Seoul B.B.Q. & Sushi

The food is five star, the service is one star. My husband I went here when it first opened (sorry Ichiban we had an affair). We went with the old-​faithful Kalbi Beef and Chapchae. They served a very nice array of side dishes, 15 – 18 different varieties, very impressive. The food was great!
The server just threw the food on the table, without a word and walked away. I had to wait ’till my food was cold to flag her down for some chop sticks. Simple mistake that could usually be forgiven, but the chop sticks didn’t come with a simple apology. On top of that the Gyoza arrived at the same time as the entrees.
It’s been 2 years since the bad service, maybe I’ll give it another try someday.

Heard it was good and really wanted to try it. It wasn’t good. Not even close to good. Service was AWFUL. The food was sub-​par. The waitress took at least 10 minutes to appear while the lady who sat us did nothing. The person bringing the food was rude. The server disappeared after taking our order never to be seen again. Had to get up to find someone to bring the check. All this and it was really expensive. I love to eat and I don’t mind pricey, if it’s a good experience. This was bad enough to make me want to regret wasting my time and appetite. Never again.

The sheer amount of meat is staggering! It’s a thing to behold. The sauces and flavors and cuts of meat are all quite nice. But let’s focus here on the volume of meat involved.
When ordering the bbq, there is a minimum of two selections, each one in itself is an artery-​tightening quantity. The meat comes out in a big pile and is disentangled and dropped onto the sizzling grill that sits in the middle of the table.
I’ll just add here that perhaps the most devilish part of the whole thing is how delicious it all is. It’s hard to stop, even when you’re pretty sure that you’re having a stroke, and the others at your table display a pale and nervous aspect. And for some reason, the bbq comes with 14, that’s right 14 side dishes. Each one is small, but still. If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to be truly mad with power, order a few bbq selections and let the fat fly.
I’ve been back a number of times and have found all their dishes to be quite good. Their traditional Korean fried rice dishes are good, their sushi is good. The waitstaff and management are attentive and sincere. All around a great place!

I love Korean food and have tried a lot of different Korean restaurants here, NYC, LA, Boston, DC… Best dishes here I’ll say soon tofu and spicy cod soup. I was not impressed by anything else, so far. I took two stars off because of their service and the portion of food.
Service: Waiters or waitresses do NOT smile. When they bring dishes to me, they say NOTHING, basically just throw my dishes to me. For Korean rice, since it comes in a bowl with lid, best waiter will shake it before serving in order to avoid rice sticking to the bowl. Here in Seoul BBQ, no such nothing. Among all my visits, waiter never asked me if I want any refill of the side dishes, never added water/​tea for me.
Food: portion is small based on what they charge. And I sense a continuing decrease on the portion. Today lunch, my soon tofu only had one mussel, one clam, one shrimp, some squid cuts.
The only reason I still come to this place is that it’s closer to my place when I am craving for Korean food. Otherwise I’ll go to Angry Tofu in Rocky hill or Goong in East Hartford. They have way better service and welcoming atmosphere.

Since my first review, this place has become one of my favorite restaurants, and a regular choice for family gatherings. If you’re a fan of Korean food, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re new to Korean cuisine, don’t be intimidated! The food might be unfamiliar, but the flavors are on point. My family’s go-​to order is 2 orders of the daeji bulgolgi and 1 jjam bbong, a combo that is just enough food for 4 without breaking the bank. Having tried most of the BBQ dishes, the daeji bulgolgi is our favorite, with its juicy fatty pork and legitimately spicy sauce. The jjam bbong is an enormous bowl of spicy, fragrant seafood soup that can be easily shared between 2 or 3 people. Makes me drool just thinking of it! My favorite part of the meal, however, is the delicious banchan, which I could make an entire meal out of on my own.
I also highly recommend the lunch specials, which are a pretty good deal as long as you’re not someone who inhales BBQ meat like a vacuum. I’ve never tried the sushi because, let’s face it, why would you get sushi when you’re at a Korean restaurant?
So after writing a love letter to this place on Unilocal,why does it only get 4 stars instead of 5? The service is really lacking, for one. Don’t come here expecting a quick meal, since the waiters disappear for long periods of time, and when they reappear, seem to be going out of their way to ignore you. The one exception is the older Asian gentleman who is a fantastic server, but aside from that, the waitstaff couldn’t care less. This results in a lot of unnecessary waiting for every step of your meal. The prices are also pretty high and the value not-​so-​great for certain dishes. It’s definitely cheaper if you go with a big group, so everyone can share. Despite my complaints, I still love this restaurant, and you should definitely check it out!

