I had dinner last night herd with two guests. A parking structure is nearby. $11.00 flag fee. The restaurant was not busy. The decor inside seems Asian. Not sure if Chinese or Korean inspired. The Sushi menu is a bit limited in variety and the meat on the skewers were small and may not be marinated. We tried beef, pork, chicken and lamb. They were not tender. I was only able to eat the chicken. The soup was too spicy for my taste. The floor near the salad bar area was sticky. The rice on the sushi tolls had an unusual texture. We did not have a nice experience. Better dining choices in OldTown Pasadena. They can do better. Stars: 2 read more

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I saw an IG post about Jumak so it's been on my to try list. We came here around 7pm on a Saturday and were easily seated. We opted for the skewer and sushi "AYCE" for $38. The best item was the carpaccio (you can only have one order). The skewers were mostly a miss as they were dry, the pork skewers were probably the best made as it was fresh and juicy. It seemed that the beef and lamb skewer were sitting for a while and just heated up. The steamed egg was clearly microwaved from the texture. Some of the fried items like the Takoyaki, siomai, and Tempura tasted like it was bought premade (frozen) and deep fried. The roll items we got were decent but a little misleading because hand roll were pictured on their menu but they were sushi rolls . Most items were on paper plates which I found a little odd for a dine in restaurant. The food definitely took a while especially the skewers. Our last order of skewers we had to ask twice because it got lost in the mix. Over all it felt like a below mediocre buffet experience. I hope they improve the quality of food and the timing of food. For the price we paid for, I would have rather gone to AYCE hotpot or kbbq. read more

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I would not recommend this place. Food is overcooked, reheated or uses old oil. While edible it doesn't taste very good. All the food is brought out in incredibly cheap paper or aluminum foil containers. What's worse is that they had some sort of "social media" personality that was going to take up several tables so after they sat us they told us we can't sit at the table they initially gave us and gave absolutely no apology. Horrendous service. I don't want to sound like a boomer but the music was loud for no reason just to give a club vibe. Overall an incredibly unenjoyanle experience and I don't recommend anyone patronize this establishment. read more

Jumak Skewers - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

I scoured the reviews. My partner scoured the reviews. Lots of reviews from one to five stars. Even my kids wondered if we should go. We reached out to the party who made the reservation and they still wanted to try out the AYCE skewers deal. So we did. Here's what we observed. Turning into the entrance, it was an interesting shared space with Jumak on one side and a bakery on the other. The place only had about 4 parties when we got there at six. Was that a good sign? We got seated in a section with 4 small tables pushed together. The tables were not wiped clean. One table was so unsteady, I moved to the other side of the long set of tables. My partner stuffed tissues and chopsticks underneath just to steady the wonky table. The ambiance was confusing. Lacking but also poorly decorated. We ordered one of every type of meat including the deep fried tofu on the stick. While we waited, we grabbed utensils, paper bowls, and tissues. There was also pickled cucumber and potato salad to self grab. I saw a soup pot as well but wasn't sure if the soup would hold in the cardboard bowls. The side dishes were subpar. Pickled cucumber were too thinly sliced and looked limp rather than refreshing. I think I got more chunks of apples than potatoes in the salad. Everything separated when it was in the bowl. Skimping on the flavors? The best part were the skewers for sure. They came out in time and all four plates too. We had two more plates of skewers come out shortly. Luckily, this was a meal everyone enjoyed including one particularly picky kid. The tofu was good but a little too much sauce. I also enjoy tasting the tofu as well but couldn't. We ordered sides: tornado fries, regular fries and grilled zucchini. The zucchini tasted okay but not charred enough. The fries were just okay. Again, needs higher heat to get the sides crispier. The dokkbokki was really chewy. Either wasn't dense to begin with or cooked until soften? Consistency was like the mochi I make from scratch at home. I only ate one skewer of it. I also could not figure out the identity of this restaurant. Ever heard the term "fusion or confusion" on many cooking shows? The menu seemed to change multiple times on their website, Yelp, etc. Was it Japanese, Korean, Chinese, fusion? The seasoning on the skewers was Chinese, the banchan Korean but they also had sushi rolls on the menu. The kiosks weren't working when we were there. The waiters, at least, were helpful with clearing plates, getting food out, and checking on us. I appreciate their hard work. Note: kids ten and under eat for kid prices. It was stated 11 and under on another menu I saw online. This place is family friendly so kids would enjoy the small portions of meat at a time. If this place reinvented the decor as glamping Asian style, like the glamping and cafe trends in Asia, that would be so cool and still take advantage of the minimalism. Look it up if you can't picture what I'm talking about. Sitting by the window was nice for people watching on a Saturday night. read more

Jumak Skewers - Dokkbokki was more like soft mochi. Not QQ enough. - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Found this new place and been wanting to try it for a while now. Easy to spot with a cute vibe and decor inside and friendly staff. We opted to try the $25 choice since plus sushi might be too much food for us. The skewers were ok, not the same as the ones you would expect to find in the SGV area (like XianJiang). The cuts were different and we found them a little on the tougher/dry side. We did enjoy the zucchini and mushroom though. The sides were also just ok. BUT UPSIDE, ayce for this price is a good deal in this area. Good to try once and find out for yourself if it's better (or not) for you. Parking is tough (but expected in this area in Pasadena). Ready $10 if you want to use the parking structure behind the restaurant. read more

