678 Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Duluth

The introduction: I was excited to dine (for my birthday) here because in the past I have eaten at hibachi grills and this reminded of that type of atmosphere but more intimate.

The Welcome: There was none.

The Atmosphere: We arrived at around 19:33 (7:33pm) and was told to wait hmm, no warm welcome just wait...red flag waving. There were 3 in our party. After waiting (at the threshold of the entrance) we were told there was a 30 minute wait. We said ok and were seated and given the vibrating device to wait for the buzz. In 30-35 mins we were escorted to our table. Once seated the waitress brought out bowls that contained different food to make our own meal (with rice). We let the waitress know this was our first time there in hopes she would explain how it all works and what each item was but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Each response was concise but not informative. She said, “it’s been busy” tonight. I’m thinking this is a restaurant isn’t it suppose to be busy?

The Waitress: Kam P was not attentive. She managed to make rounds at the 2 other tables on the opposite sides of us and walked past our table numerous times and didn’t ask if we needed anything. At the beginning of the order I asked for orange soda she said they may not have anymore (ok then suggest an alternative). After about 15 minutes and me asking again she left to find out if there was any orange soda...they did not. To top it off the owner’s son comes in to dine with his friends and the manager/host came over to our waitress (while we are talking to her) directing her to wait on the owner’s son table....excuse me we are paying customers! She listened to our order. We did not see her for a while (at our table) but we did see her attending to guess who, yes the owner’s son. Rosita (I maybe spelling it incorrectly) was a better waitress. We asked her for plates and she said they did not have anymore 🤔 why not it’s only 20:30 (8:30pm) and the restaurant does not close until 23:00 (11pm) so we ate out of bowls. I asked for the raspberry wine and she brought it to the table with 2 small (what appeared to be shot glasses) glasses. She did not open the bottle and pour the first taste. Maybe that is not customary but it would have been nice.

The Cross Contamination: They use tongs to transfer meat from bowl to grill. There’s a bowl of brisket an a bowl of chicken but only one tong 🤔 something is wrong. Our waitress (Kim) uses the tongs first to put the chicken on the grill which was fine but when she returned to put the brisket on the grill she attempted to use the same tongs an I said, “wait they were used for the chicken..” She looked confused 🤷🏽‍♀️ so I politely said ,”you need to get clean tongs which she did. Second round she started to use the brisket tongs to transfer chicken from bowl to grill and again I had to correct her 🤦🏽‍♀️. When Rosita came over to help she immediately asked (twice) which tongs were for the brisket and which ones were for the chicken 👏🏽. May be they need to color code it red for meat and blue for chicken so their employees are not confused.

The Food: The waitress said the meat was seasoned...ugh no it wasn’t. The brisket looked and tasted like steakums (the frozen steak in the freezer). The chicken was bland the most seasoning was the grilled taste. Most of the side dishes were pretty good.

The Bill: According to their menu children ages 4-9 eat half price. When we received the bill and were charged full price for our son and he is 8 years old. We brought it to the attention of our waitress and she said, “no it’s ages 4-6” and my friend said, “I am pretty sure the menu read ages 4-9” so she said, “let me check” (she should have said that initially) and she returned stating, I apologize yes you are right and I will get you a new bill. The Tip: I love to tip an I try (even with the worse service) to give a thoughtful amount. We pondered over the amount because ultimately the service was lousy. Due to both waitresses/servers were to receive the tip we left a...

I gave this 3 stars because the food was good however just because the food is really good, the overall experience is just as important. Let's start with and finish with the negative, the positive will be in middle. The negative: the wait was long, but it was a Saturday night; the restaurant was so cold we needed to wear our coats, they did not refill the sides like most of the reviews you will read state, it was pricey, and the bathrooms were marginally clean. The positive: the service was efficient and friendly, and the food was good, actually, the food was really good. Even though the food was really good, we most likely will not go back, we were not happy with the server's or manger's response to an incident we had. They serve a thick soup at the beginning of the meal with chunks of vegetables in it. As I was eating it, I bit down on about a half of an inch and a smaller piece of what I thought were fish bones. I pulled the larger piece out, there is a chance I swallowed the smaller piece since it was mixed in with the other food from chewing, my bad for not spitting all of the food out, but I did not think it was anything but small fish bones. Unfortunately, when I looked at what I thought were fish bones, I found it to be a twisted piece of steel wool. I brought it to my servers attention, he looked at it and said oh, sorry ma'am and that was it. He didn't take away the soup, nor did he ask if I was ok or offer to bring us a new bowl of soup. Upon leaving, I said something to the manager because he basically was standing at the front of the restaurant. I told him what had happened and he said, sorry ma'am sometimes that happens, we use steel wool to scrub our pots. Thank you for coming and walked me to the door. Basically, what I gathered from that is they must not have rinsed well or checked to make sure it was cleaned out. Yeah, ummm, about that, I might have swallowed a piece of steel wool...do you understand there is a minute chance this could cause a potential problem? This is why I was bringing it to your attention, just in the off chance there is a problem but more so, I don't want that to happen...

definitely a little pricey for (to me) a limited menu but the charcoal makes up for it. I'd definitely come back. it isn't my go-to though. I still prefer a variety when going ayce

E X P E R I E N C E we came on a mon , as a group of 2, around 12pm. the restaurant only had two tables occupied. we were immediately sat.

F O O D ayce: incl brisket, pork neck, seasoned pork neck, pork skin, pork belly, spicy pork belly, soy chicken, spicy chicken

not many options for me. basically just brisket.

we tried brisket x8 pork belly x1 pork skin x1/2 (interesting texture.. very chewy, thick. almost gelatin like. tastes great with pork belly together in one bite)

if you want galbi (which is a crowd fave), you'd have to order the combos or order it separately :(

the charcoal makes the food taste 100x better than other kbbq places (making up for the lack of options included in the ayce menu). and I love the grill bc rhe oil from the fatty meats drips out so you still get that fatty texture from the meat but not an oily coated mouth

absolutely love that all the pieces of meat are sliced to perfection. the brisket is extremely thin- not too thick so it's tough, not too thin so there's no resistance to the bite. the pork belly is the same way- thick enough that there's chew but not too thick that I'm chewing for 5 years

the red bean sauce and the salt/sesame oil is delectable. eat the meat with the radish to cut the oiliness!

S E A T I N G ample. great for large groups as well. private rooms available

S E R V I C E meng was phenomenal. she was pretty quiet/seems a bit shy. she gave us space to just have our own conversation, which was nice. she was very observant; brought us refills of radish and cheesy corn, without us asking (we loved those side dishes especially). she is also a fantastic cook with great timing. the meat would have a nice crust/char (not burnt), but not be overcooked/undercooked. it would just be al dente!

P R I C E 38.99 pp ayce...