Korea House

Delicious authentic Korean food. Prices are a bit high, but portions are large and banchan, for the most part, make up for it.
Will definitely be back again.

This is the place that always has our family always coming back to for no-​nonsense, good authentic Korean yakiniku (DIY grill), and quality meats.
And when you order two meat dishes, a complementary bowl of Doenjang Jjigae (Korean soybean paste stew) comes with in its black, cast iron bowl just bubbling with comfort food goodness. In that bubbling brew are whole anchovies, onions, tofu, and thick cuts of peppers that make for a light, tasty broth that I like eating with rice. It makes me feel like I’m eating on one of those Korean dramas where all the food is sprawled on a small table surrounded by people who may be related to me.
The brisket (#4 on the meat menu) is our absolute fav. We refer to it as the «finger meat» because of its digit-​like appearance. It’s lean yet very juicy, moist and naturally flavorful. We also ordered bulgogi (thinly sliced marinated beef), which cooks quickly, and the tripe (I don’t eat this stuff but my dad and niece just can’t get enough of it).
The service is pretty good for such a busy place, and we were served by one very nice, young man plus one semi-​friendly and one not-​so-​friendly women. It can get pretty steamy in there with outside humidity at record highs (they leave the front door open) and two grills going simultaneously, but it’s worth it. Generous portions, unlimited and tasty banchan (little side dishes of seasoned veggies and other Korean bites), and decent service make for a good meal.

Yummy. So much food. Came back for a second time and it was even better. Best Korean restaurant in town, best meal in a while honestly. Portions are very large, could never finish. Side dishes are plentiful and also delicious, fresh and different every time we’re here.

The food was okay, but the service was terrible! I had a dinner with my husband. The waitress was so rude and pushing us to order the food fast. My husband was not even sit down and look at the menu. The parking was limited in that area. The dinner was not cheap!

Once again Unilocaler’s are spot on!
The food… Not bad. If there is any common thread running through the food is that some dishes need a bit of sweetness. The portions are good! The kalbi while needing a touch of sweetness and perhaps more time to marinade was good. Same with the chicken, you want a bit more flavor. The side dishes were good but not great. Nothing wrong with them but I didn’t feel like asking for more. The quality of the meats was good — no complaints there. Some of the noodle dishes were overcooked. Overall not bad but not great food.
But let’s get to the real reason I give two stars and not three. TERRIBLE SERVICE.
Only the one man with the glasses was polite if not overworked. The rest of the ladies seemed like they really didn’t want to be there helping anyone! There was this calm looking lady that we thought might be nice but nope. I was informed that she was rude to one of the members in our party! Oh well, all the ladies are rude apparently!
So decent food with terrible service makes me give them 2 stars. As Emi said for another business, maybe they all need hugs or something because they are grouchy!!!
A hint for them, a smile gets better tips!

Don’t know why this place only has 3.5 stars… I totally enjoyed that. From the panchan, to the Kalbi tang to the yakiniku meat combo which says it serves 2 but really serves 4. We’ll be back for sure!!!

Although the kali tang is a bit basic, and the price raised to $ 10.95, I always like ordering it because it’s one of the few places I’m able to go to with ample parking and the food is served quickly to be able to make my time limited lunch. The soup is tasty, and there’s still lots of kalbi.
Also, when the group gets bigger, they have tables to fit all of us.
Service is always good and convenient.

My soon-​to-​be Korean family loves dining here, and if you know a thing or two about Koreans is that they can sometimes be too critical about everything… But is okay, because our K-​Dramas have taught us that it is in their nature… or borderline stereotyping…
However! I am happy that my Korean family is critical when it comes to food, because you know you will have a really good meal that you will be enjoying for the next 90 minutes! The reason why Korea House is their go to Korean Yakiniku is the quality of meat. My fiancé has also told me that Korea House meat quality is very good for the price you are paying for. Eating good and getting a bang for my buck? I say… OH YEAH!
It is definitely a great place for big parties and family style dining. Many varieties of banchan dishes arrive at your table with unlimited refills, but do not let your eyes fool you with those tasty side dishes! Do wait for the real meal to arrive or you will be too stuffed towards the end when trying to finish up those delicious pork bellies into your tummies!
Our family of 10 ordered 2 meat combination platters and a seafood noodle stew. This order was to feed 6 – 8 people the most, but oh boy, we had left over meat that we had to force ourselves to eat like there would not be another meal for days! Well, truthfully, it wasn’t that hard, because the meat was so good anyways! Our side dishes were nibbled through the meal, yet had a good amount left. I believe the mac salad and chive pancake was refilled twice… for me :)
If you are a big eater, I am sure this would not have been enough for you, so go ahead and get yourself another meat platter! You deserve to treat yourself!
Breaking down the price on the bill, it was roughly under $ 12-​$ 15 a person. The service can be awesome or really poor. It has never been consistent with the staff here. So I can see how many people are put off by it. I have come here numerous times and is always a game of chance with the staff. Parking is available on the front of the building, but very limited. If you are driving down Kapiolani Blvd towards Waikiki, you will see the parking lot first, before the building. It is tuck away from view by the building where Phở One and Tea Boss is.