Jumak Skewers - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Finally we get an ACYE skewer place here in LA! Wahoo!! I was a little trepidatious about this place after reading the early reviews but I think they have improved because my dinner went fairly smoothly and did not experience issues what others encountered. The ordering screen tableside worked and my party of 3 ordered as much skewers and sushi as allowed. It is max of 10 skewers each round (each order comes with 5 sticks) before you can order another round of meat but you can add on your banchan and sushi. Speaking of sushi, love love the hand rolls here! They balanced the fish and rice ratio just right so it doesn't feel like they're skimping you. There is a sushi chef cutting so you know they're freshly prepared. As for their main gimmick, the skewers were pretty good! Barbecued and seasoned with cumin and pepper and salt, I thought the chicken skewer was the tastiest of the offered proteins. You can order beef and lamb as well. For veggie eaters, there are mushrooms and eggplant skewers available. Overall, we liked the food selection and the price. We would come back. The only downside is that it is in the heart of Pasadena where parking payment is required and since this is ayce, it kind of sucks to be here too long. read more

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Food was so bad, I wouldn't come here if it was free. Thought we could try ordering a set amount of skewers to try but the only way to get skewers is to get AYCE. The chicken was like they cooked it beforehand and froze it, then put it on the grill to get some charcoal on it. The beef was hard to chew. The edamame? Not fully cooked. Cheese corn? Mayo soup with corn and a slice of cheese on top. Takoyaki seemed undercooked. Service was decent, can't really complain about it. Vibes looked nice from the outside, cramped on the inside. read more

Jumak Skewers - Beef skewers, chicken skewers, zucchini, Takoyaki, fried shumai - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

Decided to try this place after seeing it on social media, which I've come to learn is typically not a positive sign if they need to push influencers to promote the establishment. And based on my experience, it definitely needed the boost. Upon arrival, was greeted by an employee who explained their various menus and options and gave us time to decide which one to select. After some thought, we choose the standard AYCE option. We were shown to a table, and then realized that this was more of a takeout/fast casual style restaurant in which you served yourself in regards to water/utensils/sauces. This is something I think they could do a better job of explaining up front. Once seated, ordering was done via a tablet, which is where the problems began. While the system itself is smooth and seemingly easy, the trouble comes in the tickets being relayed to the kitchen and timing. You are limited in the items you can order per round, which is understandable, though there is only a short 3 minute window in which you have to wait to order more. This is where things begin to fall apart. After making 3 rounds of orders for both skewers, appetizers, and sides, we expected the food to take a bit as everything is made to order. One side arrived, though with no sign of the other ones. Then the skewers arrived, and finally some appetizers. When we asked about the missing sides, we were told they would check on them. We decided to order more skewers after finishing off the initial round, and this is when orders really started becoming convoluted. After about 8-10 minutes, we received double the skewers we ordered, and even some others we didn't. Being a bit perplexed, we just kept them and tried them out since we were hungry. After ordering more sides/appetizers to replace some of the original ones that never arrived, again we received some items at random times, yet not everything we ordered. At this point, I figured their ordering system was completely inaccurate and not relaying accurate orders to the kitchen, unless the staff was just completely not paying attention. After asking another employee yet again on missing items, it seems they finally figured out something may be wrong and they finally delivered the original appetizer ordered (fries) after over 30 min. The fact that an establishment cannot serve fries in under 30 min. should tell you there is problems with either the kitchen or ordering system since that is enough time to peel, cut, and fresh fry them. And from the looks of what I received, that is exactly what they did, minus the actual cooking part. While I think they have a good concept going, they seriously need to work on throwing out their automated ordering system and hiring additional people to actually take orders or process them as this was a serious issue for EVERY table, of which there were only 10-12. For what are $1 skewers as advertised, they were about expected quality, though the sides and appetizers left a lot to be desired. All in all, this a definite skip until they fix their service/kitchen issues, then it may be worth a try if you have patience and go in with tempered expectations. read more

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Not sure if this is still in soft opening phase or fully opened. I really hope this is still in soft opening because there is A LOT for them to fix. The ordering system and staff was disorganized. It looks more like an inexperience staff issue than an understaff issue. There was a long wait between orders and orders keep mixing up. We went around 8pm on a Sunday. Came for the AYCE Skewer promo. There's also an upgrade to include "sushi", but it's only handrolls and nigiri when we went. The promo video on IG made the food and the deal look really good. Unfortunately, the real deal was a disappointment. We ordered the beef, lamb, tofu, and mushroom skewers. We even ordered it with the mala sauce which was an extra 25 cents per an order. The mala sauce was actually pretty bland. The tofu was fried tofu and was dried out after they grilled it and doesnt look like the photo. The mushroom was pretty good, but it's more like oyster mushroom slices. The skewer items are mediocre. It includes one side per a person: rice, chaomein noodles, fries, fried rice. I like the fries. The sidebar contains: malatang soup, soy sauce, cumin spice seasoning, pickled veggies. The soup was surprisingly good. It's Pasadena, so there's pay street parking and public parking lots. Overall, not worth the trip. I left super disappointed :( read more

