Lighttown House

Don’t go here. The beef has absolutely no flavor. Service sucks and its empty on a Friday night.

This place looked very lavish on the inside. Very clean and nice.
I am over 6 foot and the tables were a bit to low for me. I felt like a gorilla sitting at the table designed for a shorter clientele.
I had the number 16 on the menu and it was a great dish of tofu and noodles. I really enjoyed it.
My companion on the other hand was not used to Korean fare. He had no interest in the side dishes and wanted only meat. An eye-​opening experience. Haha.
I had a nice time.

Best Korean BBQ place. Actually there is only one thing on the menu I really like, but it is worth coming here just to try it. It is the «traditional bulgogi» or something like that.
Basically, they bring out a wide, shallow pan, and fill it with lots of broth/​sauce and noodles, as well as vegetables and, of course, the bulgogi. The ingredients cook in the broth, and you scoop them out to eat. It is different from BBQ I have had anywhere else, and I think it is a great alternative.
Also, if you like sake, one time my friend and I were curious why hot sake would be $ 10 here when it is so much cheaper elsewhere, so we got it. They seriously brought out a whole tea pot of hot sake. It was good quality, too, easy to drink, but it is probably enough for 4+ people. Two people drinking that pot will get F’d upppp.
Apart from the 1 menu item that is unique, it is a typical BBQ place, and kinda out-​of-​the-​way, being in Garden Grove, for me to justify driving there over say, going to one of the BBQ places in Irvine.

3.5 stars.
My future mother in law wanted to treat me to Korean BBQ so we were taken here for a feast. Oh what a feast it was!
Within a few minutes of ordering one of their combos, out came the bulgogi, beef tongue, short ribs and more! Along with it, came a big platter of salad, as wel as small plates of kimchi, rice paper, spicy salty fish, chili sauce and plenty more. I loved their beef tongue, it came thinly sliced!
They were busy so service was a bit slow but that was understandable.
Great place for group gatherings.

What can I say?
Service can definitely be better, but I just love their cold noodles. There are two kinds:
1. Mool (in english, translates to water) which comes in a mild but refreshing cold soup.
2. Bi bim (in english, translates to mixed) comes in sweet and spicy sauce.
Again.not a huge fan of their service but what keeps making me come back is the price and taste of the items I mentioned above.
$ 4.99 a bowl of your choice and it’s everyday unless they change it.
Portions are really good for the price and I love how they use ultra thin noodles instead of just thin.
Comes with only 2 sides dishes.
Potato salad and a milder version of kimchi.
It’s worth trying out, but don’t expect good service.

I asked my friend out to dinner but had no idea of where to eat. I just wanted to eat somewhere awesome, so she directed us to this place just down the street from my house. I had eaten Korean BBQ before at other places but primarily had gone to Cham Sut Gol. However, she said this place was pretty good too and cheaper. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me so I don’t have any nice pictures to show, just those my poor phone’s camera could take.
We got an order of pork belly and brisket. As with all Korean places, we were loaded up with many small side dishes. I think the best ones were the rice paper (love, love, LOVE that stuff), the seafood pancake, and the seaweed salad.
As for the meat, it was definitely a lot leaner than other places I have visited. That made it quite quick to cook but also very delicious. I’m a simple person when it comes to seasonings and meats — the natural flavor of meat is what gets me more than how it was marinated. I loved the thin brisket and the pork belly when cooked to the texture of bacon (but fattier). The mistake we made, unfortunately, was ask for another plate of brisket thinking it was an «all you can eat» thing — that extra plate cost us nearly $ 20 more. Alas, we were hungry though so I shrugged it off as a necessary expense. All in all, I enjoyed the atmosphere immensely and the service was spectacular. We even got free beer with the meal! I would definitely come back again for the great service and food.

Lighttown has a special place in my heart because it was the first time I ever had Korean BBQ. After all these years, I still love this place!
Plenty of parking, nice wait staff, beautiful décor, clean bathrooms and the food. Oh the food! There’s so much of it! Sometimes when I go there I wish I could just have the banchan and maybe have a side of BBQ. There are miles and miles of little dishes, perfect for my ADD.
The BBQ is always delicious and the croaker is as big as your head. Its belly was full of eggs and that kind of freaked me out. Eggy belly bigger than my head. *shudder*
Lighttown isn’t cheap but there is no doubt you won’t leave hungry!

