set, which is good for I'd say two people.

They also have meat BBQ. Again, minimum two orders. You get some plain pork belly or beef rib options, and some marinated pork/beef options. When we asked about how much meat we'll actually get, the waiter specified that it will be around 225 g. Now, if you think about it, that's half a pound of meat for $18 to $25. This better be some amazing meat if they're charging like $50 a pound (to put this into perspective, you could get good southern BBQ for around $20-$30 a pound, and decent AYCE korean BBQ for $20-$25)

We decided to order two orders of spicy chicken and cheese, and two orders of marinated meats (won in votes compared to seafood and cheese). When the food came, a lot of stuff was put on the table: two cups of lettuce, 5 side-dishes, a bowl of onions, vinegar and sauces, a bowl of steamed egg, a second portable stove, and two platters of meat. Basically, the whole table was filled. While it does look impressive, there isn't actually that much in terms of food. And because there was just so much stuff on the table, you'd have to figure out how to work with it.

The side-dishes came with a few pieces each. This means you're probably going to need to get a lot of re-fills if you really like it, but they don't really have too many waiters available and getting ahold of them even with the bell can be difficult.

There wasn't much meat. Well, it's 225g, so that's kind of to be expected, but the quality wasn't even that great. They were all pretty thin and didn't taste or feel that great either. Then again, I was in charge of the grill and I have basically no grilling experience, so perhaps it was my fault that the ingredients weren't used well. I don't know.

The spicy chicken and cheese is probably their specialty since it's on their store front, but I didn't find it to be anything special. They add a lot of things to it that aren't chicken, and then they mix it up in the spicy sauce so that everything looks orange. But there was probably a dozen pieces of chicken or so. Split that between a group and everyone gets...not much. It's all the extra stuff like vegetables or rice cakes that they add that makes it look like there's a lot going on in the pictures. The cheese was ok, but it goes out pretty quick.

I do like that they accept credit cards and are willing to...

I went for lunch Thanksgiving day with my family. Upon walking in, lady server was very unpleasant not did not give any welcoming vibe, instead making a fuzz. Came to the table to take order and still continued giving attitude. She can’t understand English properly and made error on our order (lacking). She was visibly whining up and making ‘sigh’ even in front of us while putting our meal on the table. Reason: we can’t think of any as she was giving negative attitude the moment we walked in the restaurant.

I asked her straight up, “what was her problem and why she was acting like that to us because it was making us including the kids very uncomfortable and happy?” She just ignored and kept giving attitude by raising eyebrows and just dropping food on the one just side of the long table. My whole family then right after agreed we want to leave that very moment as she was so rude and she was already ruining our Thanksgiving day celebration. The other male server noticed right away, came, and asked what happened. He did confirmed that it was not the first time customers complained with the lady server’s attitude. The male server apologized, asked for us to stay and commit that he will be the one serving us instead of the lady. We gave chance despite the lady server ruined our day. We did not hear any apology from the lady server and she continued to act like her rude attitude was normal for her.

Overall, food was okay, ambience was so so compared to other Korean restaurants. Regardless of how good the place and food, IT WAS THE SERVICE WHICH WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING BUT COMPLETELY FAILED DUE TO RUDE LADY SERVER. Keeping the lady in that restaurant just bringing negative energy for the business and surely makes potential repeat customers never comes back again like us.

PS: to the lady server: if you are unhappy with your work and just want to come to get more money especially it was holiday, please don’t do it again. I was not worth it at all for the customer to pay and spend time in the restaurant then you just giving rude and bad attitude in return for no reason. You don’t belong to customer service word. Stay...

Update Feb 2025 The reason people go to restaurants is for the services. Why would customers pay for suffering instead of enjoyment? The restaurant looks like it's renovated and with new menu. Perhaps under new management? ... Today's experience was quite awful, the waiter had no interested in serving, and pay no attention to customers need. Tea was only served half cup ? (Before each table was provided a teapot for self served, see my previous photos). Had to wait for a long time for the tea to be refilled. Ordered BBQ combo items, 1 of the item sold out at 11:30 AM, seriously? Obviously someone did not do their job ordering stock before weekend. The chubby waiter took the order from Korean customers first even if they came in later than us. BBQ combo includes rice, but never served until you ask for it (this was NEVER happened in the past). It totally shocked me when that chubby waiter responded , he said " Customers should ask for it". Oh my Lord, isn't it your job as a waiter to check with customers "when" they want their rice served? Or just simply serve the rice when all items are served? This guy has no sense of hospitality in the restaurant business. There were many details ruin this whole experience at Kolbi, regardless their food is tasty. My initial rating was 5 'stars, with today's experience they totally lost 4 stars. ——————————————————— Food's very tasty, but the portion could he small. The side dishes were good. 👍The male staffs are nice, but if the female staff who take the payment could put on smile on her face would make this experience 5...