This is my go-​to-​place for Korean food. Nothing beats the hot off the grill beef tongue, some hot rice and a cold beer! Came here with the family and was promptly seated, even though the place was packed. We ordered the beef tongue, marinated kal-​bi and the spicy octopus. Service was quick, the food and side dishes came promptly, our water cups were filled many times, the grill was changed when the first one became burnt from all the fat. I totally enjoy their Korean dishes and the quantity they give.

Authentic Korean place! I’ve been here many times before and have never been disappointed.
Atmosphere: Right off kapiolani tucked in kind of a hole in the wall place. Inside the place smells like korean bbq. Be prepared to have your clothes smell like bbq. Not super clean but what authentic korean place is!
Service: straight to the point. You grill your own meats. I actually prefer to do my own grilling.
Food: Great food. One of my go to places for korean bbq. I usually get the combination meat platter with stew. The banchan is plentiful and a large variety. It comes with beef tongue, beef brisket, and sirloin.
Intangibles: My favorite korean place in town.

My go-​to spot for K-​BBQ. Get the combination meat for $ 49 which includes a choice of soup– kimchi, makjjang or soondubu. I highly recommend the makjjang soup which is like a soy bean paste stew. You can share the meat between 2 – 3 people.
Taking off 1 star because of the service and sticky seats. Doesn’t stop me from going back though.

Great quality of food. Best Korean BBQ place ever in Hawaii that make you full with $ 25.
Service is not great as the food they provide.
I’ve been here for few times and it was horrible service at the first.
As they start remembering your face, they give you better service.
But it is worth to come eat the high quality bbq still

I loved the food! So why would I give this place 1 star, you ask? The food was amazing. Seasoned perfect, wasn’t dry, a lot of sides, I found a lot of good reasons to rate this place 5. But honestly, service sucked big time!
I’ve been to many places were service was so poor that I wouldn’t go there again, I wouldn’t even recommend it to anyone who wants to go and check it out themselves. Not worth it! This place is one of them.
I debated hard on this place. If not for the food, this place wouldn’t even get a star at all. We ordered Kal-​bi, beef tongue, seafood combo and soft tofu stew. The sides are refillable but prepare for wait. The night I went wasn’t busy at all, so I see no reason why they couldn’t just look at our table, to refill our drinks, give extra napkins, anything else we want to order, is that it, any sides we wanna get… Nothing! I never had bad service until that night. One of the ladies yelled at my friend for not turning off the grill and burning it. How the hell are we suppose to know which way to turn when there was no signs.
It’s such a shame when the place itself has good good food, but the workers are heartless and cold as ice.

The food here is superb. We had cow tongue, seasoned short rib & seafood combo with soft tofu soup. It comes with a variety of vegetables and everything was delicious.
So why is it one star you ask? The absolutely TERRIBLE a service. They did not come by to refill our drinks or ask us how we were doing. We pressed the «call» button on the side of the wall to get some attention and a lady came by. We asked her for a refill on our drinks and if she could change our grill because it was burnt black and she looked irritated at the fact that we needed her to do these tasks. Like come on lady, it’s your job. At the end of our meal, we did not know how to turn off our grill and we tried to get someone to do it for us. When we finally got that same lady to come by our table, she got extremely upset with us that we didn’t know how to turn it off. If I do not know how to operate a device which makes fire, I’m not gonna touch it. I do not want it to break and be told I have to pay for it and I sure as hell don’t want it to explode on me.
I was originally going to give this place three stars but because of that lady’s attitude. I’m sure if this place worked on their customer service, their star rating would would jump to a 4 or 5 but as of right now, the most I could give them is 1.

