Hiiiiiighly recommend this place! Being Asian - whenever I travel I find myself craving Asian food often during trips and I was lucky enough to have this spot nearby. The first night, my boyfriend and I came just for the regular entree dishes. I got the bibimbap (rice with meat and veggies in stone pot) and he had the soondubu (spicy tofu soup in stone pot). I really enjoyed my dish. The rice was crispy at the bottom and the toppings were loaded. I tried my boyfriends dish and he and I both agreed that the taste was different from typical soondubus we have. While it was different, it was still tasty. Then two days later we came back for the KBBQ. This was also such a hit! The meat tasted fresh and the side dishes were equally as good. The service was also great, very attentive servers. Wish I could go back again. read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Galbi - our favorite of the meat options! - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

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It is hard to find a good bulgogi. It was delicious and a nice size portion. All of the vegetable sides were perfect and look forward to returning. The bar selections were quite nice as well. read more

A delightful experience, especially if you are new to Korean BBQ. Clean restaurant with a warm and inviting atmosphere. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable about the entire menu. Every dish and cocktail was beautiful and full of flavor. Loved this place! read more

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Matjoa Korean BBQ is a somewhat new Korean BBQ restaurant that opened earlier this year. Despite the hardships of quarantine times, the two times that I've visited, Matjoa was filled with many socially-distant customers. This is a family-owned restaurant and you'll be treated as such. The servers have consistently been kind and quick to the customers. If you have questions about cooking or the menu items, they are happy to explain to you. While Matjoa offers Korean BBQ that you cook yourself at your table, instead of the grill being in the middle of the table, the grill is on a separate side table and it goes at the end of the table. This is a good arrangement to maximize eating space for your group, and it keeps kids away from the hot surface. Your clothes, however, will not be spared. You will still smell like delicious Korean BBQ when you leave the restaurant. Matjoa offers a la cart entrees, a la cart BBQ options, and AYCE lunch and dinner options. AYCE Option A for $24.95 Lunch/ $29.95 Dinner, which includes thin sliced beef brisket, chicken teriyaki, marinated beef bulgolgi, marinated spicy pork, spicy chicken bulgolgi and marinated beef short ribs. For $5 more, you can spring for AYCE Option B, which includes everything in Option A plus sliced boneless short rib, premium beef rib eye, and shrimp. You also get two beers with this option. Regardless of whichever AYCE option you choose, you will not go home hungry. The meats they offer are tender and fresh. If you get marinated options, the marinade elevates their already juicy meat. Matjoa has been maintaining social distant seating since March. They provide paper menus and individually wrapped pens for bill paying. The both times I've dined in, I have not been disappointed in my experience. I will definitely dine here again and I highly recommend to anyone looking for high quality Korean BBQ. read more

This was just okay, my review is gonna be long so bear with me. First, the service was AMAZING! Our server and all of the runners were fantastic. Like beyond fantastic. Now, why the 3 stars? The menu almost forces you to do AYCE. We are big Korean bbq people & have been many times over the years & the threat of the "excess charge" was stressful. Next, the brown paper? I've never been to k bbq where you had to cook on brown paper. It made all of the meat gray & not appealing. The limited side offering, the only vegetable was covered in cheese & that was it. The egg was good, the lettuce wraps were good but outside of that- no additional choices. Finally, the menu options. There are nearly no gluten free options, they told me they usually have gf soy sauce and were "just out" right now. Then they brought me a "safe sauce" I started eating & about 15 min later came and apologized that it was NOT safe. our server was very apologetic and checked on me several times but I'm suffering now so that sucks. Like I said, the service was amazing, the kitchen even offered to make me a side of japchae and then they made another one after the first one was covered in the "unsafe sauce." I didn't ask for a discount but one would have been nice after that. Especially since we shared we drove almost an hour to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I hope they start allowing the cooking on the grills, that was just a huge miss. I hope they restock the GF sauce & maybe add a ponzu or something. We still tipped 20% & made the most of our night but I felt compelled to write an honest review for those in my situation, or others used to the grill. read more