Jumak Skewers - LAMB SKEWERS (10EA) BEEF SKEWERS (10EA) - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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There's a monitor displayed off the side of the restaurant on Union St. that incorrectly has 9pm as their closing time on Friday. The actual closing time is 10pm, so it was suggested that they were still figuring out their business hours. Our group arrived around 7:45pm and opted for the AYCE option. This wasn't the usual grill-it-yourself kinda place, so I wondered how efficiently food would arrive. We quickly ordered several rounds of skewers and sides on their tableside tablet which included cooldown between ordering. While waiting, we enjoyed the malatang which had a nice kick. Time passed by, and it was then a staff member told us that there was an issue with their system. Essentially, except for the very first order of skewers and sides, none of the other rounds of skewers showed up on their end, so we had to order them again. To make it up, he gave us two hand rolls and plate of crudo free of charge, which was usually not part of the AYCE option. While I appreciated the gesture, if I'm not mistaken, the rolls and crudo had been sitting out for a while. Tasted alright though. It was close to the hour mark when we got our first skewers, and honestly they're pretty tasty especially the pork and lamb. A friend and I each got a beer as part of their B1G1 deal, and later on the staff member threw in a free bottle of soju. That's when our order of fried rice and chow mein came in. While they were all piping hot, the textures were mushy, especially the fried rice which seemed hastily made. Fortunately, as they got going, the rounds of skewers came out a lot quicker to the point where we able to build a respectable skewer stick tree. Also worth mentioning was the tofu skewer, which I thought had a rich, toasty flavor despite its saltiness. Ultimately, a cool concept bogged down by an iffy ordering system. Their skewers, which were the main draw, would be worth returning for. As we were ending our meal, for some reason the song "Tom's Diner" kept playing on repeat. At the same time, a DJ came in and got set up to spin his own dance music for the night, overlapping with the restaurant's speakers. It was surreal. Speaking with the waitstaff, it seems the space is hoping to be a venue for music and community events after hours which sounds like a great idea. Looking forward to seeing this place find its footing. read more

Jumak Skewers - First round for ayce - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

SERVICE: Came on a Saturday night and got seated immediately. Our hostess was very friendly and enthusiastic, introducing the different options and helping us with the ordering process. She came by every 15 minutes to make sure we have everything we need, always with a smile. Half way thru our meal, the sushi chef came by to introduce himself and the hand roll options for sushi. AMBIANCE: The restaurant was quaint and very cute with all the decors and seating positions. The self-serve bars (for condiments and water) were easily accessible and refilled frequently. FOOD: For the price, the food was very good. The lamb was packed full of flavors; the beef was still moist and tender; the pork had a good meat-fat ration making it very juicy; all grilled to perfection. The zucchini and mushroom were light, complementing well with the meat skewers. Both the AYCE and a-la-carte were totally worth the bucks depending on the capacity of each patron's stomach! P.S.: Checked with the hostess as we got the bill and the restaurant also welcomes single party, which is very rare for AYCE restaurants these day! Definitely coming back, alone or with my friends, to explore more menu items! read more

Jumak Skewers - Meat skewers (lamb, beef, and pork) with zucchini and mushroom - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

TLDR: Waited 30 minutes for raw skewers on a slow night, not great side options, needs better quality food and service but is ideal for large parties if food is better I really hate writing reviews like this especially for a place that has such high potential. I was excited when this place was opening close by. What pushed me to write a 1 star review as that the skewers we ordered were RAW. The pork wasn't cooked all the way through on multiple skewers. We could forgive one but after the one 4 more were raw and that's half the order of 10 skewers. Additionally, they ran out of beef skewers. We were there on a Saturday night. What seemed like a red flag is we were one of 2 parties eating there at peak dinner time.... The sides bar were a bit lacking with only 2-3 options for sides and very little sauce choices. The only good thing we ordered were the fries. The fries are thicker and steak cut but fried to perfect crispiness. Service was a bit questionable as well as we had to order from the system ourselves and it's a bit confusing. Additionally, once ordered, the food wasn't brought to the table but we were called for to come walk and pick up our tray. This is not too much of a big deal of course but the pork being raw just made the experience feel worse. I think the skewers are charcoal roasted? Which is a preferred way of doing it but it's worth to note that this means longer cooking times. We had a significant wait for raw skewers )-: The interior is well designed and they have fun K-pop music playing. This place looks promising for a night out with a big party but many things about experience and food quality need to be improved. Since it's newly opened, we hope it gets better with this feedback! read more

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I feel really bad for this review, but this place is NOT good. The service was lacking, the interior design was weird, the food was bad. Honestly, everything was weird here. So, The hubs and I Wanted to try something new and cost-effective in Old Town Pasadena for a spontaneous dinner out and we were initially drawn to the all-you-can-eat skewer concept at Jumak since the menu starts at $25 per person. Walked by the restaurant and saw that there were a few tables available so we walked in and immediately had second thoughts rush through my head. The smell when entering the entrance smelled like that musty mop smell and the floors were sticky and made that weird suctioning sound when you walked. Assumed it was because of the epoxy on the floor? We had to wait about 8 min to be attended to after a larger group got situated but since we saw other tables were filled we figured that this place had to be decent. But man oh man, we were wrong. This place is kind of ghetto. There was only one real server who had to attend to the entire restaurant, so he looked like a mad man running around trying to attend to everyone. Felt bad for him, especially as there are supposed to be touch screens at every table for easy ordering, but they were not working, so the guy was wondering around like a chicken with his head cut off. One group just walked out even before ordering. The chef in the back kept coming in and out of the restaurant to take what it seems like were smoke breaks, the food we ordered was not really all that tasty, the sushi did not taste fresh, the "salad bar" section was the worst salad bar I have ever seen in my life. It literally was scarce. Food was served in super small plastic containers, there were barely any drink offerings available, just sprite, coke, water and Suju. Probably the worst restaurant experience I've had to date in Pasadena. Everyone dining there also seemed like they were not into it either and just tried to make the best of it. We will not be back. read more

