Moodaepo — Restaurant in Los Angeles

The food was a B+ and only because some of the marinated choices lacked any true flavor. Anything spicy you order, if they bring you the right dish, add salt or dip in salt and sesame oil (available upon request).

I would still give the place 5 stars, but our table of 3, on an obviously slow night, wasn't waited on until 10 - 15 minutes after being seated; we were constantly given items similar but incorrect to what we ordered, and a 15% gratuity was automatically appllied to our ticket at the end. To be fair, 99% of the staff was attentive once we did get started, but our main server is the culprit of the forced tip and subpar atmosphere.

I was trying this establishment out on suggestion of a family member who attended this trip and it would not break anywhere near our top 10 locations in SoCal, let alone Koreatown. Will not be going back, rethink your visit as well.

Edit due to owner response

Anything is possible, especially with your location being so close to public transportation and open until 2 A.M. daily. If someone mentions this place by name, and we've had something to drink (or will order drinks here), then I will go with an open mind and see if

1. My party is seated and served relatively quickly
2. Order accuracy using menu names and numbers gets any better
3. ALL servers are providing friendly service where I don't feel like I'm paying someone to ruin a good time/experience.
4. Even though you list multiple tip options, and there is no mention of automatically applied gratuity for 3-person parties during slow times, I'm keen to see if tip will be forced upon the ticket (by the way, I'm miffed about that because I constantly default to 20% tip and I feel like the server believed we weren't planning to tip even the 15% for reasons too complex to get into over a review).

Should I see improvements in any aspect of this, whenever I find myself at this establishment again, my score will...

Hosted a friend from out of town and he really wanted to try some Korean BBQ. I knew just the spot! This place has been on my list for the longest and I'm glad we were able to get in!

Usually the place gets packed and it's not just 1 restaurant. It has a Central market type feel with plenty of variety to keep your taste buds happy. We opted to arrive shortly before they opened at 5pm and even at that time there were at least 15 parties in line(very very good sign!). We entered and everyone was seated rather quickly. The place filled up fast.

We chose the 34.99 option which included a load of premium cuts. My friend really enjoyed the prime Bulogi and my favorite were the rib fingers. A lot of parties got what looked like a beer tower so we also ordered one. They have 12+ kinds of beer on tap(AMAZING!) and even fresh watermelon cocktails.

We managed to get through 7 plates of various cuts of meat along with an order of the steamed egg(eat while it's puffy but be careful cause it is HOT! 😅), spicy stew and so many side dishes("Banchan" in Korean).

We had a wonderful dinner and by the time we left, the oh so familiar line out the door reached down the street to the parking lot(they have valet $3). Thank you for the awesome food and service!

BTW, very cool chicken "wings" outside the restaurant. This time we came to eat Moodaepo II, but we'll be back for the other joint,...

Spent lunch in LA today.

Parking: Finding parking in LA is always a challenge, but thankfully they have a private lot right beside them. Free parking lot.

Ambiance/Environment: They have a LARGE space with plenty of indoor seating. Perfect for groups of all sizes. Love the music and vibes here. It was somewhat busy when we visited during lunch, but they became even more busy closer to the evening.

Service: Join the wait list via the tablet when you enter. They'll text you when your table is ready. We were seated by one of the servers. They were attentive and efficient. Empty plates were constantly removed. Though, it does take a while for the meats to come out. Sometimes it's hard to wave one of the servers down for assistance as it became busier.

Meats & side: We decided to splurge and go with the premium menu. It included the yellow and red portions. We ordered majority of the spicy meats like the spicy beef brisket, spicy beef sirloin, and prime spicy beef rib. We also ordered the house special beef belly, wagyu beef belly, and aged ribeye. We enjoyed everything, but our favorites were forsure the spicy meats! The banchan offered were delicious. You can also ordered more sides. I got the spicy kimchi soup which came out bubbling from the kitchen! Their corn cheese tasted as expected.

Pricing: Definitely worth it. We enjoyed their meat selections and left...