Really good food and great service. Fiona was the best. We come here every time we visit St. Pete. read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

Starting to go down hill. Food was okay and they forgot the meat. The mushrooms look like meat and maybe they thought they tricked me. Got sat a table in the very back that looked like a dungeon from a very old 1970s very low ceiling house. Very very dark room and had to use a flashlight to see the menu. Maybe that was hide the fact that there was no real meat in the dish. No windows, dark, drabby, musty smelling. I mean this room had all of the negatives you could ever imagine. They are busy so not really sure what they do with all of their money and it 100% doesn't go back into the restaurant seating areas. read more

We've heard great things about Matjoa from our friends, and finally made the trip here. The drive isn't bad coming from downtown Tampa area, roughy 20 mins. We ordered the all you can eat premium option. The marinate on the galbi and bulgogi were savory and not too salty with amazing flavor. The un-marinated meats are where it's at. The short rib, ribeye, and filet were ridiculous good. The sides dishes are so good. Daikon radish and lettuce wraps. Banchan is fresh and tasty. Something unique is that they have a pickled onion side dish which pair well with all the meats. Also a full liquor bar! Overall, the meats are high quality, and the best you'll get in Tampa area for kbbq. Service is fast and the grill is on a roller next to the table which I found way better than in the middle of the table (too much smoke in the face). They keep capacity to 50% for covid precautions. read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

My favorite Korean restaurant in this area. Best food, service, and atmosphere. I love their soups, japchae, bulgogi, and galbi. Banchan is always really good here. Consistent and good quality. read more

Y'all ain't even ready. First off, let's discuss the staff. Each person we met was kind and accommodating. Joe was so willing to go over the menu with us and explain everything. Each wait staff that came up checked in to see how we were doing, if we needed anything, etc. Joe recommended a few things to us and we got: Crab rangoons- BEST, MOST FLAVORFUL crab rangoons I've ever had and they are one of my favorite comfort foods so I've had....a few in my day. Wings- Joe said these wings would ruin every other wing for me and HE WAS NOT WRONG. I will dream about these every day until I get to go back someday. Please don't go here and not get these crispy bits of heaven. Short ribs- I never had korean short ribs before and I'm sure any ones I ever have again will not measure up to these. I don't even care that they were hard to eat. I always get nervous that places won't live up to their hype on yelp/google reviews but Matjoa did FOR SURE. read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - short ribs - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

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Why 5 stars? Because we got our money's worth from the unlimited lunch experience. --- --- --- I left here in a full-on meat coma with no regrets. There were three options: A) The never-ending Korean BBQ choice where you could just keep requesting more meat until you passed out, but you were not allowed to take any home. B) The portioned out Korean BBQ meal where you could take home whatever you didn't eat. C) Regular plated entrees. I predictably went with Option A because I knew we likely wouldn't eat leftovers anyway and I will always choose the maximum amount when it comes to food. We went with bulgogi, ribeye, pork belly, short ribs and shrimp. The bulgogi and the short ribs were the standouts. The pork belly that was cooked longer was better. The ribeye was solid, but not spectacular, though definitely filling. And I probably could have done without the shrimp, which seemed to have a hint of lemon drizzled on top maybe? We enjoyed all of the sides - our son thought the corn and the eggs were amazing, but he happily munched away on anything we gave him. I asked our server when they opened and she said February. I cannot imagine something more challenging than trying to open a small restaurant in February of 2020. Bless these people and please patronize their business - they've been through a lot. If you're not exactly sure where to pull in, they share a parking lot with the Red Roof Inn. If you're heading west on Ulmerton from 275, you have to go just past it and then U-turn. So do that. read more

The restaurant was very smoky. They need to install ventilation. I liked the banchan and corn cheese but the bbq meat was tough and fatty. The jjampong was not particularly flavorful. It was lacking umami. A good stock could go a long way. The server brought the check before I asked for it and started taking plates off the table while we were still eating. I felt rushed out and the food was nothing to write home about. read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Banchan - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

