Gen Korean BBQ House — Restaurant in Concord

As I explained to the Trainee Assistant Manager; "this is the worse dining experience i have ever had…” Understandably, it was a Friday night and they seemed to be busy but that’s where we separate the busy from the disorganized. On the way in I called to see what the average wait time was and I was told 25 minutes, since we were only about 5 minutes away we decided to take a chance. Once we arrived and checked in my wife was told it would be an hour, again we were okay and waited since we were already there. This was 7:30PM. By 8:15p we decided to walk over to the make-shift dining tent where the receptionist was located and asked for an update on our spot in line. At this point, it all went downhill. Several times we were told just 10 to 15 minutes more and to check back in. So, we waited and checked and waited and checked. 9:30P, we were finally seated, no place settings, napkins or utensils but we figured okay we are seated so lets just keep it going. Another 15 minutes later the server finally came over to take our order, so we hurried through and placed our meat orders along with waters. 15 minutes later he came back with some of the order along with an assistant for the waters. No tongs for the meat and still no utensils and side dishes we proceeded to start cooking the meats and in the meantime some chopsticks arrived so we used those to help prep the meat which was already on the grill. Finally the tongs arrived and we started to just eat whatever was cooked and still no side dishes and rice. After several requests and a lot of frustration we were finally told they had no more rice. At this point we hadn’t gotten any side dishes and the dipping sauces that normally come with the meal and we still hadn’t gotten the rest of the meats we initially ordered. We then proceeded to tell the waiter that we were simply done and that we needed to speak with a manager so we can do something about the bill which we said we will not be paying full price for. Along comes the Trainee and she proceeds to explain that she was not going to do anything about the bill because in her words, “it looks like the grill is really black you have been cooking and eating a lot of food…”. I said no more and gave her my credit card to process the payment. 20 minutes later she came back and said to me that she was able to take 1 person off the bill. I then asked her what she was implying about the grill being black. She said she was assuming we had plenty to eat. Which she was totally off base on, even the waiter explained that it was just because of the marinade and that the meat was just sitting on the grill. Truth of it all, we barely ate anything and got the worse place to sit. With plenty of tables open under the tent they decided to sit us exactly at the last table at the only spot of the tent which had the side flap open for airflow. It was super cold and I even had to get a blanket in the car which was 10 feet from where we sat. Though she knew the drama we went through and how cold we were she still proceeded to give us her presumptive opinion on why the grill was black; very unprofessional and definitely needs more training on etiquette and customer service. We were people simply going out to enjoy dinner on a Friday night and we ended up with 3 hours of frustration. 2 hours waiting and 1 hour sucking it up. I have been to several other Gen locations and really wanted to treat the family to a fun experience, how disappointing. The service was horrible at this location and managed by people that cared even less than the servers. I would like a response from corporate or management about this experience so I can better set my expectations when dining at Gen. At the end of it all, we paid the bill minus the 1 person she removed and I still...

DON'T COME. IT REALLY SUCKS. The food quality and service are getting worse and worse than before each time! This time really made me mad!! We were getting charged $25 for 5 refills on some kinds of special drinks, which we were not informed that it is not refillable by servers until we got the check! Then why when I asked for refill, you didn't tell me at all?? And the server still using 'refill' term all the time. Why would you use that word on a non-refillable drink?? And why don't you just say get me a new one? Besides, we were also charged for $39 for 3 beef tongue, which were really bad quality food. I didn't even expected it was on the premium food menu that cost extra money based on its quality! And this the server also didn't mention that to us at all. I didn't use the menu and asked if there was any beef tongue, and he just said yes and took the order! Nothing about it would cost more than the dinner menu at all! When we get checked, we were astonished by the price and found the issue. I asked another server immediately, and she said that shouldn't happen and went for our server. Here came the thing that made me really DISGUSTED. The manager came over and said our server went for him and said he mentioned everything to us. Bro seriously? Wth are you talking about? And the manager also said it is our responsibility to look through the menu. That's really made me mad, because the special drinks were not even on the menu! It was just a card showing it was special drink and even no price on that! The manager said, oh that's separate one and not on the menu. See, even you know what was the problem, but you never admitted it! And he also told us you should ask everything to the server. Bro WTH. HOW RIDICULOUS if a server didn't explain anything for a AYCE restaurant that need to cost extra?? The manager seemed to believe that the server explanation with no doubt. Don't you ever think it might be something wrong with your server and that's why receiving the complaint?? The manager also said, anyway, you've ordered and eaten everything, even if server was like what we said, you must pay for that price. How could you be selected as the manager?? Just because you are rude and mean, and can make every customer pay the full bills in every complaint? You are managing the servers, and if there is some issue with the server, it's your responsibility to figure it out and do the training on your server! Don't act like there is none of you business! And during the whole conversation, our server didn't even show up at all! Really disappointed. We finally paid the full bills, cuz we don't wanna be there anymore. No tips, and not even one cent. I should've given one cent to the terrible and nasty experience. Never come here anymore. Hope others don't come...

Gen has been one of my go to kbbq spots. I've frequented many locations- Cerritos, Rancho Cucamonga, Mountain View, Fremont, & San Jose. Ambiance, service, & food had always been spot on.... With the exception of the Concord location. And mind you, as a former food worker & current health care worker, I am totally understanding & empathetic when it comes to short staffing & dealing with large parties. We all know the restaurant industry is not the same post covid and the world is short staffed. I don't mind waiting for food. I have easily waited 1-2 hours for Gen bbq so many other times. Waiting is no problem. However, the service our party received last weekend after a miscommunication was blatantly disrespectful, appalling on the manager's behavior, & left a really nasty taste in my mouth, but most of all, a sad disappointment in one of my favorite and frequented kbbq spots.

We had driven from San Francisco to Concord for my son's basketball tournament. The boys were hungry after the game so we decided to head to Gen. Since we were a large party of 20, the first thing we asked the hostess is if they could accommodate our party on such last notice. They said yes, but there would be a wait.... Which we didn't mind at all because we were expecting a wait anyway. A server said something to someone in our party and we assumed we were being told where to sit. So we sat down and waited. The manager went up to one of the dads in our party and confronted him very unprofessionally & disrespectfully in front of the whole team. He accused him of saying a bad word which was "pissed off." First of all, no one in our party had said they were pissed off for waiting and we even confirmed that with the waiter who had no idea what the manager was talking about. He also berated us for not making a reservation in advance and how dare we expect to be served in such a large party on a Saturday afternoon. We totally understood that and thats why it was the first thing we asked the hostess. (Also, we have walked in to the Mountain View & San Jose locations with a party of 20+ on a Saturday & were accommodated just fine). A simple no from the start would have been just fine if it was that much of a hassle. We didn't have to be berated by the manager.

Luckily, there was another kbbq spot close by. Ohgane was able to sit our party. We called in advanced. I should have known to just go here to begin with since I enjoyed their Oakland location. The service was much better and they're highly reviewed. So save yourself the trip & trouble and just go to Ohgane. If you're craving Gen or like the aesthetics there, I recommend just going to the Mountain View, San Jose, or...