Yetgol Old Village Korean BBQ / All You Can Eat — Restaurant in Shoreline

If I wait too long before my next meal, I lose my ability to think clearly. When I am out, I might drive all over looking for a place to eat, but unable to make a decision. If I am close to Parkwood Plaza, I often pull in hoping to give this place a try. Unfortunately, whenever I go there, the place is closed. This has been going on for years. You would think I would look up their hours, but I never do. Don't judge me. The other day, I finally saw the "Open" sign lit up. I wasn't sure if I was in the mood for Korean food, but I couldn't miss the chance to try it here. I took a parking spot right out front and went in. A woman came out from the back right away and asked me something that I couldn't understand. Eventually, I listened carefully enough to hear that she wanted to know if I wanted BBQ or other Korean food. My experience with Korean BBQ is that it is more food than I can eat, so I opted for other Korean food. Oddly, I was taken to a table with a grill in the middle and given a menu that had both options on it. I wondered why we went to the trouble of having the question. The Bibimbap looked good and there was a list of "Large Korean Beers". While I waited for the waitress, I checked out the BBQ options. The all you can eat was $35. I could not see the buffet from my seat, so I don't know if it seemed worth it. There were several meat options that were all more than $40. After I ordered, the waitress brought a giant bottle of beer and a little glass with the beer's brand on it. She opened the bottle and I pour a glass. It was lightly flavored with a pleasant slight bitterness. At 5.4% ABV, it made me happy in short order. Next, I got an assortment of vegetables in little dishes. I love having a variety of things with my meal and every one of these was tasty. The potato salad was especially good. The bibimbap arrived in a bowl hot enough to make it sizzle. The egg on top was nowhere near cooked enough for me, so I stirred it to the bottom to finish the cooking. I regretted stirring up the rice, because it had not developed that crust that makes bibimbap such a treat. I focused on the vegetables while the bibimbap finished cooking. There was a sauce with the bibimbap that I found very bland. There was plenty of spice in the vegetables though. Without the sauce, the meat was a bit dry, but everything was well seasoned and tasty. I was offered refills of the vegetables several times during the meal. Who needs the all you can eat? After I ate my fill, I took my time finishing the large beer. The check came to $33. I left a decent tip for the good service. This place is better than some other Korean places and cheaper than others. I may go back if it is open next...

Nut allergy friendly: The staff here were very courteous in checking for me and making sure there were no nuts in what we ordered or the banchan.

We arrived here at 2:30PM on a Sunday and it was quite empty - we might have been the only table for the hour or so that we were here. Promptly seated and both of us went with the AYCE option as we were excited to do meats on the charcoal grill.

We were served relatively quickly (banchan in ~10 minutes and meats came right afterwards). For two people, we started off with the brisket, pork belly, and bulgogi. The brisket and pork belly cook on one style of grill and then they swap it out for when you cook the bulgogi. The same style of grill can be used to cook the pork short rib, which is what we ordered fourth. For our fifth and last order we swapped back for the brisket. Banchan and water refills came quickly whenever we asked, and they swapped out for fresh charcoal once as well.

Overall, the style of Korean barbecue here is quite different than other places I've been. There's less emphasis on sauces and more on the charcoal flavor of the grilling. Presentation is excellent. The dipping sauces add a bit of flavor but nothing too saucy. I suggest going longer than you think for the pork belly to get it extra crispy. The pork short rib also takes the longest, and is thick so you have to be careful to fully cooked through (don't start with the short rib if you're hungry). The banchan are decent here, nothing too spiced or crazy but I enjoyed the pickled vegetables. The tofu soup (soon dooboo) was also nicely spiced and was a great thing to have between meats.

Overall, excellent service and a really good presentation for self-cooking Korean barbecue. Very reasonable price of $35/person for AYCE. Would...

3.5 stars. Went there with the Mrs. We walk in the door and we hear someone from somewhere blurt out " RESERVATION? " ... After a short pause we say no.

After that a gentleman asked us if we wanted a table or bbq seat. I said it was our first time here and I don't know the difference. He did a quick double take and asked the same question again. I just said bbq is fine.

We were seated and given menu's and waters. FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, he comes back and asks us if are ready to order. As it's only two people and we don't order / eat a lot, we ordered one meat dish and one noodle dish. Again, a short pause. He then explained that if we wanted to bbq ourselves we had to order 2 barbecuable dishes or the kitchen would have to cook it for us. At this point we just nodded our heads and let the kitchen cook it.

An appropriate time later the noodle dish came out with 2 small plates. Like slightly bigger than a smart phone small. We finished about 3/4 of the noodle dish before the meat dish arrived ( with all sides ). The food was acceptable with an appropriate amount of flavor and serving temperature. But it wasn't anything astounding. The Mrs. Left full and ever so slightly content and I left disappointed and still hungry. A mutual decision was made not to return due to slow / poor customer service.

Side note: the lighting isn't the greatest... It kinda plants in the back of your head the " what do they not want you to notice " vibe. the audible level of music was good and made conversations easy. We did not enter the restroom because we simply...