This is the place I come when I want spicy beef tripe casserole. It is in one word: AMAZING! A single propane burner stove is placed on top of your table. The pot is place on top of the burner. Inside is a generous serving of tripe, beef, noodles, alot of vegetables and tofu. The broth is rich, spicy, and so refreshing. Words cannot describe it. There is a mininum of 2 servings per order but it can easily feed 4 people. I know some people think that eating beef intestines can be gross but if you’re adventurous I strongly recommend trying this dish. It’s delicious!
The ambience inside the restaurant is unique. The tables and chairs are made of glossy wood and interior resembles the inside of a traditional Korean palace.
Service has always been prompt and I’ve never any issues here.
I can’t rate the other food here because the spicy beef tripe casserole is all I order but the rest of my family love eating here. Check it out.

Spent 3 days unhappily tending to my food poisoning from this place. Needless to say I would not recommend eat here.

I’ve had better Korean food than this place but for O.C. it’s decent.
The service is not that great.

Went here for lunch to have neng myun + galbi (one of my fave combos in life) with a good friend.
The banchan was OK. Nothing jumped out at me and while I do rate up if a restaurant succeeds in this area, I will prefer to look at whether the entrees made up for it if the banchan falls short.
The neng myun was great — refreshing, cold, and yummy soup combined with moderately chewy noodles.
The galbi was brought out on a hot stone plate already cooked. Considering it was a lunch combo, it was as expected — decent pieces of meat with a noticeable amount of fat but not enough to make me gripe. The most important thing? Yes, the marinade was spot on!
Overall, I’d recommend this place and definitely come back if I’m in the area and want the neng myun + galbi combo.

A little pricey but great service, food, and ambiance. I loved the set-​up where seating feels private and subdued. Not loud and annoying like other Korean restaurants.
The excellent quality of the meats and side-​dishes are in stark contrast to the decaying kimchi and oily crap other places have offered. I loved everything the waiter brought out. The potato salad was so awesome! I had three helpings of it by myself. The waiter was very generous and professional. The meats were extremely tender and juicy. To my amazement, the ventilation was tremendous, where there was barely any smoke filling the room/​table. I would definitely recommend Lighttown to anyone looking for great tasting food.

My realtor’s husband is Korean and so his momma usually makes them food. But when they can’t get over there, or if they need to bring people to K BBQ, apparently they take people to Light Town House. She said it was legit, so off we went too.
It’s interior décor was cool… they had copper chimneys with gas stoves that had little pieces of charcoal in it.
Service was quick and nice… but it was only us and one other table there.
Started with an OB (that I prefer over Hite).
Got a bunch of banchan, though didn’t get the spicy, pickled root squares. We did get the rice noodle things… I love those. Duk somethings…
For the actual meat (and what’s K BBQ without a bunch of meat) we got the Kalbi (rec from realtor) and the chicken.
Kalbi was bomb. Very fatty, tender and flavorful… It had a sweet flavor along with the saltiness that was great. We got 3 bones too. I ate the whole order.
The chicken was good too… though could have been marinated longer. We got about 8 thighs worth of meat though… definitely a good amount of food… I may be only a buck fifty Chinaman, but I can eat.
At the end, we got the sweet, soupy stuff… theirs was good because it had a cinnamon taste too it too.
Bill was about $ 65…so like most Korean places… price is no joke, you gotta pay for the good meat.
If I HAD to choose… I’ll be honest, I’d go back to the all you can eat place on Garden Grove blvd. Might not have been the same quality of meat, but it was pretty good and all you can eat for a cheaper price. Oh, and ice cream at the end too.
But that’s just me, cuz I’m a cheapass. This place is good and I give it the thumbs up.

