J’s Bar-B-Q

When will you open again? Our whole family misses you.

Was hoping for a good Korean plate lunch place close to where I live. Sorry to say that J’s was OK, but not good enough to supplant my Mama Woo’s in my heart.
Had the spicy pork and my BF had the spicy chicken. Both were fine.

My co-​workers & I got few pans of their Mandoo. It’s our fave thing to get & It’s so ONO & HUGE! We are all so sad that today is their last day. How will we survive without our Mandoo fix for a whole, immensely long, & agonizing 9 months??? We can’t wait to see you next year in your brand spankin’ new building! In the meantime, We (The Mandoo Piggies *oink oink*) going to miss you J’s!

Stopped on a whim while driving home tonight and am glad I did since I just read in other reviews that J’s will be closing sometime this week due to the construction of Kakaako. J’s is (was?) the perfect little no frills hole in the wall joint to satisfy your local Korean food or simple breakfast cravings. One order is enough food for me to make 2 meals out of and reasonably priced too. My kiddies love the fries while my favorites are the kalbi plate, mandoo soup and pancakes.
I’m looking forward to the reopening of a brand new J’s BBQ!

They will be closing on Sept 12^th until next year while their new location is being built. So get your plate lunch fix this week!

One of the best local style bbq plate lunch around town. Nothing fancy but more importantly the food has always brought me back. If you need fast, good, and good price food, visit them before they close.
I was told by the owner they will be back in a year once construction is completed in Kakaako.
My fav are saimin and chicken sandwich.

I’ve lived around this area for about 10 years. J’s BBQ was fun to go to as a child. Now when I go, the owner tells me I’ve grown up so much. The food there is really good for a hole-​in-​the-​wall. Breakfast is good too. You can call in about 10 minutes before then go and pick up your food then be on your way about.
Their menu expanded quite a bit from when I was younger. The Korean food here is pretty good too. My mom likes the bibim kooksoo. I don’t care for spicy food but it’s still pretty good: o
Overall, it’s a good place to go for cheap food that still tastes good, pretty good if you’re in a hurry.

Really good lunch spot if you’re in the Kakaako area. I had the mandoo plate which comes with 6 big, deep-​fried mandoo, 2 small scoops of rice, and a small thing of kim chee, sprouts, and cabbage for about $ 9. The mandoo is the best I’ve had around downtown — the filling was delicious and dumpling is deep-​fried for crispy goodness.

This is my first time here. I had the mini fried mandoo and chili fries.
The fried mandoo looks to be homemade but it’s not particularly awesome. I had it better at other places.
I’m very picky about how my rice is made. I won’t eat it wet at all. Their rice was perfect. Haha. (who reviews rice)
The chili fries was good. It’s served in a big takeout plate. The chili has some spice to it.
If I ever come back I will try other items on their menu.
I give them 4 stars because the man at the counter was super friendly and gave my daughter a free fruit roll.

Many men customers eat here. So ladies don’t be intimated.
This bbq place has been around for a long time. Their meats aren’t overly oily or greasy. Sometimes these Korean bbq meats can be oily/​greasy.
I got the J’s special with bbq chicken, meat jun, and kalbi. It also comes with kim chee, bean sprouts, and cabbage. Their meat jun is deep fried and not egg battered. My order took a long time for some reason.
The cahier people are okay. They’re not friendly so don’t expect them to ask you how you’re doing. The man cashier is better than the woman cashier though.

This place is well known to those grabbing the lunch specials. I went here Sunday morning and got the combination chicken and meat jun plate. The food was tasty, portions good. Would def come back here again and try their breakfast plates!
Some seating inside, the place definitely has a local feel to it. Easy parking nearby.

This afternoon at work when I made my usual pilgrimage for food, my boss handed me $ 6 and said some random words and somehow expected me to bring him back a full meal for that amount. Puzzled, I looked at my coworker who said she knew just the place and off walking we went…
J’s BBQ is the perfect hole in the wall with the mix of everyone in the neighborhood from the regulars known by name, to blue collar workers to office bees, to just random folk wandering in. There’s a lunch plate special for $ 5.99 with a choice of BBQ chicken, chicken katsu or another one I don’t remember which comes with rice and the most delicious macaroni salad ever.
The regular menu is expansive and includes Korean fare, American fare like burgers and fries and local favorites.
The breakfast menu is also dirt cheap and looks tasty.
Cash only.

