Manna Restaurant

Manna Restaurant CLOSED! Will be reopening under new ownership as K-​Town BBQ

Tried this place for the first time last Friday, and was pleasantly surprised! We got seated right away and the woman who served us was very nice. We ordered the beef tofu soup and the bulgoki soup and they were both delicious!
Will definitely be going back!

I came here for lunch with a friend and got seated right away. I ordered the kalbi lunch box and my friend got the spicy pork. We got soup and water right away and the soup was very clean and had wintermelon in it.
Now onto the main dish, the lunch box came with several side dishes that included: japchae, kimchi, salad, tofu, potatoes, bean sprouts, an Asian pancake, and rice. Most of the sides were your average Korean sides so nothing fancy there.
At first, I was pretty disappointed in the kalbi because the first piece was ALL fat and thought all the pieces were like that, but they were all okay after that initial piece. It was charred just right with good flavors.
You can’t really go wrong with kalbi for $ 9.99. Most places for dinner is around $ 25 so I would come back for the lunch boxes, maybe try something different next time.

Food was good and flavorful. Price comes in a high range though. A Chap-​je noodle and a short rib order cost me nearly $ 40 here, as I can get the same dished, with all the side dishes like the kimchi, fish cake, sprouts, … With only $ 30 at Gangnam tofu house on Thornton and they taste just as good!

$ 9.99 lunch box. It is ok but I think I can get something better & cheaper in the neighborhood. Over, pretty nice.

What a let down! I was super excited to eat here for a couple of reasons… I can walk here from my job in 5 minutes and I haven’t had Korean food since I moved here from Hawaii 10 years ago. So I’ve been waaaay overdue.
I came here for their lunch specials because according to the reviews I’ve read, it’s worth it. Maybe for some people it is, but sure was not for me. The waitress that served me was very nice, I asked her what her recommendation was. Bbq thin beef or spicy pork. She has suggested I get the bbq beef so I went with that.
Shortly after I ordered my food, the waitress had brought me a bowl of soup. I thought it was miso or something but the smell definitely was not miso nor the taste. I think it was daikon soup, but regardless of what it was it smelled like sweaty socks and tasted just like it smelled. I’ve never consumed sweaty socks, but can’t imagine the taste would be that far off from this soup. Just terrible. At least to my tastebuds it was…
Within 5 minutes my food came out in this elaborate bento box full of little goodies. It looked and smelled amazing but sadly the taste just wasn’t there. The beef was extremely overcooked and rubbery and it didn’t taste fresh at all. The japchae that came with it was super oily and tasted like the only seasoning they used for it was black pepper. The salad had way too much dressing, though tasty, was just too much. I like to actually see and taste the lettuce and feel the crunch… That wasn’t happening. The sweet potatoes were alright and the fish cake strips were just not for me… The pickled sprouts, the kimchi and the rice were the only decent tasting items in the whole meal! The food really was terrible… And I couldn’t force myself to eat it so I left hungry!!! Leaving a restaurant hungry and wasting money on a really bad tasting meal are never good things!
Do yourself a favor and skip this place. I’m sure there is better Korean food in the area… Hell, the little Korean spot in the mall is probably better than this place! The service was ok, the food just is not. Now I get to go back to work… Hungry. Yay

This place sucks. I’ve been here a couple times in the past and the food was decent but things have really gone downhill since then.
My yukgaejang was downright off putting — burnt and powdery. The squid and pork was super overcooked and salty and the galbitang tasted nothing like galbitang.
When we told the waitress that the yukgaejang was terrible she apologized and asked if we wanted it remade. I had already lost my appetite and let her know I didn’t want it. She apologized again and just left it on the table. When the bill came around, they didn’t bother removing the untouched yukgaejang from the bill and didn’t even bother to ask if we wanted a to go box. Really?
Long story short, never again. There are way too many subpar Korean spots in the area to go to this awful one.

Just FYI, lunch specials are now 8.99, not 7.99 as previous reviewers mentioned. Place is clean and tidy. Food is decent. I’ll probably come back in the future.

I have to say that this is probably the best kbbq
i have been to in the bay area, and believe me, i have been to almost all of them. （jang su jang, tobang, yakiniq, gooyi gooyi, palace and afew etc etc etc…）obviously u can’t compare bay area kbbq with LA kbbq, it’s just different world.
portion wise, you will get alot meat to grill here than those kbbqs in santa clara/​Sunnyvale （not including those all u can eat ones obviously）, the combo we got with 2 meat options are actually enough for the two of us, which is surprising.
flavor wise, meat is not overly marinated, which is a good sign, some places over marinate their meat so they either doing it to adopt the American taste bud or trying to hide something about their meat.
quality of the meat: really good, especially their short ribs, definitely good quality cuts and good grade cows, you can see from the marbling and the texture of it.
smoke control is good, its kind of like a charcoal grill so your meat will automatically taste better than those so called kbbq
places that only use portable gas burners.
why 4 star, i didn’t think the bean paste soup was done the right way, it was kind of watery, although still very flavourful tho, and i don’t remember seeing any interesting cuts like intestines or tripes, but no big deal. i can get those unlimited from yakiniq or palace, definitely can’t see myself going back to tobang or gooyi gooyi that kind of kbbq anymore, really get a portable gas burner and grill plate you can out beat them at home for much cheaper!
FYI: they request 18% tips for table top grills. which is understandable.
will be back to test the consistentcy.

Was pretty good, the food was great, but service could have been a little bit more attentive. The meats were great and I was able to cook them to perfection. …well my perfection. I love that you can cook your own meats or have them do it. Will make a return!

