Gen Korean BBQ House — Restaurant in Glendale

I have to give props to the Gen Korean BBQ franchise. My experience at this location was fantastic.

Staff: the staff were incredibly nice and greeted us with a smile. Our server especially was just an awesome, he definitely made our experience a great night. He was extremely quick to take our orders and get our orders to our table, he also was consistently checking up on us to make sure that we were okay. I feel bad because I can't remember his name, I suck with names. But he was a taller white male with spiky brownish blonde hair. Wherever he was in the restaurant he had a smile on his face and seem to be very much enjoying his job.

Meats and Foods: When it came to the meats I would say my favorite thing that we ate on the menu was the marinated beef bulgogi. Second would be the Gen premium steak. I was a little disappointed in the Hawaiian steak as it was a bit on the smaller side compared to other locations that I've been to. Also the garlic chicken didn't exactly have much of a garlic flavor to it which was strange. The bone-in ribs were okay, not the best. The beef tongue was great, but the portion size is a little too small. I didn't like their gyozas, I don't know what it was but there's something about them I just didn't like. The cheese pork cutlet was so good, I think I ate a little too much of that to be honest. I do wish this location had veggie tempura though, a little disappointed that it didn't.

Drinks: we tried a couple of the sojus. We tried out the flavored Soju cocktail, Soju Margarita, and some special slushie kind of soju drink that they had. The flavored Soju cocktail is so dangerous, we couldn't taste the liquor at all but it was so good. The Soju Margarita was also really good, we got the strawberry margaritas and our waiter surprised us with these fun little ice cubes that light up when they're in a cold drink. I can't remember the name of the last drinks, but they're like these practically slushy type of alcohol drinks that were just so good. I got the mango one while my friend got the strawberry one, and this was actually surprised from our waiter. We ask him to surprise us on our last drink of the night, awesome surprise on his part, props to him.

Cleanliness: for the most part the restaurant was incredibly clean. The dining area was constantly being cleaned by workers, and the floor was very clean as well. I really didn't like the restrooms though, they really killed the immersion of the restaurant. They are pretty plain looking at could definitely be a bit cleaner.

So overall I would give this place a four out of five. From my experience at this restaurant, all they need to improve on to me is the Aesthetics and cleanliness of their restrooms and having a wider variety of appetizer choices such as shrimp tempura, vegetable...

This KBBQ spot is... meh. Well, a little less than meh really.

Food: We are brisket fiends when it comes to KBBQ. The brisket here is... inconsistent. Sometimes we'll get a wonderfully marbled and flavorful batch. And sometimes we'll get a very lean, rubbery/chewy batch. I'd say more often than not, it's been on the rubbery side. I will say though, I love having the Korean Fried Chicken and fries as an option on the menu. The chicken is usually very crunchy yet juicy. And the fries are always flavorful with the sriracha aioli they serve on top of them. The spicy tofu soup is also very good. But unfortunately the meats are where they fall short, and that's kinda the whole reason you come to KBBQ. Also, the meat orders are TINY. like... when you get brisket ANYWHERE else, you get a heaping pile on a big plate, you can usually fill your entire grill with a single plate. Here, you can order a max of 4 meat orders at a time, and if you get 4 orders of brisket, they bring your 4 tiny trays with a small handful of brisket on it. What is this... brisket for ANTS?!

Service: also a very frustrating aspect of this spot. This spot doesn't have "the button" that traditional KBBQ spots have. So you have to rely on waiters paying attention to you in order to place meat orders. And their attention falls short. Nothing is worse than finishing your current meat order (which is easy to do because of the portion sizes, see above) and sitting there with a smoking grill because there's no meat to put on it because no one has come around to take additional meat orders. Then they have the audacity to come around tables that have been there for 90 mins to kick them out, when probably 50% of the time was waiting without food to order. I will say that every once in a while, I'll receive AMAZING service.. to the point that I call the manager over to let them know that. And in my head I'm thinking, "wow - did they solve all the issues I have with this place??" then.. I come back another time and experience all the negatives I listed above once again... unfortunate!

Honestly, unless there is no other option, MAKE THE DRIVE somewhere else, my favorites incluce k-town's Road to Seoul, buena park's Cham Sut Gol... the meat quality and service...

Went with a few friends tonight, took 15 mins to be talked to by a server, he told us they were understaffed, we tried to be understanding and forgiving being very nice. although we got meat with no sides, didnt even have one of the sides that was asked for. took 30 mins to even get our first round of drinks well after 2 rounds of meat. asked for rice (twice) with our meal and came out well after our drinks. we asked for 2 orders of steak, only received one. after a while we asked for more sides and our sever said he was leaving for the night and management would figure out who was serving us next... didnt even see another server for 30 mins. we flagged down another employee and tried to communicate we haven't received a new server politely, dude rolled his eyes and said he would find someone and our new "server" took 10 mins to even take another order from us. only time we saw her. we asked for three items. only received one. asked for the sides we never received from our first server. someone dropped us off the check after we havent even received our last items, and we had to ask the guy about the items because our server was no where to be found. also our grill was smoking and on fire multiple times and was only replaced once to a server passing by after literally saying "oh shit" and the other time our grille was on fire smoking two employees just made eye contact with me and did not offer to changed just laughed and walked away. employees are rude, were stared / eyerolled at multiple times, honestly laughable service. dude who was our first server didnt even leave like he said we saw him later in the night. i understand being understaffed but the place was half empty and i dont appreciate feeling like a burden after tipping when i honestly shouldnt have. youre better off...