Gaboja — Restaurant in Santa Clara

Gaboja I think is trying to serve Korean BBQ "home style" without the premium or luxury tax. It supposed to bring out taste over anything else - ambience, silverware, and perhaps even cleanliness? You enter Gaboja and start to feel like whether this is a 70s sort of sweatshop with cubicles or a cocktail bar, dark and sticky air. But again, all of this is forgivable if you can taste home style Korean comfort food and meat right?

There are many dishes that live up to this promise. The Kimchee Pancake was phenomenal - one of the best in the Bay Area. The banchans were also quite good, as well as other side dishes like corn-cheese. So then why the 3-stars? Well... it is a BBQ shop after all right? The meat simply wasn't high quality enough. I understand the desire the cut cost but a Korean BBQ's lifeline is the quality and the fattiness of the meat. Our ribeye was just so stuffy. Also, given most meat come out unmarinated, the salt and sauce on the side must help the balance but unfortunately, they use this really coarse salt and it is very difficult to spread the saltiness evenly.

On the bright side, the service was friendly and the lady gave us some extras.

If someone suggests Gaboja for a Korean BBQ dinner out, I'd probably hesitate. If it was for a quick hearty meal with a friend that I didn't need to impress, perhaps I'd okay it...

This was an ok meal, but we were disappointed with some of the "basics" that we got. Phone person was perfectly nice, and idk if there were a miscommunication--but I asked for dolsot bibimbap based on menu pic off of Google maps, and we got plain rice. It's a bummer when you're expecting that hot toasty crunch! But then the sauce was so flat, it wasn't the normal spicy sweet with a zippy tang to round out flavor.

Banchan--always the star of the meal for us--was mostly so so. Fish cake was good, but kimchi seemed rushed--it tasted plainly sour and watery. Sprouts were fine, but sprouts are not generally a wow sidedish. I think our expectations are too skewed from eating at Shu's.

Dwen jang jigae-- hit the spot! I am no expert on authenticity, but I enjoyed the fermented broth. It was flavorful and smooth (as in not silty).

Haemul kalguksu--flavor was on point and comforting, seafood was al dente, but noodle was so soggy! Why would they package noodle together like this to overcook/bloat during transport? Strangely enough, they said cold noodle dish wasn't available to go-- isn't it easier to package pre-prepared cold broth and noodle for takeout? I'm confused.

I wish we had more people to try other stuff, but review is based solely on the few...

When you first walk in, it smells like cigarettes instead of food. Then you sit down and notice there is no music in the restaurant. We take a look at the menu and the prices are ridiculously high compared to the photos on Google Maps. The servings were small and overpriced. Three people at our table have severe allergies and our server insisted that they were safe. One person at our table was not using the dipping sauce because he wasn't sure if it contained fish sauce. The server grabbed his food off his plate, dipped it into the sauce and put it back on his plate which I found wildly inappropriate. After we left the restaurant he ended up in an ambulance and went to the emergency room. There are so many other Korean BBQ restaurants in the area that you could go to instead. You do not want to waste your money eating overpriced mediocre food with subpar service at Gaboja. I honestly wish we left and ate somewhere else after...