Arirang - Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Lexington

Bizarre place. One woman, who I think owns the place, worked by herself. I took my gf here for lunch a few weeks ago, based on many positive reviews. There were two meats (not labeled, so I had no idea what they were) that were almost empty...lots of fat in each tray, and neither was refilled over the 30 mins we spent here. They have no soda, so water was our only option. The side items were sparse- not much to choose from, also nothing was labeled here either, so I had no idea what anything was...worse- the side items were in a section that had no lights, so not only did I have no clue what any of it was- I could not see any of it to try to make out what it could have been.

We kept waiting for someone to refill the meats- the two were actually pretty good, what you could find that wasn't filled with fat (much of what was left was inedible). This was 1230pm...so we're not talking about a crazy time to visit a lunch buffet.

We waited forever, trying our best to clearly show we were finished for the woman to bring the check. Literally 10-15 mins we waited for her to come over. My gf would have liked more water, but that was too much trouble as well, it would seem.

First time I've ever eaten dinner and not left a tip. I left zero. The price for each buffet was $11 something plus tax. Psid like $24 for two of us. Insane price for a lunch buffet with maybe 6 items in total. I felt so ripped off by that, especially based on the options, service, etc. that there was no way I was paying a tip. I left just feeling very annoyed.

DO NOT be fooled by the pictures here of the buffet. The pics that show a bunch of stuff- that's the dinner buffet. I think that buffet is $29 per person. The lunch buffet has literally two meats. It's odd, because ordering outside the buffet (I assume it's not available during lunch hours...as she never gave us a menu or asked what we wanted- plus the tables with the open flames/pots were all dark, no one sitting at any of them)...looks pretty good from the pictures. Looks like you get a lot of food with numerous options. That is not the case for the lunch buffet...unless we went on the worst day ever and somehow every other day they offer 5 times as many menu items.

Will never ever go back. Not sure how this place has high ratings on google and yelp. Beyond confusing. Do not...

This is the first time I've ever had Korean bbq, I straight up told them that. They helped us work the grills, explained all the dishes (which were hella good) and they checked in on us.

The seasoning is all fantastic. We got the 50$ grill items, I personally suck at cooking squid (cooks really fast) but even after overcooking it was good. LOVED THE BEEF AND PORK, OMG! SO GOOD. However the chicken has this weird texture and tastes weird. It wasn't bad, it was just.. wrong. We didn't finish that. The menu says it feeds two, I disagree, with the rice and sides, it could very well feed 3-4.

Lunch hours I find it to be reasonably priced, like any other sit down restaurant. And they have a buffet. Once it's dinner hours, the buffet is pricey. The grill at all times is roughly 40$. They require 2 $17 items to be ordered if you use the table grill. Lemme tell ya, best know at least a little bit about cooking if you're going to use the grill. But the taste is heavenly. The other menu items are about 8-10$ but give you a lot of food. See attached for dinner menu and our food we ordered.

Also to address dude's negative review. I too had No idea what was given to me, so I asked. If you don't know what it is. Ask. They will explain it, happily. As for meats, if it's dark dark brown, it's beef. If it's red in color, it's pork. If it's light tan or pinkish, that's chicken. Most Asian places do not label their meats prolly because they are distinctive by color when raw.

They also do have soda, we order coke. Also you let them know when they seat you, do you want buffet? A menu? Or grill? Just let them know.

Lastly, they have a sign up but when you're done with your food, you either 1. Let them know or 2. Go to the counter and ask for your check, pay there.

Peeps, use that beautiful voice I know you have. Ask questions if...

Got the Seafood Pajeon [Seafood green onion pancake], Jajang Myun Noodles [Black Bean Sauce Noodles], the Combination Meat and Seafood grill option and an order of beef tongue.

The Pajeon was great it was brought out on a good hot skillet had plenty of seafood in it, a mix of shrimp and squid from what I could tell with green onion scallions and carrots.

The Jajang Myun was delicious the black bean sauce was rich and semi sweet, the noodles were cooked perfect they had the perfect amount of chew and the sauce stuck to them really well.

The Combination Meat and Seafood was a good mix. The meats included Marinated chicken and pork and Bulgogi Beef. The seafood included shrimp, mussels and squid. The marinade on the meats was fantastic, plenty of flavor and where it's all cut thin it cooks quick and evenly on the grill. The mussels were really good if you added the dipping sauce to them and boiled them in the shell on the edge of the grill. My wife and kids ate the shrimp before I could get one. The squid was good but where I had never cooked it before I messed a few pieces but eventually got it right.

The need tongue was incredible, super thin shaved with great marbeling, poured my dipping sauce on it hit it in the grill for about 20 seconds and it was done. Melted with butter in my mouth.

The grill itself is propane with charcoal, for quick set up which the staff did, for extra little bit of flavor.

Overall 4/5 star experience, we all really liked it, would 100% try to go back every weekend if it was just a...