Food was good & the staff was super attentive and kept checking up on us. Not from the area but whenever I'm around I'll definitely be back for KBBQ. read more

We did the A level AYCE for a friend's birthday last week. The meat quality was good. They only let you order 4 types of meat at a time and the first 3 items on that menu they limit the amount of times you can order. Minus a star because there wasn't great variety of side dishes and service was just okay (we had to ask 3x for salad). The ventilation was good, I didn't feel like I was in a cloud of smoke or felt like I smelled too much of KBBQ when I left. You don't have to do AYCE though. They have BBQ meat combos and a good variety of Korean dishes I'd love to try next time. Parking was plentiful. It's right next to a Motel 6 but Google maps might take you a roundabout way to get there since the 805 south freeway exit is right next to it. read more

What a time to be alive! So much food for a pretty good price. I highly recommend the beef bulgogi! Def will be back! read more

Buga Korean BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

As a Korean bbq connoisseur, by far the best. The service was great! They offered a lot of variety with not only meat selections but sides as well. The spicy pork bulgogi, beef short rib filet, black tiger shrimp, brisket, and beef bulgogi were the highlights. The pickled radish wraps were a pleasant surprise (we ordered 4 servings of these). Parking isn't the best situation, we went early (6pm on a Friday) with minimal issues, however people were circling like vultures when we left. We will be back! read more

I went here last weekend with a group of 6 friends. We were seated at 8pm, restaurant closes at 10pm, there's a 2 hour time limit. Perfect. The food itself was solid. I'd put it pretty much on par with Manna BBQ and other nearby KBBQ joints. The issue was the service. They were consistently slow to take our order and slow to bring food out. We had to wait a solid 15 minutes to order another round at one point, which meant we were sitting in front of a smoking grill, which was unpleasant. At one point we asked for more sides of fried rice and they informed us they were out. How the hell do you run out of fried rice? Did the chef up and quit? Did they run out of rice? Did they simply not want to bother to make more? Finally, they come to our table with the check. We explain that we actually weren't done. They explained the last call WAS at 9:30. We told them A) it was 9:28, so there was no reason we couldn't at least put one last order in, and B) a last call is when you tell us you will stop serving food, which they never at any point did. They were kind enough to explain that gratuity was already included since we were a party of six, and continued to serve the other tables around us for another 15 minutes. In other words, they stop serving us early and willingly provided crap service because they knew they were getting their tip anyways. Still hungry, we walked down the street to the nearest Mc. Donalds. If I spend money for an AYCE and have to go to a Mcy D's because I'm still hungry, that's an automatic one-star review. I legitimately feel scammed. read more

Haven't had Korean BBQ for a while before coming here but definitely a great experience for me. Starting out with parking, the parking lot was large and spacious with huge spots. It was extremely easy to get parking and also to a table for dinner time. The price is quite high but the service was excellent at this restaurant. A few things to note would be in their garlic pork belly, beef bulgogi, and steamed egg. They were not very appetizing. Firstly, the garlic pork belly did not cook well and was only slathered with a large amount of garlic paste. When it was cooked the meat was tough and dry. For the beef bulgogi, there wasn't much flavor to the meat. Lastly, the steamed egg, not usually something that places mess up on but it had a Smokey flavor to it as if it was burnt. Definitely wouldn't order the steamed egg here again if I come back. On to the highlights of the dinner experience, their beef belly, beef brisket, and spicy pork belly were great. The servers came to our table quite often to make sure our needs were met and provided more meat quite promptly after each request. The beef belly and brisket cooked quickly and had good flavor to it. The spicy pork belly was able to be cooked with a nice outer crisp and was delicious each time. My friends and I were able to have a great experience during my visit here. They are definitely worth a visit if you want some good kbbq with the basic order of brisket/beef belly and some spicy pork belly! read more

Buga Korean BBQ - Menu C - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

Felt like trying out a new KBBQ place, and I'm glad I did! Good quality meat, excellent service from the staff, and great pricing. I'll be back, Buga! read more

DO NOT SPEND A DIME HERE ! Customer service is horrible & unwelcoming. I absolutely had to WALK OUT ! never again

