There are so many great Korean restaurants to choose from in London. At Koba, they offer good food, good value and special hot plates for a completely different dining experience. All in all, it's a fun and friendly place that serves tasty classic Korean fare. read more

3.5 stars. The food is nice, but slightly over priced tbh. Also, VERY slow service. Like seriously, waited 30 minutes just for the bbq to arrive at the table. Not sure if it's because they do the grilling for people, but I don't mind doing it myself to be honest.... Also waited another 20minutes when my friend and I needed to pay the bill. read more

I was happy to see banchan included - one of my pet peeves about Korean restaurants in England is that they expect you to pay for each banchan - and the mains were delicious. My jjigae had lovely pieces of silken soft tofu swimming in a fiery red hot soup, with very thin slices of pork belly mixed in - perfect for this gray weather we're having, though it made me sneeze uncontrollably a few times due to the spicy kick. Good value for lunch. read more

Ask anyone who knows and they'll tell you that you can judge a Korean restaraunt by the number of sides the give you. This place didn't even provide water, let alone a bit of kimchi. The food they did serve us was mediocre. And the beer was warm. Far from good. read more

Pretty good Korean bbq. The marinade bbq platter is definitely enough for two people to eat a lot. We also had the pot stickers, which were a little cold. We also had the bun trio that was like a bao filled with meat and lettuce. Not terribly overpriced if you're sharing with people. read more

Dinner The table allowance was limited thus there was a time restriction! However, my friend and I didn't care such detail and were craving to have meat. There was no time to go to New Malden from Central. I'm sorry to compare this with whatever you can get from New Malden, but I can give two stars in this circumstance, although the quality of meat was decent enough to gain two stars. read more

Been to Koba on several occasions but lastly with my Korean friend, who ordered everything for us both! Food was very good and with out made a difference having someone talk you through the food, the drinks to go with it and the customs that surrond them (be careful not to drink to much sojo, its similar to sake but the hangover is much, much worse!) Always be careful with a date hear is some girls are totally not happy being covered in the smoke from cooking food or getting the white dress splatered! BUT would highly recommend Koka, staff friendly, service good, and decor clean and modern. Go with friends for a fun evening out.. Mid priced, spent £110 , 4 bottles of wine/sojo, 2 people. But also spend £45 for 2 with beer! read more

this place was ok...I've had better in the states but its not bad for the uk. Even though it was small, it was great large parties, great location, and i love the small towelettes that expand when they pour hot water on it. Price wasnt bad either. read more

Service: slow, rude, clumsy, indifferent. Food: bland, unauthentic, meager portions, low quality. Conclusion: this place is in business because londoners are utterly ignorant about korean food. Some lowlights of the meal: bibimbap was microscopic, bulgogi was full of grizzle and fat, kimchi pancake was radioactive orange and deep fried, no side dishes are included. read more

Best place for Korean BBQ I reckon, recommend assorted beef for 39pounds, enough portion, and kimchi stew if you r kimchi lovers, yummy!!

Food are beautifully cooked by the skillful staff, tasty food, and super friendly staff.

Came here late on a Monday night, food was delicious and service was excellent. Highly recommend to anyone looking for great Korean cuisine.

Koba is a great find. The food is delicious although not cheap, but not too expensive either. Staff are very attentive especially if you cant decide what you want, they give excellent advice on what dishes compliment each other. Fantastic meat selection, barbequed right in front of you. Would definately recommend Koba! read more

Walking around Fritzrovia can be really hard on a Friday night, when you hunt for food. Especially when your stomach needs challenge and doesn't want the same pre-cooked food as the times before. And so did I ended up in Koba for the first, and not for the last time. Not knowing of what is coming did we decided to go to this rather hidden Korean restaurant, with a menu looking as unpalatable as no other places in the area. But after looking through the windows, to discover that Korean families and business were occupying most of the places available, did we have enough assurance to go inside. At the entrance were we welcomed by a numerous amount of waiters, who sat us down straight away at the bar area. After ordering a Kimchi platter and a mixed Meat/Seafood platter for 2, did we receive raw pieces of meat and fish that was kindly, and sometimes overbearing prepared in front of us. Sitting at the bar made it possible for us not only to receive the insight of preparing the food but also to view to observe others. Which I would advice everybody for the first time to do so. All in all did we spend £20 per person and received lots of Korean kindness and food that the hunter in my satisfied. read more

A great korean bbq for sit back with your mate here. I'm not a big fan of bbq but this place is exceptional. I love the bbq here and also the side dishes. read more

Went there last night with my girlfriend for her birthday. We had the Korean BBQ, which was fantastic. The food was great, high quality, fresh and yummy. The service was excellent, very attentive but not in your face! We ordered lots of food and drink without looking at prices. We probably had 3 portions between the two of us and 5 beers in total and the bill came to £92 incl. the service charge. I have been to Korea many times on business and Koba can easily compete. If you are looking for a cheap eat, this is not the place to go. If you compare Central London prices to Korea, you are also mistaken -- after all you would not compare London prices for Thai food with Thailand either. If you are looking for a great night out, with fresh healthy food, great service and good value for money, this is definitely the place to go. Highly recommended! read more