One of the best korean bbqs and food around. We've been since opening day and we've seen the same faces and quality of service since day 1. Our first time there, they shared a grand opening dessert for us to celebrate everything going on. The other times we've gone we were always welcomed by staff. What stands out from most restaurant is that not only the food is delicious but the service and attention to guest is amazing. AYCE is amazing. Just come hungry. All korean bbqs come with your assorted banchan and kimchi's/pickles/radish etc. We've gotten AYCE and even the preset Meals for 2 and 4. You can not go wrong with whatever you get. Unless you don't want takeout, get the AYCE and spend extras for the option B for kalbi and marinated meats! We've also gotten take out from there and it's been wonderful. Jajangmyeon and japchae have been the best I've had. They both came with side banchan! Even though it's AYCE, you must try some of their options like Dolsot Bibimbap. Clay pot sizzling with rice and meat and veggies with their homemade bibimbap sauce. A MUST is their Korean Fried Chicken with hot sauce. There's no batter on the outside but it's crispy from the caramelization from the sauce! You won't regret it. The owners and staff have been so pleasant and always come to help customers for their first time or help cook and maintain your grill so you can spend time enjoy food! It's definitely been a pleasure to have a restaurant with not only great food but a welcoming staff! Side note: Try a jinro flavored soju (grapefruit or white grapefruit or yogurt) with cass or hite beer for in their somaek glasses while eating kbbq! You won't regret! read more

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This is the best Korean restaurant in our area. I cannot tell you how many times we have eaten here. My husband calls it happy food. The food is always tasty and delicious. Our go to appetizers are the Korean style hotdog, Tteokbokki and cheese corn. The grilling stations are great if you want to get the true Korean bbq experience. However, we tend to just order items a la crate cart now because the food comes out faster and is ready for us to devour immediately. The beef Bulgogi is excellent and the short ribs are delicious. Marinated perfectly! Don't forget to ask for lettuce to make wraps. We have tried a variety of the soups as well and they are quite good. The portions are huge and the prices are good. Some may complain about the service being slow or lacking, but that's not been a problem for us as we like to take our time. The food is definitely worth any wait you may experience. read more

The beef ribs were phenomenal!!!! I do think they serve a small portion of sides BUT their meat portions were WAY more than enough for two adults and two youth who devour Korean. read more

amazing food and service. will definitely come back with friends and family. great price point on fresh, quality ingredients to make a dream hot pot or bbq experience. read more

The food is good. Bring cash - otherwise be prepared to pay an additional fee. This fee is stated on the menu they give you and also at the front desk where you check in. Did not do the kbbq but ordered a la carte off the menu. We got the mandu, spicy pork bulgogi, and the japchae. We received complimentary ban chan - which I believe is complimentary with all meals.All the food was delicious and generously portioned. Minus one star because I received a flat soda to drink & it took a while for me to get someone to replace it with a different soda. The machine was probably out or low but they didn't seem too inclined to fix it at the time when we asked if they could re-up the machine. So erred on the side of caution and ordered a different drink as I didn't want to risk getting another flat soda. Minus another star because in the room we were sat at, it was just us and another table doing kbbq. Smoke filled the entire room. I wish they had better ventilation installed to prevent that from happening. But over all the food is delicious, the portions sized well and priced appropriately and the staff is kind. Would dine here again - but maybe take out instead of dine in lol. read more

Came here for dinner with a colleague due to the stellar rating and Matjoa lived up to the 5 stars . The waiter actually recommended what to order and it was delicious ( as well as the Korean beer) . We ordered short ribs and another beef dish I can't recall - excellent ! Great service and food - a must visit read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Short ribs - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

