Blue House Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Mundelein

My family and I came here for my birthday. I loved the seafood pancake and vegetable dumplings. The banchan had a number of yummy dishes, too; I liked their potatoes. We ordered the bulgogi chapchae, dak galbi, and dwaeji galbi. Everything but the dak galbi was going to be grilled on the table. The atmosphere was pleasant and decorated by the owner's wife; it was cute inside and much larger than you would expect from the storefront.

Unfortunately, we had a bit of a defective table; the built-in grill would not stay lit. This became apparent towards the beginning of the meal, even before banchan were brought out. We offered to switch tables but our waitress was very insistent on trying to get it working. After a few more attempts, she brought out an older man (I believe he was the owner) who also tried several times, but was unable to keep the grill going. By then, the rest of our party had finished their meal (the dak galbi was a kitchen entree and the bulgogi chapchae was grilled on a standalone tabletop grill with room for the noodles around the outside) and my parents were getting a bit miffed about the pork ribs and how they might not be as good after all that hassle. The older man then took the dwaeji galbi off the table and grilled it in the kitchen. I don't blame them that the grill was acting up -- these things happen, and the way they both were fiddling with the grill dials, it seemed like it wasn't uncommon. It would have been nice to have switched tables or something early on, though, as the tabletop barbecue is part of the experience.

I'll give them another try sometimes, as I love KBBQ and don't have a good fix for it out in the suburbs, but my first experience here...

Traditional interior Tabletop KBBQ that gave our family quite an upset. Of the times we've gone out to this restaurant in the past, they've never disappointed us.

They usually have decent portions for their entrees and banchan, but they really dropped the ball this time. We were fully expecting the BBQ order to be a crowd pleaser.

When we came in, it was packed. We spent an hour waiting for our meal to have two portions of Yangum Galbi dumped onto the grill. Two portions of this galbi only filled up the grill partially. Half of it was beef tendon that the two of us were gnawing on. This special would not be able to fill one person.

Even the sides were limited. It was guaranteed that you wouldn't be able to get a taste of all the sides. If you can order the bulgogi chicken, you would actually get more chicken than you can when you double order this galbi.

I think my brother described my experience most aptly in saying I was having an out of body experience that lunch, because I ordered a $17 soup (yes, soup) and believed that the whole thing in receiving it would only be for me. You can bet that this 5 seated table that everyone was sharing.

$100 meal for 3 of 5 (someone in our family...

I have been craving hot pot for a while since I moved to IL; I have never had Korean bbq, so I decided to try Blue House since the reviews and food looked good. I was greeted right away when I went in, which was nice. It was just me, but I was given a six-person table; it was awkward, but I least I had extra space. I kept having to wait a bit, but they were mostly busy. I wish it were more of a hot pot feel, like what you would expect; you would typically get to choose anything (proteins and produce) you want to cook based on a card filled out beforehand, but this is primarily Korean bbq. The “Hot Pot” is 3 or 4 soups already listed on the menu, so you don’t get to cook much. Also, unfortunately, I was not checked upon to see if the food was okay or if I needed anything, and my burner kept shutting off.

Cliche, I don’t like writing negative reviews, and I can tell that the owners are lovely people. However, the flavors were lacking, the price was a little much for 1, and I felt disappointed, far from what other reviews stated. Not to mention, I’m not sure what it was, but I am not feeling very well, and I’m not allergic to anything that was in my soup. I cannot say that I will...