Mapo Korean BBQ

Awesome. Came here with a foodie friend for great food, and that’s what we got, seriously great food and service! Started out looking at the huge and confusing menu, but we had a server that was patient and we got what we wanted and more!
This restaurant is clean, staffed properly and obviously run well.
Again you will want to have time to look over the large menu, and lots of all you can eat options.
I suggest the kalbi ribs cooked by the restaurant, cooking is great but I am just lazy that way!
Enjoy!

Had a great experience here last night. Drove over with the intention to try Friends House, but I saw a couple walking out of Mapo and asked which they preferred, and they recommended Mapo for BBQ. We had great service, the meat was fresh and well marinated, and the sides were delicious. I would definitely return!

This Korean BBQ is not one that I would recommend. There are a couple of very enticing «all-​you-​can-​eat» meals on the menu, lots of meat choices and it comes with the sides that make the meal. This is what you think when you order. The first round goes well, you get your meat to grill and your sides. What happens next, if you ask for more sides, the waitstaff stops coming to your table. Now, the sides are not generous at all. We have three people at the table and you can barely have a bite to share among three. So, quite skimpy to begin with. The meat portions are decent though. The bulgogi is not flavored well, not enough marinade to permeate the meat.
This place truly falls short with their service and their food doesn’t make up for it. You have to ask a few times to get anything after the first course and they really give you the impression that you shouldn’t ask for additional food. It is supposed to be all-​you-​can-​eat, but don’t expect that at all. There are definitely better places around! Poor service and «blah» food.

This is my favorite AYCE korean bbq, they have a very good service and nice employees, i love their sauces and meats are always fresh and tasty. My family loves going here though its a lil bit pricey than other korean bbq but i guess its worth it.

The only reason there are 2 stars instead of 1 is because our waiter Alfredo was nice. They put us in the back room where the tables are really small and u sit on a short stool, but that was fine we made it work… what sucked was the customer service, specifically from the red-​headed korean lady who seemed very annoyed with our presence, ignored us when we would say, «excuse me» to her… which she heard because she would show up like 10 min later, and ignored our questions. WORST OF ALL a mouse scurried all around and dissapaeared under our table. no one wanted to put there feet on the ground. Not saying the place was infested, but it happenned and it wasn’t great lol. A plus though, Ban Chan was good, kimchi pancakes were great but they brought it out late and turned our fire on only after we got our meat so we had to wait for it to warm up before we started cooking.

The meat and side dishes are no longer consistent. They once had served us meat that tasted like it had gone bad. When I confronted them about it, we were told that they always serve fresh meat and that maybe it’s just us. No, it was not just us because all the previous dishes we ordered were fine before this one. They also raised their prices for each of their menu choices and removed their steamed egg from the menu. SO, it’s official. I’m breaking up with this place. I gave it multiple chances but I refuse to pay anymore.

The best angus rib finger meat!!! Love this Bbq place for a date with my fav Filipino hot stud BF.

I don’t get to frequent Korean BBQ restaurants much. In my experience though, this is one of the better ones. Granted, I don’t have much selection at home. And according to Unilocal,there are better rated ones in the Kearny Mesa area.
We came here a year ago when we were visiting, wanted KBBQ and this place had an open table. Not the most scientific selection method. However we liked it enough this time that we sought it out and brought friends.
Did not disappoint a second time.
We went for the AYCE (base, not premium) selection. For us, getting steak and additional seafood for the extra $ 5 per person was not worth it. You get a pretty wide selection of proteins with the base selection. We went for the brisket, beef bulgogi, spicy pork, beef ribs, and pork ribs. Bulgogi was the table favorite. Great seasoning and very tender. Brisket was good but needs to be dipped in something. Spicy pork also very well seasoned.
Comes with a good (but not huge) array of condiments. I remember marinated potato, kimchee, marinated bean sprouts, seaweed (broad leaf) salad, and uhhhh something else (I know, very helpful).
All in all a solid KBBQ restaurant. There are many in the area so competition is solid but I don’t think you will be disappointed if you go.
And unlike me, I totally failed to take pictures. Sorry. Too busy feeding the pie hole.

Ok I was really upset last time I wrote a review so I’m reviewing and sharing now again the experiences that I had at Mapo.
There is no service whatsoever. They have very little servers who barely come to you when you need them. And you usually need your server often for any requests you may have, isn’t it normal?
I ordered medium spicy tofu soup, but it was really mild and tasteless. I thought maybe it originally should taste that way. But I figured out they REALLY served me a mild one. I found about it only when they gave me the bill.
We like to barbecue non-​marinated meat. Then we find the meat they served is marinated. It’s just so visible… And the lady there insisted its not! What the??? We tried to believe and the meat was OF COURSE marinated: so sweet coated with sugar, salt and more. I’m not sure what this attitude is about towards customers. Then we requested for an exchange and they wanted to decline because it was a combo menu. Frankly, the quality of meat was the same as AYCE meat. Sorry.
Previous review
«The most horrible service.
It seems to me they are very nice to Korean male customers only. Sorry that was how it looked like to me!
Don’t even wanna write all the details.»