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Had lunch today here with my bf and a friend. It's actually a fairly large and spacious dining room with a full bar, and maybe 20 or more draft beer choices, and also outdoor dining as well. I was told that it's packed in the evening, and hearing that, was surprised we were the only ones there at 12:30pm. We ordered off the lunch menu, mostly 'bowls', and ordered an appetizer of Korean corn dog out of curiosity, and shared everything family style. We selected Galbi short ribs, Beef Japchae, and Spicy pork Bulgogi, all served with rice underneath, and a couple fried dumplings. The short ribs were my favorite, slightly chewy, perfectly seasoned, and a generous serving. The spicy pork was very flavorful, and the beef japchae was just okay. I felt it was bland and missing something to make it taste great, plus it was served over rice...noodles over rice? Mine taste better. They could have kept the fried dumplings, as the filling was mushy. The corn dog was very crispy on the outside, maybe panko crusted cornbread and inside a hot dog with mozzarella cheese. It was okay, and I guess I can say I've had it now. Service could have been more attentive, considering we were the only table, and had to get up and ask for more napkins, gochujang, and a fork. read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Korean corn dog - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

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This place shares the same parking space with Red Roof Inn and it can be a little tricky trying to find parking but once you do, you're golden. We had a party of 6 and were seated immediately on a Friday night. We all decided on AYCE for $30 and the quality of meat could not be beat. I've had other AYCE KBBQ but they charge close to $40 per person for the same amounts of meat. They also had a lot of sides that came with and a steamed egg for each two persons! I was shocked at how much came with the AYCE. They ran out of udon that day so I wasn't able to order that a la carte but everything else was delicious and the service was on point. The ventilation did not come on until we were halfway into our meal so we left smelling like KBBQ but I don't mind because it was a good experience! read more

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What's up guys so I like trying new places always and I decided to go to Matjoa Korean BBQ and I'm glad I did. As I get seated and look at menu I have no idea what most of this stuff is which was ok but it didn't help the staff is really Korean and don't know much English lol. Good thing is they are super helpful and they brought out another staff member that did know English. The food is greaaaaat! Honestly at first I was thinking what did I get myself into but man I'm glad I came here! I had the Korean BBQ ribs which were marinated very well and what's cool is you can choose either for them to cook it or you cook it yourself. It was fun to cook it yourself and you can cool it to your own perfection. They also have a all you can eat from the menu for 2 hours time limit which is cool they have good quality food. read more

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I bit overpriced for the same food you can get off streets of Seoul. Their food is flavorful but nothing special as many Korean restaurant like the one in 66th near 54 but at lower prices. The service here is not as fast or caring enough to check if you have enough rice or needing water. Even theirs drinks are bit high too especially the flavored Soju. The bartender said it is family owned and he is a son In law. Been here twice now, the first with my UK colleagues and the last with my office staff of three. Altogether I would had given them a three star yet that wouldn't be fair as I sound like I am bias. So 4 stars seems fair. read more

I stopped by on a Saturday for a late lunch (party of 4) and we were seated immediately. The servers are friendly and quick with getting us our banchan (side dishes) and our mandu (fried dumplings) appetizer. We got the AYCE (all you can eat) Option B and since we arrived after 2:30pm the price was $41 each (lunch was about $5 cheaper). For the quality of food I think it was well worth the amount! We enjoyed everything we ordered and it did not take them long to get us our new meats each time we asked for more (three meats come out at a time). I love being able to cook at the table with friends, it's such a fun experience and a good place for a date night. read more

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Went here for my 21st birthday and had Rachel as my server. Absolutely incredible. The ambiance is cute and lively, and the food is exceptional. All you can eat BBQ has died out in a lot of places post COVID, but not Matjoa!!! read more

This seems to be one of a few Korean BBQ restaurants in the area that I could find so I decided to try it out. They have grill options and non grill options. I definitely prefer the restaurant option unless you have a big party. Part of the problem with the grilling section is a lack of ventilation. I think the ventilation system needs an upgrade because it gets very smokey in there. The food was great and so was the service. They offer a wide range of food and everything seems to be very delicious. I do wish they didn't limit you on the side dishes. I love the side dishes as much as the main course and wish they'd give you a little bit more. Overall I do recommend trying this restaurant out since the food is amazing! read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Korean side dishes - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

