Bak Kung Korean B.B.Q — Restaurant in Los Angeles

With so many kbbq spots located in Koreatown, Los Angeles, it can get very overwhelming trying to choose which spot to try. I’m glad I stumbled upon this spot and gave it a shot. They stand out because they offer (2) menus priced at $32.99 and $49.99. At the lowest menu, you get the choice of steamed eggs. Earlier this year when price of eggs went up so high, many kbbq spots removed it from their menu all together or they only added it to the expensive menu. In addition, if you come here to celebrate your birthday, you’re in for a real treat. They make you a meat birthday cake (see photos) and it’s pretty awesome. I can see why fellow reviewers have been praising this spot as the service I received here was by far one of the best in the area. Servers were always on time to replenish the meats without us having to ask and the owner seems to be pretty engaging with its customers which is apparent when he greets the return customers. They also have this awesome cumin powder that works so well with their hot sauce. Try it with the thin meats or the squid and it tastes like the flavors you’d get at a chinese skewer restaurant. Additionally, they leave the condiments on your table which is so convenient because I eat up my sesame oil and salt sauce that I always feel bad asking servers to refill it. Would I return to this establishment? Why is that a question, it is an apparent YES.

|| L O C A T I O N / P A R K I N G || -Cross Streets are W. Olympic Boulevard and 4th Ave. -Shares the same parking lot as Pizza Go -About 8-10 parking spots in the lot but there is also street parking available. We came on a week day and there were plenty of spots open.

|| F O O D || From the premium menu, these were my favorites (in order) Boneless Angus Short Ribs ( C ) - if the marbling of the meat doesn’t make you fall in love, i don’t know what else will. I liked how thick the cuts were because this literally melts in your mouth.

Prime Boneless Short Ribs ( A ) - thinner cut of meat so don’t cook it for too long, super tender!

Rib Eye Rib-On Prime ( B ) - one of the best rib eye i’ve had, make sure to not cook this for too long either!

From the regular menu, these were my favorites: Beef Brisket, Thinly Sliced Beef Belly, Beef Tongue, Squid, Beef Rib Finger, Steamed Egg and the Miso Soup. The beef rib finger has an aromatic garlic marinade which smells super good. I liked their take of the steamed egg and it wasn’t overly salty. Miso Soup was a bit different with a spicy kick to it which I liked! I don’t normally get seafood at kbbq, but I could not pass up on the squid when I knew how good it would be dipped in the cumin hot...

I’ve been here countless times before and always had the best experience. It’s always been one of my favorite kbbq spots. Tonight I had one of the worst experiences and honestly didn’t expect that from this place. I brought some friends from out of state after highly recommending the place and was very disappointed by the service given. I didn’t get her name but it was an older Korean woman who was maybe the owner or manager I’m not sure. We were a party of 5 and after only 4 plates of food she tried shutting off the grill and would act surprised that we wanted to order more?? The whole time she would ignore us and drop off the food with attitude and then move to the next table with a smile and asking if everything was ok. We ignored it and just ate not expecting much from her and when it was time to pay we said we wanted to split the bill between the 5 of us. She seemed confused so we explained it as best as we could and I guess she got so frustrated she was practically yelling at the end refusing to take more than 2 cards for payment. I’ve never worked in the service industry but I’ve never had an issue before in splitting the bill. I understand it being a hard industry to work in and would understand being a neutral server rather than super friendly outgoing but to be rude the whole time and then yell at us at the end is something else. I’ve worked in customer service related jobs my whole life and have never given attitude even if a customer has been rude to me. We were extremely upset by the end of everything and decided to leave only a dollar tip (something I have never done I always leave at least 15%) and she had the audacity to run out the restaurant as we were already across the street to yell about the dollar tip. My friends straight up told her she was being very rude the whole time and excused it up until she started yelling at us refusing to split the check. We wanted to avoid confrontation but after she ran out just to yell more was ridiculous. I’m so incredibly embarrassed that I brought my friends here and would have never expected this sort of treatment. I’m not sure if it was because she was perhaps racist and I normally don’t like to assume such things but she was nice to every table but ours. We were regular customers who just ordered food. I’m never coming back here again after this incident and am very disappointed. I really liked the food...

The food was pretty good, but my group had 1 main issue! We had two servers, 1 older lady and 1 young man. The young man did nothing wrong, just work as normal. The lady however would have issue with us ordering more food despite it being AYCE, and kept warning us about the kitchen closing (we came in at 8:00, and she said close at 10:00, no problem right?) . We also observed that we kept getting smaller plates while the bigger parties would get bigger orders, so we had to order more and “bother” them more just so we could eat. It seemed like the lady was having a happy time serving other tables, but wouldn’t have the same attitude with, and would just say “here” and plop the food onto the table, to the point parts of the food was falling onto our clothes. Lastly she got onto us saying we couldn’t pay with more than 2 (we had 5 people) and wouldn’t accept more cards, forcing 1 person to pay for 2 others without reason. We also asked a table nearby that was also leaving, and said she took 6 cards no problem. At that point, we had become frustrated with this rude service for what felt like no reason at all, and most of us decided not to tip, at which when we left she ran out after us yelling us for not tipping. At one point she was even talking to coworkers in another language and pointed to our table, but I don’t want to assume it was a race issue. Overall, I think the food was pretty good, but the lady’s actions and attitude ruined the entire night. I really don’t understand what out party did to be treated so poorly. Through-out the night we were trying to be kind and cordial, and the other server didn’t seem to have any issues with us, but the lady just seemed to hate our guts. It feels rough because it was a place our friend was excited to show us this place and said it was wonderful, but she said she’s never seen them act like this before, and has been a regular there for years. I really wish whoever eats here the best, food was great and other people seemed to enjoy themselves, but something about our table of 5 was...