Still trying to get why I never noticed this place was called Lighttown, not Lighthouse. For some odd reason, I just kept thinking this place was Light House. Ive been on Garden Grove Blvd many times and I ask myself, why did I not ever notice this place before? Well, thinking about it, the outside just didnt have anything that would grab my attention. No big signs about KBBQ, maybe they should paint themselves green like Morangak, instead of looking like a mini Arirang Market.
The service is not that great, which seems to be the consensus about Lighttown House. I totally agree. Without that trusty button, good luck ever seeing your waiter/​waitress or in my case, the owner. What a shame. Great way to set an example for your employees when the place is pretty much empty.
I must admit though, the food here is good, but the food prices here are questionable. Ridiculously expensive, especially if you miss the lunch specials. Holy shit, did I really just pay about $ 25 for a cut of kalbi? Holy moly, all you can eat does not even cost that much and I might be able to get in a Hite on top of that too! The quality is top notch though. Mmmm chewing on the knuckle parts are the best.
Excellent variety of side dishes. I am always a happy camper when they can make a good salad.
The nengmyun in chili paste is decent. I did not really like it that much. I guess after eating nengmyun so many times, I have built myself a tongue that recognizes what is actually good. There was just something about it that I did not like. Morangak version is way better and is just down the street, so if your in the mood for that, go there. They also did not offer free nengmyun refills like Morangak, another downer.
Id eat here if I wanted to spend some cash on quality food, but without the quality service, I think I will pass on this one.

I went to Lighttown House for a co-​workers going away party. Since we had a large party of 13 people (practically our entire department from work), we were seated in an upper level section that was away from the main dining floor.
We left the ordering to the seasoned veterans, those of which could speak Korean and knew what to order. Plates full of meat (without the bone) came out in droves and you usually cook it yourself over the sizzling grill in the center of the table. The Korean seafood pancake our bosses ordered was delicious and we were content with all the food we had! The service was a bit slow at times but I attest that to the larger party that we had.
We had soju and beer and stuffed ourselves full of beef and pork with the best that Korean BBQ can offer. It was such a nice and fun atmosphere for a going away party, and it’s so close to home that I’m more inclined to come here instead of the KBBQ Buffet places that I’ve been used to.

I was meeting a friend and his mother for dinner and I had suggested New Seoul BBQ Buffet, but the mother wanted to go here… since I was willing to try new Korean BBQ places, I agreed without hesitation.
This is NOT AYCE place, rather a-​la-​cart place. As you walk in, you’ll notice the ‘People on Unilocal Loves up’ sticker on their glass door… I was taken back a little by this, but I said, hey, if other folks on Unilocal like it, it must be good.
So by the time I got there, the friend and his mom had already ordered the food. They ordered Korean Kalbi — one with marination and one without. They also ordered mandu and seafood jeong. Lot of banchans as well, they do have rice cake wrappers.
The salad was good. the meat without any seasoning was good was well… the kalbi with seasoning, it tasted like all other Kalbi I have tried. The seafood jeong was excellent and the mandu, it seems like it was store bought.
During our conversation, I learned that my friends mom comes here often with her Korean friends. As someone mentioned, we did not get Dajeong soup, maybe because we were speaking in English, but I asked for more banchan in Korean… oh well… next time if I go, I know better.
The service was nice, we got some good service. The staff came over and make sure we had enough meat on the grill and cooked ones to eat, brought more banchan when you asked for more.
When I got there, the place was dead, not lot of customers… it was on Wednesday night, so this may played a role. If I had an opportunity to go back, I would… this time I’ll order and see what they have. I would give it a try and judge it for yourself.

Whoa! What’s going on with places these days? So disappointed with our last visit here. We got the chadol baegi and jumuluk — chadol was good, jumuluk was not. They also skimped us on the dwenjang jigae at the end of the meal. When I inquired about it, they pretended not to understand what I wanted — then asked if I wanted to order — I was like geez — whenever we come with Korean friends they give it to us for free. It was seriously disheartening. Even Shik Do Rak in Irvine gives you that free thing of dwenjang jigae.
Sadly, on a Saturday night, they were pretty empty, definitely a sign of the times. Honestly though, if you skimp on quality and the usual good service, people are gonna stop coming. I’m sad to take away 2 of their stars!

