Review Mapo Korean Bbq - San Diego

Originally went to another place that was booked and they suggested to come here. They were kind, attentive, and fairly busy. Service was very fast. It’s a quaint, intimate space. I didn’t know I was ordering all you can eat but I picked option B. The spicy pork was the winner this time as every other meat needed flavor via marinade or a better sauce. Prime rib was tender. .my only dilemma is that the grill is changed often but the oil doesn’t help with the meat sticking way too much to get a good sear. I like that we didn’t need to cook all our vegetables because we had so many prepared sides. Would definitely come again.

Great things: 1. cheap price for the amount of food and the quality of food! It’s great service as well - like no one stops you ordering. 2. we didn’t really wait to find seats, dedicate parking lot can be packed but not too hard to find a spot 3. I really appreciate that there’s a dedicate grill changing person. He is really doing his job! The meat is always fresh on the fresh grill. LA short rib is a must order. Needs improvement: the floor is oily and very slippery.

Handoo BBQ is the spot to be at. I found it convenient that it's one of my spots-of-interest open till midnight. I found myself here at 9pm on a weekday and it had quite a bit of activity. We dined inside but I could see that they had really fun outside dining on circular tables. I think this is better for larger parties. We were originally sat down to a table with prepared sides; Things such as kimchi, glass noodles, and tofu slices. I requested corned cheese, white rice and tofu. The corned cheese was wonderful, although really hot when delivered. Careful! The meat was pretty good. I started with bougolgi, shrimp, and rib eye steak. Later we got pork belly, marinated ribs, and beef tongue and spicy squid. I cannot remember exactly what it's called but it was a marinated steak. It was amoung my favorite meats where one slice was a serving for two. Honestly, none of these options Were any good except for the bougolgi, pork belly, squid and that marinated steak. They have great flavor and cook very nicely.The rest have little to no flavor. I guess they taste better when dipped with the sides. I wasn't very concerned with it, but my party commented that this place has very few sides compared to elsewhere. Overall, the place was very enjoyable, along with fast service. We were able to place orders with the 3 servers that we saw. They seemed to function on very efficient communication. Their staff would often walk by and change out our grill too! So our grills were always good. 33 dollars and some change gets you the better menu and it's worth it.

Good Korean BBQ. Price point was good. We showed up at 10:45 and felt rushed for their last call at 11:15. We had the $27.99 special. Soft Tofu was amazing! We had the brisket, garlic pork belly, sausage & bulgogi beef…..all were tender and delicious. However, the marinated ribs were a bit tough. Banchan was al good!

I liked it. Meat was good for the price here. Sides included decent too. Nice ayce kbbq place overall. First order of brisket was great. Quality of second order wasn't good. Thin and regular pork belly were both alright. Soondubu stew is meh. Egg is good. Service was fast even though busy. Overall I liked it. Maybe not a nice looking place inside as olleh or prime. But good experience.

This place was great as it does close pretty late (12am). The atmosphere and setting was like a scene straight out of a movie lol. The quality of the meats were above average. The side dishes were well seasoned, and the soft tofu soup was superb. This is the first time we have seen rice paper as a side dish, so we used it as a rollup for our meats and it was so tasty! yum yum! The staff were very fast and attentive. Overall we had a great time. A+

I wish they had more side dishes but the quality of meat for the cheaper option of the AYCE menu was really good. Their beef bulgogi and spicy pork was delicious. The fish cake side dish is some Of the best we have had in a while. The kimchi is young and will appease people that don’t like it aged and sour. Skip the salad as it’s made with cabbage, unless you like it like that. The place was half full on a Saturday afternoon which is always a good sign.

Decided to go for Menu A and we weren't disappointed. Service was fast and they brought out our orders quickly. We didn't have to wait long to be seated as well. Good food, great service.

Went to find a Korean BBQ off Convoy and ended here. Since it was hubby and son with me, we knew we could pack down some meat with us 3. I love BBQ and for 7/2 weekend, we wanted a quieter atmosphere to start to celebrate the 4th of July weekend. So many Asian places to eat in this area. It's amazing.Since parking is an issue, We parked off a side road one block parallel to Convoy and walked with no problems. There's a parking area for other businesses that allows u to drive all the way to the parallel street (short cut to walk thru) to where we parked. The place was packed but we were the first in the overflow room that had looked like an encased patio with windows. It was really different in that they have little stools around a small round table with a burner in the middle. The eating area is a thinner space (instead of a table, so the food bowl is actually small; no room for a plate. Where we sat there was a TV tray beside us so we put the meat there so we had more space. Overall a great vibe. We were finishing up when so many other people were in line. We got there at a good time. Anyways it's all you can eat here. Pricing was for adults $26.99 for 16 different meal options or $32.99 for their 27 meal options. Of course went for the $32.99 because we wanted Short Ribs (we should have selected Rib Eye too but forgot about it). We also got spicy pork belly, spicy chicken and another thin marbled meat which I don't know what it was called. We had fried rice and white rice served as a scoop in a small cup like bowl. We ordered a green salad, and fresh cut mushrooms. Of course the Korean way is to have a few sides like as if u were at a Mexican place with chips and salsa. So we had little veggies with jalapeño, clear noodles, kimchi, and another small bowl I don't know what it is. I love Kimchi and veggies so we had replenished it as well (unlimited on the sides). You have 3 hours max to eat, which is normal. All I can tell you is that the meat was amazing. The short ribs and chicken were tender and flavorful. The pork belly was very flavorful as well. I ordered mushrooms on the side, dipped it into their soy sauce and BBQd it along with the others. YUMMY!!! 😋 and more YUMMY AND YUMMIER!! 😋 The waiter wasn't all smiles but he was extremely attentive. He changed the burner about 4 times. I've never went to a BBQ place that changed the burner out so frequently. He checked up on how the meat was cooking and heated it up adjusting the flame accordingly. He was quick to take away empty containers etc. I really liked the service. Loved the vibe. We had a great eating experience. Needless to say WE ROLLED OUTTA THERE completely stuffed like a piggy!!🤣😂😆

This place is pretty good for only $26.99 ! That’s the price of the basic menu. It wasn’t that expensive. There weren’t a lot of sides, or bonchon, the kimchi was kind of too spicy for me but the side salad was so fresh and perfectly seasoned. We stared off with the Beef Brisket, Pork Belly and Beef Bulgogi. The beef brisket was delicious and had great flavor. The pork belly was not cut that thick so it did cook fast and didn’t have much flavor. And the brisket was pretty juicy but just alright. We ordered or beef brisket then the thin sliced pork belly. The thin slice pork belly was so so good and it held flavor so well! We ordered two steamed eggs and they came out long after we ordered them and we’re not good. They were over cooked and did not taste good.. I’m sure it was a mistake and would’ve been better if it was done properly but I’ll try it again next time. In terms of meat this is the one of the best qualities in San Diego.

Awesome. It was my first time trying Korean BBQ. The service was great and the food was delicious. for $15.99 I ate an as much meat as I wanted. We never had to tell the waitress we wanted more she came by often to offer us meat to BBQ. The side dished were excellent too.

Grilled.... Don't be fooled with the construction tape and boards taking place over in the main dining room, this is still open. The outdoor grilles are now the only open dining space with a full menu in place. Hearty, wide variety and fair prices make this a great family or large group eatery. <br/>Delicios and fun!

Best all u-can-eat korean style barbecue in San Diego!!friendly service and good food!