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Been meaning to try this place and definitely will be going back. The atmosphere as soon as you go in is welcoming and comfortable . The waiter I had was patient and kind. Everything has great flavor and for me to do take out everything was fresh. Portion was great. read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Korean Hot Dog, Side dishes, Tteok-bokki - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

Moving from Atlanta I'm so glad we found this gem! Husband and I stopped by here last minute on a Sunday evening and it was packed! However, we luckily got seated quickly! It's not as good or as advanced as the KBBQ joints in heavily Asian-populated cities, but definitely will do! My husband and I checked out the menu and decided to do AYCE option B for the variety of beef. The marinated galbi is on the very sweet side. We had the brisket but I wasn't a fan, I think the quality of meat used was very cheap. (Brisket is my usual go-to but definitely not here- we sadly couldn't even finish it!) Overall, the food and the service is good, definitely can't wait to check this place out for their regular entrees. So happy to have found a Korean spot so close by! read more

Very good Korean BBQ, my go to is the Spicy Pork, but everything is good. I have not tried cooking myself, but it is available as an option. Definitely worth trying. read more

I think overall this is a pretty solid option for AYCE KBBQ in the Tampa area. If you are on the St. Pete side of the bay, this means you don't have to go to Tampa for decent stuff. In terms of pricing, it is pretty comparable to all the other places. It is nice to see even in their cheaper option, they have a decent amount of meat selections. I also like how they are keeping up with the times and offering corn cheese as a side item. However, there are some things I hope they can improve on. The banchan portions are really small compared to other places. It kinda makes the eating experience a little underwhelming without a good amount of quality banchan. The meat quality is also sometimes hit or miss. On our first round, we got some great cuts of pork belly and thin sliced brisket. However, in subsequent rounds, some of the brisket and pork belly became overly fatty with very little meat. So in short, I think this is a decent place to go to. I hope that over time, they will continue to up the quality and standard of food and maintain consistency :) read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - The steamed egg, solid choice :) - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

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Legit Korean food, best I have had in the Tampa area. Didn't get bbq, look ok but opted for daganitang , dukboki and la kalbi on rice, all very good, especially daganitang. Dukboki had like smoked paprika added to the sauce , usually pretty close minded about any edits to dukboki but somehow smoked paprika works really well and doesn't make it taste less authentic. Plaza super depressing but ignore the exterior, the foods a oasis in an otherwise deserted Korean food scene... read more

Service was poor from the start. We walked in and waited to be seated. Someone yelled from the back of the restaurant that it would be just a minute. Fine. But when the hostess came over, she stood about 15 feet away from us, not exiting the dining room to greet us. She yelled "2?" then she turned around, stuck her arm out behind her (did she mean follow me? Or stay there? We still aren't sure...) and walked all the way across the dining room, and waved us over to our table from across the room. After that we waited about 5 minutes to be greeted by our waiter, which is forgivable but irksome after the poor greeting we received. We ordered the all you can eat option. All of the meat was decent, but the beef bulgogi was our favorite. The sides were alright, if not a bit underwhelming. The corn in the "cheese and corn" was incredibly undercooked. Service throughout the meal was lackluster. We were not asked if we wanted refills of anything but the meat. Our waiter didn't come by to refill my fiancés coke and towards the end of our meal, the hostess from earlier came to the table and filled his glass back up with water without asking. She also dumped the rest of our raw meat (we had only cooked and eaten a little more than half of it so far) on our grill without saying a word. Before she walked over, my fiancé and I had been discussing which of the three meats we wanted to cook up next. We had decided on the chicken but...the hostesses seemed to have other ideas. Maybe she was trying to hurry us out? Either way, we were disappointed she did that since we couldn't eat all the meat before it got cold. I also want to mention that this was our first time going to Korean barbecue and nothing was explained to us. The waiter came over once and turned our grill to very low heat without telling us. The only reason we would ever go back to this place is to try the beef bulgogi entree, as that meat really was tasty. But it will be a while before I'm willing to deal with the poor service again. read more

