Kkoki Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Portland

We'd give this zero stars if possible. This was pretty much the worst Korean bbq experience we ever had...and we've eaten at some sketchy places. We wanted so badly to like this place, and it felt like every single turn made it impossible.

The space is clean, well laid-out, and attractive. We were seated promptly, which was lovely, but about five minutes after we sat down, someone turned on a speaker and apparently turned it to 11. When we asked if it could be turned down slightly (we were two feet apart and couldn't hear one another even yelling) we were told it wasn't possible. So we were re seated further away.

We ordered spicy pork bulgogi, galbi ribs, steamed mandu, and a seafood pancake, which came fairly quickly. We had been hoping for a nice selection of combos, but the combinations were insanely limited...usually you get soup, egg, salad, etc, and 3-5 mains to give variety. The combos we saw had 1-2 dishes, and were....disappointing-looking. So we opted for individual plates.

The banchan was surprisingly bland, although there was a waldorf salad type thing that was quite tasty. The mak kimchi was made with horrible cheap chilis...it was horrendously spicy in a way we had never experienced before, and tasted strange. Mak kimchi is one of our favorite things, and we were shocked it was so inedible. The sigeumchi-namul (spinach banchan) was so bland...it needed salt so badly.

The seafood pancake was alright, but doughy in the middle...it needed to be cooked longer. The sauce for it was made correctly, thank goodness, but that was about the best part of it. The steamed mandu was...again, bland. Doughy as if undercooked, and yet still somehow dry in the middle.

I wish we had good things to say about the main meat dishes we ordered. We absolutely love galbi ribs, and these were so horribly unappetizing. They hadn't been washed before marinating, so each mouthful was accompanied by a ton of tiny bone shards in our mouths. The marinade (what we could taste of it) was fine. Spicy pork bulgogi is something I consider rather difficult to mess up, but somehow they managed it here as well. It was made with the same sour cheap chili that the mak kimchi was marinated in, and it was pretty inedible. The quality of the pork seemed good, but we didn't eat much of it because of the awful flavor.

Ultimately, we left feeling quite disappointed, since we had been so excited to try this place from the moment they put the sign up. However, the real kicker was that we both ended up so sick later that night...vomiting, and other horrible issues. Suffice to say, we will never be back to Kkoki, and cannot recommend...

I don't recommend this place for a couple reasons first this was our first time coming here we were sat quickly,they sat another table as well the server went to them first and they were new like us and the server explained everything to them. But not really to us we order the premium menu and a.side of cheese corn and a saki and two Pepsi food came out and we cooked our first round and it was good meat tender and then we asked for a second round and they brought it out and this is a all you can eat Korean BBQ we cooked our own food we didn't cook all the meat and didn't finish it all either because the second grill they gave us was hot and all the meat was burned and when you would eat it tasted burned the server never checked on us but would check on the table across from us and around the manager I think it was saw I wasn't liking my food and brought a.new grill but I was done And full no time did anyone tell us that we would be charged a extra 10 dollar surge charge because we didn't eat all the meat we paid for it was 29.95 per person and it was me and my husband. We had to ask a different server for our check and she went and got it and went to talk to manager and came back to tell us we were being charged a extra 10 so our bill was 94.48. we won't be going back that is for sure it not worth our money especially when we told the server this was our first time we should of been told about the surge charge. It not worth your money especially with the service as well. We wouldn't of order a.second round of we had know this. Beware new people you will be charged extra and they don't let you take your left over home either especially if they are charging us because we didn't eat it all. And the portions aren't that big either. I recommend going somewhere else at this point. I could of went to a better restaurant for that price with even...

From the moment we stepped into this restaurant the disorganization and unprofessionalism was apparent. What was intended to be a pleasant girls night out quickly became one the worst dining experiences I have had in years. We were forced to sit by the lobby in the cold for about 30 minutes until every member of our party arrived, despite requesting to be seated (at one of the many open tables) while we waited.

While ordering, our server had a very strong language barrier which resulted in a miscommunication, and us being charged with a $19 drink. once it arrived, we indicated it wasn’t what we ordered, and the staff refused to take it back. After speaking with a manager for 10 minutes and having him argue about why we should be charged for a drink that none of us consumed, they finally agreed to remove it from our bill. It took the servers over an hour to bring us our food and we waited 30 minutes for our sauces after asking a server two separate times. We were never checked in on and treated with disrespect, particularly as there is a 2 hour time limit once we began dining. After speaking with the manager they removed the order sheet so that we were unable to order additional plates.

I have never been treated so disrespectfully, with the manager returning multiple times to the table to continue arguing with us about the time issue and the drinks. The staff (including the manager) were not apologetic and treated us with disrespect and anger that is unbecoming of even the most dismal establishment. Needless to say that myself and friends will NOT be returning.

Unless you’d like to spend 2 hours arguing with staff who simply do not comprehend common decency and respect, or you fancy cold, unflavored meat, don’t...