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    Red Pepper Korean BBQ

    3.4 (62 reviews)
    ModerateKorean, Barbeque
    Closed 10:30 am - 8:00 pm

    Red Pepper Korean BBQ Photos

    Business Info

    RED PEPPER KOREAN BBQ ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Red Pepper Korean BBQ

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    After removing the bones.. and again, this was on a smaller salad plate.

    Sad, but I probably won't be returning next time I'm 'ono for a KalBi plate. Service was friendly, but very disappointed in the serving size. $28.+ for a KalBi plate, and the pieces were already cut up, and in such a small amounts too. I was shocked-- and these photos are on a salad plate. Honestly, if this is a regular, how much is plated on a mini?! Again, service was friendly, and my daughter did enjoy her seaweed soup. I was refunded.

    BBQ Chicken and Fish Jun Combo Plate
    Justin H.

    TL;DR A solid Korean plate lunch option in the heart of Manoa. ----- I'm a bit surprised by the current rating for Red Pepper. It seems rather low. Perhaps the critics here are not benchmarking this restaurant against similar offerings in the same space. In my opinion, Red Pepper deserves a 4-star rating. I'm submitting a 5-star review, as I am trying to give it a bump. My usual order here is a combination BBQ chicken and fish jun combo plate, which I always enjoy. Yes, it's about $20, but that's reasonable given the amount of food provided: two pieces each of the chicken and fish jun, a hefty portion of white rice, and four sides. I'm a pretty big eater, and I can typically split this into two meals unless I'm dying of starvation. I recently tried the tofu soup, which was also quite good. For sides, I've been enjoying the potato salad lately. I always have kimchi in my fridge, so I usually like to order the choi sum, jap chae, and then either the bean sprouts, tofu, or egg rolls.

    Fish jun mini
    Mychel E.

    The food was decent enough. Better than I expected for the location. The customer service was great! I would stop here again if working in the area.

    Mira S.

    I was in the area so I decided to pop in for my baseline meal, a mini kalbi plate with glass noodles and kimchi cucumbers. The food was ready pretty quickly, which probably means it was already sitting in a warmer. I'd probably ideally give it 3.5 stars if I could--I might go back, but it wouldn't be my first choice, and it's a bit better than 3 stars but probably not 4. The beef was lean and okay, but it seemed maybe overcooked, there was something unusual about it that I didn't love but I can't place. The kimchi cucumbers had probably been made a while before because they weren't as crispy and crunchy as I'd prefer. The rice was good and there was some extra kalbi sauce on it which was nice. The glass noodles were good, nice texture and consistency. It's in a shopping center so there's lots of free parking.

    Mini meat jun plate w/ 3 choices vegetables (no rice)
    Ruby S.

    Gosh! It's been 15 years since I've been in Mānoa Valley. Wonderful to dine in and partake lunch here which opened in 2021. Can't beat free parking these days. This place was quite busy ranging from youth to elderly including a few construction workers enjoying their lunch. There were four seaters with tables available inside. One male cashier took orders and payments in advance, inquired if we want fork or chopstick. A female worker asked what kind of vegetables you'd like to have. Assorted veggies available from mild corn to spicy kim chee. Cool to see decent size tamago as a choice for side or veggie that you'd normally spot at an okazuya. Yes, there's kamaboko and green onion in each sliced tamago. Mini meat jun plate included a choice of 2 vegetables and 1 scoop rice or choice of 3 veggies only. Jap chae: Fresh glass noodles made and seasoned to perfection. Seaweed: Pickled seaweed was soft with perfect crunch from cucumbers, onions and carrots. Tofu: Firm to my liking. If the tofu doesn't break when lifted with hashi or chopsticks, then it passed the firmness test. Meat jun: Crispy egg flour batter on the outside, piping hot when bit on inside, while beef is moist and tender. Paper is placed under meat jun to soak up excess oil. Mini gimmari advertisement on Tempura plate caught my eye. Will need to order this next time. Visit here if you prefer to get away from the hustle and bustle of Honolulu and still feel like a townie.

    Regular Hamburger Steak
    Alvin A.

    After my daily workout, I felt like picking up Korean style BBQ for dinner. Originally I called Peppa's in Makiki Village. Tried calling in their number, but a message kept saying that the voicemail hasn't been set up yet. I guess they were busy with walk-in orders and/or the phone line was busy. Ended up calling the next closest location which is in Manoa Marketplace. As I arrived, the restaurant name has now been changed to Red Pepper Korean BBQ. Almost the same set up, except now they serve Boba Tea! I like the fact that egg maki was available, as other establishments tend to run out during after work hours.