We ordered seafood combo plate, beef tongue plate and marinarate short ribs. Soft tofu stew.
The meat is really delicious but services is horrible… the waiters and waitress check on us only because we press the called button. Didn’t change the grill… it’s black and gross… refill only when we asked for it. Sad. Wish they are more attentive…
The grill is burning with smoke and we are done eating…
The lady came and point out here to turn it off and giving attitude… there no on and off button inside the square thing…
Finally instead of asking anything else the guy just came and give us the bill…
Hahaha OMG… what just happen???

Soondae kook here is still 5 stars without a doubt! Prices have gone up a little since my last review and it is now around $ 12 during lunch. Don’t come for this dish during dinner time though cause it gets SUPER expensive and the portions are the same.
Lots of ingredients in the soup, super spicy/​packs a punch, tons of tasty side dishes, and you’ll be so full and happy that you won’t even worry that there was a $ 2 increase. TRUST ME.
Once again, this review is for the soondae kook at lunch only. (:

The best food!!! Best spicey pork!!! Best sides!!! Best BBQ! The marinated short ribs YUMMY!!!

Stews galore! I was in search of a place that served gamjatang (pork bone and potato stew), and Unilocal led me here. In addition to the gamjatang, I also ordered the stir-​fried squid to share, and the husband had bibimbap. The gamjatang was absolutely delicious. Loaded with meaty pieces of bone. You have to work to get your meat for this dish, but it is absolutely worth it. The meat was fall apart tender. I ate probably only ¹⁄₃ of the dish and took the rest home. It lasted me another two meals. This stuff is awesome with rice. The squid was amazing as well. It was on the pricey side (~$ 22), but it was so good, I would gladly pay for it again. The banchans were pretty good, too. Surprisingly, my most memorable part of the meal was actually the ginger barley drink they serve at the end. I’ve never had it before, and it was a very nice way to end the meal. Slightly sweet, and very refreshing. The meal here was a bit on the expensive side, but it lasted us several meals, so I would say it was worth it. Service-​wise, the waitresses were very friendly and attentive. Great experience overall. This will definitely be a regular place for me.

The time i’m going to write a review is the day i had the worst service. If i judge korea house by just base on today they would of got «meh, I’ve experienced better» but i come to this place quite often and usually i’m a fan.
We went to restaurant around 8:45 pm, decide to have some late yakiniku thinking that it won’t be busy. i was wrong that day. this was first time ever where i had to wait outside because there was no seating. wow it was pack. we were thinking about going to other place but i know this place has good meat so we decide it to stay.
we got seated after 20 min of waiting. i saw one table leave after we got there in 10 min but 3 waitress was so busy from 3 large party that they didn’t even have time to clean the table. after i asked them can we sit and wait, they clean up the table.
it was large party of Japanese table, and large party of chinese table, and large party of korean table. i knew they were because i can hear them even i close my ear with my hand. they were celebrating their birthday and it was very loud. almost to the point they were trying to out speak each other. since they were requesting a lot of thing kept the waitress really busy they were running around like a mouse getting chase by the cat.
Soon as we could we order combination meat which cost $ 46.95 and they are mixed meat of 4 different type. I like yakiniku from this place because of the quality of the meat is good. they have fresh look meat and serve you a mountain full of tray. usually that meat combo is good for 2 people but 3 of us ate it and we were all full
usually the combo comes with the one hot stew and i asked the waitress 3 times if the soup is available and she kept saying yes but never brought it us. that how busy she was and she brought it after we were all done with the meat.
i understand that it is very busy restaurant that day but i think they should have little bit of better waitress system where one waitress focus on party and other can focus on smaller table. Since they were all over the place, service didn’t quite workout for them
i know it’s usually isn’t like this so i still give them i’m a fan. i do like coming here to eat yakiniku so you guy should try it.

Great lunch menu from 9:30 to 3:30!
I came here with my parents for a quick lunch before school. I love Kimchee Stew and I have had it from here before so I decided to try something different this time around. I ordered the Pork and Potato Stew and I thought it was okay but would not order it again. I found that there was too much going on and it was somewhat difficult to eat. As I was eating it, I was wishing it was Kimchee Stew! If you come here with your family or a friend, I would recommend ordering different types of things and sharing. That way you can eat a variety of things and split the cost. My parents and I ordered the Kalbi, Miso Stew, and the Pork and Potato Stew and we were stuffed.
Although, I was not crazy about my Pork and Potato Stew, this is my favorite spot for Korean food. The location is great and it’s not that busy during the day. I went around 11AM, so if you’re looking to try it out, try go around then. Oh, and I can’t exactly remember all of the pricing, but they were in the $ 8 — $ 12 range, which is not bad and comparable to other Korean Restaurants.