Jumak Skewers - The "salad bar". Awful - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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I don't know what happened here since I saw many of the Yelp reviews and having a rating of four stars out of five is pretty good. But on the night I went here, I felt like I was having the worst meal of the year. There was only one server when we came inside for dinner and the place was quite empty. So I thought the meal would be quite quick. I was so wrong instead we waited here for each dish to come out one by one with increments of 30 minutes. We sat here for two hours getting served not-so-great or even tasting food. I was a little shocked and even with our drink order, we didn't receive it until we asked for it four times after. This place needs more staff members and just better food overall. While we wanted to try something new and what seemed like Korean fusion it just wasn't good. The food tasted not cooked well and hot enough. The salmon dish was also quite fishy so we did not eat it. read more

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The concept is there but the execution is not. I understand that grilling skewers takes time but then they should've rethought the all you can eat offer. The first time I ordered from here, the $1 skewer deals were still going! They quickly changed from their a la carte menu to a more general AYCE but also changed around their previous AYCE skewers and sushi deal. So clearly, there's a lot they're pivoting through... The AYCE for just skewers and the few extra appetizers was about $25. Now, if I'm paying $25 for am AYCE, I do expect the food to be hot and fresh. Every order came out cold, chewy, and almost inedible at times. Their fries were bland and just a big starchy piece, their grilled veggies were inconsistent, their corn cheese was done very lazily, and their tofu didn't even taste like tofu! It was disguised with some good seasoning but was either over cooked that it ruined the texture OR were previously already fried, it tasted that strange. Unfortunately and ultimately, I felt too nervous that things weren't being cooked fully/properly because they were so focused on getting all the skewers served while only appearing to really have just the one main grill. While beef and pork skewers tasted alright, the chicken did not and left a not so great after taste. Aside from that, their service was a bit choppy. You never knew who was actually paying attention to what you were ordering, it was delayed and needed repeating more than once, and it just didn't seem like they had a set team working that day. Quality of food and service were unimpressive and halfway through the meal, there were just less and less people actually there with the waiter and waitress just talking amongst themselves. In comparison to when I first ordered, they were stacked with customers! But doing their $1 a la carte skewers probably went too crazy to actually meet the demand. This spot has been trying to hold themselves but the challenge of maintaining their concept and meeting the demands is not working itself out as it should. Skewers can be done right. I've tried it but this isn't the spot. Sorry Jumak, I'll be passing on you and rather take a drive out to Monterey Park for better skewer bites. read more

Jumak Skewers - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

AYCE skewers, appetizers, and sushi, depending on the level that you choose from the menu. Cool concept and a good variety on their menu. I actually didn't eat, but according to the group I was with, only the chicken skewer was enjoyable. The staff here are friendly (: read more

The initial order of the skewers were a bit stale but when we ordered a second order, they were more fresh and flavorful. The edamame could have benefitted from a bit more seasoning but not bad. As for the ambiance, there were not a lot of people at the restaurant when we arrived closer to 2pm and got serviced right away. read more

Jumak Skewers - BEEF SKEWERS, chicken skewers, pork skewers - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Their $25 AYCE skewer is good value but not good quality. Their skewers are pretty inconsistently cooked. The beef skewers were charred towards the top of the skewer and tough towards the bottom of the skewer. That was the worst for me. The chicken and pork wasn't bad. Their steamed egg is salty and not very fluffy. Their corn cheese is pretty runny. It feels like they use nacho cheese. There is a self-service bar for some appetizers and sauces as well as a soup. It was our first time there so we didn't know there was a self-service bar. Would have been great if the waiter informed us when he asked if it was our first time there. There was a lot of people waiting as I was leaving but I don't think it's worth it if you have to wait a long time. read more

Interesting décor ... actually looks kinda sketch... Servers were definitely trying to make up for the terrible food. I wanted to like this place so much... but it was a huge flop. Skewers were DRY AF and hardly seasoned. Carpaccio was awfully bland and subpar quality. As for the rolls. Appetizers all tasted like they came from Hmart or Costco's frozen section Salad and sauce bar with rice and noodles was a joke. Not worth the $95 it cost for 2 people. Not my cup of tea when the 626 has so many better options. read more

Jumak Skewers - BEEF SKEWERS, LAMB SKEWERS - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Part 2 of my 1 star review - the food and service... service was okay, definitely overpriced - wasted time, money and calories!!! Would NEVER come back!!! See comments on pictures... Our first time here (8/31/24) - first thing first FIX all your tables as they are unstable!!! Only 1 server working??? No soft drinks available - only water??? read more

