TGI Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Los Angeles

As a Korean American dude who has lived and worked in Seoul off and on for a decade I (like my family) can be picky. For an all-you-can eat BBQ place, the food was overall very comparable to what you'd find in any good Korean restaurant (IN South Korea).

Everything was terrific except for just a few minor, but initially memorable, points of improvement.

FOOD: -MEAT: The meat here is more or less on par with what you would find in South Korea. This is to say it's very good and in LARGE supply. So, major stars for that.

-SIDE DISHES: All taste delicious and on par, again, with the best standard BBQ joints in Seoul. The flavor is on point. The variety and endlessness was also a positive. Only strike was the nonexistence of lettuce, cucumbers, or carrots (a standard veggie side dish that you'd typically find in a BBQ place like this). Likewise, no kimchi (although there was cucumber kimchi). Likely, the omission of these standard side dishes might have to do with the high price of veggies, perhaps. Not a deal breaker, but definitely a little disappointing not to have any of these items.

AMBIANCE: -I can see why it's such a happening joint at night, especially for non Koreans/Korean Americans. It's large, spacious, and "bar-esque." There's also a nice converted parking lot outside that's now a large, family-style outdoor seating area. All nice, except during the peak day hours (when I went with the family) when you'll bake a bit even inside despite the A/C.

SERVICE: A little hit or miss. The first dude you might encounter is a bit heavier set and stern looking. Friendly enough, but by the middle of the meal when we would ask for refills on certain items, or wanting to order more food, the servers (mostly dudes) would be in the back/front of the restaurant. Indeed, several times, even with our hands waving it almost felt like the main dude with the unhappy looking expression and other male servers were almost actively looking down NOT to see customer requests. They weren't rude, per se, when coming to our table to ask if we needed anything. But this sort of schizophrenic (sometimes approachable but sometimes super cold/unavailable) service was not always pleasant for such a costly (though good value for money) meal. (We spent over $200).

HIGHLIGHTS: -Two people saved this review from a "Could've been better"/"Ok" to great. The sole female server we had who actively came up later in our meal to ask consistently if we needed anything and was right there to help us with anything throughout--BORA. Sweet, friendly, and prompt, she saved my initially very bad impression of the initial male servers. The other person who knocked it out of the park with his cheery disposition, proactive approach (he actively recommended and later delivered "the best cuts of meat" to us), and overall friendliness--YOUNG. So good was his service that we would come back just for his good vibes and uber courteous style.

Ultimately, recommended. You'll have a very messy meal (sticky hands, handling hot sizzling meat, etc.) but that's Korean outdoor BBQ for you. If they could just add a few more veggies (unlikely, sadly) and improve the OVERALL service attitude of the servers (minus the two aforementioned STAR servers) -- this place would be one of the BEST restaurant experiences in Los...

I want to preface by saying that the quality of the meat at this restaurant is incredible. I really wanted to like this place but several things occurred during my dining experience that left our group greatly unsatisfied. First, location is horrible, making parking a nightmare. Secondly, we chose the premium AYCE option which was valued at $40 per person. Nowhere on the menu does it state that you can only order the premium items once. LIMITED is very open to interpretation as many KBBQ in LA usually allows one order per person, from my experience. Therefore, it was definitely a surprise when the server told us we were only allowed to order the item once. In fact, our server failed to inform us about this policy until our second round of attempting to order more meat. Third, portions are incredibly small, especially for the premium items. For an AYCE and having to pay a premium for higher quality items, it was really disappointing that we were served what appeared to be only fit for serving a single person. I understand that as a business they want to combat food waste but there needs to be a better balance to make it worth the paying customer. Fourth, our server did a terrible job at remembering our order and checking in on us. We were only able to squeeze in three rounds of meat, three choice of meat per round, within the 2 hour limit we were here. Understandably it was a busy Friday night, however, forgetting our orders for 40 minutes straight was inexcusable. I ordered the premium beef rib soup, which never came. We asked for water three times before someone brought us some. We asked for a grill change and eventually had to flag down another server to help us. Our server also had to ask us on four separate occasions what our order was even though we’ve repeated it four times. It was only on the fifth check in that our server decided to finally write down our order. There were also other servers who were casually drinking and chatting with a table without paying much attention to the needs of the other customers. I appreciate the light hearted nature and casual atmosphere in bonding with customers, but the priority should be to ensure the customers’ needs are met. Seems like the problem is the high customer to server ratio as this restaurant converted what I can only describe as their former parking lot, into an outdoor dining area. Trying to accommodate additional outdoor customers when your indoor maximum capacity has already been reached is a horrible way of pacing the flow of the kitchen. Unsurprisingly, this caused a jam in the back kitchen with the high volume of orders resulting in multiple customers not receiving their orders. This can easily be fixed by offering larger portions to keep customers busy until their next order. Another server was very apologetic and took the time to help and explain the situation to us, which we greatly appreciated. We’ll probably try another KBBQ restaurant next time...

My first time coming here, wanted to celebrate my daughter’s graduation along with my two year old son and two friends. I was searching Korean bbq place as I wanted to try new other places instead of the usual my family would go to. So I found this TGI Korean BBQ in Los Angeles. I saw few good reviews and I figured maybe I should try this one out. I went ahead and made reservations for supposedly 4 people,(two of my friends which one didn’t make it to join us, myself, my daughter, and my son) I didn’t include my little one in the reservation because from what I know usually only certain age has charge. Fast forward, the server name Moon gave us table, another server came, I did not get his name was, which seems he’s a new employee because we asked him a few questions and the answer was “let me ask or I’m not sure”. He started asking us which menu we would like and we picked the $37.99. He then asked how old my son is so I answered he’s two. I guess he was told to ask my son’s age and he was replying to them saying two. Then Moon came, he asked me if my son will be eating as well and I said yes, I’ll be feeding him from my plate. According to him 2 year old also gets charge but half price. I thought that was odd, so I asked Moon again you charge a two year old kid from the menu? He was confident with the answer so I said ok that’s fine,( I did not bother asking anymore I thought that’s the policy the restaurant has)… I wasn’t really sure which server was assigned to our table if that guy Moon, the new employee, or Anthony. Although on the receipt our server name is Moon. But Anthony was mostly the one that stops at our table and asks if we want to order more meat, and/or replace the grill. Kudos to Anthony by the way!!

Anyway, we were told that they have a two hour limit for dine in, and we have another half an hour left to order which it was fine, we were not going to order more meat anyways, then there goes Moon telling us no more ordering meat, and I answered him with “ we’re not ordering anymore meat, we had the fire off already”. Mind you, we didn’t even go crazy ordering meat. So bill was handed to our table and sure enough my two year old son was also charge half price. Gratuity was also added in the bill even though it was technically only three of us ate and my son barely ate the food.

Now I have to ask, why was I told that a 2 year old kid gets charge half price but what IT SAYS ON THE MENU is different? *4-7 year old is half price according to your menu. Can anyone explain this?

Food was good, but I will not be coming here again. Definitely first and last time to come...