First time coming here thinking looks like a good place to eat. Well i was wrong. Service is really bad. Like does it really take like 10 min to give you sauce when its not even busy? 15 min to get one order of brisket while everyone else is getting their orders. All you can eat but we spent atleast an hour to get about 4 orders of meat. Considering three of them was given in the beginning.

Staffs are so rude. I had to repeat my order few more times until they bring my food. Salad is nasty. And appetizers are trash. Im not coming back again!!! Ive been to many kbbqs in the city and this is the worse. One star for the steak but the rest is no good. Sliced pork bellys are so thin.

I love Mapo! whenever i come here with friends we always got good service even if it was 11 pm :)
I prefer Mapo over Manna anyday!

Went late for Valentines. I’d say we got there around 10pm. There wasn’t much open at that time so we figured we’d give it a shot. They were prompt with getting our food after we placed our order. The waiter checked on us several times to make sure we were doing ok. So great customer service. The food was good, but not mind blowing. Would I go back? Yeah, i’d say so. specially now that I know they are open late.

Mmmmm my favorite korean bbq. They have combos or all you can eat. We of course went for all you can eat.

We originally found this place because we were at the spa across the street. It’s tucked away into the corner of the strip mall but is easy to find if you just follow your nose :-)
Each table has a little grill in the middle of it so you know what’s in store… You can order a variety of meats and vegetables to grill and there are different packages to choose from with pictures by it for those who like to pick their meal by snapshot.
We got the chicken and steak. It’s so much fun and such a social experience that I would recommend bringing family here for a fun dining night out. Be careful though because it gets really hot and although it’s good for socializing with family it might not be good for smaller children.
The service was just OK. It took them a long time to even come to our table but once they got started and we had our first round of food we were fine. Expect to spend about $ 50 at the minimum per person when you come here.

This was my first time here. I stopped in real quick on a Sunday evening for a single order of seafood tofu soup to go. My regular place next store Friends House which has wonderful soup and quick service was closed. No worries I though it would be a great opportunity to try a new place. My girlfriend and I arrived and it took a bit to try and get someone to help place a quick order to go. I was told hold on, and just a second by a couple of people and then after a while someone came up and instead of helping me they answered the phone and then went on to take a large phone order. By this time I was a little frustrated and nicely let them know I had been waiting a while to put an order in but after the server got off the phone they told me they would put my order in ahead. We’d went outside to make a call to family and came back to check on the order 15 – 20 minutes later. We were told they were still working on it. So we decided we’d sit at a table since it had been taking a while and my girlfriend went a got a cup of tea. Around another 15 – 20 minutes it appeared we weren’t going anywhere for a while so I got up and found someone to order a local beverage I hadn’t tried before. While I was away someone stopped by the table and said it would be a little longer they had a large order. During all this time every one that came in after us had been getting all their food which was pretty frustrating to see. Almost an hour from coming in we finally got our order of soup. I’m pretty patient and understanding to a degree and grew up in the restaurant business but what frustrated me most is when I tried to let a manager know what had happened to try and prevent or work on this to avoid future problems I was met with a man who first told me they had a big order which was called in before me which is funny because I had been standing up long before it was called in and then it just didn’t make any sense that all the people coming in after us received thier orders long before us. Then also argued with me that it had not been almost an hour when in fact I had a call to family on my call log to easily pin point the time. It seemed my order was not important to them and the poor customer service was not taken serious. In all it was a simple single order of soup to go that in no way should ever justify an hour wait time. My usual wait time Family House is about 5 minutes but I would of been understanding if it took 20 – 30 minutes if it was busy. Very poor customer service and if that was a manager that was one of the worse ways to ever handle a problem. I would skip this place and try one that cares more about the food and service to customers.

Food here is pretty good. You are limited to what you get. They bring it to you. If you go in the evening it gets super busy and they will take forever to refill your water. Overall they are ok.

Got one of the combos and the portions were big! I was bummed they didn’t include kimchi in the sides tho:(the kimchi stew was very good though it you like spicy. The pancakes were not my favorite but all in all average experience nothing bad nothing amazing

This kbbq place is a great fall back plan to choose if your planned location is packed. The wait for a table is almost nonexistent. I’ve been to many kbbq places in the convoy are and this specific restaurant is listed as mediocre under my book.
There is patio seating for large tables however they only allow adults to sit outside only because it’s a smoking zone. Kids pricing is half of an adult, which was great for us since we had a bunch of little ones. As for the seatings, I’m not sure it it was only our vent on top but the smoke from the bbq kept clouding our area. Not sure if the vent was on or even working.
The food is great. Love the finger meat, beef tongue, and brisket. One of the best briskets served in town! As for the service, not so much.
The place was busy but wasn’t full. They are definitely understaffed when my family and I came. Orders were messed up, waiters were not attentive, and we spent most of our time there waiting for a waiter to get us the next order. There’s a time limit (2hours) so don’t be afraid to hassle them. Because they will stop serving you after 2 hours.
Would I go here again? If no other place is open then yes. Otherwise I’m better off with my money elsewhere.
What’s good: the brisket, finger meat, no wait
Could work on: SERVICE

I don’t eat korean bbq much and have only been to a few places in San Diego so I don’t really know how to tell the difference as to what tastes better and what not. We sat inside and we were served immediately. The meats tasted good and the sides were okay. Overall, the service was great as our server was very attentive and quick to our requests. I wouldn’t mind coming here again.