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Decided to give it another shot after hearing about the change in management & chef on instagram- and because they had a dine LA deal. When we walked in, we were promptly greeted. They had more tables than last time, so that was promising. I made a reservation and they showed us to our table with a cute lil placard and menus already displayed (yay marketing!!) We immediately were served water and had our drink order taken. Our server recommended the Golden Hour & Dark Seoul so thats what we got. I looved the sweetness of the golden hour- couldn't taste the alcohol but 100% felt it. For appetizers we got to the Korean Fried Chicken Bites (spicy of course), Edamame Flight (Omija Honey Gochugaru was our fave!!), & Pork Mandu. The chicken bites were crispy, yet so tender and coated well in the sauce. The pork mandu is now made in house and is so juicy. On to the mains, we had the Tofu Bibimbap -they marinated the tofu in sauce. The chef mentioned he wanted vegetarians to have a great alternative option which is such a game changer. My boyfriend doesn't eat red meat, so he's usually stuck with bland ass veggies but this was NOT the case. I had the Jumak Burger and it tasted straight off the grill and was nicely balanced with their pickled veggies, served with a side of fries. Dunk it in their gochujang ketchup For dessert we had the Soft serve + toasted sesame chocolate and miso caramel. I personally really liked the toasted sesame since it provided umami to the ice cream but my boyfriend loved the saltiness of the miso in the caramel (think asian salted caramel). I'm super impressed with their turn around in menu, service, and food quality. I can't wait for their final menu to come out. read more

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NOT WORTH THE HYPE Came here with some friends after a video I saw in IG. Definitely NOT the same as what the video showed. We waited an hour to be seated. Opt for AYCE and also ordered one item from a la carte. The system was down so we had to order through a server and can only order 4 items at a time. Food took forever to come out, at least 20 mins. Lack of seasoning and side dishes had no flavor. I feel that there was some language barrier between our server and us because the a la carte item never came and we kept asking and they kept saying "let me check with the kitchen" Then they said there is no such item but clearly it is in the menu. After about an hour of back and forth we cancel that since we figured it will never come out. Towards the end they rushed the rest of the meat out and it was undercooked!! Left somewhat unsatisfied. read more

Jumak Skewers - Undercooked - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

Was initially drawn in because of the happy hour deals, which they have every day. I only tried one of the cocktails from the happy hour menu. The happy hour drink was actually pretty good for how much it costed. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only good thing about this place though. Since they were not busy, I was able to sit anywhere I wanted. The floor and tables were very sticky, so I was offput by that. The menus also felt dirty and gross. The server did not give us the happy hour menu at first, so we asked him about it and he was confused. It was strange that he didn't even know what the happy hour deals were. He eventually found the happy hour menu and gave it to us. For food, I tried both of their pastas, which are overpriced in my opinion. I preferred the mentaiko pasta over the galbi creamy udon pasta. For how much it costed, I expected more galbi and better quality. There was only 3 small pieces of galbi in the dish. The taste was ok, but the texture was nowhere close to tender. As for the mentaiko pasta, I have no complaints about it. read more

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We heard that Jumak recently underwent new management and picked up a reputable executive chef, so we decided to give this place a shot. And what a great decision that was! It seems like almost the entire menu has been reworked, and the only item we saw that stayed are the fried chicken bites. We got to meet the chef and he gave us a peek of what his approach to Korean American cuisine was like. Great: fried chicken bites, tofu bibimbap, pork mandu. The tofu was brined in bulgogi seasoning, and it was probably the best tofu I've ever had. The chicken bites had a solid crunch and juiciness, but definitely could've used a bit more of that gochujang spice. The mandu were crispy and juicy as well. Even the burger had Korean influence, with an Asian slaw and ssamjang ketchup. Drinks: Golden Hour & Dark Seoul cocktails. Golden Hour if you like sweet, Dark Seoul for a muted and smoky flavor. Very happy that we decided to eat here during Dine LA! Judging from the past reviews, this restaurant is gonna turn it around in no time. read more

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We decided to try this place after seeing it on IG but it was not a good experience. The service was not the best. We choose the AYCE skewers option; we have to wait a long time to get our food, the last order of skewers were not fully cooked, didn't get the chaomein so we asked the waiter to cancel it after almost an hour wait. The staff was overwhelmed and not ready, they need to improve the operational side in the kitchen. read more

Jumak Skewers - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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I rarely write one star reviews but this one I really want others to know about my friends and i's experience before coming here to be fully informed. We found this place on IG and were excited to find a new skewer spot. We waited over an hour on the waitlist and once we finally got seated, we saw another table who got seated before us just leave without getting anything to drink or eat. We waited 10+ minutes once we were seated by the host and no one came by our table to greet us, take drink orders, etc. we noticed so many unhappy tables during this time and we decided that we wanted to leave before ruining our Saturday and go eat somewhere else. We bumped into another family who was eating and they told us that they were seated for 2 hours (which is the skewer limit) and didn't receive half of their order. They were eyeing us at the restaurant to walk out and I'm glad we did because they were extremely unsatisfied with their meal. The second we all decide to get up and leave is when a waiter finally approaches us but we let them know that we're leaving. I'm sad that I didn't even get to try their food but I think they need to fix their kitchen capacity before introducing an ayce menu. Maybe I'll come back once they make some changes but for now, my experience placed a really bad taste in my mouth (pun unattended). read more

