Peppa’s Korean BBQ

I arrived here to a very empty restaurant today. There was only 1 lady waiting for her food. I ordered the Steak, BBQ Chicken, and salad combo plate. This plate came with 2 scoops of rice and Kalbi sauce for the steak.
The steak and chicken was super fresh and super hot! It was fresh off the grill, which made me super happy. I was a little concerned with the recent health scare they had, but a friend insisted that they were good. He was right!
The only issues for me were there being only 1 bathroom with no toilet paper, and not having enough sauce for all of the steak. There was a line for the bathroom, because the restaurant got a handful of customers by the time I was done with my food.
The cashier was overly friendly and it was a really nice experience overall.

The chicken BBQ was okay.

At first, I was hesitant to eat here based on their recent shut down by the Department of Health, but I figured it must be cleaner than ever now that they are being monitored — or at least this is what I hoped.
The positives; parking was great and plentiful, dining room was clean (and empty for 12:00 noon — not a good sign), portions were large, and side dishes were fresh. It goes downhill from here.
Ordered the «value meal» — 1 meat choice (2 piece BBQ Chicken — average at best), 2 sides (Kim Chee Cucumber & Mayo potato — cucumber was very fresh & crunchy), 4 piece man doo (blan without some hot sauce), 1 scoop rice and a soda. Not bad for $ 8.19. Not good was them writing my order in ball point pen on the FOOD side of the plate — it was on the edge of the plate so I figured no food would touch it, right? Wrong! When I was handed my plate and asked if I wanted chopstick or fork, I just stared at the BBQ Chicken sitting right on top of the ball point pen writing. Not sure if this bad for you or not, but the ink had to be tatooing itself on the bottom side of my chicken. Maybe it’s just me, but this pushed it down to two stars.
In any event, plenty of food for 8 bucks, plenty of parking and plenty of seats at lunch. Average BBQ chicken with hint of ink keeps this Korean BBQ plate lunch stop a stretch to return often.

Large, tasty portions at reasonable prices. Even the «mini» plates are huge. Fast and friendly service! I had the «not-​so-​Korean» Chicken Katsu Curry, which was quite good. The choi sum side was excellent, though the cucumber one, left me a little flat.
For those who are wary, due to their temporary shutdown by the Department of Health, be reassured that all infractions were remedied.
Once they were made aware of what they were doing improperly, they took quick action to fix the problems.

I am not one to be scared by a little food poisoning incident. I believe we take our chances eating out. I had wonderful yook gae jung soup from the Peppa’s on Wilder some years back and it cured my flu! So in light of recent bad publicity, I felt I had to get in there restore some faith-​if only for myself.
One weekday lunch, I ventured in to a fairly empty restaurant. I ordered the old stand-​by-​the kalbi and BBQ chicken combo plate. Service was extra friendly and attentive, no doubt out of panic in the wake of the e. coli ordeal. I chose my four veggies, and looked around. The place is fairly spotless. My plate came complete with 4 pieces of kalbi, a couple of pieces of BBQ chicken, a fried zucchini, a mandoo, two scoops of rice, and of course my veggies. Shoyu potato, kimchi, choi sum, and namul. The shoyu potato was very good, moist and flavorful. The kim chi left some heat and salt to be desired, but I squeezed some «hot sauce» on that was available in the restaurant. The namul was OK, also could have been a little less oily, a little more salty. The choi sum definitely needed some taste. It was probably my healthiest choice on there, so I will overlook the lack of salt/​oil. The fried zucchini was giant, but a tad soggy, and the mandoo was crispy, but there was a lot of air in the wrapping with a small log of meat inside.
The kalbi itself was fairly tasty, fairly standard. The chicken was well seasoned, and cooked perfectly. As per usual, I ate half and saved half for my other half…
I give three stars because the veggies left some to be desired, but the chicken was great. The restaurant is clean, the soda has endless refills, and I left full. I will go back and revisit my beloved yook gae jung soup, and try a different set of four veggies. I also did not get sick from any of the food. Whether this is a natural resistance to e. coli, or the fact that e. coli incidents are fairly contained and never on-​going, I will not be sure of. By the time I left, there were no seats left in the house. That many people can’t be wrong!

I am giving it three stars because I liked the bibin bap (sp)?. It was fresh and it hit the spot. It is a really clean place and a little funky. I tried their Caesar salad? why? because in my silly mind I figured… Korean, garlic. Nope bottled dressing. It bothers me when they branch out into the other ethnic foods. Stick with what you know and perfect that. Which reminds me, FRIED KIMCHI! I was afraid to try it, just as I am afraid to try the fried potato salad! WHY? it looks like someone threw up. lol.
Tasty BBQ in Kaneohe used to do a great job. Best Korean food is still home made.!!

I’m on the quest to find the best Korean BBQ take out joint in Hawaii and Peppa’s Korean BBQ was next on my list. Bad news is that it will most likely not end up at the top. Not even close.
$ 8.99 got me a meat jun & BBQ chicken plate with four sides and two scoops rice. It was not bad but nothing to write home about. Portions were comparable to other Korean places in town. Everything was okay. Is there anything worse than just being okay? In a world full of mediocre I’m still waiting to get some INSANELY delicious Korean take-​out for under $ 10 bucks. I want to be WOWED!
Yobo I know you’re out there somewhere! And no matter how long it takes I’m going to find you one day…

Not bad for fast Korean food. While I did enjoy my Korean BBQ, the kimchi side was too mild and the beef was a little dry. I like my Korean BBQ with lots of flavor and more sauce. I also had some melon bubble tea with the meal; the slushie kind of bubble tea isn’t what I’m used to, so it was not bad — a bit too sweet for my tastes though.

They serve shrimp alfredo pasta. At a Korean joint? Why?
The chicken Katsu is dry and oily.
Spicy pork is good.
The meat jun is ok.
The korean side dishes are very blan.
There are so many better fast food plate lunch places better than Peppa’s.
Check out Gina’s in Market City, Yummy’s or Pearl’s. All notches above Peppa’s.

I love me some Korean BBQ, and Peppa’s recently took the place of Yummys. I think they pretty much taste the same.
First of all, come HUNGRY. The portions are insanely huge. My favorite is the Meat Jun. I’ve tried cooking it at home, but it’s just not the same. I also love the bean sprouts, the cabbage, and the noodles. It’s all cheap too. Tastes ESPECIALLY good after coming from the beach. :)
Highly recommended.