When I heard we were going to Lighttown for Mother’s Day Dinner (yes, it was on Saturday), I was happy. I remember that they used Charcoal, which to me, has a better taste than a gas flame. I also remembered the wire mesh screen to cook on. Every time I’ve been here is because my sister-​in-​law likes this place, cuz she always suggests this place. Whats so confusing when you walk up to the building is that the door mat, says Light House, and the Menus say Light House, but everywhere else says Light Town. Which is it?
When we were seated at our table, I was surprised to see gas grills and cast iron griddles. Now my excitement had gone down. I really love cooking KBBQ over charcoal. So, I’m really critical about service, so when I go to Korean BBQ’s, I have to relax and accept the service as it is. I do not like it when the servers are lazy and hand you every side dish, so they don’t have to reach to place them on your table.
Okay, so we ordered one of the Combos which had Beef tongue, Kalbi Shrimp, Chicken, Squid and Marinated Beef. We had also ordered Spicy seafood soup. I was told that Beef Tongue tastes good with Soju, and they were right. I’m not one to eat tongue, but with a drink in hand, I’ll try anything. The marinated beef was a little salty to me, but a was the only one that made a comment on it. The spicy soup had this half of lobster in it, but no one wanted it, so it’s the Mikey effect, knowing that I will eat it.
As usual, the barbecue and the spicy soup was good. I wished they had not switched to gas grills, but it must be a convenience to them. One thing about Kbbq’s, is that they do not hurry you to eat or leave. I took a star away, because I don’t like being handed water glasses or side dishes to place on the table.

I could have sworn Rob or Sharon would have written about this place already. Guess this is my time with catching up on writing my reviews. Here is a place that’s already familiar to many Unilocalers and locals (including myself) right across one of my favorite Cream Puff spots (Yun’s Patisserie, girls will love it there) which got me intrigued every time I drove by the spot. One night, dragging Rob and Sharon in tow with one of my friends we came here to get our grub on.
We were seated promptly and gazed at the menu, lo’ and behold we finally come around ordering and this is what we got:
–1 Combination KBBQ Platter (Modeum Gooi) consisting of:
–Kalbi Cubes (Short Rib Cubes)
–Bulgogi (BBQ marinated beef sirloin)
–Chicken Bulgogi (BBQ marinated chicken)
–Samgyeopsal (Pork Belly)
–Chadol (Brisket)
–Assortment of Banchan
–1 order of Haemool Pajun (Seafood Pancake)
Let’s start off with the Seafood Pancake, holy snaps I’ve never seen two Asian girls really appreciate such a simple dish. Rob and I just stared blankly at the grill for a cool second, while we await put our fat kid appetite’s to check. Keep in mind most of the portions of Lighttown House compare to Ten-​Raku (as Chris E. justified «Sacrificing Quantity for the sake of Quality.») decides not all KBBQ places are created equally. The Banchan was definitely a filler. For what they lacked in serving you in premium meat entrees’ and other appetizers, they stacked up with as many side dishes to keep you full.
The grill wasn’t the modern iron grill we’re all accustomed to but rather the charcoal wood burning one, that creates a more hickory flavor for all the meats. It would have helped if all the meats were marinated, but only the Bulgogi and Pork Belly really benefit from this type of grill. The Chadol, thumbs up consistent with every place I’ve ate at thus far. The Chicken and Beef Bulgogi, also consistent. Tender and gluttonous right down to the last bit. Pork Belly, was fresh and easy to cook (made it extra crispy to trim the fat down). Overall, we spent roughly $ 86.00 with tax and tip. The ambiance was lively but the inconsistent service, excess banchan, and small portions of meat kind of turned me off. Otherwise, a decent experience but not really thrilled to go back to it.

The Good: KBBQ is just awesome… and since I moved from LA I seem to be craving KBBQ more and more. I’ve gone to a AYCE KBBQ and it was good and I was happy with it, but a few friends said it wasn’t the end all be all and took me here. The meat is fresh, not frozen like other places, and better quality. Since it wasn’t AYCE we had to order plates of meat, which ranged from about $ 20 – 30. The sides were really good and they would always come by and refill whatever we ate.
The Bad: It seems another difference with non-​AYCE is that they «cook» the food for you. Whenever I held the tongs the lady would come by, grab them out of my hand and flip the food for me. The place was pretty empty, no wait time at all.
The Ben: If you have self control issues like I do, then come here. I’m more the quantity then quality guy so the AYCE KBBQ places are more my liking.