Mixed feelings about this place. If it was just on the quality and taste of the beef we got I would give 4 stars. The beef was super seasoned with a lot of garlic. I loved the experience of the beef being cooked in front of us.
The waiter was very helpful and told us that one order of meat is too much for one person but not enough for two. So we ordered one order of beef and an appetizer. It was enough food in theory but we were left hungry because the food didn’t really hit the spot.
I am not used to Korean food so my rating may be based on personal preference. The side dishes didn’t do anything for me and the meat comes with about 10. The salad was good though.
The appetizer of noodles we got was nothing special and pretty expensive around $ 12.
Overall, it was an expensive meal when we just really enjoyed the beef and there was not a lot of it in one order.

This place is interesting. The menu is a bit differant with many choices and some are a bit exotic so be prepared for that. On any given evening if it is busy, more then one person needs to order the hibachi. If there are vacant tables they will let just one guest grill. The hibachi is not inexpensive. Average of 25.00 and up for the meat you grill. Anything from rib eye to tongue. Sushi was good and my husband absolutely loved his grilled food and kimchi. We ended up moving to the non-​grilling area on Saturday night because i didnt like anything on that menu and i could see taking up a grill when we could let someone else enjoy it. The manager was very nice to us. We liked him alot and he certainly took care of us for volunteering to relocate our seats. We will definitely go back.

Great service, great food. Will be back for sure to try out difference dish on menu

Seoul BBQ & Sushi was a great cultural experience for my boyfriend and I. We had to wait about twenty minutes, but it was worth the wait. Upon being seated, our server graciously explained how the service worked, and pointed out his personal favorites on the menu.
We ended up ordering a scorpion bowl and spring rolls to start. They were delicious! We then ordered the BBQ dinner with the pork and chicken. It was a very unique experience to be able to see everything being cooked right in front of you. Our server was very attentive and made sure our meat was cooked to perfection even though they were very busy.
One of the coolest things about this place is the wide variety of side dishes offered. Many kimchi veggies and other interesting flavors.

It was the best place to be with family especially for authentic Korean and Japanese food. I think this would be the only place that you can have genuine Korean food in central CT.
I ordered galbi and sushi. That was perfect. Even compare to NYC and other Korean dominated area, this was one of outstanding in quality and portion.
If I ordered this much in NYC, I might need to pay more than 500! Even free side dishes also amazing!
I highly recommended this place !!

I’ve never had the sushi. Nor have I had the Korean BBQ. But I have had the Korean cuisine. It’s delicious, and here’s why you should try it:
Cold noodles, stews, soups, stiry fry, rice dishes — like most Asian cuisine, Korean food has endless varieties with regional variations. Traditionally served with several side dishes or cooked into soups and rice dishes — Kimchi is almost always served at every meal (spicy pickled cabbage) Seoul BBQ is no different. No matter what Korean dish you order, there are about a dozen side dishes that accompany your meal: cabbage and cucumber kimchi, seasoned acorn jelly, potato salad, radish salad, sauteed seaweed, marinated soybeans to name a few. I love it!
Haven’t tried any of their cold noodle offerings. But for stews and soups I really like the kimchi-​jige. Kimchi, pork and tofu stew served boiling hot in a clay pot — it’s the perfect remedy for a cold day.
My favorite though has to be the soon-​tofu. With your choice of beef, seafood, vegetable or a combination — you can get it mild or very spicy. And, very spicy is SUPER spicy. Thicker than a soup but thinner than a porridge, it’s a dish everyone should try. If you’ve never really liked tofu, it’s really one of the nicest ways to introduce yourself to tofu which picks up all of the flavors of the stew while adding a soft comforting texture. Other favorites from the Korean menu include Don Katsu (Deep fried pork cutlet) Galbi-​jjim (braised beef short ribs) Haemul Pajeon (imagine the best seafood, green onion omeltte mix) are some othe personal favorites. Their lunch specials aren’t bad either. Both Korean and Japanese lunch specials are Monday-​Friday 11am-​3pm. They’re decent portions, affordable and all come with steamed rice and about 8 side dishes.
Can’t wait until my next visit! Although the Korean BBQ leans on the pricier side I’m excited to bring a bigger group to take advantage of all of the delicious things!

