Genwa Korean BBQ (Mid Wilshire) — Restaurant in Los Angeles

WOW!!!! Even mentioning the name of this restaurant makes me salivate for more!

Usually with good Asian restaurants there's two categories: the hole-in-the-wall super cheap places with bad service; and then the super-fancy "Americanized" restaurants that are clean but extremely expensive (ie Mr. Chow's).

Fortunately, this place was neither, and as a rare exception, truly is the best of both worlds!!!

My friend Andrew had been raving about this place for weeks, and eventually we found a night to check it out and I was amazed at how great the food tasted and how reasonably priced this place was.

Rather than get the set combo meals, we opted for two a la carte orders of the Galbi for around $27 each (two are enough to feed three people altogether), which I think is the best way to go (unless you're a fan of Bulgogi too, which is the stewed meat that's a bit more watery and shredded), and also an order of the grilled mushrooms which were AMAZING. Immediately upon ordering, the waitress re-appeared with almost (or more than?!) twenty small dishes, double what I've been used to seeing at Korean restaurants around LA.

The service was top notch and the decor was very sleek and modern which gave the place a nice ambiance inside. What's even more cool is that rather than the traditional ceiling fans found at Korean places in LA, this place has reverse suction fans so the smoke never escapes from the grill (leaving your clothes smelling normal, rather than the smoky meat smell that typically clings to your body after Korean bbq).

While all you can eat places like Manna Korean BBQ will still have their place in my heart, Genwa is hands down my new favorite go-to place for Korean BBQ in town--and that's inclusive of other places in Koreatown as well.

Not to spoil any surprises--but at the end of the meal, they also bring out a sweet syrupy sugar cane/corn drink that can be sipped, along with these "magical towels" that you'll have to see for yourself. :)

Also--free parking in...

This is NOT All You Can Eat KBBQ. This is FAR better, more expensive, and a notch bit more fancy. With that disclaimer, do not worry about the non-AYCE part, you will be satisfied from your meal.

-=- A+ Combo -=- You have the option of ordering a combo per person price, or individual dishes. I know my Korean food, but it's just so much easier to trust that decision to the restaurant. We did not go wrong with ordering the Combo A+ which was a step up from the basic Combo A. Some of the combos included Soju, but this one didn't. No matter, we'd buy a pitcher of Hite anyway to wisk away this week. You get the basic meat favorites like beef brisket (Chadol) and Bulgogi and really that's enough of a taste to get your feet wet here.

-=-Banchan-=- The insane amounts of banchan that they give here are well documented in the pictures. It's true, you get a ton, and you can just keep requesting your favorites. My faves ended up being the Fish meatballs, fish cake slices, and potato salad. I think I ended up requesting at least 4 more fish meatball servings. The sauce that they were in were so savory and flavorful.

-=-Service-=- What immediately differentiates Genwa from other KBBQ is the level of customer service. It really is on a whole new level that goes above and beyond that of the fanciest steak houses. Shane would be our main server, but that did not stop the other servers from coming and helping us cook our meat. With the attention that you receive here, the servers will not let you burn your meat and will basically take over the grill if you end up in a deep conversation (points to self). While this is a self-cook place, there was a period of time where Shane would stand over our grill and start cooking, cutting, and serving our plates. It really was full service to the max which made this one of my best experiences at a...

High end Korean BBQ experience that will leave your mouth drooling and your wallet empty.

The place is quite upscale with interesting choices for decor. It definitely comes off as very classy which is in stark contrast to many AYCE KBBQ joints.

With the high end feel come high prices unfortunately. Probably the most expensive Kbbq many will have. Just keep that in mind when deciding to come here.

Honestly, while the service was definitely a step up compared to many Kbbq places, if I'm being honest, I expected a lot more, especially given the price tag. A lot of things could have been handled better and there were times where nobody came to check on us for quite some time despite the establishment being half empty. We ended up mostly cooking our own meats because after leaving it a few times to them, they were literally overcooking everything - blasphemy when it comes to such high quality cuts.

Based on pictures alone, you might think their banchan (side dishes) game is on point. You'd only be half right. While they do have about 20 different ones, I'd say only 5-7 are actually good. Banchan are quintessential to the korean bbq experience and while having options is nice, sometimes quality is more important than quantity. You'd think a high end korean bbq place would get that... I've had much better ones in AYCE and other Korean places.

Now for the meats. We had the Kot Sal and Galbi. Both were quite good as one would expect. The marbling was on point! If your whole life all you've had in AYCE cheap meats and you try this, you'll be in heaven. That being said, to those used to high end cuts, these are just OK.

Honestly, I was expecting a lot more but due to the higher quality meat, I'd give...