I-Ho's Korean Grill — Restaurant in Bozeman

I-Ho promised a great Korean BBQ experience with "James Beard" quality food. The experience ended up being highly controlled, regulated & overpriced.

We booked our table online for $36 a person for 6 people. The booking site doesn't allow for specifying children (& it should!), so I tried to put in the comments that we had 3 adults, 2 kids & a baby in a high chair. The website is really vague about what the Korean BBQ table entails but if you've ever had all-you-can-eat (AYCE) KBBQ, then you'll assume that's what you're getting. What they offer is VERY different.

When we arrived, that's when the policing started. The waitress was immediately annoyed with us because we had kids & she said that they had prepared items for 6 adults but would need less food. I thought we were getting AYCE so it wouldn't matter how many people we had because we would only order what we could eat. The table was also really small for even 3 adults & 3 kids.

I-Ho prepares items on a per person basis, so they basically select your food for you instead of let you choose. You get a plate of galbi beef, bulgogi beef, unseasoned pork belly, short ribs & either chicken or seasoned pork. For the sides, you get mandu (dumplings), kimchi, pickled cucumbers, a small bowl of rice, noodles, & sauces (millionaires sauce, salt/pepper oil & gochujang). You don't get refills of the meat, but they give you up to 3 refills of each side. For an Asian family of 5, 3 small bowls of rice are nowhere near enough! We made a joke about this & the waitress said that if we "didn't take advantage," she would "look the other way" & give us extra rice. It's like GIRLFRIEND: WE 👏🏽 ARE 👏🏽 PAYING 👏🏽 FOR 👏🏽 IT 👏🏽! Rice is bulk & like $1. You're not losing anything by giving us what we're paying for, especially if we eat it all. It would be a better experience if each person got their own bowl of rice ( just like at EVERY OTHER Asian restaurant) because the portions are small. It's not like they give a big bowl of rice for the table. Let's be honest: most other restaurants WANT you to fill up on rice because then you'll order less meat & their profit goes up.

When our check arrived, they tried to charge us an additional $3 per person, so $39 instead of $36. I explained that the website had a listed price that both parties agreed to & they needed to honor that. The waitress apologized & said she had no way of adjusting the price. I told her how dishonest this was & she agreed. She ended up doing the right thing by calling the owner & having them approve the adjustment.

Attempting to overcharge us created a very negative & awkward experience. Not just for us but for the other customers around us. As of now, the website states "price per person" instead of the previous $36, so just a heads up that their pricing is very inconsistent.

The food itself is OK. I definitely don't think it's worth $36 a person, especially when they ration out everything & you have to cook it yourself. The ONLY thing I can say they do right is they do let you take your leftovers home. Most AYCE restaurants only allow you to order what you'll eat so there shouldn't be any leftovers. I appreciate that I-Ho let's you take your leftovers because we paid $200 for all that food!

This isn't the most kid-friendly restaurant; except they do have chalk outside for the kids to use which was fun for them. The atmosphere is rather dull & not the most exciting place to be.

If you plan to go, you're better off ordering from the menu. This definitely is not the AYCE KBBQ experience you may be used to. Although having eaten at the best KBBQ places, we're pretty spoiled. All I-Ho really needs to do is make it similar, but they really want to control & regulate the experience to the point it makes it negative...

It’s very nice to have a Korean restaurant anywhere in Montana and even better to have one in a beautiful place like Bozeman. I’m very familiar with authentic Korean food. I lived in Korea for over five years, I speak Korean fluently and I always look for Korean food wherever I go. I wanted to like this place. Both my wife (native Korean) and I were excited enough to try it two different times two weeks apart.

tldr; This place isn’t very authentic. It’s like the food is missing the Korean soul. They got the ingredients 80-90% right. But it tasted different enough that both my wife and I were disappointed both times we went.

The staff were friendly, but messed up our dishes two different times.

My daughter ordered the 순두부 (soft spicy tofu soup) both times. Generally, 순두부 is served in a stone bowl, that is so hot that when the dish is served, it comes out boiling and remains boiling for a few minutes. They either give you a raw egg in the shell which you crack it and put in the bowl or it comes out with the raw egg just barely placed on the top of soup, but not stirred. You then are expected to stir the egg in yourself. The first time, the soup was lukewarm and they forgot the egg and the tofu (a crucial ingredient to tofu soup). By the time they brought them out, the soup was cold and the tofu didn’t have the taste of being boiled in the spicy broth. She didn’t even try to crack the raw egg as the soup was cold. The second time they remembered the tofu, the egg was on top of the broth, but it wasn’t hot enough to cook the egg at all; not even the white of the egg.

One of my sons ordered the teriyaki chicken and didn’t like it. He ordered the 김치찌개 (kimchi stew) the following time and he really liked it, which says a lot considering he’s used to his mom’s homemade kimchi stew that he gets weekly. He said it definitely needs protein (usually for Korean food, pork goes in the spicy dishes and beef goes in the savory, plain or sweeter dishes. So usually kimchi and pork go together). He ordered the beef, but luckily he got the pork. We also ordered the 돌솥비빔밥 (stone bowl bibimpap). The first time they put way too much rice in it and the stone bowls weren’t hot enough to cook the rice crispy on the bottom. The rice was fluffy which is normally supposed to be sticky. The second time they gave us pork instead of beef and the pork was marinated differently enough from the pepper paste (which is used to bring the dish together) and there was too much water in the bowl which the rice tried to absorb. There were just too many conflicting flavors. My guess is they didn’t wring out the veggies after steaming/boiling them. We also ordered the 잡채 (japchae). It looked like the right dish and tasted like someone was just learning how to cook it; it was just different enough to be somewhat nostalgic while feeling like they missed the soul of the dish.

I know this review is brutal and I’ve heard that the owner has been a very strong supporter of the community. I guess I spent this much of my time, writing this review with hopes that the feedback will somehow improve the experience for those of us who love the traditional flavors of...

My parents came to Bozeman from S.Korea last month for visiting. They really missed to eat Korean food. I was looking for Korean food, and finally I found it!

That is I-Ho's Korean Grill!! Parents and I did not expect the food, because most Korean restaurants in U.S., the taste of foods are kinds of different from Korea. Because most resturants cook food like a fusion.

But after parents and I ate the I-Ho's food, it made us so happy!! Because that was 100% Korean food!! Parents and I really love to eat food from I-Ho's♡♡ So we went to I-Ho's many times just for 2 weeks!

If you never try to eat Korean food or if you are hesitating to try to eat Korean food, Please go I-Ho's Korean Grill!! I am 100% sure you will be never disappointed to eat Korean food!

My parents and I ate bibimbob, Jabchaibob,dweji bulgogi bob, kimchi pancake, kimchi chegae, ukgaechang,dengangchegae, and etc. All of these food were great and very delicious!

Trust me! If my parents and I hate the food, we never go back to the place. We love to eat food here, that's why we came to I-Ho's again and again.

I regretted to take pics too late. The chief gave us the food alot than pics! We got surprised!!! I forgot to take pics. Because the food were so delicious, I just focused on the food lol!! I just took pics almost half way done with food.

Also the workers who are server, they were so nice to us! It also made us to go back to I-Ho's again!!

I would like to say "Thank you" to I-HO!! She made us to be happy♡

I-Ho, you made my parents and I got awesome experience in Bozeman!

We will visit I-Ho's again when we get here again oneday!

P.S. I am sorry to Whistle Pig Korean. My parents and I ate food there, the food were not 100% Korean food. PLEASE...