Seoul Garden BBQ Buffet

It’s surprising that this business lasted this long with so many AYCE korean BBQ places opening in OC since late 2000. I’ve been coming here with my high school homies and now I am 31. It’s like this restaurant is part of my teenage memories. Sadly, I don’t get to come here as often as I’d liked to, but I am a super loyal customer even to this day.
Sure, the food quality is not 5 star worthy and the interior decoration reminds you of 2^nd rate family buffet from the 90s, but there’s something so comforting about this place. It’s definitely not fancy but it’s super inviting and relaxing inside.
Oh and good 80~90% of the server ladies that were here 15 years ago are still working here! The owner must be doing something right to keep their employees happy. I know she used to own another location in Garden Grove too, but don’t know if she still does.
I really commend these guys for their consistent business effort and survive a competition against nearby Gen BBQ and All that BBQ in Irvine.

We just found this place recently, although we have been going to New Seoul BBQ (a sister store) fir years. Last week we gave the place a try. There were not many guests at that time. The selection is pretty good although New Seoul BBQ seems to offer a little selection. Wait staff was not overly attentive, but pleasant.
However, two unfortunate instances happened during our visit. First, the rice paper wraps that are used to wrap the bbq meat was moldy. They apologized and replaced it immediately. Then, after pouring some soy sauce we noticed a dead fly inside the bottle. The wait staff was shocked and took it away. In the end, they discounted one complete dinner (we had a party of 5) to compensate us. We won’t be going back to this restaurant, but would go to New Seoul BBQ again with no hesitation.

The trend seems to be that if you don’t want to wait for Gen’s 2 hour line, you come to Seoul Garden.
The food /​meat quality here is definitely not on par with Gen; however, I do love the self serve buffet bar. IT was nice being able to get whatever food you wanted instead of having to wait for a waiter to bring you food. I also loved that they had an extensive variety of food choices, although not on Gen’s scale, it was still very decent.
Favorites:
— Brisket
— Marinated Prime Steak
— Fried Chicken wings (comes pre cooked)
— Japchae
— Pork belly (although it was a bit thinner than other places)
— AND THE BEST PART ALL THE RICE WRAPPERS I WANT
It is very SMOKEY inside with poor ventilation. Do wear clothes that you don’t mind getting smelly and dirty.

Everything was awesome and yummy!

Went to Gen, only to find out the wait was almost an hour long. We didn’t have that kind of time to wait, so Unilocal led us here.
Absolutely no wait, and it was nice that all the food was already out in a buffet style. I simply walked over and selected all the items I wanted, and self-​served myself.
Their best meat was the basic bulgogi type meat. Their marinaded meats were also good. I liked how they had a variety of side dishes. Although, I would note that some of their dishes are just average, such as the fried rice and chapchae.
As others have noted, ambiance is outdated. If you’re not looking for any frills, this place will do the job.

I was in the area and craving Korean BBQ and Gen BBQ was closed. I tried to call the other Gen BBQ and the wait was 2 hours!!! I was hangry (hungry and angry = hangry) so I just Unilocaled another all you can eat place and Seoul Garden BBQ Buffet came up. I called the place and the lady said there was no wait. Seoul Garden is located inside a strip mall, plenty of parking to go around. The outside is nothing fancy to look at. I even thought we were in the wrong place, because it is in this obscure mall. I got seated right away. The inside kind of felt a little old. But, who cares since you are at a Korean BBQ place and not at a fancy restaurant. (Try HARD not to go to bathroom. it was SOO GROSS!)
This is one of those places that the meat is buffet style so you grab what you want. They also have banchans, random Chinese food, salad, and sushi at the buffet. I did like the banchan here especially the soy sauce soaked radish and jalapeño and kimchi. I did not really try the Chinese food or the rolls since I wanted to save my stomach space for the meat. There were all the typical meat choices you would except for an average buffet place: bulgogi, chadol, pork belly, and other beef items. I thought the meat was just average. Nothing really special, but it was not as horrible as I thought it would be. (I thought it was kind of weird that the meat was buffet style). The only bad thing was that most of the meat were frozen, which I guess makes sense since it is buffet style. But, it’s been awhile since I had frozen Korean BBQ meat (maybe I am just spoiled), so I thought the meat did not taste as fresh.
The service was good here too. Make sure to ask for the seasoned salad from the waitress. It is not at the buffet and you need to ask the waitress to provide this to you. Overall, I thought this was place was average. No fuss, no wait, but average food. (The price is not so bad either… It’s about $ 20 per person).