    Kalihi and bbq chicken plate

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    1 year ago

    $21.98 for my meatjun plate. Danggggggg. Sides are great, meatjun is super flavorful and delicious but everything is getting so expensive.

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    3 months ago

    Love their Kalbi plate! Kim chee is bomb too!! They give a good portion and dining area is always clean.

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    11 months ago

    Very similar to Yummy's and Pearl's, basic Korean take out with banchan sides to choose from. A little pricey but so is everywhere else's

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    8 months ago

    Did this place change ownership? The food quality was never good, but it's really bad now.

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    4 months ago

    Good food but really expensive. Only go here because there's not many other options in manoa. Portions are small for how much you pay.

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    1 year ago

    Great Korean plates and love the tofu soup. Friendly service and bright and clean area to sit and eat.

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    Korea Garden - Beef sampler (tongue, brisket, marinated flank, marinated rib eye (burried under all the other meats)

    Korea Garden

    4.6(349 reviews)
    2.0 mi

    Excellent food and service, so good we went twice in 3 days! Friendly service and clean environment…read more!

    This KBBQ is Seoul good. You might even say Korea Garden is my Seoul-mate!…read more The birthday extravaganza continues! More fire, more good eats, and more soup! We got the seafood pajeon, cold noodles in beef broth, meat jun, galbi-jjim, steamed egg pot, and bibimbap. No actual grilling was done but we weren't exactly here for that. We came here to try meat jun and ended up getting a little bit of everything else. Let me tell you something... the galbi-jjim here alone is enough to pay them a visit. If you don't know what galbi-jjim is, let me explain it real quick. Galbi-jjim is a popular Korean dish of tender, braised short ribs, typically beef or pork, cooked in a savory-sweet soy sauce-based liquid with garlic, ginger, and often fruits like pear or apple for sweetness and tenderizing. It was perfectly savory and saucy, fall-off-the-bone tender, and I want to scream just thinking about it. The first bite alone had me sitting back in my seat. Had I been wearing a hat, I would have taken it off and held it over my heart. It was that good. And since it was my birthday, they brought over a complimentary seaweed soup and a tower of Choco Pies. They even sang Happy Birthday to me and made me blush. Solid eats and excellent service. The parking situation seems nerve racking but they have an attendant at both sides of the restaurant that helps stop traffic to help get you out of there which I found pretty cool!

    Photos
    Korea Garden - Nicely decorated

    Nicely decorated

    Korea Garden - Hot stone pot bibimbap

    Hot stone pot bibimbap

    Korea Garden - Cold noodles in beef broth

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    Cold noodles in beef broth

    So Gong Dong Restaurant - Sundubu and meatchun combo (spicy)

    So Gong Dong Restaurant

    3.9(766 reviews)
    2.2 mi
    $$

    Food: The food was good. I had no complaints. I ended up…read moregetting Meat Jun and Seafood Pancake (sharing the pancake). In total it was about $39. Taste wise the meat jun with the sauce was not sweet. But I enjoyed it regardless. The quantity was great! Along with the unlimited banchan I was a happy camper that got to take extras home. Service: Great! I called 2 hours beforehand on a Friday for a reservation for a party of 8 + a baby stroller and they accommodated us wonderfully. They also allowed us to split the check at the register by items. They gave e water as needed as well. Atmosphere/Ambiance: Casual. Where you feel you can go into after a long day and have a good meal. Would I go back again? Yes. :) My only regret was that I ate my food and enjoyed the company I was with, forgetting about taking photos for this review.

    So Who is So Gong Dong? hehe. So Gong Dong Restaurant has…read morebeen my favorite lately for my SoonDuBu fix, ever since having lunch here with a Yelp friend, I've been back with the hubby, momma, sister and other friends. I really enjoy the Korean comfort foods! 4 stars for the food, soups, and ban chan, 5 stars if the service was great. Typical service you will get at a Korean spot but no complaints. Just gotta be patient for ban chan refills or if you need anything else, I don't expect much just happy that I get to have my Korean food. During this recent Saturday visit, I decided to go here for our late lunch, after hiking Koko Head Trail & Makapuu. It was about 4:30 pm, we were the only ones there, but it filled up pretty quick an and they do have many take out and Uber/Door Dash orders. My favorites here are the combo set, choice of soondubu (combination, kim chee, spam, beef, sausage, clam,) & either meat jun, fried mandoo, bulgogi, yellow corvina, seafood jun, or BBQ chicken. The combo use to be $20.55 my first time but now went up to $23.55, hence the increase, it is still a great deal, this meal comes with rice and 5 different ban chan. This combo was more than enough for the both of us. My favorite is the spam soondubu ( yes. who picks Spam right?! hehe) & the seafood Jun. Although it so hard to decide since all the choices are good, I will have to visit again for the other selection. The other half and I cannot eat an entire combo set by ourselves. I love the ban chan, especially the daikon & kim chee, so fresh and crispy! When I first dined here, I was surprise to see they give you a fresh egg to crack in your soondubu soup, I am use to the egg already in there. We always have leftover soondu soup which I take home and add to my Korean ramen the next day, so good! Support this local mom & pop restaurant, So Gong Dong has been around for the longest time just only recently I've discovered it. I will be back for the next Korean soondubu, ban chan fix!

