Mukja Korean Barbeque — Restaurant in Puyallup

My boyfriend and I came in during their late night happy hour as we were in the area finishing some errands and wanted to get food before we called it a day. When we got to the parking lot, we noticed it was pretty full and took that as a good sign especially on a Thursday night. I love the neon signs that not only adorned the windows but on the walls of the restaurant. It definitely gave us off Korean pub/bar vibes. The restaurant seems to be more catered to a younger audience, super casual and energetic. Although, the bathroom interior design is of old traditional Korean paintings and Korean poetry. I love that though as this is Puyallup's first Korean BBQ and just in general the only real Korean restaurant so I love that they showcase all types of Korean culture, arts, and designs. K-pop was played a decent volume level and we didn't have trouble hearing one another or even others. They also had various TVs playing different K-pop music videos too!

As we arrived inside, we were greeted by a friendly waitress who showed us to a table and gave us menus. Another waitress came by with waters and she would end up being our main waitress for our dining experience. I got the Sweet Seoul Strawberry and naengmyeon while my boyfriend got a chicken katsu and chicken fried rice. It took some time to receive our food and it didn't come in the order I expected as it was the fried rice, naengmyeon and chicken katsu. Nothing came all together which was interesting as I think we were the only ones who ordered since the other large party inside was a party doing KBBQ. Just a heads up for those who prefer to have their food all together and relatively around the same time as others.

The food was very delicious though! We were impressed with the generous portions and it definitely makes sense why they are priced the way they are. I would love more toppings on naengmyeon as I feel this the most skimpiest of naengmyeon toppings but they provided plenty of noodles which was nice. I guess my advice is to order on the happy hour menu if you want to eat stuff with your naengmyeon. The banchan was also really good and the waitress checks on you often to get you refills, which I really appreciated. This is coming from a Korean who lives in Federal Way so I know what good Korean food tastes like and Mukja definitely nails it on flavor, as well as gorgeous presentation!

The service here was very professional and personable as the waitress would joke with us, ask questions to get to know us, and treat us as real people. I could hear the other waitress be really sweet and fun to the big party table as well, so you can tell that these employees enjoy their job and want to give their customers a memorable time.

I do want to come back to try their lunch specials and look forward to stopping by here whenever we are in the area and craving some great...

I stopped by after work yesterday with a coworker to see if they were open, and to my surprise and huge excitement, they WERE! I've been waiting for a very long time for a Korean restaurant in Puyallup. Previously, I'd drive to Federal Way for korean food, so I was pretty darn happy that we have one in Puyallup now. However...this isn't an all you can eat korean bbq. They offer combination packages that you can order. They advertised on their menu that there is a lunch buffet for $24.99 but it's not ready yet for a couple more weeks. The lunch buffet is for cooked meats, so it's different than the traditional KBBQ experience.

My coworker and I ordered an appetizer of the spicy fried chicken wings for $14...we got 5 wings which were really tasty but the amount we got for that price was bit of a shocker.

Then we ordered the Mukja A combination which was supposed to feed 2-3 people for $55. On the menu, it said we would get thinly sliced beef brisket, pork belly, and beef or pork bulgogi (we opted for beef). We were sooooo surprised when the waitress brought out the meats that it was a small tiny little tray of meats. I even asked the waitress on the spot is that all the meat we will be getting and she said yes...We got a small plate that maybe had 7-8 thin slices of beef, and ONE slice of pork belly (that's right ONE, not even two for 2-3 people), and then a small cup of beef bulgogi. That was a HUGE disappointment for the price we paid of $55 for a package that was supposed to feed 2-3 people. We both were not even close to full afterwards. They really need to re-evaluate their pricing or at least their portions.

Honestly, the atmosphere was great, the place was clean, new tables, the staff were nice, wait times were long for food to come out, but the killer was the amount of food we got for what we paid. I'd honestly rather spend the extra 30-40 minutes to sit through traffic to go one of the other korean BBQ places in Kent or Tacoma since it's a better value and you feel full afterwards. I hope they'll re-evaluate their pricing and portions moving forward. Their lunch buffet that they said they will have in a couple of weeks won't fix the ridiculous price point per food portion they have going on especially since people are looking for the korean bbq experience, not a buffet where the meat is...

Absolutely frustrating experience from last night. The interior of the restaurant was awesome, with K-pop music videos playing on all the tvs, many tables for all party sizes, and the menu is easy to navigate! I went there with one of my best friends last night to try it out. We were told it would be a 20 min wait and ended up waiting over 30 mins, which is no big deal. It was a friday night, so we understood. We were seated in the middle of a row of smaller tables right behind the reception desk wall. Our server, Jung, was great, very sweet, speedy with the food service, and came over whenever we caught her eye for something. We ordered the tteok-bokki and the mukja beef combo with the cheese. The combo comes with either kimchi or soybean soup (we ordered the kimchi) rice and side dishes of potato salad, pickled radishes, and kimchi. For dipping sauces, there was a vinegar, a sesame oil, and almost like a chutney style sauce. The kimchi soup was out of this world, and the tteok-bokki was perfectly made! I loved the pickled radishes, and kimchi was amazing and spicy! The meat selection was good, the brisket being my least favorite because it was almost all fat with very little meat. They also have soju, so we ordered a bottle of yogurt flavor to start with, then the peach flavor. We couldn't finish everything, so we got boxes and asked for the check.

Here is where the 1 star comes into play. After we left, my best friend, who paid for dinner, was looking over the receipt and noticed we were charged for 3 bottles of soju when we only ordered 2. She called to get it corrected and received a less than savory response about their mistake. After explaining to them 3 times, we only had 2 bottles. They told her to come back today to get a refund. When she went in, the owner started giving her a hard time, not believing that we only had 2 bottles. There was a lot of back and forth, and the owner told her that we were a table of 4, had 3 bottles of soju and beers, and weren't charged for the beers. She kept telling the owner that was inaccurate. She finally got her refund after this debate.

While the food and service was great, the attitude and accusation from the owner is enough to deter me from wanting to go back. Make sure to look over your check closely...