Some what of a good buffet I have had better prices else where and better for my taste I love Korean bbq but I’m also picky. Great service the lady started cooking our food for us always made sure our drinks were full.

There are some polar opposite reviews of this place, but from what i’ve read the are all surrounding the service and refilling the available items on the buffet.
We went on Sunday at 7pm and it was perfect. We didnt have any wait and all the items were plenty on the buffet so i cannot relate to those comments, but can certainly see that being frustrating.
The wait staff was not great, i admit, but with a self service place that really only impacts your water.
The meat selection was great and the cleanliness of the restaurant was very good.
All in all i think it’s absolutely worth $ 20 and a ton of fun cooking your meats on the grill. We will most certainly go back with a bigger group.
Pork Belly miso was delicious, bbq beef, and spicy pork was all my favorites.
we ate so much i havent eaten anything since and we are well over 15 hours from that meal!

My sister and I were looking for a place to eat, preferably buffet. I went on Unilocal to help search for places and we decided to try this out. It was definitely unexpected. We loved it. Definitely a happy accident.
The service is okay but the food is great.

This place is $ 20 and the food was alright. First of all, their food are self serve (which is ok) but some of their containers were empty and took long for them to refill. Also, I asked them for scissors, and they gave me a used one… They just wiped it with a napkin. I don’t know why they removed my review, just because I gave an honest review…

This is the second time ive been here and I am from out of town. Now in Maryland I havent found a place like this before. The food is fantastic, the chicken to ribeye, just out of this world. I love that you cook it in front of you and smell every moment of it. My friend and I devoured plate after plate. My cup was also kept full from the service. Anytime im in town I will always come here. Great food. Worth the time. Great quality meet and for $ 20, sign me up anyday. Deffinatly once in a while type of place. Wouldnt recommend of you have kids just cause you cook in front of you so its always hot. Great for adult night or with friends. See you next time!

During peak hours, like 6−8PM, service and really really can go down. It can take over 10 minutes for someone to come by to refill your water or change the grill. There have been times were the cabbage AND the pork belly has not been refilled for the entirety of my meal, and it sucks because I come here BECAUSE most other KBBQ places don’t offer lettuce wraps.
So lunch might be a better time to come. That’s usually when there is more consistency with service and you can expect that things will not run out. I still enjoy coming here, but I sometimes I don’t know where the waitresses are and what they are doing with their time.

Definitely come here on an empty stomach. I’m a pescatarian so it’s really nice to find a K-​BBQ place that has plenty of options for those who don’t eat beef/​chicken/​pork, etc. They have marinated squid, octopus, shrimp, fish fillet, and tofu.
There’s a huge buffet with the items to be grilled, as well as a salad bar, small area with hot dishes like noodles (which are really good) as well as serve yourself little side dishes like kimchi. The dessert section is really small, though, just jello, soft serve ice cream, and one or two fruits.
My only complaint is that the price on the weekend is high at $ 20/​person. I’ve heard that the price is lower on weekdays since people are in and out faster, so that may be the better time to go.

I came here while visiting over the holidays and had really good K BBQ. It is buffet style, but the quality of meat is high. The meat is also well-​marinated, while not over-​powering the meat. The best is the octopus, which is to die for.
Too bad there is no place like this up in the Bay Area. The closest to this place is Gen. However, at Gen, the server brings the meat a plate at a time. I’ve had experiences when they have run out of the octopus. Other Korean buffets in the Bay Area do not have good quality meat.

