Fresh Korean B.b.q. - Van Nuys

Tucked away in the HK Center at the corner of White Oak and Sherman Way is a good Korean BBQ restaurant. My sister has passed this place many times in her way to and from work, but never noticed it until I suggested it as the place to hold her BDay dinner party last November. The place is even harder to find because the Google map is wrong! It shows it at the corner of Hayvenhurst and Sherman, but in actuality its like 2 miles west from that intersection. Try MapQuest instead. I arrived there around 6 PM on a Sunday and while the place was busy, nit all the tables were full. I was the first one in my party to arrive, so I asked for a table that would seat a party of 6. They gave me two options: 1 table at the back with chairs, and the other table at the front with booth seating. I am not a fan of booth seating when the dining party is larger than 4, so I chose the back table. I noticed most of the patrons were of Korean descent, which was a good sign. The all you can eat buffet is $20 for adults. They charge $4.99 for kids age 3 to 5 and kids ages 6 to 10 are $10.99. Kids older than 10 are charged the adult size. My nephews were ages 6 and 8, but they charged the younger nephew only $4.99 because the waitress said he was small for his age. He doesn’t eat much either. A can of soda costs $1.50 and its not unlimited refills on the drinks. The buffet includes a wide assortment of side dishes and sauces. My favorite was the soy bean sprouts. Mys sister like the jicama slices in sweet vinegar. My brother agreed with me that their salad was actually pretty good. They also served kimchi, a dish I was never a fan of. My brother said it has a weird aftertaste. They also provide you with a bowl of miso soup and a bowl of sticky rice. You get a choice of 11 types of meat for the all you can eat buffet option: 1) Thin slices of beef brisket 2) Marinated beef short ribs 3) prime sirloin steak 4) Beef tongue slices 5) Marinated beef slices 6) Marinated chicken 7) Marinated spicy pork slices 8) Sliced pork belly 9) Beef tripe 10) Grilled Abomasum (I have no idea what that is, nor was my party adventurous enough to try it) 11) Ox stomach. Overall, the meats were of good quality and generous portions. The marinated meats had a real good flavor to them. The waiters will not hesitate in giving you more meats as long as you finish eating what you order earlier. We never got the sense that they were trying to skimp out on us in portions. If anything, towards the end of the meal, it us asking them to just give us small portions because we were all getting very full but wanted to try as many meats as they offered. I thought the spicy pork slices was going to be on the hot side, but it was surprisingly mild given the red food coloring it had on it. The service is overall good and friendly. They don’t check up on you on a regular basis, but if you ring the service bell on your table, the waiters will literally appear in a matter of seconds. The only thing I noticed was that the waitress would sometimes get aggressive in cutting up the large portions of meat if she saw us doing it ourselves. Not sure if she was just trying to do it for our own safety, but dang, those prime sirloin steak pieces were large for a Korean BBQ place. There was no way we could easily cut those large pieces of meat with a the chopsticks and forks they provided to us. Later on, they just left us a pair of large scissors to cut the meat. One of the owners spoke with us later during the meal and introduced herself. She said the place just opened in February. I’m guessing that they bought the business since the restaurant looks older than a year. She put together a pile of mud pies and topped it with a candle when she found out it was my sister’s BDay. The staff then sang Happy BDay to my sister. I was hoping they would do it in Korean. Overall, we had a really good time at Fresh Korean BBQ and I could already tell my sister would visit again in the future. Parking is easy since they have a large parking lot in the HK Center, You can also do street parking on Sherman Way.

Been coming here for a while now when my K-town regular eateries are booked. Closer to home and the prices are good, best of all – no wait time. The only problem with this place is the terrible service. How many times do you have to push the convenience bell at the table to have a waiter come over? Why is it taking the waiters 10+ minutes to come take our food order? Seriously, this is a huge problem when you come with a big group.