Mangetsu — Restaurant in Melbourne

Update 27 Feb 2021

I'm glad this has a home in Downtown Melbourne. I remember their old location and this glow up has been lovely. I like that they still have lunch specials even on Saturdays so definitely hit it up!

I went with some co-workers and got a whole slew of appetizers. We got the Ika Fry (calamari), Kimbbop (Korean sushi), Half Moon Dumplings (fried pork), and Seafood Pajeon (seafood pancake).

The Ika Fry was pretty good. It had thick cuts of squid in a good batter that complemented well. It came with some sweet chili sauce and a more savory one.

The Kimbbop was my fave! Really well made here and super tasty. Really enjoyed the combo with some beef, imitation crab, and veggies. Highly recommend this appetizer here!!

The Half Moon Dumplings were classic too. Simple and tasty. If you get the bento box, it will come with two already so this appetizer was not necessary.

The Seafood Pajeon was interesting. Definitely filling and paired well with soy sauce. Not my favorite, but I'm glad I tried it out. Definitely unique!

For our main entrees, we went with the Regular Beef Bulgolgi and Chicken Bulgolgi Bento Lunch special. Really delish and good portions. It came with two dumplings, some kimchi, rice another random Korean side. You get your choice of either miso soup or salad as well. Really good lunch size!

Overall, solid place and would visit again! Super friendly service too!!

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Yay! Mangetsu has moved and is better than ever! I'm glad that the city of Melbourne has a little Korean BBQ (KBBQ) location! Being right in the middle of the 'downtown area' is great and is a wonderful addition to the other restaurants here. The atmosphere is simple and welcoming and makes a good gathering place for friends or even a date!

For the KBBQ, you can either do it yourself (a great interactive dining experience) or have the cooks do it for you instead. Just remember to cook it all the way if you get the chicken! (Haha, my friend isn't the greatest cook!) With the KBBQ, you'll get a variety of side dishes (mostly fermented or pickled) that add a nice acidity with the savory meat.

If you are not feeling KBBQ-y, they also have sushi and other Asian inspired dishes. Our table ended up getting a few sushi rolls to add some variety. Overall, I enjoyed Mangetsu and would go...

This was tasty! Mangetsu has a huge menu with popular Korean & Japanese dishes. We enjoyed some sushi, soup, salad, and grill-at-the-table bulgogi. Everything was fresh & delicious. The highlight for us was a tuna tataki appetizer - yum!

Mangetsu is clearly popular and is a small restaurant. This meant that the space was very crowded, and the bustling staff made it more than a little claustrophobic. We actually passed on our first seat assignment because the two-top by the front door got bumped into multiple times- so we waited for a seat with a little more space. I also don't mind waiting for good food (which this was!) but the wait was a little misleading - we used Google's wait time verification service- which told us there was no wait. It took us less than 5 minutes to arrive, at which point we were told the wait would be 20-30 minutes. We actually waited just under an hour for the first table to open up (and another 15 or so for a better table - but that one's on us!). While waiting, we heard multiple people being told "20-30 minutes" regardless of crowd & table status. Because this is downtown we saw many folks getting on the list and then leaving to get a drink from nearby bars, so it's tough to get a sense from those waiting what the list actually looks like. In the future, we'll ask how many parties are waiting rather than for a time estimate. I get that restaurants are unpredictable and don't fault the staff here - lesson learned that accuracy isn't a priority.

Also, to be very clear: the restaurant space & atmosphere were not great, but the staff was awesome! Credit to Mike up front who checked with us frequently while waiting to see if we wanted drinks or snacks, and to the two attendants who kept our drinks full and got food out to us super fast. Contrary to some other reviews, we never felt rushed or ignored despite the busy night. Cost for the food quality, portion size, and service level were also very reasonable - it's not quick counter-service cheap, but we had a great dinner for two without paying fancy date-night prices.

In short, we'll be back! We'll prepare a little better next time to minimize our wait, but there are many dishes here we didn't get to try this time that we'll make...

Met with friends, and although there was plenty of room at the table, we felt uneasy as there were no masks or social distancing practiced at all. The tables are relatively close to each other with a long but narrow dining room.

The food: dragon roll and bulgogi were both good; basil noodles dish was good but "medium spicy" was not spicy at all. The bulgogi came with a wide array of side items; from what I recognized: kimchi, daikon radish, large lettuce leaves, a spinach "salad" of sorts, and a few more featuring Korean chili and various vegetables. All were good and went well with the bulgogi, some more flavorful than others. My main complaint with the bulgogi was a large mound of raw onions underneath it; considering it comes on a sizzling platter, the onions should be cooked at least a little. Hot sake was standard but still a very good accompaniment and highly recommended; hot tea was weak and disappointing, tasting like hot water. Dessert consisted of tempura ice cream and Korean doughnuts, and was the highlight of the meal. Portions of everything were outstanding; we had leftovers for days and couldn't finish dessert.

Biggest complaint was the kitchen. Half of our party was long-finished with their meals by the time the other half got their meals. Other parties who came in after received their meals and even left before the second half of ours received theirs. The waitress was apologetic, but no efforts were made to comp anything. Seeing as we were there for a special occasion, no one wanted to complain to management. There are lots of options in the immediate area, so poor kitchen service on a special occasion with no offer to make it right is a big deal, and as a result of that Mangetsu won't be high on our list of choices in the future, considering the food and atmosphere were less than stellar.

With a bottle of wine, two entrees, beverages, dragon roll and hot sake, the bill was almost...