Chamsutgol BBQ — Restaurant in Rowland Heights

I used to eat here regularly 5-10 years ago. I stopped going because it always got so crowded, it just wasn't worth the wait. Fast forward to 2017/2018. I've been eating nothing but KHD Baekjong, Quarters, Parks, Soot Bull Jeep in Ktown in 2017. I was doing weekly ventures to Ookook and Gen, and Red Castle bbq for all you can eat in 2015-2016. I revisit this place 2 weeks ago, and I forgot how much I loved it. The ban chan (side dishes) leave nothing to be desired. It's literally every side you need and want. The thin cut brisket and pork belly are excellent. The galbi (marinated short rib) is also good and all u can eat on our $21.99 per person option. (There is a $19.99 dinner option that doesn't include the galbi and some other better cuts of meat). The steamed egg and kimchi/soybean soup is also all u can eat, the limited sushi roll menu is all you can eat (I would stay away from these fillers, as they are packed with rice and not much of a step up from supermarket/buffet rolls) and they leave 2 carafes of water so you never have to ask for a refill. After all is said and done, at this price point, it is truly my favorite. Are there better places? Of course. Are there more expensive/cheaper places? Of course. But everything here is everything I grew up on, and is what I expect Korean BBQ to be all about. Nothing more, nothing less. And the price...

The food was good, the service was fast and attentive. My experience with my three friends and I was going relatively well. Then the bill came out, and the woman who served us left for 3 or so minutes as we continued talking. I suppose we got lost in conversation, because when she came back and we hadn't put anything down for the bill yet. It came out to 160 for the four of us, and she stood at the end of our table until we got our money out in front of her which was extremely uncomfortable and rushed. If this place was more hospitable, we would've continued talking for awhile longer, then payed the bill (obviously). There was empty tables, but a group of people came in to be seated. No reason to be rushed. Then, she counted the money in front of us, and pointed out the tip options at the end of the receipt (least expensive option was 27 dollars.) She left our change on the counter and pointed to the tip option AGAIN. Very strange and uncomfortable. Ironically, we left her an 11 dollar tip, because at the end I felt she treated us like we were going to rip her off, and wanted us out asap. Even if we could only leave a small tip, is that any reason to treat someone so rudely? I felt harassed in some sense. I had a good time with friends here, the end, not so much....

Server was in a rush, rude and destroyed valuable belongings of ours when trying to move around us. Server did not apologize verbally but instead tried to offer us $20 as compensation. Brought up to another server and another $40 was offered. We did not take any of this cash but left it on the table. Manager never came by to resolve situation, and then had the audacity to ask why no tip was given. We explained the situation to which the manager gave no response but simply turned around and walked away.

Overall quality (meat quantity and quality) and service (need to ask multiple times for water, multiple times for sauces and multiple times for side dishes) and dining conditions (damaged and uncles tables, dirty floors, worn chairs and benches) has gone down significantly, considering I first started coming here almost 10 yrs ago. I understand restaurants can get busy, but under no circumstance should a server be rude or disrespectful to customer, nor should they handle customer's belongings without care.

Will not be...