I don't leave 1-star reviews for restaurants. I'm not the type to be vindicative, and I have immense empathy for our lovely small businesses and workers. However, I felt compelled to write this. There's a lot of hype for this restaurant, and y'all... You could be in for a REALLY bad time. Is the AYCE here worth the money? For the time and the patience you will sacrifice, I think you'd be better off somewhere else. It took ~20 min or more for my party to wait for each order (we tried the AYCE skewer option, so we ordered in rounds), and we did not receive all the orders we asked for. Some of the items were undercooked, some were overcooked, and we also received raw meat with one of our side orders. If you wanna be trying to make your money's worth, you will be waiting a few hours for your orders to go through and navigating inconsistent quality of food. The taste of many of the items left more to be desired-- the chao mian (stir fried noodles) had a strong sour smell. We were told that it was because of the fish sauce.... But I've spilled fish sauce in my car before, so I know that smell intimately-- I'm not sure if it was that, because I didn't smell anchovies or salt. To me, the noodles smelled like something in there was past its prime. (Think greek yogurt, but greek yogurt smells better. I went home and smelled the yogurt in my fridge before writing this review but hey, I could be wrong ) There's great reviews on Google-- it seems like a lot of people had great experiences during their initial opening. But from what I saw last night, it seemed like the workers were struggling and were overwhelmed. I think there's a number of customers that have a really similar experience to mine. I hope that this restaurant straightens things out soon, because I definitely don't want people to have the same experience I did. read more

This place seems like it's pretty fun and appropriate for smaller events to take place at. I think that's what they're trying to do here; hosting events and little gatherings to promote business. With that being said, their drink selection, and menu is pretty subpar. Like I said, I came here for an event, so I will only speak on what I tried while here, but their menus were just pieces of paper with no coating or anything on them. It looks like they printed them right before they opened their doors. I know that doesn't matter, but what does is if a customer asks for your wine selection and as an employee you respond with "our wine selection is honestly horrible and what we do have is not good at all." I appreciate the transparency, I really do.. but shouldn't you just maybe.. update your wine selection? Or at least not completely short sell your own products? I ended up getting a dirty martini because that's what the bartender recommended. It was whatever. I went back for another drink hours later and was again told that the dirty martini was the only thing they would recommend to me. This was another employee/bartender who said this. It's a shame, because the space here is so nice and the layout is actually really cool... but I feel like if you've been open for barely a while now and this is how you serve your customers, you won't really last long as a business. The event itself was a success though, so kudos to that. Also, as I've already mentioned, I was only here for an event, so maybe their service or the way they run their business is different when it is during normal hours of operation. But to my knowledge, they were serving guests as well and not only people who were there for the event. read more

Jumak Skewers - dirty martini - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Based on the pictures I saw online, I had good faith for this restaurant. Upon arriving, the interior design was very well done. It fit a nightlife vibe, and the atmosphere was very relaxing and cozy. It was dimly lit, which added to the effect. Thus, I was excited to eat at the restaurant. We ordered some drinks, which were pretty good. We also tried to order some food, which were all fairly pricey. We got our drinks, but no food came. After an hour of waiting, it turns out they forgot about our order, so we just ended up leaving. At least they were nice about removing the orders from our bill and were also apologetic. Overall, my experience was fairly poor, but I think there is good potential to this restaurant. As of now, I recommend only going during happy hour, which was around 9 or 10 PM, and just get drinks (which were around $5). If they improve their service, and if their menu prices go down, I think it would be a pretty good place to hang out. Also, the chairs were uncomfortable. read more

Jumak Skewers - Interior bar - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Lovely interior with a great atmosphere. tip: check in for 15% off 2 appetizers, they also do happy hour drinks. We got the yuzu martini for $5 Parking: street parking or garage paid garage parking nearby Came on a Sunday night for a birthday celebration. We were the first table of the night, but the food took a really long time to be served. Staff is really sweet and nice but there were only 2 working on a Sunday night. Probably would have been nicer to have an extra staff as there were more customers later at night. Food: although the food took really long, the taste and quality was great! Galbijjim: was delicious! Very tender and soft meat that just slid off the bone. Flavorful sauce! It's a bigger dish so sharing is recommended. Mentaiko Pasta with uni: very flavorful, rich and creamy! Also got the Galbi udon pasta but the mentaiko pasta was my favorite from the 2 because of the noodle texture. read more

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I normally don't like giving one star reviews for restaurants as I feel that at its core, restaurants are trying their best to provide for us and I do not want this to be a reason that a restaurant fails. However, I have never had a food outing as bad as this one. Given it is an AYCE skewer place, this was the first time I left wanting to order more food somewhere else. The food took forevevr to come, and the meats were of wildly different quality. Some were overcooked, and some were raw, with raw pieces even on our side orders. And this would be after 20-30 minutes of waiting in between each and every one of our orders. The one positive thing is the wait staff, as they have the patience to have to deal with all the annoyed customers, and they are really trying their best to help us. But this review is focused on the restaurant and the staff itself, and I hope they find a way to be better. read more

Unlimited skewers for $24.70! Jumka is a new restaurant in Pasadena serving "All you can eat skewers!" First you scan the QR code. Then pick any skewers that you like. Their chef will do all the grilling and bring to your table! Their holiday buffets which will be opening daily for lunch and dinner throughout the month of December (including Christmas and New Year's).Unlimited skewers for $24.70! read more