I normally do not complain about any restaurant even if the food is not good. But this restaurant is really one of the kind. Bad food. Bad service and insanely over priced. — 2 slice of rib is 30.99!
The beef plate bulgugi tasted very dry (almost like jerky) and salty. The plate and cup are very dirty. I had to ask the waitress to replace them for me twice and they seemed to be very careless.

I’ve only ever eaten here for lunch, since their lunch Bento box is the best deal. You get Kimchi, rice, a piece of pancake, potato/​beansprout side and your choice of meat (for $ 7.99) and I always get the Kalbi Bento box. The BEST part is getting the soup that’s included with your meal. It’s super light and has bits of daikon… and SOOO good! I think they changed hands last year or so, which was kind of unfortunate since I had frequent visitor cards and couldn’t use them.
I’ve had better Korean food, but this place is close by, fairly priced and pretty good. Plus the people are nice and it’s usually not super packed.

It has been 4 years since I wrote my review for Manna Korean restaurant! It’s time to update this and bump up a star! This updated review is solely for their lunch specials.
I have always indulge this place during my lunch break from hogging on their lunch special pricing. It’s always in effect from Monday to Friday 11:00am to 2:30PM!
Their lunch special bento box comes with sides (jap chae, tofu, sweet potatoes/​yams, sprouts, and a piece of Korean pancake, sorry there isn’t any seafood in this!) served with a bowl of rice in a metal. You can choose different option for lunch special for $ 7.99! I guarantee this will make you full for a low, unbeatable price. I have not seen any Korean restaurants this cheap for lunch. Plus, they do serve in large portions.
–Grilled teriyaki
–Chicken, marinated beef
–Marinated spicy pork
–Pan fried mackerel fish
–Beef short ribs (my favorite)
–Japchae clear noodle
–Sauteed vege & squid.
There’s also lunch special on tofu soups with a choice of vegetable, kimchi, beef, seafood or combination with your desire level of spiciness (plain, mild, regular, or spicy). Bi bim bap is also priced the same. Bulgoki soup (marinated beef, clear noodle and mushroom) is $ 9.99, but I never try this one. Maybe next time?
Barley tea is also served. It may not be super authentic but gets the job done being full. Good food with huge portions for under $ 10. The ahjummas have okay service, but if you need their attention, you can press the bell on your side of the table! Totally Korean. Oh! Isn’t that me on the cover picture pointing at juicy KBBQ?!

The service was not good. I had to remind the waitress for the menu and the coke, but overall food was worth it.

We were craving for some Korean food and wanted to try a new place. We decided to try Manna Restaurant, restaurant itself is pretty good and plenty of parking.
Service was good, food could be better. We ordered couple items.
Seafood Tofu Soup Mild — hmmm … it was good, but not excellent. Not as much seafood as other Tofu house.
Seafood Pancake — way too much flour, each bite was full of flour, lack of onion and other main ingredients.

Came here for dinner when visiting Newark and craving Korean BBQ. This place is located on a corner attached to a Chinese restaurant.
Staff was friendly and korean, and the food was good. The regular korean bbq meal — beef and chicken with rice. Also, I ordered rice cakes mild– but they came pretty spicy (maybe its just my low tolerance for spicy foods?).
Overall a solid dinner. The dinner can get expensive however for combo meat orders.
Definitely authentic korean food in Newark!
The reason I give 4 stars, and not 5 is because of the absurd pricing. Beef, chicken and rids combination were 72 $+.

We ordered a lunch specials in a box and it was great. Generous portion and the food is really good. The pork is tasty and tender. The waitress was friendly and polite. The place is clean and surrounding is nice too.
We would come back for more…

Pros:
–Authentic Korean BBQ
–Gives good sized servings and ban chan (sides)
–Fast and friendly service
–Clean and organized environment
–Take out orders
Cons:
–Expensive dinner meat plates
–Weekend dinner wait time is too long
–Skimps out plates when excessively crowded
Tips:
–Come during lunch for the big and reasonable priced bento boxes (Save $ and still get BIG portions)
–Arrive earlier for dinner to grab seating
Food to Try:
–Bibimbap
–Lunch Special Tofu Soups
–Lunch Specials Bento Boxes (Short Ribs, Teriyaki Chicken, Spicy Pork: P)

Let’s start with the positives: This place is in a large plaza full of Indian restaurants. Plenty of parking. Lunch specials are available. There’s a cool aisle of different colored blocks of light dividing the seating area in half. The service is good, and the place is decently clean.
But the food, I don’t recommend. I don’t plan on coming back because the food was really lacking in flavor, and very little food provided (compared to other Korean places). Hardly any banchan (cucumbers, kimchi, fishcake, sweet potato, some unidentifiable brown squishy stuff) and no miso soup with my Bi Bim Bap ($ 8.99), which includes 6 different veggies (carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts, spinach, radish, and some questionable brown stuff), beef, and egg over rice. Large bowl, but much smaller portion than I expected. In fact, my coworker ordered Bi Bim Bap with no beef, but mine practically looked like her order — I hardly had any beef! One of the veggies was brown, crunchy, and squiggly in appearance. Sounds appealing huh? I thought it highly resembled worms…

My coworkers took me here for lunch since it’s close to work. I haven’t had Korean food in a while, so I was pretty excited! They told me that everyone who goes here for lunch gets the bento box, so that’s what I got. For $ 7.99, I got a huge plate of chicken teriyaki, salad, rice, kimchi, a piece of pancake, tofu, noodles, and potatoes. I couldn’t finish it all, and I had to bring the back home as leftovers!
The service is alright — not superb, but definitely not lacking. The décor was simple, and the restaurant was clean. I can see why this place is crackin’, especially during lunch hours. I’m glad I found a place for decent Korean food in this area besides Lee’s Tofu House!