Clean, nice and organized.
Cost more than other korean places but you are paying for the atmosphere/​decoration and more side dishes.
It’s fun if you want to cook it yourself but I prefer not to smell of korean food on my clothes so I just go for the kalbi ($ 34) and have them cook it. They have dinner deals like 3 person dinner combo for $ 99 but I wish they had a combo of just one meat and soup like many other Korean places. First time I went, they were more generous w the sides… second time was like a sample Frm Costco.
I saw private rooms on the side which must be huge, cause it looked like a basket ball team just got out.

When you go a specialty restaurant you expect at least for the Server to explain the food or the menu. Especially when you can either have them cook it or you cook it. Our waiter doesn’t even ask. «Oh by the way is this your first time.» We waited a good 15 minutes before the server comes to our table and doesn’t offer any drinks just water. By drinks I mean Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale, or an iced tea, nothing. We have to ask him do you serve drinks. That’s is amazing to me. It like if we were a bother to him. I’m sorry but the service here sucks big time. My bill was 200.00 which include the tip.

One of the best restaurants I have visited starting from customer service, price, food options, ambience, quality and taste. Highly recommend for delicious Korean dishes.

Once again, we dined at Seoul B.B.Q restaurant. Always our go-​to spot when we are craving for Korean comfort food or some delicious & fresh sashimi & sushi. Of course, we are always greeted with courtesy. Especially if we are one of their «regular customers.»
Today, our usual sushi chef nor one of the host managers were there. Guess they were off on Tuesdays. I ordered the Chirashi & the bf was in the mood for some good ol’ korean galbi tang (short ribs stew) We were served with several side dishes as we waited for out main dishes. A little disappointing to say, some of the side dishes seemed a bit… stale ans dry. It tasted as though it has been left sitting out for a while. The galbi tang was delicious. So refreshing and perfectly cooked. As for my chirashi… I was a bit disappointed. The sushi sticky rice didn’t seem as tasty as it did the first time I have had it. Was pretty dry. As the sashimi, I wasn’t too impressed. I asked for certain fish to be omitted, which they perfectly did. I guess I should have been specifically clear on what I preferred in my bowl. Usually our regular sushi chef knows exactly what I like so I never had any complaints. Besides that, I love this restaurant. Love how they are always so catering and polite. I’m sure all restaurants have their off days and nights. Regardless of my little disappointment, their food is always delcious.

As I said in my last review I’d want to give this place a try for eat in … WOW glad I did tonight. Wife and I went to sit down. Place was packed, first good sign was you could tell that the food was authentic Korean food due to the patrons that were there; even heard a guy say «I remember eating this at home».
We waited about 15 minutes for a table. We sat down and looked at the extensive menu. Now I’ll admit this is my first time eating Korean food or BBQ. So ALOT of the stuff on menu I had no idea what it was. I picked out the pork shoulder and octopus. It said spicy and had a Chile pepper next to it. I figured I’d go with hot.
Wife got the UN marinated steak. The food came out on a bed of lettuce, raw. And the waitress placed about 10 different small plates around the table. She must have known we had no idea what was happening because she explained each one as she placed it down. Some of them were amazing, some were a little out of my comfort zone.
The waitress began to cook the steak on our table grill. This was pretty darn cool. Reminded me of the Melting Pot where you cook your food there at the table. She was very attentive and kept coming back frequently to ensure our meal was cooked and done properly. We also had a sushi roll each. Wife got the sweet potato roll. I got California roll along with an order of salmon sushi.
The steak was cooked very well, and the pork shoulder and octopus was amazing. It was not spicy at all… At least not the way I expected. My wife doesn’t like spicy food and she even enjoyed it.
Only two small downsides which is why not five stars. First: kind of expensive. It was $ 88 for the two of us. Granted I got a beer, but wow. Second: poor designing of the front entrance, sounds crazy. But the wind coming into the first door created a squeal when it came through the second door. Like a wind tunnel effect. It sounded horrible and didn’t stop really the entire time we where there other than when people walked in/​out.
Very tummy give them a try, $ 88 is worth a new experience IMO