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Came to Jumak with a friend and the atmosphere was definitely would be good for a cute date night. A lot of seating. I've had this bookmarked for a bit, and thought it'd be a little more upscale based on the menu. However, when I walked in there was a lot of interesting decor (maybe because it was near Valentine's day), like a little photo area at the front. I feel like the bar area gave a Korean pocha vibe. Wasn't too busy on that Friday evening so we were seated fairly quick. Service was nice and friendly! We ordered the calamari and bossam/pork belly to share. Calamari was our favorite!! Great appetizer, crunchy batter, and the sauce was a good compliment (I think it was a sriracha mayo/aioli sorta sauce). Super good! Pork belly was good, but I could taste the slight gamey-ness of the pork. The kimchi/pickled veggies were a good combo, but I would prefer more leafy lettuce than the butt of it. Gold flakes were a nice touch! I kept dipping the pork belly in the calamari sauce though which worked better for me? Would def want to try other menu items next time. read more

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Found this place on IG, we are excited to try AYCE skewer. I'm a fan of yakitori, so why not, even we have to drive 45 minutes from our home. We came on Saturday night. When we got there, there's some line on the entrance. Our friends got there first before us, so they had booked spot for us. But still the waiting about almost 1 hour, we just wait next door, there's a bakery spot. When we got our seating, we order it right away as it already 8 pm. The place was full at that time. The server notify 1 order 5 pcs skewers. We are 5 adults and 2 kids. We order skewers and the side: French fries, white rice, chowmien. The first skewer order came, only like 5 pcs, and immediately we ate it. And even like after 15-20 minutes we still didn't get our drink yet. No rice or none of the side dish came out yet. After we've waited, we started asking the server where's the rice, drink n etc. so, sevice were slow. We finally got our French fries, with no sauce. We asked for ketchup or any sauce. The server said we can help our self on the center table. We went there, and yes we found ketchup, but chili oil, and there's soup running low. We can't even take anything else. For sure, when you offer AYCE, the staff have to check periodically the things if something needed to be refill. Overall the taste of skewer are good, it's just the wait time and perhaps 1 server handle 1 or 2 tables only. So they know what's out or what's still missing out. We also found out how tiny the grill machine was. To keep up with orders it might be tough, especially if are table are full. When they are too busy, the seasoning powder they put can be too little. We heard next our table complained their order never come out and they just asked for check and leave. I hope the management can improve their serving speed, especially if they are marketing it on social media. Sure there will be crowds come and try. They have to be ready and welcome the crowds to make peoples coming back. As packaging wise, if I can advise, they just use 1 long rectangular plate and keep on reusing it on the table. Rather than they keep on using the disposable paper tray. We used plent of them and it feel like a waste. And if you can provide busker to put the used skewer that would be great too. read more

Jumak Skewers - BEEF SKEWERS (10EA) - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California

It was a very odd experience. My friend and I came around 6ish pm and she mentioned maybe we should choose something else because there were nobody in the restaurant. Overall just had a very awkward environment cause it was so quiet that our conversations can be heard and there were nobody else but us. To add that on, we tried to order various drinks and food and they would either not have it/"ran out" and even the cocktails that we were going to order was not available because they had no ice?!?!?! So yea.....we went from cocktails to shochu. We went from eel yakitori to pork belly yakitori. I'm also not sure but the person/host/owner? just had a little awkward feel to him but the awkwardness I can bare with but whenever we mention a certain item lets say for example "eel" I can almost see question marks popping out like a cartoon. It was like he didn't know the menu or idk it was just an awkward environment unfortunately. There were many situations that we felt very awkward and maybe he felt that so he gave us a big discount at the end(hence why it's not a one star, but I'm sorry I really cant give Jumak a 3 because of it..) The pork belly that we end up getting was very bad...but the pasta and fried chicken(but it was almost like a popcorn chicken without it tasting like a popcorn chicken style karaage that tasted nothign like a karaage...) were pretty decent. It could just be an off day...and he end up giving a discount but overall we just felt super awkward from the beginning of dinner so I'm sorry to give you guys a 2 star. read more

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Food - 3.75 The food overall was solid. I think that if I hadn't ordered one dish (which I thought was just ok) I would have rated the food as a 4. The menu is very fusion and a little all over the place and limited for dinner however the waitress who served us mentioned that they were in the process of updating it, I'd be interested in seeing what the changes are going to be. Some items seemed over priced for what it was, but I can also understand that could be because they need to cover their cost on wages, rent and materials for food. We ordered SULLUNGTANG - wish they gave salt for us to add if we wanted as most places provide when ordering this dish Seafood Fried Rice - pretty straightforward of what it is SEAWEED TACO SALMON ROLL - we didn't not add the avocado and it wasn't as crispy as I thought it would be. Maybe if we had eaten it as soon as it was delivered to the table it would have tasted crispier GALBI CREAMY UDON PASTA - not noted on the menu but this has cheese and scallops are an add on Service - 4 The waitress who served us was super sweet and made suggestions and helped us understand which items are the most popular items. She was super friendly and informative. Ambience 3.75 The décore was kinda all over the place. I had stopped by on a different instance (back in the fall during LA restaurant week) and they had the same furniture however things seemed to be moved around and the projected fish pond is no longer there. The furniture overall was kinda mix and matched. My group was sat at a table with two long benches that felt far from the table itself. My friends pulled their bench closer to the table and I tried to pull mine closer a little and the bench itself almost fell off whatever it was sitting on. I do appreciate that the space between tables was nicely spaced out so I didn't feel like I would be in the ear or someone else's conversation. Overall the food was decent. I'd come back to check out the menu once they redo it. I think it was worth giving this spot a second chance to see what's different. read more

