AYCE GOGI West Hills — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We expected to be served promptly, but that was not the case. We initially ordered brisket, pork belly, bulgogi, and galbi. The brisket arrived after 20 minutes, but the rest of our order did not follow. We never saw our original server again, so we flagged down another server to inquire about the missing items. He assured us the rest would arrive soon, but instead, 10 minutes later, they brought out two more plates of brisket, which we hadn't ordered. Once again, we had to get the attention of another server to correct the order. The rest of the meat finally arrived 15 minutes later. We spent more time waiting than eating. To make matters worse, other parties who arrived after us were being served while we were still waiting for our food. Throughout our meal, the servers rarely checked on us or offered refills on the side dishes. One server even gave us attitude when we ordered more galbi, questioning our request even though we had barely been served any meat for our table of eight. Policing orders at an all-you-can-eat restaurant, especially with such slow service, is unacceptable. Overall, the service was terrible. The staff needs better management and training on providing adequate service. Additionally, the quality of the meat was subpar and did not taste fresh. I would not return here again or recommend anyone to dine at this...

The Baseline: For Korean BBQ restaurant the grill meats must be quality, the table set up must be functional, and the accompanying sides must work with the meat.

Food: AYCE = All You Can Eat and all I want is protein via meat. The selection of meats at AYCE is wide and varied but we stuck to pork and beef. Garlic Beef was my surprise favorite but the spicy bulgogi was also competing for top spot. The sides were nice but you need to ask for kimchi and radish papers by request only. The meat selection I wasn’t a real fan of was the kimchi sausage and I didn’t get any chicken or seafood. The pork belly and spicy pork belly are awesome on the grill.

Service: Great service with constant water refills and we got 3 grill change outs. The entire staff helps out their colleges which makes for better service. Love the teamwork on display.

Ambiance: The tables are laid out nicely with good space in between. The restrooms were clean and serviced but they are high traffic so that makes for a constant upkeep task for staff. The real star is the pinball game assortment which is awesome fun while you wait and...

We decided to get dinner here because we were intrigued by the combination of KBBQ and pinball machines. It was a good experience, but there's definitely better quality KBBQ out there.

The positives of our experience: Our server was very attentive and we never had to wait long for a grill change. The bulgogi and kalbi were marinated well and we liked the japchae a lot! There was a good selection of menu items to choose from for all you can eat option.

The negatives of our experience: The meat quality was alright. It tasted fine, but it felt like the marinade masked the quality of the meat. The brisket we ordered was bland after it was cooked, when usually brisket has a subtle flavor to it. The spicy pork belly was also very bland after being cooked. Despite it being marinated, the flavors of the marinade did not absorb into it. The tofu soup that was on the all you can eat menu lacked tofu - the main ingredient of the soup... Overall, there were just inconsistencies in the meat and marinade quality.

This was definitely an interesting experience, but I would try other options with better...