We love a good BBQ, especially a Korean BBQ. If you’ve never been, then it might be a little surprising to you that this restaurant brings out the meat raw to you and you cook it yourself on a stainless steel grill (that they will replace from time to time when it gets grimy) over a gas flame. Now when I was in China, we were able to cook over a charcoal (emphasis on the coal) flame, but here in the States, we have only found gas grill Korean BBQ places.
Also, if you’ve dined at a Brazilian BBQ, this is nothing like it. The Brazilian BBQ restaurants bring flavorful cooked meats to your table and ask you if you want it. At this Korean BBQ place called Top Grill BBQ & Pocha Cafe, they bring the Korean cuts of meat to you but you need to cook them yourself.
But there is one similarity to the Brazilian BBQ places I’ve been to in that they have an all you can eat area of Korean side dishes that you can choose from to keep you from getting too full from eating just meat all the time. So if you are in the mood for an all protein dinner, skip the side dishes, but if you are a fan of banchan (Korean side dishes) and don’t want to feel overly stuffed with meat, then there are plenty of banchan to choose from. There is nothing spectacular about the banchan at this Korean restaurant compared to others, so you shouldn’t plan on eating there just for the side dishes. So not it’s on to the moment you should really care about, how are the meats?
The Video Review
This being the second time I’ve been to this restaurant tells you that we enjoyed our first encounter, and the second encounter did nothing to dissuade me from returning a third time or more. Now, you can go for the more expensive meats when choosing which all you can eat (AYCE) set menu to eat from, but the cheapest set gives you what your really want anyway: beef brisket, beef belly, beef bulgogi, OX small intestine, pork belly, curry pork belly, pork jowl, spicy pork bulgogi, spicy marinated chicken, and teriyaki chicken.
Truly, these are all the meats you really need. The pork belly, beef belly and beef brisket are my favorites and if you want to add some bulgogi, it’s not a problem. Most people I know steer away from the chicken myself included. Truly, it’s not worth it. But if you want to pay just a little bit more, you can go with the premium menu which adds sirloin steak (not worth it), beef rib finger, marinated rib finger, ox large intestine, and Cajun seasoned shrimp.
And if you really want to up the quality and price, you could go for the prime menu which adds prime ribeye steak, short rib, beef tongue, soybean paste stew, steamed egg, and spicy marinated squid. But this comes at a hefty price increase where it is double the price of the standard or $38.99 per person.
The day we went for the review, we stayed with the more accommodating $22.99 price tag and the premium menu. And the top sirloin steak we got did not look like the one in the picture above which is actually a ribeye steak. Don’t be fooled, the top sirloin steak is a fairly lean and tough cut of steak. It was actually one of the worst meats I had on the BBQ, and is not worthy of the $3 per person increase in price. But if you are a shrimp lover, or like the chewiness of the rib fingers, then the extra $3 might be worth it for you especially if you love shrimp. Otherwise, all the meats you really want are in the standard price except for maybe the beef tongue and beef short rib which are both excellent cuts of meat for the BBQ, but those two cuts alone aren’t worth twice the price for your dinner. At least not in my opinion.
So on to the cuts in the standard $19.99 package. No complaints about the beef brisket as it is sliced nice and thin, cooks quickly and melts in your mouth as you chomp down on it right off the grill. The beef belly wasn’t a cut I had before at the myriad of Korean BBQs I’ve eaten at so it was a welcome change. Thinly sliced, easy to chew and quite tasty after being cooked on the grill.
And then we get to the very common and one of the best cuts of meat you will want to try, the pork belly. They don’t add any spice to it, but if you’ve had pork belly before, you will know that it doesn’t need it. If you’re not familiar with pork belly, it is the same cut that bacon is made from, just this version hasn’t been cured with flavor, but it doesn’t need it. A little more time on the grill is needed than the thin beef slices, but once it’s cooked and you’ve added your favorite Korean sauce mix, it is divine and a taste I would definitely come back for over and over again. But pork belly isn’t unique to this restaurant. Any self respecting Korean BBQ restaurant will have pork belly for you to indulge in the sinfully rich cut of meat.
Both of the bulgogi offerings will burn on the grill if you’re not careful. Don’t worry about burnt food on the grill though, the servers will replace the grill periodically if you ask them for it. As for the flavor of the bulgogi, it’s about the same as you will find in most Korean restaurants. If you like it and want to add it, no problem, but I usually like to leave the grill for unmarinated meats myself.
Though I’m not much of a shrimp person, if you like shrimp, then you will want to try the shrimp. They taste very good when grilled as long as you don’t mind peeling them once cooked. Personally, I’m not big on the flavor of shrimp so I’d rather not peel a food I’m not thrilled to eat.
What can I say about the other BBQ offerings? Not much. I’m not into intestines. If you are the let me know in the comments how this restaurant compares. Chicken? Well my Korean work mate once told me that nobody orders chicken for BBQ and I’m inclined to agree with him.
So what’s my take? There are better AYCE Korean BBQ restaurants out there, such as Gen but then you will be spending $30 per person with over 40 dishes to choose from. So if you are planning on paying the premium price, go to Gen. But if you just want the standard meats and pay 33% less, then this place would be right up your alley. Plus it’s close to Knott’s Berry Farm and not very far from Disneyland.