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Been a long day and my friend recommended this place for a hangout and nom adventures. I'll say that this place doesn't disappoint for what you can find in old town Pasadena and the price. Food: Udon pasta - a blend of Asian fusion cuisine utilizing galbi, udon in a mushroom cream pasta sauce. I'll say was pretty good for the price! It comes with a wedge of lime which I say blends the fattiness and sweetness of the components together perfectly. You're fine adding more juice but I think that ruins the harmony of the dish Mentaiko pasta - it's got a good blend of savory/flavorful from the mentaiko and cream sauce while not being too overbearing. It would be lighter than say marugame monzo's take in little Tokyo. Would try again by itself to see if the dish is too heavy or not. Galbijiim 8oz - we were seriously hungry apparently . I think probably of the three it might have been the weakest. Not to say that it was bad, but more stiff competition and we tried it last. I think we could have asked for more kimchi and probably chopsticks as it felt like that's how I should've eaten it once I got it on my plate with the rice Drinks: mount yoshino - I'm more of a social drinker, especially not cocktails. The live smoke infusion was interesting to see, but I feel like I could barely taste the grenadine nor lemon juice there . It did have a slight earthy aftertaste from the nutmeg and the smoke infusion. Not bad. Peach lemon drop - the simpler of the two, pretty solid, but for the price maybe not? Ambiance was superb with cafe bossa music in the background while it being a cozy and chill vibe place. Having reservations so to have a good control of the pacing for being in old town Pasadena. Would think this is a great date place too if the opportunity presents itself. Service - going off of that note, all of the above wouldn't have been possible without our great host, Eric. From giving solid recommendations to being patient and professional with our questions. Also shout out to the other waiter/manager, as I didn't get his name. Keep up the good work you guys! read more

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My friends came from the Bay Area, and I was looking for some cool places for us to get together. I researched on Yelp and found a few places, including Jumak. My friends chose this place because the pictures on Yelp looked really yummy. We came on a Saturday, and I made a reservation for a party of 5 on Yelp for 7 pm. This restaurant don't have a parking lot, but there is a nearby garage with 90 minutes of free parking. You could also find free street parking near the church if you are willing to walk a little. Upon arrival, the restaurant wasn't full, and only two ladies in front of me were waiting. Since I had a reservation, we were seated almost right away. However, we were placed at the back of the restaurant where the server couldn't see us most of the time. The restaurant had only two servers for the whole place. We asked for recommendations on what to order, and with their suggestions, we ordered the pork belly roll, salmon seaweed roll, mac and cheese ball, sullungtang, galbi udon pasta, and galbi jjim. By 8 pm, there was no sign of any food. We inquired about our orders, mentioning it had been almost an hour since we arrived. The server explained they were short-staffed and apologized for the wait. Another 10 minutes later, we received our first appetizer, the mac and cheese balls. After this little bite, there was another waiting period. My friend's 12-year-old daughter was so hungry and asking for food that my friend has to take out a bag of M&Ms from her pocket and told her daughter to eat it for now. Then, we noticed the table of 10 next to us, who arrived after us, getting some food. Another friend got upset and talked to the server, expressing our dissatisfaction. We asked the server to bring us whatever food was ready and not to wait for everything. About another 10 minutes later, they started bringing out the pork belly rolls and the sullungtang. After that, came the galbi jjim, followed by the salmon seaweed rolls. The galbi udon arrived last. The food was alright, but nothing worth waiting an hour for. The galbi udon was salty, and my friends didn't like it. The galbi jjim was also fatty, but at least you eat that with rice. My friend explicitly told the server that the lukewarm food indicated they didn't bring us the food as soon as possible. It felt like a deliberate waste of our time, and on top of that, we were hungry. The customer experience was horrible, and even if the meal is free at this point, it's still a bad experience. They offered to give us half off on our bill and kept apologizing for the wait due to being short-staffed. Eventually, they gave us a $50 voucher for next time. In the end, I believe the owner or manager came out, apologized again, and offered us free cake and ice cream. I don't want to be harsh on this restaurant because I could tell they really tried. Honestly, they might have problems hiring. My suggestion is to limit the menu if they are short-staffed or be upfront and tell the customers before seating them that there will be a long wait for food. There are many restaurants in Old Town, and it's easy to walk out and go to another one. I wouldn't go back to this restaurant, at least during lunch or dinner time. I would choose off-hours and hope that maybe I am the only party they serve during that time. read more

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My boyfriend and I stopped by our favorite place to wrap up his birthday celebration! A perfect setting for a date or rowdy night out, Jumak is ~IT~ Our favorite team member, Johnny, quickly seated us at the bar and fixed us our drinks. I ordered the Mix N Matcha and my boyfriend enjoyed the Old White Oak Fashioned. For dessert, we indulged in the tiramisu which was coated in caramel. It was a decadent way to end our evening and we can't wait to be back!! read more

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A great spot to eat and chill! the skewers were so yummy! And the sushi was also fresh. The salmon nigiri was buttery Staff were super friendly and attentive! Definitely coming back!! read more

Jumak Skewers - Strawberry soju and some lamb skewers!! - Korean Near Me - Pasadena, California