Jong Ro Jip

Exellent. Best in so-​cal

Straight up my favorite spot for Pork Belly, Kim Chee and some Beer. Nothing fancy but the food and meet quality is leggit. Kind of weird being next to a dentistry but I don’t give a … The food is awesome. Too bad it was closed last Sunday and I had to check Unilocal and hit the KingKalbi spot… I regret that. Now I can’t wait until the next chance to go hit Jong Ro Jip!!!

when someone says a ‘hole in the wall’ joint, this place is the definition of it.
frozen pork belly, aged kimchi and broth makes this place.
funny thing about this place is that it doesn’t exactly have the best/​fresh tasting meat, kimchi and the broth (i think it’s simple chicken stock, but i could be wrong) are good but not great imo. but something about this sh*thole with brightly-​lit fluorescent lighting just does it for me. i love a place that’s well lit, where you can actually see what’s in your plate.
definitely not a place to take a date to (my wife won’t come here with me), but more for a group of mid-​aged boys to go and get drunk off soju and have good pork belly.

A little hole in the wall BBQ place where you don’t expect it. The food is good. I like to come here when it’s peak dinner time because this place is almost always not full. That’s a good thing for me cuz I’m hungry! Their specialty is pork belly. I like the regular pork belly and not the black pork belly. With the kimchee stew its quite good. It just takes a while to boil the stew. Regardless it’s a great idea and concept.

Enjoyed the food with boyfriend for a night out in Koreatown. Good proportions for 2! Especially the Combo 1 on the menu! Only bad thing was the fact that the menu was entirely in Korean so my boyfriend could not read anything!): But I must say love the option that they let you cook kimchee soup on the side!

The samgyupsal here is OH MY GOODNESS. It’s not any type of regualr pork belly you get from other Korean BBQ places. It really is different. From the texture, the thickness to the taste, it’s all different. I love it here.
I especially love how you get to make your own kimchi broth like concoction. It goes so well with the pork belly. It is a little bit pricey, but the meat quality is superb. Honestly, where can you get this type of meat at any other KBBQ restaurants?
This place is definitely a hole-​in-​the-​wall, and the owner man seems to just be really casual and isn’t really formal. But overall, he’s nice. The old women in the back are so cute and friendly, I just wanted to hug them!
If you come here order the samgyupsal (pork belly). Ban chans are good too.
You cannot come here expecting it to taste like pork belly that you’ve tried at other Korean restaurants; it’s just not the same. Yeah, it may be a little bit pricey, but the quality of that pig is just out of this world. You get what you pay for.

I’m sure all of you have tried Korean BBQ and I think for the most part, everyone likes Korean BBQ. I recently tried a small hole-​in-​the-​wall called Jong Ro Jib. Its located right at the corner of Olympic Blvd. and St. Andrews Pl. in Korea Town. Its run by a pretty chill Korean man, who does all the serving. You’ll occasionally see an older Korean woman who stays in the kitchen for the most part.
This is a little different from your typical Korean BBQ restaurant. Its very authentic Korean with lots of good kimchi. The concept is pretty interesting. If its your first time, ask for the sahm-​gyub-​sahl (Korean bacon). You get a big plate of sahm-​gyub-​shal, which you cook on the grill in front of you. The grill is unique — the sides are curved in like a bowl. They fill the entire bowl with kimchi and pour soup base in. Essentially, you’ve got kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) cooking right alongside your meat. The juices from your meat trickle down into the boiling stew and make it even tastier.
They give a lot of really delicious banchan (side dishes). The juhn (Korean pancake) is really good here. In addition, you get a plate full of greens, which you eat with the meat and a bowl of steamed egg. They also have a variety of soju and beer, if you want to go all out Korean.
The price isn’t too expensive, but its not quite cheap either. Its about $ 13.00 per person (without drinks). I would definitely go back.

HOLE-​IN-​THE-​WALL
but this restaurant is the best. Honestly, great food at a great price. This kimchi is gonna be the best you’ve ever eaten in your life. The grandmas make it themselves in the back!
The variety of banchan is delicious, and cooking the meat yourself is a fun way to eat with a bunch of friends. This place is completely underrated. If you’re looking for some A+ Korean food, this one should be at the top of your restaurant list!

Overpriced (easily over $ 100 for 3 people) because they price by single portion. Customer service is awful (really? You’re going to treat people who you do business with such disdain and disregard?).
Save your money and either buy meat and eat at home or find other good meat places in Korea town, because this place one of K-town’s worst.

Let me tell u about this stinky & RRipp-​off korean restaurant !!! Even doe there are so many other all u can eat korean restaurant in a better sanitized space, this place has permanent food stain just about every table & their price is so much more expensive cause they charge by single portion. I went there few times & bill came out over $ 100 us dollar for 3 people. Their meat is all frozen & each single portion is so small & the quality of meat isn’t that good either. For that money, u can eat the best quality of steak at arnie mortons in beverly hills. who wants to pay more when u can get better quality meat for less in a buffet especially during this economy slump. this man owner acting as waiter is always unpleasant.