This is my first time ever writing a review about any restaurant. Had my experience not been this horrible, I would not have written anything about this place. I WARN YOU: DO NOT GO TO THIS RESTAURANT. A little bit about me: I'm Korean, and I have been to several k-bbq restaurants in Korea. I have also been to several k-bbq restaurants in the US. But this place was probably by far the worst out of all of the restaurants that I visited. Not necessarily because of their food, but because their service was simply unacceptable. The interior design was quite nice; however, all of this is misleading, as the food is not that authentic, portions are small, and the service is just rude (even though the restaurant was mostly empty when we were there). We were seated at our table, but the waitress did not come to our table to take our order. She did not even ask us what kind of drinks we would like. She did not take care of our table well. She was unfriendly. She was also pretty bad at grilling the meat. Most importantly, SHE COUNTED THE CASH THAT WE PAID IN FRONT OF US. We were not satisfied with our service, so we did not want to pay the full service charge. We paid 3 pounds out of 5. She stared at us awkwardly, counting the money, until we paid the full service charge!!!! This is simply unacceptable. I have never had any of the waiters/waitresses count money in front of the table. I don't understand why this restaurant has such nice reviews. The food was mediocre at best. We had their kimchi jjigae, which was relatively nice, but the meat was not good at all. The meat was very thin (and very few Korean restaurants in the US or in Korea serve it this way), and I believe the pork belly was frozen meat. Just FYI, cheap bbq restaurants in Korea serve meat this thin in order to make it seem like the meat is not that bad when it's actually just bad quality meat. So this is not the way nice k-bbq should be served. For the amount and quality of the meat that they serve, the food is heavily overpriced. Do not drink any of their Korean liquor. They are also severely overpriced. 15 pounds for soju is not acceptable. It's less than 2 dollars in Korea, it's around 3 dollars in US supermarkets, and around 8 dollars at the restaurants. Lastly, charging for the lettuce and the side dishes is just ridiculous. I have never been to any k-bbq restaurants that severely overcharge you for these side dishes. These dishes should come complimentary with the meal. Overall, just bad. Took some of my friends, and I was embarrassed that I took them there. read more

Went there last night with my girlfriend for her birthday. We had the Korean BBQ, which was fantastic. The food was great, high quality, fresh and yummy. The service was excellent, very attentive but not in your face! We ordered lots of food and drink without looking at prices. We probably had 3 portions between the two of us and 5 beers in total and the bill came to £92 incl. the service charge. I have been to Korea many times on business and Koba can easily compete. If you are looking for a cheap eat, this is not the place to go. If you compare Central London prices to Korea, you are also mistaken after all you would not compare London prices for Thai food with Thailand either. If you are looking for a great night out, with fresh healthy food, great service and good value for money, this is definitely the place to go. Highly recommended! read more

Good food, although expensive and a little on the tiny-portions side. I dare say this would be a better spot for Korean food aficionados, but although the décor was smooth and the staff very friendly and helpful, it left me wanting more, somehow. Watching marinated baby octopuses shrivel on the table-mounted grill was something I could have done without, as well although my seafood-loving friends tell me they were delicious. Definitely worth a try, but probably wouldn't go back. read more

I came here with a friend on a weekday evening after work. It's quite a clean, upscale establishment with plenty of natural sunlight (extra nice for a summer evening). They don't have a website but we booked online through OpenTable. To my dismay, they don't have the free small plates of kimchi and other pickled vegetables that some Korean places give you. We ordered two starters, the japchae and a seafood pancake, which were both very good. These starters are not cheap, like 7-8 pounds each, so though we were tempted, it was hard to justify getting any more than that. They're quite large portions though, like a full plate of each, though that would have been much less exciting if it had just been a whole plate of kimchi. We then got an order of combination BBQ to share, which came with beef, pork, and chicken (though not bulgogi or kalbi, to get the good stuff you have to order separately). Each individual order of meat would have been 10-12 pounds, whereas a combo was about 25-30 pounds. The best part about the whole meal was that we didn't have to cook it ourselves - there was always a member of staff around to put our meat on the grill, turn it, cut it into bite sized pieces with scissors, and tell us when it was ready. I thought the meat was good, but since we didn't get the top quality stuff, it wasn't exactly anything special. They have some seafood options, like prawns, octopus and salmon that you can put on the grill, which I thought looked interesting. All in all, I think I enjoyed my experience at Kalbi Korean BBQ a lot more, but if you are looking for a nicer, cleaner establishment (i.e. to go on a date, or not reek of BBQ afterwards), Koba is a good bet. read more