Hoped for Better The reviews have been pretty good, so we decided to give it a try. The place was busy when we got there and only 2 servers were working. So there was a lot of waiting. I understand that this isn't necessarily the server's fault, but it's not my problem that they don't put on enough staff. Atmosphere is basic to non-existent. We started with the Mandu dumplings. They were a little overcooked and the filling was a little bland. The accompanying dipping sauce helped. For mains my wife had the Chicken Teriyaki which was very good and tender. I had the Beef Short Ribs (Galbi) dinner which the server called the best item on the menu. They were pretty good, but overly greasy. Accompanying the entrees was a bowl of rice and a cold platter of small sides like kimchee. Portions were large, so we had some leftovers. I was also a little displeased with the pricing. When we got the bill there was a 4% surcharge for credit cards. This seems a bit much since they probably get charged around 2.5% by the credit card company. There was no advance notice about this on my menu. I looked at some other menus and there was a peel-and-stick sticker saying that there is a credit card surcharge with no percentage mentioned. I also didn't like an upcharge for the beef Mandu dumplings over the vegetable ones, again not noted on the menu. Food was generally pretty good, but I won't be in a hurry to return. read more

This was my first time having Korean bbq and this was fabulous. The portions were massive and full of flavor. Will definitely return and recommend read more

We were invited here by a Korean friend who had invited about 8 of us. All of us inexperienced Korean food eaters. We all loved it. She had ordered the all you can eat meat with chicken for me. Our friend did all of the meat grilling while we snacked on all of the awesome side dishes. There was eggs almost made into a custard, corn with some kind of melted cheese, fish pancakes that tasted nothing like fish but were amazing. We had kimchi, of course, and a bit of potato salad, some kind of green, pickled cucumbers and I think pickled eggplant. We started with miso soup. And each got a small container of sticky rice. There were lettuce pieces and thinly sliced turnip, both used as wraps for the meat. Wasn't cheap but it was very good. And service was great. I was sorry to read other reviews saying they had bad service. Ours was excellent but it was early, around 5pm. Will definitely be back. read more

I would give 1000 stars if I could. I traveled from Port Charlotte just to try this place and it was well worth the trip! The amount of food and the quality was more than I could have anticipated and my husband and I walked out with very happy bellies! If you are anywhere in the area, this is a MUST! read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

Excellent Korean bbq. Staff was very friendly and the head chef/manager was very pleasant and informative. The Banchan was great. We tried brisket, kalbi (short ribs), and Japchae and all were outstanding. Highly recommended. read more

Matjoa is serving up delicious Korean dishes and BBQ you don't want to miss! The dining room has been remodeled and was clean and comfortable. Staff was friendly. The BBQ is excellent! We tried the combo for 2 people and it could have easily fed more. It came with so many banchan! The salty, spicy pickles and steamed egg were my favorite but all were very good. Kimchi was balanced and crisp. The KFC is SO good, best I've had in Tampa Bay. Spicy chicken fried rice was also fluffy and delicious. They have a good selection of soju, too. Matjoa is definitely a new go-to for my Korean food cravings! read more

Matjoa Korean BBQ - Banchan! Cheese corn, steamed egg, pickles, kimchis and salads. Plus lettuce and radish for ssam (wraps). - Korean Near Me - Clearwater, Florida

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This is the best all you can eat Korean bbq place in pinellas county. They are generous with their banchan and always stop by the table to see if you need more meat or sides. read more

Found this place online, our cousins really enjoy Korean BBQ so we decided to give it a try. It definitely did not disappoint. Everything hit the spot. We didnt have to wait long read more

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Went here for my birthday dinner and it was great! Love that I finally found a decent Korean bbq place close by! I've been here 3 times and every time is good! I had lunch first, beef bulgogi and donkatsu (pork cutlet), delicious! And great serving sizes!! I came back for a Korean corn dog and japchae, so good and the jaochae portion was huge! Then for my birthday we did the kbbq with 15 guests, the service was great they kept the sides coming and the meat was very good quality! It was the first time my cousins had Korean and they loved it. We all had a great time it's my favorite Korean place right now! I'll be back! read more

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