I can't understand how this place earned this many stars. My family and I were left standing in the lobby without anyone acknowledging us, even after many eye contacts were made with servers and workers. Not even a "hello" or "we will be right with you". After finally being led in by a server, we were than just stopped in the middle of the hallway (with servers moving passed us) by the same server who somehow decided to work on their POS console with us just standing behind her. And then another server finally let us to our table. I told him how that was odd that we were just kept standing in the middle of restaurant without being seated right away, his response was "oh don't worry about it". I bit my tongue but that kind of already set the tone. I chose the most expensive AYCE option. Was told that the Rib-eye (listed as item #1 on the AYCE menu) and Fresh Rib fillet (#3) were limited to 1 order per 2 persons. Alright. But when they brought the cut meat, it was a mediocre fatty 6oz Rib-eye and 6 small pieces of the fillet. I mean it was poor quality Rib-eye (especially if you're only given 1 piece of this for paying $70) and really small portions. In fact, every portion I ordered from the AYCE menu was probably portioned about half or less than other restaurants in LA and OC. (OK, this is San Diego, but still). As other food we ordered came out, the server just left the food at the edge of the table, rather than serving it. My wife and to move all the dishes that were 'dropped off'. And than the service... I had to pressed the bell button to get any kid of attention and later on, my guy just stopped coming. Given how small each portion of AYCE meat order is and that there is a 2 hour limit on AYCE, I'd figure my server would need to come more often. Nope, my grill sat empty for a long stretch while waiting for someone to come serve us. I finally got tired of waiting and called over one of other server lady and let her know that I haven't been served a long time. I also told her that I pressed the bell for service a couple of times and nobody came even after that. San Diego used to have very few options when it comes to Korean BBQ or AYCE a log time ago when I used to live in SD. Now I see that there are other AYCE options on Convoy Street. Explore those options. Maybe you need to order more expensive individual menu BBQ to get any kind of service here. I won't be coming back here again. read more

Buga Korean BBQ - The 6 Oz Rib-eye and 6 total pieces of the rkb fillet we were served from their most expensive AYCE menu for 2 people. Yikes - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

One of my favorite spots now! I suggest trying the Kalbi and Jumuluk. They are sooooo tender and juicy! I wish I would have taken more pictures but we were hungry and enjoying the food way too much. You have to try it out! I wish my partner and I could have ate more and stayed longer~ Buga moved up to my top 5 KBBQ spots to visit on a Monday afternoon. The food was 10/10...we almost rolled out. read more

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4.3 stars? Are y'all serious? So, I really don't know where to begin. Frankly, whatever training the servers and hosts receive is not nearly enough, especially for a Korean BBQ spot. So, we arrived at this place at 8 on a Saturday night, so we're expecting there to be a wait time. But to our surprise, no wait! They close at 10, so they have last seating at 9, and last call at 9:30, which is fine. However, the expectation when being sat an hour from last call would probably be for the server to warn you that last call is happening soon, so order what you can before they close! Yet somehow, this place defied all expectations. We finally order our meat and sides after being sat with no service for 15 minutes, so we've already lost some time before last call. We've all ordered waters, but considering the cups are the size of a child's sippy cup and that we had a long day at the beach, we were in need of a refill rather quickly. Thirsting for any sort of refreshment, it takes them another 10 minutes to ask us for another round of everything, which we promptly order. This time, the server we get is this assumingly sweet older woman who became a nagging ajumma, pressuring us to order before last call. But, surprise surprise, we need a grill change!! So, she then assumes we're idiots who don't know how KBBQ works. Worst part is that she nags us and laughs in our faces, saying that we ordered too much! Mind you, our party was all big guys, so we fully thought she was being blatantly rude to us. Just so passive aggressive and condescending. Readers: if you've been following along, you'll know it's time for last call already! So, after our grill is changed (which took longer than it needed to), we start cooking the last of our first round of meats, which is when we also order our last round of meats. And like the flash, ajumma comes back to give us our check, insisting we pay right now since their cashier is closing for the night. GIRL...it is 9:30! Keep in mind that we were actively grilling our meat as she was asking for payment, just such a nag. And when we ordered our last round of sides, they only gave us like half of them. I don't think customers like being rushed out of your restaurant, especially halfway through the meal. It wasn't even our fault that we were still cooking during last call, since the service in between meats and sides was so slow! Just a terrible service experience all around. But hey, at least the meat was adequate at best. Oh yeah, they should step up their kimchi game, that shit was weak af. TL;DR - Meat was edible, service was abysmal despite being well staffed. Steer clear of the older Korean woman. Honestly, just don't come. read more

