Kotu Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Tucson

The quality of food is the only good thing about this place. They do give you a large quantity of meat, more than was expected, however the sides could use some work (seeing a large line of poop in your shrimp is not appetizing!). It was our first time at any Korean BBQ place, however the instructions from the waitress were minimal and the owner had come over to show what us to do. The actual quality of the meat you cook, however, is great, and that's the only thing I was satisfied with here.

Our waitress checked up on us once throughout the entire evening, though would check on other tables around us every 20-30 minutes. I understand being busy, but we must've been there around 1.5 hours, and to only check on our table a total of 1 times (right after we got our food) is unacceptable. We got one refill of water from another server who then also ignored our table, but would refill other tables' water multiple times around ours. Once we were all checked out (by a third server), our original waitress came back and asked if we were ready to pay yet. This has been the only time I've ever actually considered not leaving a tip at all (and I've worked in the food industry many times before)! This may be a new place, but basic service etiquette is to be expected anywhere you go. After we had paid, we also noticed a dead roach under the table, if I had seen that before I paid, I really would've given $0 tip.

There were some empty tables, however staffing may be an issue, as there was some wait time (only about 15 minutes, which is fine), however do note that it is a MINIMUM of two people to even be sat down. Solo eaters are not accepted from what other reviewers say.

All in all, food is okay, I can tell the owner does care, however her staff needs some serious work on paying attention to tables. In this heat, and having hot grills at every individual table, water is a necessity! Ended up leaving completely disappointed in it, not going to...

First time coming and I had such a bad experience thag I won't be coming back. My critiques are based on having been a server myself and eating at other KBBQ restaurants.

1. I waited 15 minutes to get my name put down on a list. They did sit us down quickly after this though.
2. After being seated, we were not greeted by the server until 10 min later. We did not get water served until 20 min after being seated.
3. The menu was never explained to us so when the waiter came over and told us we had to pick 4 sides, we scrambled to pick. The server was CLEARLY frustrated by us taking 3 min to decide without him ever making suggestions or offering help.
4. After taking our order, the meat came out quickly and surprisingly before our water. The server only came by one more time after this that I can remember....We kept having to get several people's attention so we can order basic things like bowls to share our sides and tongs and scissors so we can cook our food. No onion or butter was provided with any of our meats which was unusual because our go-to KBBQ in Tucson(Takamatsu) ALWAYS gives us onion and butter.
5. The person who turned our grill on, turned it up too much. When my friend was placing the first pieces in, the grill burst up into flames. We were not aware of how hot it was. A lady came over yelling "YOU HAVE IT TOO HIGH!!!". Excuse me?? that was your coworkers fault.
6. My final complaint was the quality of the food. It was either over seasoned or under seasoned. My favorite dish were the glass noddles that got served in the beginning. It doesn't matter if you hate the meat, you can't leave anything without an extra charge. Not allowed to take leftovers.

Takamatsu has my loyalty now. Prices are better, food is better, and above all SERVICE...

I've never been to a Korean BBQ restaurant, so my husband and I visited for a special occasion lunch. I was a bit worried because I'm super finicky about meat - I don't like skin, fat, etc on my meat, and I've watched enough Korean shows to expect this at a Korean BBQ. Surprisingly, both my husband and I loved this experience! He enjoyed grilling, and thought the following meats were great: beef bulgogi, pork jowl, and the marinated beef LA short rib. I enjoyed the beef brisket, partly because the fat was really easy to remove. The sides are what surprised me: the table came set with some of the usual Korean side dishes: two types of kimchi, japchae (delicious), a nicely dressed cabbage salad and tofu. Of the sides that you can specifically order with your meal, the following were DELICIOUS: pickled radish wrap (a thin slice of crunchy, refreshing radish to wrap around your meat), fried pork dumpling, and the soybean paste stew (my favorite!). A few things to be aware of: the side of fried shrimp comes with the head, shell and tail on - my husband loved it, but this might surprise some. The grilled corn cheese is rather sweet (almost dessert-like), and we had trouble grilling the mixed vegetables (but we don't have much experience). The only thing that we would specifically not order again was the pork bulgogi (husband didn't like the flavor). A suggestion: we ordered quarter portions of each meat dish, which I would recommend for any group of two. Some of the quarter portions were rather sizable, and you don't want to waste meat and get charged extra. We plan to return again to try all the options we were too full to try this time! p.s. the restaurant isn't noisy or smoky - I was worried about both, but the atmosphere is...