So I’m kinda at a loss to explain some of the really negative reviews here. Except to say that yeah, I didn’t find the sushi to be all that noteworthy. The one we got — a spicy tuna roll — had too much sauce and ended up nearly falling apart when we ate it. Even that, though, was tasty.
But you come here for the BBQ cooked right at your table. And there isn’t anything like it for miles around.
We ordered the short rib, chicken and pork belly. All were very generously portioned and had delightful seasoning. And they were all cooked at our table. Nice and fresh. And enough for a family of 5.
Service was very friendly and he made a number of jokes with the kids (even saying that forks were $ 5). He did a lot of the cooking at the table grill which was the only thing that was a little strange to me because at the other Korean BBQ places we’ve been at, we’ve done most of the cooking.
No matter, he came over numerous times and was very attentive filling drinks and finishing the food. (We also ordered the dumplings too — yum).
Overall, we enjoyed the meal here. It’s good for families or good for couples. And there isn’t anything else like it here.
My only negative is that the prices are a little steep. I’ve had ACYE BBQ places for less. But the portions are big so it all worked out. But I’d love an AYCE option.

I have been here for lunch, which is a STEAL and for dinner so I figured now would be a good time to review Seoul.
Lunch — I got a spicy pork lunch special for $ 9.99 and it came with all the korean bbq sides and rice so yeah I was stoked. They just started a sushi buffet special of some sort, will check it out.
Dinner — My brother and mother visited from out of town so we went for the Combination A korean bbq dinner. For $ 100 you get three meat portions, a small stone pot of tofu soup, a scallion or kimchi pancake, table side scrambled eggs, korean bbq picked veggies/​sides and a california roll.
We decided on the bulgogi, LA galbi and marinated pork. I thought I ordered the spicy pork, but no biggie. At korean BBQ you either cook the meat yourself or the servers do it. Here the servers are all over it, pretty efficient. All meats were great.
The kimchi pancake was good, but something I could live without. The silent star of the experience was the tofu soup wow was that soup good. The meal ends with a California roll, but I really don´t think that is necessary just take it out. We are getting so much for $ 100 at that point anyway.
Tip — it gets busy here on Saturday nights, so come a little earlier to take into account the wait. also, you are likely to leave smelling like the kitchen since the food is cooked in front of you.

I feel like everyone needs to try Korean food at least once in their lives. Neat little foyer area between the entrance and the actual dining area, decorated with large historical doors (which I mistakenly tried to open, oops!) all whilst magnificent Kpop plays in the background (I resisted thee urge to dance to MAMAMOO right then & there)
The staff was a pleasure when seating us and waiting us. No complaint there.
I would’ve liked to try the Bbq but it was only the two of us, bbq can get expensive so better to save it for a larger group of 3+
I got the Jajangmyeon-​black bean sauce noodles. The ultimate Korean comfort food. I got a huge behind bowl! Stuff can get messy but did I care? Noodles were very soft and the sauce was the perfect saltiness.
My friend got the bulgogi beef lunch special which came with small bowl of rice, miso soup, 11 side dishes:
–Spicy pickled cucumber
–Kimchi
–Yellow pickled radish
–Braised sweet potatoes
–Broccoli
–Seasoned soybeans
–Spicy mixed veggies
–Leek pancake
–veggie tempura
–Mung Bean Sprouts
–Fish cake stir fry
The Jajangmyeon did not come with side dishes. The bulgogi beef was moist, tender, very tasty.
The Soju is only available at this restaurant. Don’t bother trying to find some at the liquor store next door because they won’t have it.
I’m still having Jajangmyeon withdrawals to this day so I will be making a grand return to Seoul soon. Which «Seoul» that is? I’ll have to see!

I’m hesitant to write a review because I did not get any of the tabletop cooking, and that appears to be an experience worth going for in itself, but I did get some good sushi so here goes!
Other reviews have mentioned BYOB, but they do have a bar and a drink menu so that’s worth calling to check on before you go.
The Korean BBQ options did look intriguing. A little pricy, but they come with 14 sides and some are stewed at your table. However, I knew I was going out to eat later as well, so just stuck with a Dragon Roll. They put a lot of eel sauce on it, which is great because I love eel sauce. The avocado was perfectly ripened and the whole roll had a ton of flavor. Option of subbing for brown rice instead of white is available for a $ 2 upcharge (I did not).
Next time I have a big appetite, I would love to go back and try the Korean BBQ, as that seems to be their specialty and the main reason to go. For now, I’ll vouch for the sushi!