The Grill King All You Can Eat Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Shoreline

YOU GUYS NEED TO READ THIS!! TWO OF THE WAITERS CHALLENGED CUSTOMERS TO FIGHT THEM OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT AND IT WAS SEEN BY OTHER CUSTOMERS AT THE RESTAURANT! LOL!!

This is what happened to my friends: The experience I had here compelled me to create a Yelp account and start a police investigation, purely because of how unacceptable their behavior and service was to my table.

My colleagues and I were eating our dinner at the restaurant, as time passed, like any other reasonable BBQ restaurant, the portable grill had to be changed periodically as burned meat kept accumulating on the surface, which prevented us from cooking the remaining portions of our food.

After countless of requests, they kept telling us that they had no more grills left. I then stood up and asked if they could do anything about it, if any of the portable grills were being cleaned or if we could move to another table.

The server rudely replied in an agitated tone that he can't do anything about it and told me to sit the f* down. As insulted as I was, I tried keeping my cool and explained my situation to another server. Unfortunately, both of them were as unethical. Not long after, the initial waiter told me to leave saying that I didn't have to pay, so I complied, but the other waiter said no I had to pay or we're calling the police.

Confused and angered, I rebutted as any other reasonable person would. The initial waiter then said "let's take it outside", which I assumed was a threat and assault causing bodily harm.

NOTE: HE WAS THE ONE WHO STARTED CURSING AND YELLING AT ME, AND PRIOR TO HIS "LET'S TAKE IT OUTSIDE" THREAT, I WAS NOT IN ANYWAY TRYING TO STIR UP A FIGHT NOR PROMOTE INAPPROPRIATE VIOLENCE IN AN ESTABLISHMENT FULL OF CUSTOMERS.

Fortunately as he said that, the kind old man working there calmed the server down who was challenging me to a fight, and right after that incident we all paid our tab and left.

As we were paying and walking out, the two waiters kept staring at us (my colleagues and I), likewise we starred back. I walked out starring at them where all of the sudden the second server shouted at us and said something along the lines of "what huh?!" and the initial waiter yelled "get the f* out". The second waiter then followed us outside whilst yelling, only to be held back by the same kind old man and an old lady who I presume was working at the kitchen.

This review does not justify how appalled I am towards this kind of behavior. Not only was I publicly insulted and yelled at, I was threatened to be assaulted, even after we PAID OUR TABS (we didn't just run away not paying because we were pissed off), they followed us outside to threaten us again because I was starring at them (in shock of the lack of morality those two servers possessed).

If it wasn't because of the kind old man and old lady who held their two servers back from physically attacking us in the restaurant and outside, the outcome could have been much much worse. And to anyone related to this establishment, do reconsider how you treat your customers. We might be demanding at times, but all of it comes down to how you handle those demands. You don't just start cursing customers out and threatening them just because we were asking too much. Offer solutions to the problems and communicate any issues that arise in the process.

Truly, to anyone reading this, think again about...

My afternoon walks often take me past Grill King on Aurora. The building is beyond shoddy. An ugly shade of green paint is peeling, The windows are dirty and the signs over the businesses are ancient and faded. Still, there was something about the idea of never ending Korean food that made me file away to place in my mental catalog of places to eat. The other night, I had been running errands all day and had not eaten. My stomach took the controls. "Eat mass quantities!" it demanded. Then, it rummaged around in the files and came up with Grill King. Without thinking too much, I found myself in the tiny parking lot trying to swing my car into an awkward spot. Coming in the door, you might be forgiven for thinking that the restaurant was not really open. Supplies were scattered haphazardly around the dining area. I was handed a menu that listed a few items at high prices. A bold fonted sentence commanded me to read the back. That was were they said they didn't want any crap about how bad the place looked. Also, there was an 18% service charge that the restaurant would keep and use to pay the staff and cover the expenses of running an all-you-can-eat place. Calling something a "service charge" and not giving it to the people providing the service, is wrong. Normally, I would walk out of such a place, but my stomach was still in charge. "Pay whatever they want!" it demanded. I tried to think of another place to go, but the issue was settled when a woman led me to a table. It was a cosy spot between boxes of supplies and unsorted dishes. The woman who sat me there got yelled at in Korean and a man came and moved me to another table. He lit the grill and asked if I knew that I would be cooking my own food. I've been to other Korean grills, so I am familiar with the general operation. Some places have a buffet of things that you can pick from, bring back to the table and cook on the grill. Others bring you dozens of little dishes with the things you can cook. Grill King is the latter. They bought a tray of vegetables and another of sauces while I waited for the grill to heat up. Then someone came by with an enormous platter of raw meat. All of the food looked fresh and appealing. I asked for some napkins and a glass of water. It took two requests to get the napkins and I never got the water. Maybe that is what you should expect when the restaurant steals the service charge from the servers. While I was placing beef, pork belly and chicken on the grill, someone dropped off two bowls of marinated chicken. I moved things around and added some chicken. When the first pieces were ready. I pulled them off, dipped them in sauce and ate them with a bit of rice. For the next half hour I repeated the process, determined to get my money's worth. It was a lot of money, but I am a big eater and put away plenty. I let the food digest for quite a while waiting for someone to bring me my bill. I tried not to wince at the total. After apologizing to my debit card, I heaved myself out of the chair and made my way to my car. I had to do one of those 27 point turns to get out of the parking lot before leaving,...

The meat was delicious; however, the banchans were not fresh. I would not return because the AC was turned off, there was one door open for fresh air…then the waitress/manager (?) closed the door. The heat from the grill was too intense! The vents were on but it was smoky and hot! Really hot! It was 91 degrees outside. So it was uncomfortable to eat. No AC until 5 tables were filled, then the AC was turned on…but it was still too hot. You had to also be careful because the grills had hot water rushing out and the grill was hot under the table. That’s just the temperature in the restaurant. The food was okay. They had the meats pre-measured and wouldn’t let you order more until you were out of meat on your tray. It took so long to cook and you are only given 90 minutes to cook and eat. It took about 30 minutes to cook each batch with their below table grills. If you wanted more rice or banchan they would grab your dirty bowls and refill them…no new bowls of rice or banchan…they took your bowl to the back to refill them. No ice water…just room temperature bottles of Costco water. But here’s what I hated the most: they charged $27 per person for AYCE. Then there was the 18% surcharge for the food. There’s the 10% charge for taxes. Then there’s also the charge for tip (we paid 20%)…thats 48% added on to the $27 for the AYCE meal!! For 3 people it was $81 + 18% + 10% + 20%!! What a rip off!! The food is NOT worth the added 48% charge! It’s too damn hot to actually enjoy the food. I think this is done on purpose to get people to leave quickly. The banchan were old and dried out! The service sucked…really sucked (still tipped 20% because it wasn’t the staffs fault their employer is cheap). NEVER AGAIN!! Nickel and dimed!! Eat here at your own risk. You’ve...