Ari Korean BBQ - Plano — Restaurant in Plano

Today, four adults (two women and two men) and four children (two of whom are four years old and one each of six and eight years old) came to eat Korean barbecue. We ordered a large beef combination and a large pork combination, but I am still hungry, my husband is hungry, and the kids had come home and ate again. The large combination menu was for four people, so we ordered two, but even though we shared it with the kids, I am still hungry... I am not even moderately full, I am really hungry... The funny thing was that when we ordered meat, the server said the portion would be very large. The reason we didn't order more food was because we were disappointed in the quantity and quality, and the server, a middle-aged Korean woman with glasses, was unfriendly. At first, we sat at a large table with two grills, but they only set up one grill, so we asked them to give us one more, and she said, "Are you guys going to use two?" She said like this with sullen expression.. I was dumbfounded because I thought they were really trying to grill meat with just one piece. How can they feed eight people with just one grill? It was absurd. And when my husband ordered two large combination, the lady tried to dissuade him, saying it would be a lot of food. we ordered two generous combinations and tried to order more to eat meat generously enough, but she tried to stop him several times, saying it would be too much. It was a bit strange that the server kept saying it was too much even though we said as we ordered it because kids ate a lot. It's not that I'm ordering little, I'm ordering a lot. So if there's any left over, shouldn't I just take it away? Also, I asked if I could bring a stroller because I brought my 5 months baby to eat and I thought it would be uncomfortable eating with baby. The lady muttered that the fat would splatter and told me to bring it and she looked upset. I thought If I hold the baby, more fat would splatter on the baby. I don't know what she was talking about. I wonder if she just doesn't like us or doesn't want to work. We were thinking of going to a AYCE, but we came to this restaurant because people said the quality of meat is good, but I am not sure if it was that good and the portions were really very small. If the owner does business like this, I think he(or she) will get rich quickly. We ordered a bottle of makgeolli and 20% tip was automatically added, so the bill came out to about $350. We usually go to a Brazilian steakhouse. I think it would be better to pay a little more and go churrasco and have a delicious and filling meal. The side dishes weren't very tasty, the steamed egg cooked on the side of grill wasn't seasoned properly, and the corn cheese had no cheese and it was really bad. I’ve never seen like this. My friend's family said they wanted to eat Korean barbecue, so I went with them, but I felt sorry. As a fellow Korean, I don't want to...

Used to visit this place routinely like once a month or so, meat quality used to be top notch which justify the price tag for me. Haven't been here for a while and came back today very disappointed.

Their "flagship" meat short ribs remian the same quality which is nice, but thin sliced brisket and beef tongue are completely different quality when compared to the past, they are dry, thick and stiff. Can't speak for other menu items because I always order those three mentioned above everytime I visit.

Service quality went down to drainage as well, everyone is in a rush, do not expect to get your meat cooked perfectly, or even cooked properly. It is not a surprise because I notice the subtle change everytime I visit, they get popular and busy all the time, so everything become fast paced nowadays.

I could go on and on about what went wrong with this revist like the dipping sauce taste is completely off(the one with green pepper and onion), the soup came way too early to the table only lukewarm and by the time meat is served it is completely cold, they won't bring barley tea but tap water instead unless you ask (new customer won't even know it is an options and tap water taste terrible).

Despite all the negative however, when I gave my feedback to the manager he tried everything he could to improve our experience, he cooked the meat himself with a different batch, which did improve taste but it is just not the same meat they used to carry. And not everybody get this kind of service, I complained so he reacted. I really appreciate the effort but meat quality is not something manager have control with.

Maybe this is just a outlier, I will give it another try sometime, but if not I sincerely hope Ari can acknowledge this and bring back the Ari we...

I was very excited that they are finally open this Plano location. My family love Koren BBQ, we are very excited to try them. Pro: Meat quality is excellent, we ordered both Port Combination and Beef Combination and the meats are great. Service is really good, they will grill the meats for you and change the grill between meats. They also offer refill on the cheese corn and eggs.

However I have to deduct one star from the rating based on following: The Banchan (side dishes) are boring, kimchi and 3 other kind of pickled turnips/ cabbage. No bean spouts, no fish cake, no potato salad.

They charged extra for additional bowl of rice and soup, the combination come with a bowl of rice for everyone and a very small bowl of soup to share, I have requested more soup and rice, they told me it will be extra charge and I told them it is OK to charge me, they bring extra soup without charging me but they did charge $1.5 for another bowl of rice. They are very nice about it and I have no problem paying for it, just thought it is very unusual for any asian restaurant to charge extra for rice.

Overall, it was a very nice dinner and we will...