Not a bad hole in the wall place easily located in kakaako,
Same mama-​san working the register for 20+ years (still never saw her smile)
Would up it to 4 stars if they bring back «The Makoto»

My co-​workers have been raving about J’s Bar-​B-​Q for quite some time now. When we walked in, I was a bit overwhelmed with the abundant choices. I wasn’t that hungry and you can’t mix mini plates-​so I ended up ordering the mini spicy pork plate ($ 5.85).
The wait was a bit long. However, the food was pretty good. There were two pieces of pork in my mini plate. The pork was slightly sweet and very tender. The heat wasn’t overwhelming, but it certainly stuck with me.
Would I come here again? Only if I phoned in my order and picked up.

I came here today again with my foodie coworker. The service is usually a hit or miss with me. I vaguely remember the first time, but the second time the lady running the register was rude. This last time it was the male employee running the register and he was nice.
The food was good as always, local korean style. I had the mini spicy chicken and it was spicy. The mini came with one scoop rice and your choice of salad or mac salad. I got the one scoop mac salad instead.
I will come back if I ever feel like local korean food during the work week. Just don’t count on customer service at the register every time you come here.

J’s BBQ is one of the few businesses in Kakaako that has survived the revamping of the Kakaako Redevelopment program. About 15yrs ago, I worked across the street at Restaurant Row. Funny as it may seem, there would be numerous times, we’d walk all the way to J’s for lunch. (Eventhough there were tons of restaurants at restaurant row)
This place is considered a mom and pop shop but J and his wife (I’m assuming) looks way too young to be called mom and pop so lets just say «uncle and aunty» shop.
There are approximately 4 parking stalls. Be careful not to use the other businesses stalls unless you want to get yelled at or given a «stink eye» to. Ha! Just park on the street (metered).
Okay so, the breakfast here is pretty simple. Rice, eggs, variety of breakfast meats, pancakes, french toast, and their famous «mystery meat» fried rice. I say that because I try to decipher what kind of meat is in it. If I had to guess, I would say there’s bits of char siu, BBQ chicken, and ground beef. But ah, what do I know?! All I know is that it tastes really yummy!
Their lunch is also the bomb! The meat juhn is one of my favorites. Not too oily and cooked perfectly. Other favorites of mine include BBQ chicken plate, J’s BBQ sandwich, mandoo, and spicy pork.
The prices are below $ 10 and the portions are a good size.
Love the food here. My hope is that the development of Kaka’ako will not force J’s to close down like it did with other mom and pop restaurants. We need to keep the mystery meat fried rice alive! =o)

Under $ 10 for a super filing meal? I’m SO down.
The meat jun is one of my favorite plate lunches here. Although on occasion I’ll order kalbi, chicken, or spicy pork. The best part is, you can get a combo plate for the price of the more expensive plate lunch. And by expensive I mean, still pretty cheap. I brought my mom here for lunch and she ordered bbq chicken and I ordered meat jun/​spicy pork combo and it came out to $ 16. SCORE.
If you like really good and cheap food, this is your spot. It’s a hole in the wall place without super fancy décor. But despite appearances, the food is top notch. Also, the portions are pretty big, which makes it an excellent stop for lunch.
I heard the breakfast is good too, so I will definitely update my review if I ever wake up early to make it there before 10. (:

J’s is a good place to go for a Korean plate lunch in the Kaka’ako area. When I worked down at the Med School it was always a treat to get lunch from this little shop. It’s been years since I had eaten here, and just happened to come here by chance when Chris L. and I were looking for somewhere to grab lunch after an early movie.
As we were driving around looking for somewhere good (and cheap) to eat we ended up in the Kaka’ako area and I had remembered J’s was just around there! We pulled in, and luckily they were open! We were in luck! We walked in, and took a look at them menu board, and I settled on the…
J’S SPECIAL: A plate of kal bi, meat jun, bbq chicken, and man doo. The flavor of the food was great, but the slices of meat in the meat jun were super thin. The batter on each side was thicker than the meat itself. Now that’s some sad meat jun.
CHILI CHEESE FRIES: Fries with a slice of American cheese, and what seemed like canned chili on top. Nothing too special about this one, but I’ve had worse.
For lunch J’s is A-​Ok, especially when you’re able to choose from other places around town. If you’re stuck in the area because of work, then it’s a great option. From the looks and sounds of it this is the place to come for their breakfast special. Maybe one day I’ll get to check it out!

Breakfast special comes out to $ 3.65 (including tax). This is rice, eggs, and choice of meat. The portion is not huge, but worth the price. It’s like McDonald’s breakfast size, but MUCH better.
Bonus: it’s right next to work, so it’s the go to spot on rare non-​busy mornings.

If you like mandoo and Bibim Kooksoo this is the place to try.
The mandoo is unlike I’ve ever had! Omg its delicious with lots of filling in it. Make sure they give you the soy sauce because that makes a difference when dipping.
Bi bim kook soo has a generous amount of veggies in it and I have not found any other Korean joint that makes it as good as J’s!
Parking might be tough but there’s street parking.