My Bowl Ramen Library — Restaurant in O'Fallon

My Bowl Korean BBQ, I heard great things about this place from mutual friends and coworkers. As a heavy Korean BBQ enthusiast, I had to give My Bowl a worthy shot. Unfortunately, I was extremely underwhelmed. But first let’s talk about the pros. The food quality was above average, definitely fresh and flavorful but not anything to write home about when it comes to Korean BBQ, really small portions compared to similar establishments. The customer service is absolutely spectacular and the owners (I presume) walked around checking on guests and had very playful funny banter, 5/5 in that department. Our server was very good as well, 5/5. The establishment is very clean, the wait time on a Saturday at 4:30 pm was under 10 minutes and seating is very modest. If you’re a bigger individual, it may become a bit uncomfortable.

Now the cons and I want to preference that this is my experience with the All You Can Eat (AYCE) experience which I would assume is why a healthy amount of their visitors dine here. I cannot speak on the A-La-Cart experience.

Con-one is the biggest, the selection of meats is very underwhelming compared to most K-BBQ in this price point. There are only 7 meats you can choose from in which only 6/7 is truly AYCE. You only get ONE Kalbi Short Rib PER person on the AYCE portion. This is extremely unheard of at other K-BBQ establishments I’ve been to. It’s very fresh and flavorful but to only get one person when you choose AYCE, is very disappointing but I will give credit where it’s due, this is advertised on their website. The rest of the “premium” meats are unlimited, with an over all 1.5 hr time limit, were above average quality with great flavor.

Con-two is that the second portion of the AYCE is limited to one option PER table which is advertised online but is very underwhelming because it’s rare that most people in your party or even yourself, want the same exact dish through out an AYCE experience. A friend and I, opted for the normal ramen which is literally just your standard cheap ramen noodle packets and a cheap broth without any depth of flavor. We could only stomach one bowl, do not order this. As mentioned above, to only get a total of 7 options combined with the fact this portion of the AYCE is only one option PER table is such a disappointment at a K-BBQ establishment with this price point. If the other options offered are anything like the normal ramen we had, I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high in this department.

Overall, I have to give My Bowl K-BBQ a true 2.5/5 rating. Most of that rating is from the amazing staff and the decent quality of the food. For $34/person, this place does not justify its cost. Other Korean BBQ establishments I’ve been to in Florida and Chicago within the $30 to $50 range, completely blows My Bowl out of the water. At these other establishments, I am able to truly AYCE various steaks, seafood, poultry and even desert with no time limit or food selection restrictions.

I can dine on AYCE crab or many different Korean inspired chicken wings if I took the $34 dollars and went to another establishment. Google Volcano: Hot Pot & BBQ for reference. Bigger, better, and more variety at similar establishments in this price point truly hurts what you get at My bowl experience wise. This is a good one and done experience but I can not recommend My bowl as a routine K-BBQ place. Great room for...

What a bummer. Seriously let down by the all you can eat BBQ option because it is anything but that. For $34.95 no one should leave hungry, but that is exactly what happened. As a party of 5 adults, we got 1 bowl of ramen to share that did not fill all 5 of the small cups they provided for each of us. NO refill of this selection. The meat is brought out in very small portions (and while it fills the grill) it does not feed 5 adults at a time. Our first course was the pork belly and beef bulgolgi. Our second course was brisket and chicken bulgolgi. Our third course was short ribs and pork bulgolgi and finally chicken bulggi and shrimp. We received 5 shrimp. For $34.95 we literally got 1 piece of pork belly; less than a 1/4 cup of each serving of meat; a short rib and 1, yes 1 shrimp!!!!!!!!! The all you can eat option is supposed to be for 1.5 hours, which is reasonable, if you are able to order your food in succession so you are not waiting 20 minutes between options and if you are given a sufficient amount of food for everyone at the table. We were seated after 6, did not get drinks or our meat until after 6:20 and were told at a little after 7 that “it was last call for our last order of meat.” That was less than an hour to cook at eat our food. Add to thar, we often waited for the waitress to come back while we had empty plates and waited for our next meat selection. There are small servings of dipping sauces; plain rice; broccoli salad and kimchi, which is all you can eat, but this doesn’t constitute a meal option or enough to offset the very minimal amount of meat we each got. I am thankful I ordered pork fried rice or I would have been starving. While what food we got was good, our bill was over $100 for 2 people. As a rule, had it been enough to feed us, this is not extravagant, but considering we each 1 piece of pork belly, 1 shrimp; 1 rib and a handful of other meat total at best, that’s a lot excessive.

With that being said, our friends who ordered off the menu were very happy with their meals. The owner was also very nice and pleasant.

Seriously sad and...

This is a painful review update for me. I used to love the location years ago, but after an extended closing they revamped and changed the store to drastically change what it is.

Currently the store serves bibimbop, bento boxes, and ramen for lunch (with a Korean BBQ option for dinners). Unless you are buying a few of the cheaper vegetarian options, each item is 20 bucks approximately, especially if you get a drink. While I did not get it, the Korean barbecue portion is labeled at $120 for two people, which is substantially higher cost than even locations in downtown St Louis.

While the price is definitely substantially higher than it used to be, that would be tolerable if the food made up for it. The several items I've had on my visit (spicy pork bento, pork ramen, and bibimbop) are some of the most bland flavors for this type of food I've had in a while. The food quality was good, nice meat and good vegetable options. It just tasted like something you'd get at a cafeteria, with the least amount of spice possible. There were sauce options to add yourself, but for 20 bucks I expect more than plain meat and white rice.

Looks wise the restaurant is gorgeous. I'm assuming the substantially higher prices are to fund the fancy tables and decorations throughout the place. It would look nice enough for a date night, which is a nice feature so close to the base.

I really hope I'm wrong and I just had a bad experience, I'll give it a few more tries because I really want to like it, but it wasn't a good first time back after...