Sae Ma Eul BBQ Ipoh — Restaurant in Perak

Look, the landscape of restaurants has changed. Long ago we reward ourselves from slaving in the kitchen every weekday, by going to a restaurant to be pampered on weekends. That time has passed. Nowadays people go out and still have to cook their food. Look at Haidilao. You cook everything while the waiters sing and dance. And the bill STILL comes to RM300+. We live in a bizarre era.

Sae Ma Eul has the atmosphere. Located in the hip and happening Palo 101, they have the feel of the neighbourhood barbecue where you roast meat and chill with friends over beer. And the best part is, the meat's pretty good. If you come with company look no further, take the buffet and be glad you did. The buffet comes with a variety of pork and chicken, unlimited sides and unlimited refills until your dining time of 90 minutes is up. Comes with green tea too. All that for RM32+ (or RM35+ if you come for dinner). It's great value considering the meat you're allowed to devour.

If you fly solo, there's an ala carte lunch menu that's great value. I usually get the spicy pork for RM23. You get a big sizzling plate of spicy pork, and unlimited refills of sides and lettuce. A proper lip-smacking good time.

The staff are foreigners. Usually I'm not bothered with making too many requests from them. As long as they get my orders correctly, change the charcoals on time, and stop the restaurant from burning to the ground, I'm good.

As far as Korean BBQ buffet restaurants go, this is my favourite in Ipoh by far. Nothing fancy, no hidden charges, just barbecued meat and...

This Korean BBQ restaurant left a great impression from the moment we walked in. The place was clean, well-ventilated, and had a pleasant ambiance. The restaurant operates on an all-you-can-eat buffet basis, where each person pays a flat rate of around RM40+. Ice water is free and refillable, and you can keep adding meat as you wish, which makes it a fantastic value. We also ordered an additional kimchi pancake, which was an extra charge. Being a Korean restaurant, there were plenty of side dishes available, and we could help ourselves to as much as we wanted, which was very convenient. You grill the meat yourself, which adds to the fun dining experience. The food was fresh and of high quality. You can request different types of meat and flavors, and the staff were very attentive and quick to respond whenever we needed anything. Upon arrival, they also served us a steamed pork dish with their homemade spicy-sour sauce as a complimentary appetizer, which was delicious. However, we did find it a bit warm in the afternoon, even with the air conditioning on. The heat from the grilling combined with the afternoon sun made it somewhat uncomfortable. This is a minor complaint, but it could be improved for a better dining experience. Overall, it was a great dining experience, and the self-service aspect made it very enjoyable. The food was delicious, and the...

If I can, I will give this place zero stars.

The ventilation of this place is terrible. The built of the bbq pit on the tables are poorly planned, since the charcoal they use is so high, it’s almost touching the grill. This makes the meat heat up too fast and char, then creating too much smoke and fire.

The service is confusing. It could be language barrier, but the employees have difficulty understanding what we want. Everything is also self service, even plain water. Paying for high service tax feels unsatisfying when employees only show up to change your blackened grill or to refill small portions of meat.

The side dishes are some of the saddest things we have ever tried. The only acceptable tasting ones are some stir fried broccoli and cauliflower (which tastes like local Chinese stir fry and not Korean). The kimchi was disappointing - some of the cabbage leaves are still green…. Other vegetables like stir fried long beans are already yellowed and obviously not fresh anymore.

How can ice cream be RM1 per cone for a buffet?!?! Why not just add it into the package? For RM35+ per person, it feels like having ice cream is the basic expectation.

The meat served is decent, nothing to write home about. It just feels like normal bbq, not Korean bbq.

First...