왕돼지 — Restaurant in Los Angeles

This place is an awesome hole in the wall kind of place. When you get there, you will be lucky to not have to wait for at least 30 mins, sometimes the wait can even be up to an hour, but it's totally worth it. As soon as you walk in, you will notice that there really is no decor or theme, the place has a bare and authentically raw appeal to it. Since you cook your own food on a cast iron domed grill, you will notice there tin "buckets" under the tables to catch anything that falls through, and exposed vents on the ceiling above. Regardless of the appearance, it is SO worth it.

The service is friendly as long as you go in not expecting 5 star service. I don't mean this in a bad way, but if you go in with bougie expectations, you are not gonna have a good time my friend. I have been coming here since 2009, when I used to come from Vancouver, Canada to visit my boyfriend (now husband). Wangdoyagi was always, always on my must eat list.

Over the last almost 10 years (whoa! that number shocked me a little too!) my husband and I have developed somewhat of a routine. Here is the way our order has settled in over that time.

We get our seats, and as soon as we sit down we order the following:

-Forks, because we are here to stuff ourselves silly and our chopstick skills are average and it slows us down. -Extra Napkins, because it gets messy and one napkin per person just won't cut it -Marinated Bulgogi Beef, it's our fave, we have tried other stuff, but this is what keeps us coming back. -Extra bowl of salad. The salad is really just a bowl of chopped lettuce with yummy dressing. I don't know what they dress their salad with, I'm sure it's something super simple, it just tastes so good with the bulgogi. -plate of chopped jalapenos, onions, and garlic -bowl of rice, which we top with Sriracha, we used to have to ask for Sriracha on the side, but now they just have it available beside every grill. One bowl between the two of us is usually good, as it's a nice side bite, but it fills you up fast, so rice is meh, optional.

We order from anyone walking by, there isn't really a set server for you. Just catch someone's eye, and ask for what you need; they are really good about bringing stuff out quickly.

To cook: we toss everything on the grill. The grill will be pretty hot to begin with and if the meat or sides are cooking too fast, you could also move the food to the outside rim of the grill, because the center seems to be hotter. Or you could use the temp control located just below the surface of the table.

To eat: I like to have one of those mini bowls they provide you with, filled with some soy sauce, so the meat goes from the grill to the soy sauce, and then into my salad bowl. Since we both have our own salad bowls, this basically becomes our main "plate".

Order,...

Me and a few friends arrived at a reasonable time of 8:30 and were met with an hour wait which was fine we were used to KBBQ places making us wait long for a table, unfortunately we were given 2 tables that were not close to each other and we had to speak loudly for the other table to hear us. We were very disappointed that we weren’t able to have dinner together but we made due with it anyways.

The food itself was fine but the burners that were outside barely work our burner cooked brisket in 30 minutes and after asking to change the burner the server almost blew up the burner and set it and the table on fire while his coworkers were laughing at him in the corner as he struggled to pull it out.

Even after all of this disappointment we never left and gave this place a last try. After asking for the check our server came back with what seemed to be the manager or owner who came back demanding that we tip them 15% because we have a group of 8.

Now in a normal situation I am completely fine with doing a 15% tip but when your service includes a fire show in your face you kind of don’t want to do that? Also we didn’t even sit in a group of 8 is was 2 groups of four separated from each other. A friend argued with the owner for a bit but it seemed he would not budge on this, so we payed his price and left.

I would not recommend this place to anyone who wants to have a nice time with their friends, your night will...

This place was good untill my hubby and I started to get sick from our stomachs almost 30 minutes into our dinner or on our way home. By the 3rd time I new it to be this place. The men serving in the back always looks dirty never groomed, they're sick and still come to work meanwhile slicing the meats and serving(observe). The tables are never properly disinfected or wiped down completely(just watch them yourself while you wait to be seated). The worst thing is the restrooms and dinner table walls (filthy). Just observe and you'll now that if this is how they don't care about cleaning the place and themselves, then you'll have an idea of what goes on in the kitchen. A whole lot of cleaning needs to happen (they open at 5pm, so they should have time), and wear gloves. And if you're sick dont come too work and handle the meats (the dark short chubby guy, allergies or whatever dont handle your sniffles and not wash your hands)stay out the kitchen, let alone serve anything. Wash you clothes and shave this goes for all of you. Better presentation please. My kids love this spot but they don't know any better. It can totally do better if these things where corrected. The wait time is long but I wouldn't mind it had I not observed...