The meat quality and flavor was alright. The sides were kind of lacking. The service was slow despite there being a call button and workers walking around. At one point there was only one worker on the floor. read more

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NOT really a great place for AYCE Kbbq. It may be better with regular menu rather than AYCE. There are very limited options compared to other Kbbq places as I have tried almost all Kbbq in San Diego. We did an A menu which is the most expensive one (~$40) but there are just around 4-5 regular beef choices. The options of side dishes are less than the other places as well. There are only 4. But when I looked over the other tables, who did regular menu, they had 7-8 types of side dishes. Also, couple of the beef options you can just order 1 per table, which is NOT specified on the menu. One of the thing I didn't like is that when you order the same item around 3 times, you will get them fewer. For example, the 1st time we ordered short ribs, we got around 6 pieces, but the third times it only came with 4 small pieces. Since there are not many options, we had to order some items repeatedly, but we got less and less each time. This is NOT really a nice practice when you're offering AYCE. So funny when the 3rd times we asked for extra sliced radishes, we got 2 pieces . May revisit for regular menu, but won't be my choice for AYCE Kbbq read more

Yummy!!! Wonderfully recommended by E.R. So..... come in hungry but remember to pace yourself. Don't consume 3 bowls of rice (like I did) coz you need the space in your tummy for all the other yummy meat goodness! More to follow.... after I wake up from this food coma! No, I don't need CPR coz I want the food to stay inside my belly. I just need a slow wake up. Kinda like Sleeping Beauty. Not like a boxing champ, wake up with fists swinging, y'know. read more

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We came here twice, both times for non-AYCE, so my review is on the non-AYCE BBQ viewpoint. We were actually surprised that they added AYCE BBQ because they have such limited staff but a lot of customers requiring constant orders as they are also serving non-AYCE customers. This has been a staple Korean restaurant for years. The quality of the food is my favorite for Korean food. However, that being said, they service is subpar- it's unbelievably slow. The menu recs I would definitely say for non AYCE is to get the special kalbi (it's super pricey but SO rich and delicious), and the eundekgu jorim (a spicy fish dish). We've gotten the bibim nengmyun and the mool nengmyun but I would say Dae Jang Keum nearby is better at nengmyun. That galbi definitely boosts the food to 5 stars. The service is 3 stars. The first time we came after a few years, it was packed, we could barely get our waiter to come to our table without waving her down. This is to get basic stuff like silverware for our food. The second time, we had a guy who seated us, took our orders and never came back. My mom had to flag down a Korean waitress she was familiar with to ask for once again basic stuff- water, or side dishes that were missing, silverware, bowls. We saw him scrambling to take the AYCE orders. If you want yummy Korean food, non AYCE, Buga is a great option- it has ample parking next to a motel (a little hard to turn into), ample seating seemingly, and good quality meat and Korean food. However, be aware that you might have to risk understaffed service, longer wait times, and not getting basic stuff- drinks, side dishes, without flagging down a server multiple times. read more

Paid this place a visit for AYCE Korean BBQ and left satisfied! They have three menu options for AYCE, we opted for Menu B since we wanted Galbi. Menu A (the pricier of the three options) included three other items, ribeye steak being one of them, which we feel didn't warrant the $5 difference. For our side options we asked for the side salad, corn cheese, fried rice, white rice, and steamed egg. I wouldn't recommend the fried rice- it was mushy and lacking in flavor. The salad dressing was a little dull in flavor as well. The corn cheese and steamed egg were delicious though! Definitely recommended ordering those. The corn tasted fresh and the steamed egg was fluffy and tasty. Don't forget to order your steamed egg first since it takes a while to cook ;) For meat options we ordered: Yang Nyum Galbi, Jumuluk, Yang Nyum Beef Belly, and Bulgogi. We were so happy with the meat tenderness and flavor that for our second round of meat we ordered the same items. The Yang Nyum flavor on the Galbi and Beef Belly wasn't overly sweet or spicy. My favorite was the Jumuluk, tender little bite-sized cuts of ribeye goodness! The bulgogi had a nice protein to fat ratio which didn't leave it feeling dry in my mouth. The place is clean and I'd call the atmosphere "traditional." Nothing fancy but the tables are nicely spaced out, and I did enjoy the rectangular grill since I find those are easier to cook on than the circular ones. As for the banchan (side dishes) we didn't get a wide array like other KBBQ places provide. They gave us fish cakes, japchae, pickled radish, and kim chee. I wish we were given a few more options as it's always fun to eat KBBQ with a variety of sides. Service was really friendly! And unlike other reviews, I didn't find it slow. We came in on a Sunday night around 7pm and I'd say the place was about sixty percent full. We didn't need to utilize the bell at our table to call our server. Although this place is a little further from the busy and happening Convoy area, I'd come back to visit again. read more