    Photos
    So Gong Dong Restaurant - Inside

    Inside

    So Gong Dong Restaurant - Meat jung

    Meat jung

    So Gong Dong Restaurant

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    Seoul Cook - My lunchtime special

    Seoul Cook

    3.3(59 reviews)
    3.3 miDowntown
    $$

    Right next to H-Mart is Seoul Cook in Kaka'ako. I was starving after taking two back-to-back…read moreworkout classes nearby and my friend recommended we get food here and I'm so glad we did. First off, all the complimentary banchan (Korean side dishes). From the classic kimchi, fishcake, cucumber kimchi, and radish. And if you're dining in, just ask and you can get refills of whatever you want more of. If you're doing take out, they still give you all of the banchan!v We did dine-in but take out / online orders seemed popular. But I loved dining in because of the Ajumma here! She was so sweet and funny, and even made the perfect bite (radish kimchi on top of the meat jun, so the acid offsets the oily fried jun) and fed it to my boyfriend LOL. We got a ton of food! The seafood soondabu soup, seafood korean pancake, seafood bibimbap, meat jun, and zucchini jun. We had a lot of leftovers that we took home. The food was good but it's really the service and love that makes this a 5-star experience.

    Came in for the tofu soondubu lunch set and it totally hit the spot. The soup was rich, deeply…read moresavory, and comforting, with that perfect spicy kick you can adjust to your liking. The tofu was silky soft and fresh, soaking up all the flavor from the broth. The lunch set is a great value--you get soondubu bubbling hot, rice, and banchan that were all solid and well-seasoned. Portions were filling without being heavy, which makes it an ideal lunch option. Service was friendly and efficient, and the food came out fast even during lunch hours. This is definitely one of those places you crave when you want something warm, satisfying, and comforting. I'll absolutely be back for this again.

    Photos
    Seoul Cook - Interior of restaurant

    Interior of restaurant

    Seoul Cook - Banchan (sides)

    Banchan (sides)

    Seoul Cook - Inside

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    Inside

    ‘I'O Waikiki Korean BBQ Restaurant

    ‘I'O Waikiki Korean BBQ Restaurant

    3.9(176 reviews)
    2.3 miWaikiki
    $$$

    I came for the AYCE lunch special ($24.95) and we were seated really quickly. Overall, the service…read morewas fine, but it definitely could've been better. For the meats, the beef brisket and beef toro were the stars, but the beef chuck was slightly tough and dry. They were also out of bulgogi, which was disappointing. The pork had a really strong boar taint smell/taste, which completely turned me off from ordering any of the pork. We had to ask for more meat and banchan refills multiple times. There was usually a pretty noticeable lag before anything came out, which was frustrating for an AYCE spot. They also seemed to be selective about which banchans they would refill. They would bring more of the dishes like kimchi and cucumber, but when we asked for more tuna mac, they wouldn't give us any. It also looked like there were only two people working while there were probably around 10 tables during the Tuesday lunch rush, so I do think they were understaffed. If you're offering AYCE, the refills and service should flow a lot more smoothly. It felt like they were paying more attention the tables that selected a higher tier of AYCE. Not a terrible experience, but definitely not as seamless or enjoyable as I was hoping for.

    I tried their $29 lunch special and it was sooo worth it. The quality of the meat was honestly…read moreimpressive for the price. The brisket and beef belly (toro) were my favorites, super flavorful and cooked perfectly. It doesn't come with salad, egg, or soup, but you still get a solid KBBQ experience with just meat and banchan. If you're looking for something simple and satisfying, this is a great deal. Also, the restaurant is really spacious, which makes the whole experience feel more relaxed and comfortable. Would definitely come back for a quick KBBQ fix.

    Photos
    ‘I'O Waikiki Korean BBQ Restaurant
    ‘I'O Waikiki Korean BBQ Restaurant - Very marbled beef (I can't remember the name)

    Very marbled beef (I can't remember the name)

    ‘I'O Waikiki Korean BBQ Restaurant - Pork belly and Kalbi

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    Pork belly and Kalbi

    Red Pepper Korean BBQ - korean - Updated May 2026

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