356 Korean BBQ & Bar — Restaurant in San Diego

356 KBBQ is located within the Mission Valley Center mall and so there are plenty of parking spaces. The restaurant is in the same place where Seau's used to be located. It is next to Buffalo Wild Wings. We visited 356 KBBQ on a Saturday evening and it was crowded. We had to wait over 30 minutes to be seated outdoor. While waiting, the smell of the BBQ meat was making us very hungry. When we were called to the hostess counter, we had to select our BBQ menu. There are three price points to choose from. We chose the medium price point, which was $55.99/person for dinner with the lunch price being $46.99. At the price point we selected, there are definitely some premium cuts of meats to choose from, but the premium cuts are only one per person. They do offer a premium package that offers dry aged steaks and Wagyu beef. After selecting the bbq menu option, hostess took us to our outdoor seating. We had to talk through the restaurant in order to get to the outdoor patio seatings. We passed by the refrigerator units holding various cuts of meats. Restaurant is a spacious, lofty, modern restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating. We liked the bronze colored, Liberty Bell exhaust hoods used to capture the smoke from the grills. There was brick facade throughout the restaurant and the place was well ventilated despite all the smoke that people produced from cooking the meats. Kpop music was playing which gave a trendy and upbeat vibe. Loved the non-traditional Korean BBQ ambiance/vibes of this restaurant.

We ordered the various dishes throughout our dining experience at 356 KBBQ: Rib Eye Steak, Pork Belly, Slice Short Rib, Grilled Bulgogi, Beef Short Rib, 356 Beef Brisket, Beef Brisket Belly, Beef Tongue, Corn Cheese, Glass Noodles, Kimchi, Cucumber Kimchi, salad, radish, and even pho (surprisingly delicious). Servers were quick getting the meats and side dishes out. We loved that they offered different grills and especially loved the charcoal grill flavor the best! Waitstaff did change out the grill tops often depending on the meats we ordered. Beef quality has exceeded our expectations. Thick cuts of meats were worth the high price point as they were hearty, and savory. Every single type of meat was delectable and tasty. Plenty of side dishes to choose from. We loved cooking the corn cheese on the grill to make the cheese gooey. Servers were very attentive, courteous and informative.

We would recommend this AYCE Korean BBQ restaurant and will be back again to satisfy our Korean...

I recently dined at 356 and I must say that the food was delicious, living up to its reputation as a great eatery. However, the overall experience was marred by the disrespectful and unprofessional behavior displayed by some members of the staff.

Upon entering the restaurant, my party and I were greeted with snide smirks and exchanged glances among the staff when they overheard my name being mentioned. Throughout our meal, we noticed whispered remarks and stifled laughter directed towards us. It became evident that they were making fun of my name, which left me feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome.

When I decided to address the issue, I politely requested to speak with the manager. To my surprise, the staff seemed hesitant and tried to divert the conversation elsewhere. After persistent insistence, they finally claimed that the manager was unavailable and made us speak to two different people before they reluctantly admitted that there was no manager present at that time.

The lack of courtesy and professionalism displayed by the staff was appalling. As a paying customer, I expect to be treated with respect and dignity. The fact that they tried to dismiss our concerns and laughed as we walked away showed a complete disregard for customer satisfaction.

While I understand that no restaurant is immune to occasional missteps, it is disheartening to see such a prominent establishment allow their staff to behave so unprofessionally. I had high expectations for 356 based on its reputation for excellent food, but the poor treatment we received left a lasting negative impression.

As much as I enjoyed the food, I cannot overlook the blatant disrespect and mockery aimed at me and my party. Such behavior is unacceptable and should not be tolerated in any establishment. Unless there are significant changes in the attitude and conduct of the staff, I regretfully conclude that I will not be returning to 356.

I hope that this review serves as a wake-up call for the management to address the issues at hand. It is imperative that they foster a culture of respect and empathy among their staff to ensure a pleasant dining experience for all customers...

TLDR: Food is alright, if you get seated with Debbie...RUN (cue music). When she is fired, we will go back. On principle we refuse to support an establishment who would retain such a poor employee, there are many reviews online that are attributed to this same individual.

Just had lunch there with some friends, spent over $200. We had a party of 7 people but were told we could only order 4 dishes. Our first round we waited for 40 minutes with only 6 tables in the whole restaurant and she brought what looked like half orders of meat. During the wait there were multiple times Debbie said it was coming and tried lighting our grill to buy time, it was already on. Second round, one item came after another 45 min and the others never made it. So we asked again where did our order go, "it is busy but coming soon". Another 20 minutes go by so we ask another waitress to check on it, turns out Debbie again failed to input the order. Once we requested a new server things went VERY quickly. Debbie is rude and incapable of doing her job. On top of all the trouble we had with her she gave a free steak to the table next to us for waiting. They had a party of 6, arrived 30 minutes into our meal and were all gone before we got our second round of meat yet we were not offered anything but mean looks. We look forward to returning again but not before Debbie is gone. After wasting so much of our time waiting on food Debbie returned to let us know that we should order one last time because we needed to go. She made it seem like the restaurant was closing but it was 3pm, they close at 10pm. She stopped helping us once the other waitress stepped in but felt the need to come back and let us know that we should be leaving. The table next to us had 8 rounds of orders and the free steaks, we barely got 3.

Sadly we came here because it WAS our friend's favorite k-bbq, he was with us and won't be going...