K-BBQ & BAR — Restaurant in Winter Park

Don’t sleep on K-BBQ & Bar orlando ! It may not have the biggest AYCE menu but it definitely has quality meats, great apps/sides, and a diverse banchan/salad bar.

It’s super clean and spacious inside and easy to navigate. The staff were absolutely delightful, and started us out with complimentary hot Korean tea. I’m a tea lover and this was unlike anything I’ve ever had. It’s a rice and barley tea which I’ve had both separately and they use have a nutty, toasty and slight astringent taste. This was the complete opposite, it was smooth and almost cocoa-like and lightly sweet though I don’t think it had sugar. I may have consumed almost the entire pot 😅

For appetizers we got the gyoza which I think they’re really mandu based on the deep fried, slightly flaky/chewy and sweet skin as opposed to the wheat flour doughs of gyoza and wontons. The sweetness and crunch of the skin mixed very well with the savory meat filling. The appetizer bibimbap was in a cute small stone bowl perfect to share with two. It definitely gives you that crispy rice if you let it sit enough!

We tried the bulgolgi which was shaved nice and thin, well seasoned and not too sweet, and tender but charred nicely when grilled. The pork belly was a bit too thick to bite through when cooked but the scissors helped get it to manageable pieces. Great meat/fat ratio. The chicken bulgolgi was tender, not too thick so it cooked through, and juicy. Didn’t taste the marinade much but they have a variety of sauces and condiments to jazz things up.

Speaking of, the self serve bars are outstanding. A few types of kimchi, japchae, my ultimate favorites - fish cakes and bean sprouts - along with soup crocks of bone broth, sweet pumpkin porridge, and Korean fried rice. The salad area had greens and leaf lettuce, various veggie options sliced to grill, and plenty of sauces.

They have AYCE or you can do a-la-carte both with the KBBQ meats and other dishes like bibimbap and other Korean staple dishes.

Fantastic service in a welcoming environment and fresh, quality ingredients, I’ll...

I have tried almost all KBBQ place in Orlando. So far the ones I tried were always missing one Thing or something. Either not enough variety of side dishes, sometimes the consistent quality, or sometimes the variety of meat or way over priced. Well I think this place meets all of them and more! Super hidden gem. Finally found a good one!

Food: I ordered the short ribs, boneless galbi, ribeye, brisket, beef tongue, pork belly, the steamed egg, Bibimbap, veggie gyozas, etc. FirsT, The quality of meat and seasoning of the short ribs and bulgogi was on point. Secondly, all the side dishes were amazing especially the Kim chi, bean sprouts, and their fish cakes. They surprised us with some kimbap, which was delicious and freshly made. Third, the bibimbap was crunchy and seasoned well. I wish it had an egg on it but other than that, it was very well balanced. 5/5

Service: we got there 5 minutes before it got super packed and crowded. The waiter was one of the most professional waiter I have ever met in a KBBQ. He had to wait over 8 tables all at once and a little understaff. But he never panicked and remained his cool During the busy duration. 5/5

Atmosphere: this used to be the old Oblivion bar but they took it over and remodel it and did a great job. They still Have a lot empty space where they can add more tables for folks only a la carte only. They did a great work with making sure the fume gets sucked up too. Overall, this place is a great vibe for kbbq with different size tables. 4.5/5

The only improvement I see are 1) They do need to add a little barrier rope for the side dishes area so people know where to start and add a sign with an arrow. It will help with the flow and 2) add some spicy items into the all you can eat bbq.

Other than that, I will come back again to see if their quality remains consistent. But finally Orlando has a really good kbbq with good variety of appetizers and...

I’m giving this a 1 star for my dinner experience and to hopefully bring down the 4.9 because it ain’t 4.9 worthy.

TLDR: Hot like sauna Meat mediocre Spiderwebs above grill Ran out of LA Galbi at 9pm???

Debated a long time to come try this restaurant and honestly should have kept it that way.

The building seems a bit run down with cobwebs hanging on the ceiling lamps right above the grill. Atmosphere was also lacking, seems not much renovation was done after being bought.

The table that we were given was a heat zone with no air conditioning facing our way. Had to go to restroom just to cool down.

No individual vents for the tables. They use a ceiling vent thats focus on the whole restaurant.

The salad bar / sauce station is simple, not much to say.

Meat quality was mediocre. They told us they ran out of LA Galbi after the 3rd time we ordered it, which to me was weird. Why didn’t they let us know when we first sat down that they were low on LA Galbi. Little things like that shows credibility and respect towards the customers. We came at 8pm and they close at 12 am so its not like we came when they’re close to closing.

Knowing that they charge $40 for their premium option, I had high expectations for meat quality as well as service. To me it did not justify the price point so this would be a one and done.

They do include 18% Gratuity on the bill which is fine since their service was average. This is a debatable subject but we’ll leave it.

I recommend the servers to use some sort of notepad to write down the order instead of memorizing because they’re not perfect and brought us a wrong order.

Pros My family liked the Hot stone bibimbap Lettuce was fresh LA Galbi was good but...