BBQ Garden — Restaurant in Maine Township

This restaurant is just a nightmare. I am a Korean American, really enjoying authentic Korean foods most of the time. But I will never recommend this restaurant to anybody. This is an All You Can Eat Korean BBQ restaurant. I do not usually prefer All You Can Eat Korean BBQ. Because I expect low-quality meat in All You Can Eat BBQ restaurants. However, my wife’s friend recommended this restaurant with saying the owner is a congregation at her church and uses incredibly good quality meat. So, we decided to give it a try. I took my wife and two boys 8 and 10 years old. Even it was an All You Can Eat restaurant, we had to order. We ordered just a little of marinated steak, marinated and non-marinated Korean BBQ to start with. Inevitably, the meat quality was awfully bad. At least 50 to 60% of meat was fat. The meat was served with tongs and scissors. We had to grill it by ourselves at the table. At first sight, I thought the scissors were chewed by a dog. The handle was totally damaged, and it hurt my fingers while cutting the meat. Anyway, I had to trim off all the fat, then we had grilled the first plate. My boys were tasting the meat but did not really like the taste. I tried it. It was too greasy even though I trimmed all the fat. About we finished grilling the first plate out of three, one guy came up to our table. I first thought he was drunk. I would never expect he was the owner of the restaurant because of his outfit. He did not even wear a mask while all other staff was wearing it. He got matted hair and wearing dirty work pants and a shirt. I would never expect a restaurant’s host would greet any quests in that dirty outfit. Anyway, he started mumbling at our table. I said, “Excuse me?” “You must leave.” He responded. “Excuse me?” I asked again because I really thought he was drunk, and I still did not know he was the owner. He said, “If you are going to eat like this but not the whole thing, you must leave!” I was shocked and told him “We just got here, and you are telling us to leave?” He said, “I will not charge you, so you must leave.” My wife and I pointed out the trimmed fat and told him “Look, how can you eat this fat?” He did not answer. My wife told him again, “These are just fat.” Then he rebuked, “Then tell me how everybody else can eat the whole thing?” I was so shocked by the way he treated my wife and said, “EXCUSE ME?” He said, “You should learn etiquette to come to restaurants!” I raged and asked, “What did you just say?” Then, he started staring at me with anger in his eyes. I thought he was going to punch me, and I was about to fight back. My wife stopped me, and I told my kids “Let’s go!” because my boys got frightened by his threatening. This restaurant is literally just a nightmare. I do not know how much etiquette I should learn to be qualified to eat in an All You Can Eat Restaurant. I never knew I must not leave any fat when you eat meat in an All You Can Eat Restaurant. Did COVID-19 had changed all restaurant policies?? This is the worst Korean Restaurant I have ever visited in my entire life. This restaurant ruined my Saturday family dinner and entire evening! If I could, I won't give...

I was there yesterday,the food in general was good except for the seafoods...the shrimps are small n sticky,it's not really fresh,not of a good quality,the squid has an after taste but their side dishes are really good.Anyway I have this bad experience with the server,she's an older Korean ajumma ,short with wearing really red lipstick as in RED n with a very short hair like bald,she's very intimidating,it's our first time here and I asked her if the squid are good?...it's just normal for 1st time customers to ask right?instead she looked at me sharply n said "everything in this restaurant is good".I told her it's our first time here but she seems uninterested n very defensive...I don't mean anything wrong or harm by asking...since all squid in general has an after taste anyway...maybe in korean culture customers are not allowed to ask restaurant servers if the food is good,but this is america!!! it is just that we want a suggestion,no offense,then she told my husband not to waste food otherwise she'll charge us!!!what a shame!!!we haven't even started eating yet!!!then she tried to intimidate me again the 2nd time around,she's very attentive but if she's ur server you'll lose ur appetite,I took a very small piece of korean white gelatin,I didn't even know at first that it was a korean gelatin,i'm not korean,how would i know!so I put it in an ice cream bowl,I don't want too much plate in my table,n since I only have 1 piece,again i say ONE small piece!i don't want to waste their food so this ice cream bowl is the perfect size,but when she saw it,she seemed annoyed n told me"this is an ice cream bowl"!...omg,i spent a lot of years studying n paying a lot of money to earn a college bachelor's degree just to be taught what an ice cream bowl looked like??? this time I got really upset,so I firmly n straightforwardlly told her"THIS IS OUR FIRST TIME HERE"!!! So after sensing my tone n that I'm now angry,her aura changed...I really don't need any restaurant server telling me what to do long as I don't cause harm to their restaurant nor waste their food!!!I don't know if she's the owner's omonni-mother or she's the owner's aunt,grand ma or relative but me n my husband r just really giving side glances n looking at each other n I finally told him she is a TYPICAL,TRUE BLUE BLOODED KOREAN MOTHER IN LAW AJUMMA!!!I told my husband that if she happens to be my mother in law,I'm so lucky that she's not...I'll definitely end up DIVORDED...bcuz this is just my opinion...a lot of korean men,although not all ,tends to choose their mothers instead of their wives!!! I lost my appetite bcuz of her!!! But of course I commend the other server,she's older too ,tall n skinny ,but very nice,friendly n accommodating,I hope they'll hire more ppl like her n not the short, red lipstick wearing baldy hair mother in law...

We had the BBQ buffet, 3 of us, a mid 50's man, a wife, and a 23 old girl. We eat small portions, but wanted varieties of Korean BBQ. So, we came here. Last time I was here was for Honam Hyang Woo Hoi Golf Tournament dinner a couple weeks ago and I liked the BBQ.

The waiter was rude to begin with and recommended us to order certain meats while we wanted other choices. When we did follow his recommendation, the portions were large and we were caught with some uncooked meat that we were going to eat later. When we ordered shrimp, squid, and kopchang, we asked for half portions because we knew our limits. After that, we wanted to order another 1/2 order of meat and the waiter says we can't get any other order until we finish the uncooked meats or we will end up paying extra for left over meat. Who is to judge whether we can finish or not! The left over meat was approximately a half Lbs. I told him to charge me the left over food; but, he walked away saying he is following management's rules.

First of all, I do not like buffet because I eat small portion and the bloatedness of overeating; but, my niece from North Carolina wanted to eat Korean buffet because of the varieties. So, we came here instead of other places near by. Being Korean, I have been to many Korean BBQ buffet restaurants like Jang Choong Dong, Woori Village, Shin Jung(now Mr. KImchi), and numerous places through out the US and Korea, but this place is the only place saying I can't order more because they will charge me extra because of left over food. All the buffet places I have been to have the same policies; but, I had no problems with left over food. If you are so afraid of losing money due to left over food and make the customers feel uncomfortable and upset, you should stop AYCE buffet. Most of people are sensible enough to order or bring food what they can finish. Probably. 3 of us ate 2 or 3 Lbs. of meat, and a half Lbs. of squid(only the legs and ear/top parts were served, no body parts) and shrimps(3 pieces) maximum and paid $30 each plus 18% tips. They should be thankful.

The worst part was, they added 18% tip automatically for 3 people. Last time I went to the buffet was before Corona; so, I don't konw how the tips are now for the buffet; but, I didn't want to give a dime for the tip. I am willing to give more if the service is excellent. Our nIece from NC was upset and it ruined our...