This is an ahjussi drinking hole which serves delicious grilled pork belly. They have other grilled meats such as the usual kalbi and spicy pork as well as tripe.
It can get pretty loud with the older ahjussis and ahjumas eating, drinking, and yelling loudly at each other. I don’t recommend coming here without a Korean speaker. The owner is a real soju loving social ahjussi that is a total character and you can see loves running a soju and grilled meat restaurant. You can see the ahjummas cooking in the kitchen in the back.
The pork bellies are thick, juicy, and crispy when grilled right and the kimchi is super fermented and delicious. You put the kimchi in the little moat around the dome shaped grill and pour beef broth over it to make kimchi stew. It’s delicious eaten with pork bellies wrapped in sesame leaves and cilantro. Mmmmmmm The steamed egg dish that comes out is also very creamy and good. Mmmmmm
The other dishes are very Korean Korean and strongly flavored. The stewed cod is delicious as well as the cooked dried mackeral in spicy sauce. Biji, the ground up tofu dish reminds me of my childhood since it is a very simple and comforting home cooked dish that everyone eats. They have a small menu that is very authentic and delicous for people who can eat strong flavors. BTW they also serve a very goaty spicy black goat stew which is suppose to be good for women. I prefer Mexican birria though, too goaty for me though others liked it.

I freaking love this place. Its small, dinky and freaking yummy!!!
You dont get alot of choices. But what they offer is so delicious — who cares?!
I get the intenstine, tripe, samgyupsal and galbi. You know what you get with that? Soup! That you make, yourself! The grill at your table has a little ‘moat’ at the bottom, they fill it with beef broth. As your meat cooks, the juices will flow to the bottom and you add kimchi and it will cook into a delicious soup/​stew~!!
I need to go back soon! :D

they only have intestine, sam gyup sal, and galbi sal.
The combo was 34.99 sam gyup sal + galbi sal+ den jang jjigae, and 1 soju. The combo #2 which u can get 3 orders of meat was $ 44.99. The kimchi jjigae tasted like kimchi gook, not enough flavor in the broth. The galbi sal was real fatty. The meat quality was not that great. The sam gyup sal had the skin or something chewy which I liked. The place is very hole-​in-​the-​wall. And they give you egg custard and the ban chan is pretty good. The meat pan surface area is too small for 5 people. It would be good for 2 people and the meat cooks slow.
The service was real bad. The ajushi wanted us to grab the rice bowls from his tray and the banchan. He did not put it on the table for us.

I love this restaurant despite the fact that the owner (a very cool ajucci) recycles left over Soju, not the bottle but the liquor, by pooring it into another soju bottle until one fills up. I dont really mind it though, because achohol kills all germs. And the owner doesn’t try to do it in secret… he just does it infront of you… mmm… but their sam gyup sal is really good. Fresh, non-«recycled» meat! It goes perfect with the kimchi jji gae that you make yourself! Also, once u finish eating all the sam gyup sal, ask for a bowl of rice. Put the rice into the kimchi jji gae, cook it a lil, and u have yourself a kimchi jji gae bap… that’s not even real food… but it’s really good.

I love this restaurant. I had my first ever sam gyup sal (thick pork slice) here, and I’ve been hooked ever since! Most people who come here come for the samgyupsal, and I’m telling ya, it is damn good: thick and juicy! :D
Like most other korean restaurants, you have to cook your own meat, but this restuarant goes a little bit further and lets you cook your own kimchee stew too! How? well, the grill that you cook the meat on is bordered by this inverted area where you can make your stew. The server will give you a bowl full of kimchee, and a pitcher of homemade broth. You then put the kimchee and broth into the inverted area, and while your meat cooks up, the stew will also cook up, and TADA! kimchee jji gae. :)
Some notes: This place is hidden, and it’s actually kinda easy to just drive by and miss it. The place has a small parking lot in front that gets packed, but I have never had any trouble finding street parking.
The place is also very very small, and gets very very crowded around dinner time. It sucks when it’s so busy, bc you end up waiting like 30 minutes or more. Also, you may get stuck sitting in a table that doesn’t come with a built in grill. when you sit there, they will provide you with a portable grill… not too great, bc the meat doesn’t cook as well.
Lastly, don’t confuse the broth pitcher with the regular barley tea pitcher!
*Picture posted*

Located on the southeast corner of Olympic and St Andrews (right next to the kim chi market), this is one of the best Korean BBQ places around. It’s a hole in the wall (there’s only about 15 tables for 4 so don’t come here in big groups) but it’s a hidden gem of a restaurant.
This is the only place I’ve been to where you make your own kim chi jigae… and damn is it good. The convex grill has like a moat area around it where you pour some home made broth. Once the grill gets hot enough go ahead and start cooking, but don’t forget to throw the kim chi into the boiling broth. Once the meat (it’s best with pork!) starts cooking, the drippings roll down into the kim chi and broth mixture and makes it tastes like heaven. Sure, it might not be the healthiest way to eat but it’s so freaking good! Seriously, my mouth is watering right now.