I went so Seoul for the first time because the wait at my usual KBBQ place was 1.5 hrs. Ay the holidays! lol
We got here at like 7:40 pm and got seated right away. This place is different from the usual places I have gone to because it is a serve yourself buffet style.
Service 4 Stars: The waitress was very attentive and got us our drinks right away and always walked by to make sure our glasses were filled and cleared our plates. The only problem was when we asked questions of whether they had certain sauces (like brisket sauce) or certain kimchi, they didn’t really understand what we were talking about.
Cleanliness and Style 3 Stars: The place seemed clean enough, however, the style and décor of this place needs a serious upgrade. Upon on first arrival we almost didn’t want to eat there just because it looked so old school and gives off the wrong vibe.
Food 3.5 Stars: The appetizers were ok, we tried the fried wings and the fried dumplings. Nothing special though. The meat: the brisket was not of the best quality lots of fat on it, the bulgogi was actually pretty good I was impressed, and lastly the pork belly was ok it didnt taste as fresh as what I am used but it was also not so bad. The had ice cream and a fruit/​jello area which was a nice touch (the fruit was fresh and sweet :))
I probably won’t make this my usual spot, but it’s not a bad second choice to come to.

This is a cool place to eat. You get the meats, veggies, etc from the buffet area and take it to your table and cook it yourself. I didn’t bother with any veggies. The meat is cut thin so it cooks fast. The longest to cook is the chicken. Chicken is my favorite and I could spend all day eating.
The BBQ at the table is a bit small, so I load mine up and let the food cook while I go back for more meat. I need to go on a day where I don’t have to work, and can spend the day feasting. Servers are always at your table filling your beverages, and clearing the dirty plates. Your first trip for meat grab an extra plate to put the cooked meat on. Don’t eat from the plate the raw meat was on lol.
Since Todai closed down, I think I found a new favorite place.

Some of the best customer service you can find. Great food and the people could not be more accommodating.
You will not be able to stop eating the bbq beef.

My grill is burning. The fan is not working. … I sure could use some help.. and a drink too.
Where the heck is my waitress… oh yeah. There she is. (See picture) straight chillin’ on the job.
Hey. I’m not against breaks. It is California after all. But seriously? 20 minutes to get her to even come in the room. Not to mention there were no other people being waited on just dirty dishes on tables… lazy.
Don’t expect great food or service if you come here. I knew I should have waited the hour and a half wait-​time at the other place. My bill was $ 22! For this? Totally far better places than this one. This place is foul.
Never coming here again.
The owner was sweet to ask how everything was as I was leaving. I told her. Let’s see if she gets some real service people in here. Either way. My first and last time there.

i came here with my cousins bec. one of us couldnt eat raw fish, so i had to find a korean bbq alternative. (its either sushi or kkbq) we came around 3, almost 4pm on a thursday afternoon. and the place was super empty, its like we were the only ones who was dining in. so the waitress kept coming back at least 10x trying to see if we needed something. she would cut out our meat, low down the fire grill, ask if we wanted refills, which was good but dood give us some space!
the only thing thats disappointing is cause the grill was too small, compared all the places i’ve been to. i have no idea why this has good ratings, there’s nothing special about this place, except you can mix about anything from meats, seafood & veges, we have about the same thing down here in riverside.
but the good thing is the service was pretty good, they kept my drinks filled and they were super friendly and they understood and speak english.

If your regular place is closed or busy this place is a good back-​up. This is a no-​frills Korean BBQ buffet with lots of options. $ 20 per person. You can load up your plate right away with beef, chicken, pork, seafood and vegetables and go to town. Service was very attentive.
The aesthetic is a little unappetizing — like sterile hospital institutional white and gray neutral (and I think I remember a light pink?) with a few dusty silk plants here and there. It doesn’t make you want to linger. They didn’t run out of anything.
I was really impressed with the vegetable selection.
The baby octopus is a must — tender and absolutely delicious.
Meat quality is a B+\A-. Not as good as nearby Gen, which is the same price, but there’s much less of a crowd and little no waiting.
Tons of parking.
Ice cold beer.