Gangnam Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Hillsboro

My wife is Filipino and I'm American. We watch alot of Korean movies and drama. The more we watch, the more we are curious about Korean culture and cuisine. We wanted to try a real Korean BBQ with table top grills for our wedding anniversary. After researching online, we decided to try Gangnam Korean BBQ. It was amazing. I will post some pictures later.

If I recall correctly, they also have a full menu of Korean food, but we were there for the do-it-yourself bbq experience. Our waitress took our order; you can choose from a variety of different meats you'd like to grill. She returned with trays of fresh meat and vegetables to grill, along with sauces. The spicy pork is amazing. They also bring you a variety of side dishes. I'm no expert, but it seems that having many side dishes is paramount in Korean culture. Our favorite was the pickled radish. Sliced thin, naturally pink,with a mild flavor. It looked something like beets but was actually radish (not the radish you think of that are common in American groceries).

Don't be afraid to order pork belly. Pork belly is common in Filipino cuisine as well, so I'm used to seeing it on menus and on the plate. Americans eat pork belly all the time - but it's cured and called "bacon". Just like bacon, you can vary the "fattiness" by how long you cook it. Unlike bacon, it's not salty or smoke flavored, so you may want to dip it in a sauce.

Bottom line; you've got to try this place. If you're Korean, you probably know better than I do how good this place is. If you're not Korean: the next time you can't decide where you want to eat out - try this place.

It's not just the food, but a quiet atmosphere with very friendly employees. Since our visit to Gangnam House, we visited another Korean bbq house in the greater Portland area which had a different atmosphere altogether. Loud music and dark lights. While not bad, we prefer the quieter ...

Let me preface this by saying that my family and I have been longtime customers at Gangnam. We’ve seen ownership, management, employees change hands many times but we still came to our favorite Korean BBQ spot.

We were told at one of our last visits that they would be going to an AYCE model. We were so excited! Until we weren’t.

We came in recently for the AYCE and I can honestly say we will not be back. We get seated and choose our meats. We let our server know that our son will not be eating~ picky 10 year old. We were then informed that we have to pay $17.50 for him to sit there and not eat. He didn’t even consume water. We had fed him before leaving. We have never been charged for him. They know our family so well! So right off the gate we were annoyed. We went through the buffet line and the food was mediocre. Definitely not the same quality as it had been a few weeks prior before the change. My husband used the restroom and told me it was absolutely filthy. This is not the same place we frequented for so many years.

During our meal we also notice on the menu that it says if all food is not consumed we would be subject to an additional $15 charge. What? That is absolutely insane! I have never been charged for something like this. We only did one round of the meat and couldn’t finish but were afraid we would be charged if we didn’t finish.

The food quality wasn’t the same, the atmosphere was so loud and the service was rushed. I’m so sad. This was a place we would go to meet friends, family and enjoy frequent dinners. Unfortunately, there’s nothing there that would...

Not the best but not too bad either! We had a really friendly and great server that took care of us. I would say this is one of better ones within the area. We are huge fans of kbbq and have had it in Asia and when we lived in California in LA, San Francisco, San Jose, etc.. So we've had our fair share of kbbq.

I've read some reviews on here and some are complaining about being charged with left over meat which I think is a dumb complaint. This is really common sense at an ayce restaurant, you should not be ordering more than you can eat and if there is huge excess, there is a charge. Also it's on display too.

We did the premium ayce meats but keep in mind when you do, the max order is one per person in the premium section. Since it was my husband and me, we only were able to order max 2x. Which I didn't really agree with since it was almost 50 dollars per person for ayce for premium. I felt it was a bit stingy and it was the first time I've been to a kbbq ayce and we were limited on the amount to order (aside from ktown).

Sauces - were really good! We ordered one of each and enjoyed it

Quality of meats - 3.5/5 nothing special. It was just okay.

Self serve bar - loved the self serve bar! Loaded up on king Oyster mushrooms, garlic and onions for the grill. Saw other dishes like tteobeoki, rice, some fried items. I didn't order any but this is a great addition to kbbq that I don't often see.

Overall rating was 3.5/5. I'll come back if I'm in the area but wouldn't really go out of...