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The beef tripe casserole is pretty good, and the seafood pancake is awesome. Hope to try their bbq next time. read more

Buga Korean BBQ - Kimchi Pancake () beef tripe casserole - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

Overall experience was good. But the service was ok. We had ordered a few items and they forgot to bring it to us until we reminded them. The waitress that helped was really nice and apologized when she realized she had forgotten a few items. 감사합니다 이모님 read more

One of the best kbbq spot in San Diego Friendly staff, their corn cheese is to die for. Recommended! read more

Buga Korean BBQ - Grill full of meat - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

Decided to try place cause of the reviews. They offered two food options. All you can eat menu and the authentic Korean food menu. We went with the all you can eat and the food options were delicious!! The meat had flavor and they made their own hot sause. We also ordered a whole bunch of sides to include kimchi fried rice, steamed egg, dumplings, and seafood pancake. All of them were amazing. The seafood pancake was a little pricey. Service was good and the place was spacious. Would I go back? Absolutely!! read more

Food is delicious, service is fast, totally happy, will come back Yummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy read more

Came here with coworkers for lunch as one of them had been here before and recommended we try their Lunch Box. Wasn't too busy on a Friday afternoon, so we were seated promptly. Their Lunch Box special runs from Mon - Fri from 11AM - 3PM. Two of us got the Bulgogi Box, and one of us got the Daeji Box (Spicy Pork). When the food arrived, I was astounded by how big the box was in comparison to the photo on the menu. You're given rice and soup along with your box, and side dishes for the entire meal. Bulgogi Box ($11.99): Besides the hefty amount of Bulgogi, the lunch box contained salad, jap chae (I believe?), 3-4 pieces of tempura and an orange slice. The Bulgogi was super tasty, and compared to other restaurants, you don't get this much meat usually. The tempura was just okay - my shrimp piece was a bit dried out and seemed old, but the veggie pieces were fine. Salad was basic but good, so was the jap chae - pretty standard. The soup was this seaweed/kombu broth that was very clean and lightly flavored. I would absolutely come back for another lunch special on another day! read more

Buga Korean BBQ - Bulgogi Lunch Box ($11.99) - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

Good food, lovely ambience and wonderful service. The steak was yum yum! Kids loved Kimchi Fried Rice. We will definitely go back again!

BEST KOREAN BBQ EVER!!! I usually order the kimchi stew to go, but I decided to try their KBBQ today! You have to come here!! The meat is so good and flavorful!! The sides are so good too! The have tofu soup as a side! Must come!! read more

Buga Korean BBQ - Kbbq - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

tofu soup on a rainy day? the perfect meal. this gem is located right off the freeway so I would keep an eye out for it because it's easy to miss. this place the option for all you can eat or you can order off their regular menu as well. I ordered their non spicy beef tofu soup (white tofu soup) and it was delicious. their tofu is so silky and soft and holds the perfect consistency. one thing I didn't like was that they put the egg in for you, so by the time the tofu soup arrives at your table, the egg is already cooked all the way through. other than that this place was amazing! read more

Buga Korean BBQ - white tofu soup with rice - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

Went in with my family of 6 and got seated right away. We were also served our first round fairly quickly, which we were happy about. However, after the first round, our first server was nowhere to be found and did not come around to check in on us to ask for next round. We had about 2-3 different servers and barely ordered any meat. By this point, our grill was still on and overheated, which resulted in multiple grill changes. Ended up leaving after our two hours were up. Recommend going elsewhere with better service. read more

Customer service has gone down since we last visited. The food was good but the service was terrible. We will be looking for a new Korean bbq spot. read more

The food was really good, our sever Caleb was amazing! Would come back for sure and recommend to everyone!