Koba - Pics at The London Foodie(http://www.thelondonfoodie.co.uk ) Dr G and I were recently invited by Catty of TheCattyLife to her favourite Korean restaurant Koba on trendy Rathbone Street in W1. Accompanying us on the evening was Mr Noodles of Eat Noodles Love Noodles. Having just come back from a three-week holiday in Vietnam and Korea, I was keen to find out how Koba would stand up to all the marvellous meals I had eaten in Seoul. We arrived at Koba to find a small but uncluttered restaurant, with elegant decor. The restaurant was busy with a young and sophisticated crowd. Catty took charge of the ordering, which she did expertly by choosing some excellent, unusual dishes as well as some Korean staples. We started with a portion of Pajeon spring onion pancake with seafood £7.90. This is one of the most traditional dishes in Korea, and the perfect snack to accompany chilled beers. Koba's version was fluffy, well seasoned and with a good quantity of seafood and spring onions. I normally order a spicy version with added Kimchi called Kimchi Jeon (also sold at Koba £7.90, no.16 on the menu). The Japchae stir fried glass noodles with beef and seasonal vegetables in soy sauce £7.20 - was also delicious. The white sweet-potato noodles had been perfectly cooked maintaining their chewy texture, and were not overwhelmed by other ancillary ingredients. It was a well balanced and flavoursome dish although I felt that £7.20 the portion was a tad ungenerous. I adore tofu and so we ordered Kimchi Tofu steamed tofu with fried Kimchi and pork @ £7.50. The tofu is steamed only and served un-seasoned. If you do not enjoy the plain, clear flavour of tofu, you will not appreciate this dish. Tofu goes really well with kimchi as they have contrasting flavours and textures. This is a staple dish in Korean restaurants and I always order it as a way of judging the freshness of the restaurant's tofu and the quality of the kimchi, two areas in which Koba did not disappoint. The star of the evening was, in my opinion, the Yook Hwei seasoned raw beef with sliced pears and egg yolk @ £8.60. This is a dish I had never tried before and is now one of my favourites, a type of Korean steak tartare. The combination of shredded beef, pears, raw egg and garlic was sensational. The meat had been semi-frozen before being shredded and tasted very fresh with the accompanying pears. A selection of barbecue meats was also ordered including: Kalbi marinated beef spare ribs with sweet soy sauce @ £8.90 were good but again I felt that the portion was not as generous as I would expect at the price. Bulgogi marinated sliced beef @ £7.90 very delicious. Daeji Bulgogi sweet and spicy pork belly slices @ £8.60 were also amazing - the meat was tender and had been seasoned perfectly. Zzukumi Gooi sweet and spicy baby octopus @ £8.40 were an interesting addition to the other meats and worked well as a seafood choice. I was surprised to find that we had to order separate portions of Pamoochim and Sangchoo sliced spring onion with chilli and vinegar, fresh lettuce, and seasoned soy bean paste @ £3.50 to accompany our barbequed meats. This is unusual for Korean restaurants as these are normally served as part of a barbeque course. The meal would not have been complete without Bibimbap - Yook Hwei Dolsot steamed rice and raw beef with vegetables in a hot stone pot @ £9.50. This was stunning and nearly as good as the raw beef & pears dish. I was slightly disappointed that we were not offered a selection of namool (normally bean sprouts, spinach and white radish) or a small plate of kimchi as it is customary in most Korean restaurants. I found both items on the menu for £5.50 each. Assa Cafe will offer the namool and free barley tea as part of their £5 lunch set menu, also containing one main dish. To finish off the meal, we ordered Koba Special Ice Cream (black sesame, red adzuki beans, and green tea) £5.20 while Dr G opted for Green tea ice cream £3.50. While matcha ice cream is my favourite flavour, on this occasion, I felt that the black sesame ice was the most interesting of the three. Koba serves both Hite and OB, the two most popular Korean beers, £3.50. We opted for beer, while Catty went for Green tea £1.80. I would have ordered a bottle of soju or makgeolli (a traditional type of raw rice wine which I took a real liking to since participating at a makgeolli tasting with the guys from SeoulEats in Korea) but found that Koba prices were prohibitively high, especially considering these were all half-bottles (@ £15 for the makgeolli, £13 for the soju, and £15 for the Bek se Ju). Service was efficient and polite but despite being attentive, it was also slightly rushed at times. A big thank you to Catty of thecattylife for taking us there and introducing us to her favourite Korean restaurant in London. Cost: £139.40 including service charge and drinks or £35 per person. Likes: the most sensational Yook Hwei seasoned raw beef with sliced pears read more

I made a reservation for tonight, and was told that at 7:30 they would have only the basement available, but if I waited until 8 pm, they would have a nice table for me in the dining room. So I made the reservation for 8 pm. When we arrived, we were told that only the basement was available. Rather than be honest about the mistake,they insisted we had misunderstood them. But I know what I was told. The basement was hot and noisy, so we had to leave and find another restaurant. I won't be trying Koba again. read more

The quality doesn't match the high price. The amount is only suitable for someone on diet. And the taste is just ordinary. Nothing special except for the location. Very unsatisfied read more