Handam BBQ — Restaurant in Houston

My sister highly recommended this Korean BBQ restaurant, having visited multiple times before. Unfortunately, our recent experience here was deeply disappointing.

We visited on a Friday for lunch, expecting to enjoy the weekday lunch special. However, the waitress informed us that the special is only available Monday through Thursday. When we sought clarification, she firmly insisted it had never been offered on Fridays, despite online menu images showing otherwise. While we understand that prices and menu options can change—being in the restaurant industry ourselves—the conflicting information and dismissive tone left us frustrated.

Since the lunch special wasn’t available, our party of nine decided to opt for the premium all-you-can-eat meat option. However, the restaurant’s policy regarding appetizers felt unnecessarily rigid: each table or grill is only allotted two appetizers, regardless of whether the table seats one person or six. Our group was already seated at two grills across two tables, and I politely asked if my parents (two adults) could sit at a separate table to access another grill and an additional two appetizers. The waitress either didn’t understand the request or outright refused. Again, as someone also in the restaurant business for over 30 years, we understand that the wait staff has no control over the restaurant's policies, and unfortunately all communication is done towards them. Her frustration escalated, and she eventually called over the manager, Jonathan Navarrete, who claimed to be the owner.

Rather than addressing our concerns reasonably, Mr. Navarrete accused us of trying to "game the system" and threatened not to serve us. He also insisted the menu "hadn’t changed in five years," a claim easily disproven by online reviews and images showing adjustments over time. It’s worth noting the restaurant was about 70% empty, and we weren’t attempting to manipulate policies—our request was logical. Two grills for nine people is insufficient, and scaling appetizers solely by the number of tables rather than guests seems unfair. From a business perspective, providing more inexpensive appetizers like canned corn and cheese might even reduce premium meat consumption, benefiting profitability.

Unfortunately, Mr. Navarrete doubled down, stating he "had more to lose" by serving us and creating an unwelcome atmosphere. This reasoning made little sense, considering we were all prepared to order the most premium option on the menu. Ultimately, feeling unwelcome and disrespected, we decided to leave. This experience was disheartening and a missed opportunity for the restaurant to accommodate loyal and willing customers. The sad part is that my sister actually loved this place and recommended this place to her entire circle of friends, but because of this incident we probably won't be...

As FOGO Charcoal once said, fire is the first ingredient, and nowhere can you see this fact more than within Handam BBQ, a Korean BBQ spot that elected to use charcoal instead of the usual gas-based grills, to great effect. You can taste the crunch and smokiness in every piece of meat, from bulgogi to the leanest sirloin. It even makes chicken breast tastes good! (Although, to be fair, the chicken breast and sirloin were still the blandest and worst-tasting of the bunch, only because they are "too normal" compared to everything else.)

Honestly, all of the meat tasted good on the grill and the server we had was very attentive in changing it, so what you taste comes down to which cut of meat you ordered. Personally, I'd recommend going with the Galbi/Kalbi ("Suwon Style" means seasoned instead of marinated) or Pork Jowl (the charcoal flame makes it very satisfyingly crunchy while still retaining all of the porky flavor, compared to the melty fat of pork belly which can get pretty pungent and overwhelming). Chicken, pork belly, sirloin and baby octopi are choices to avoid, just because they don't work well on the grill (pork belly works MUCH better stewed, sirloin is too lean and blandly flavored, octopi would shrink down until there's barely anything left, and there's just no saving chicken breasts).

The only real thing to note about the meat from the actual restaurant is that the "sweet garlic pork belly" we had had very little sweet or garlic flavor, and the seasoning layer mostly tasted of salt. Not deal-breaking, but it is a little bit disappointing.

What really impressed me though, aside from the charcoal thing, is how well they do on everything else on the table. The banchan is plentiful, tasty and with a lot of variety. They also refill it to you for free and you can request certain types for more, but I suspect that what's on the table alone is enough to fill your party up if you want to commit to it.

The dessert cup that comes with the AYCE deserves special mention because... I still have no idea what it is. It's like a mix of elote and custard, but neither made of corn nor butter. All I know is that it tastes pretty good. It's like how Rob Miles described glitch tokens in ChatGPT: It's a taste you've never known before, so you hallucinate it into something that you're more familiar with.

There are some areas that it can improve upon, but otherwise I'm happy to give it a High-B tier (and the corresponding 4 stars): Many of the cuts become samey after a while. What is not marinated is often pretty blandly seasoned. This applies to the more "avearge" cuts such as beef tongue, hanger steak, etc. Instead of salt in sesame oil they just have salt in... cooking oil.

TL;DR Charcoal AYCE KBBQ w/ good banchan =...

While in town, saw that this place was new and that they use charcoal, I knew I had to stop by and try it out! Place was very clean, and the staff was very friendly and fast! We had the following:

Kimchi Cheese Fries with Beef - French fries topped with beef, kimchi, spicy mayo, onions, and cheese - very flavorful, and fries were still crispy even with all the stuff doused on top of it

Seafood Pancake - "Haemul Pajeon" A popular Korean savory pancake made with seafood and scallions. Served with seasoned soy sauce - I thought the seafood pancake was okay, wasn’t flavorful and too doughy

Kalbi Kimchi Stew - "Kimchi Jjigae" A spicy, savory stew made with kalbi short ribs, kimchi, tofu and vegetables - stew was good and flavorful

Army Stew - Budae-jjigae or spicy sausage stew is a type of jjigae, made with ham, sausage, spam, baked beans, kimchi and gochujang - stew was delicious, and definitely something to help push down all the meat you’re devouring

Kimchi Spicy Pork Fried Rice - "Dwaeji Kimchi Bokkeumbap" Savory stir-fried rice with spicy pork, kimchi and diced vegetables, topped with melted cheese - fried rice was flavorful and not salty like many places

Creamy Corn - Hot corn and melted cheese seasoned with creamy mayonnaise - it was good, but could be cheesier

We ordered two combos, you can upgrade the stews for a few bucks more, definitely worth it to do so.

HANDAM COMBO E (SERVES 4-5) - Seven Different Meat Cuts Kalbi Short Ribs- Original Marinade 양념 갈비 Prime Rib Eye 꽃등심 Kalbi Short Ribs- Suwon Style 수원 갈비 Thinly Sliced Beef Brisket 차돌박이 Fresh Short Ribs 생갈비 Marinated Pork Spare Ribs 양념 돼지 갈비 Premium Pork Shoulder목살 Comes with Egg Custard, Creamy Corn, and choice of 2 Stews (Soybean Paste/Kimchi Stew).

HANDAM PLATTER (SERVES 4-5) - Eight Different Meat Cuts Kalbi Short Ribs- Original Marinade양념 갈비 Kalbi Short Ribs- Suwon Style수원 양념 갈비 Prime Rib Eye꽃등심 Thinly Sliced Beef Belly 우삼겹 Fresh Short Ribs생갈비 Fresh Boneless Short Ribs꽃살 Marinated Boneless Short Ribs 꽃살 주물럭 Comes with Egg Custard, Creamy Corn, and choice of 2 Stews (Soybean Paste/Kimchi Stew)

Overall, a very good experience, a lot of of activity going on, since we are a big party. We had to ask numerous times for more ban chan, however they were always quick with it. Definitely a must if you’re into korean bbq, the charcoal makes...