Holy cow. Literally. If you do not order the finger meat you are missing out! This place is where the f it is at!!! There is a new guy with a half pony tail his name is Edward I think. It was his first day and he was so sweet! Can't imagine what the servers here go through on a day to day basis. Everything moves so fast and so much multitasking! Kamsamnida! we ordered the spicy squid, brisket, finger meat and pretty much everything on the menu except chicken. The garlic pork belly is amazing. But the fresh pork belly is where to go. KIMCHI here was excellent. I am picky with kimchi but this tastes just like grandmas. Soondubu could use some work though. :) read more

Buga Korean BBQ - Squid garlic pork belly and corn cheese. Last plate - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

The food is great and the portions are huge. The spicy seafood stew is amazing. The service is also great. read more

Buga Korean BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California

Unfortunately, both the service and food were poor; we were told to get up after being seated at a table and had to share a table in a private room with a different party, were not given our orders or banchan (side dish) refills throughout the meal even after waiting half an hour, and had our orders sent incorrectly to another party. Meat was low-quality, and some were inedible due to tendons and toughness--you can get better AYCE kbbq at the other locations in Convoy. read more

What a bummer. Order online tonight only to get there and despite ringing the bell at the front (as instructed on the to-go orders sign) no one even acknowledged us for 10 minutes. I flagged down 3 ladies to tell them we were here for a pick up and everyone just looked concerned with their own tables. Finally someone came over and asked if we'd been helped (truly no sign of a hostess or manager to help watch for patrons coming in) I then gave her my order info. After 10 more minutes of back and forth looking for my order she said the printer wasn't working and they never received my order, despite me getting an email confirming it. They offered to get started on our order but considering it was 6 dishes, and how chaotic the staff looked running around from table to table it felt like it'd take far too long so we left and got burgers across the street at STP. I've done pickup at Buga before multiple times and it was great but they really didn't seem to have it together tonight. They looked busy, maybe now that we're in orange tier everyone's out eating. But to have people wait that long before being acknowledged was a little rough and not even trying to remedy the situation after they realized they hadn't even started on the order just saying sorry and they could start now, felt cheap and like they didn't really care because they were busy enough. If you do decide to go, be prepared to have it be a little disorderly. The people that came in after us were just waiting too, not even seen, we had to tell their staff the other couple had been waiting a long time too. read more

The worst ribeye and Galbi(rib) we've ever had. My family had one bite, and paid what we ate and walked out of the restaurant. Our family will never go back to Buga ever again. read more

Great value, for great food!! Especially the lunch special. Not a bad price for all that they offer.

Came here for KBBQ lunch: 1. Meats were too hard to chew, basically not eatable. Galbi can't even cut through with scissors 2. Service not existent. You can never get their attention and our grill was empty for 10-15 min at a time 3. The server tried to take a meat dish away when we tried to order more food. WHY? If we are spending more than 100 dollars for 2 people for lunch and you tried to take our food away, that's automatic 1 star. We were still hungry after our meal. That's a shame. We asked for manager but they said they don't have one. So, manager, just FYI, in case you are reading, this is the worst KBBQ experience we have ever had and will never return! read more

So good! There was so many options, all of the food was so good! it was clean and the customer service was great they were attentive! read more

This place was awesome. Food was great, as was the atmosphere. Staff was super friendly and attentive. Highly recommend this place. We got the lowest price all you can eat, and all of it was tasty, and we got more than enough food for about 30 bucks each. read more

Excellent service and food quality. If you want AYCE, you have the option. Personally I prefer the al-carte menu since the taste is better.

Good food! , very clean , staff were nice and attentive, I like selection of sides and even have tortillas which I thought was funny.

Super tasty food. Great service. Fun and moderately loud ambiance. We got the AYCE menu B and the short rib was our favorite. So tender and flavorful. Highly recommend. Also, try the corn cheese! It's doesn't sound appetizing but it's bomb! Thank you! read more

Buga Korean BBQ - We destroyed everything. Sorry didn't get a picture of actual food. We were too hungry and scarfed it all. - Barbeque Near Me - San Diego, California