Kalbi Korean BBQ — Restaurant in London

I went to this place with a friend the other day, in search of a decent Korean BBQ restaurant.

We wanted an authentic K-Bbq experience - one that is on par (or at least nearly there) with korean bbq places we’ve been to before.

Booking for a table here was quite smooth, as they replied to my e-mail and confirmed the date and time slot with me promptly. They also answered my calls rather decently for bookings.

Arriving there, and getting seated, we had to wait quite a long time for our orders to be taken, and for the side dishes to be served. Comparing to other kbbq places we’ve been to, side dishes were prepared in advance and were sent out shortly after customers were seated. I suggest having waiter buzzer call system on the tables because it was a little difficult to try to get the waiters/waitresses’ attention.

The side dishes were a disappointment - as they did not have kimchi, and it was also not refillable. Side dishes such as the chicken and korean pancakes not being refillable is okay, but for a kbbq place: kimchi, lettuce, and other pickled vegetables should be refillable or served in bigger portions as those are one of the main elements of a kbbq meal.

As for the meat, beef can only be refilled once, which is fine for the price - but it wasn’t as premium as advertised because the quality wasn’t quite there. The marinade for the other meats though, were bland as compared to authentic kbbq places with marinated meat.

Another thing, when we visited, only one waitress seemed like she knew what she was doing. When we asked the other workers questions, they had to call her over, and did not know how to assist us without her. Please make sure your staff is well trained - in addition to being able to point out what cut of meat it is that they serve (because they did not even know this!). However, the staff were polite and doing their best.

If Kalbi were to be a true authentic korean bbq restaurant, then I hope improvements on the matters I have mentioned will be given...

TLDR: Stay away if you’re a seasoned KBBQ goer who has expectations from previous KBBQ experiences. They have limited options of side dishes, and poor standards for food and service.

Our party of 2 decided on this Korean place based off the fact that it is AYCE style and there weren’t any other ones near us that we could see.

The service was mediocre at best. Upon arrival we were immediately informed of the 10% service charge that would be added to the total bill. We figured the charge would be fine, as they would probably grill and cut the food and manage the grill like many KBBQ places do. No such service was provided. Besides that, regular waitress duties such as providing water and asking what meats we wanted weren’t provided until we asked. That was the general theme of the service; no service unless we asked. It looked like the place was understaffed, but nonetheless the service was poor.

Also, the AYCE only applies to chicken and pork dishes. It’s an additional 3 pounds for kalbi, bulgogi, and ribeye. For a party of two, we only received one large palm size ribeye and 4 small pieces of short rib kalbi. Aside from quantity, quality was also substandard. Some pieces were chewy and tendinous. The rice was not as advertised and unseasoned. Traditional Korean side dishes were nonexistent. Instead you get an assortment of glazed popcorn chicken.

To top it off I overheard the table next to us say there was a hair in their food. Thankfully we didn’t have the same problem but the lettuce was not cut and washed properly, leaving orange debris on the ends. It addition, we noticed the grill had remnants of burnt food from its last use right as we started grilling.

A lot of this is minor but it adds up and especially for the price you’re paying and the compulsatory service charge. Save your money and...

The service was friendly and it wasn’t much of a wait for a table of 2 on a Saturday evening.

However on to the food experience.. As a person who’s visited South Korea and worked in a Korean bbq restaurant in London.. this was probably the worst Korean bbq restaurant I’ve been to so far. It’s not authentic especially when you don’t get the usual banchan and sauces. The kimchi was just salty and didn’t have that fermented tangy taste. When a Korean restaurant can’t even get the kimchi right, you know it goes downhill from there.

For £26.90 per person, you get an unlimited variety of marinated chicken and pork and for £3pp extra you get beef (rib eye, bulgogi, LA Kalbi) which only comes once. The bbq buffet comes with complimentary starter platter of fried chicken, jeon, dumplings and japchae which to be honest I didn’t really want because I just wanted bbq and it was just too much. You also get a choice of bibimbap, fried rice and plain rice.

We opted to also get the beef which came after the starters. And what we didn’t know that our grill only cooked on the sides and the middle was only to keep the meat warm. This was very important information that they failed to mentioned as meat is best cooked on very high heat for bbq.

When we finally got our meat cooked, the taste was.. mediocre. All the beef was just marinated in the same sweet sauce. I really needed ssamjang sauce to dip in, which they didn’t even have! We were just so disappointed that we didn’t finish it and didn’t even want to try the chicken and pork. So I asked the manager if we could just pay £26.90 per person as we only had one beef platter and he was very understanding about it and let us pay just the base price.

The service was friendly but if you’re looking for an authentic korean bbq restaurant, this is definitely...