Had some lunch, nothing too crazy. The kimchee chige was good, the mool nang myun was not so good, and the BBQ pork was average. The pan chan was also average. Overall, average. It’s probably pretty hard to get people into the place because there are 3 other restaurants in the same strip mall. I may come back but would rather try other places first.

Found a dead fly in one of my side dishes, unfortunately I’ve already eaten some of the food from the same plate. Told one of the workers, they didn’t seem to care. Just feeling grossed out and somewhat paranoid, doesn’t help that I’m 5 months pregnant too! Will not be back here.

After spending a day snorkeling in freezing water, all I wanted to do was stuff my face with delicious food and food coma in a warm and happy place. We suggested eating AYCE Korean BBQ and our hosts decided to bring us here because it was open late. Our group of six was seated immediately outside on a Saturday for a late dinner.
The food was delicious and the meat was good, marinated well. The service was also great, although that might have been due to one of the guys in our group turning on his charm and speaking Korean with the waitresses. Two of the guys in the group lived in Korea for a year each and another guy was actually born in Korea and they said that this was authentic and that it really reminded them of their time in Korea. My main gripe is that they don’t have fans outside so it makes for a very foggy experience but overall it was good and I would be down to come again!

I’ve been to 4 Korean bbq places on the convoy strip and I must say that this place is my favorite. They have a friendly staff, short wait and all the sides I like. My favorite sides are green onion salad, miso soup & lots of rice papers.

I’ve never been to a Korean BBQ place and I must admit Mapo was an exceptional first place to have it at. Let me first start out by saying you don’t come here for the fancy atmosphere or nice big tables you come for some bomb food! The service was mediocre but the food made up for it.
It was a Wednesday night when I came with a group of 7 of my coworkers. We arrived at about 5:45 pm and the place was empty… Apparently people eat later in that area? Anyways… Since I had never been I left the ordering up to the experts. We ended up ordering bougogi, the chicken, short ribs, pork belly, and a few other meats. Along with our meal came a bunch of fix ins. I had never tried kimchi before and love love loved it! It was very flavorful with some spice, so beware if you don’t like spicy things. Dumplings were also ordered which were tasty as well, especially with the sauce they provide with it. Overall good quality food packed with amazing flavor. Really can’t go wrong with anything you end up ordering! Just remember to come to this place hungry! Left here so full that I woke up full the next day, now that’s a meal!

So my friends wanted to come here instead of Little Sheep because they were craving all you can eat (ayce) Korean BBQ. I was looking forward to reviewing Little Sheep because I’ve heard good things… but I go with the flow and Korean BBQ actually sounded good too.
I had never even heard of Mapo Korean BBQ, only some of the other popular ones: Manna, Roadem, and Taegukgi. I never noticed this place before, it’s easy to miss especially at night, but it’s hidden in the corner of the plaza. I lucked into parking (someone happened to be leaving), but I can see how parking can be difficult to find especially during peak hours.
So we were greeted and seated pretty much right away. Initially we wanted to sit outside in the patio, but there were people smoking so we chose to sit at the inner patio. The combination of tobacco smoke and BBQ smoke didn’t sound appealing. I have to say the tables are small, it’s okay if you don’t mind being cozy with your company.
They served us water, my buddy ordered a beer (Sapporo), and I left the ordering to him. He ended up ordering: brisket, pork belly, finger rib meat, steamed eggs, and a few other meats.
The meats were pretty good, tender and flavorful. It helped that my buddy’s wifey and my love both have experience with Korean BBQ and cooking the meats (they didn’t over cook it). I liked the egg also. It was tastier than I thought it would be. The side dishes were just okay, not great.
The servers were friendly and responsive to our needs. They changed our grill 4 – 5 times and brought us whatever we needed immediately or within a few minutes. The place was busy, but wasn’t packed. I can see how service can become «slow» if it’s packed.
Overall, I’d give this place 3.5 rating. I’d return here, but also plan to try other places.
The good: no waiting, decent meats, open late.
The okay: side dishes, small tables, service.
The bad: parking, smokers.

I used to come here at least once a week for their Korean barbecue. I loved sitting in the back patio area in the circle tables. It’s a little snug getting all the side dishes and stuff on there but it makes a great picture. Haha.
Their pork jowls are offf theeee hooook! You can either get it plain or marinated.
Me and my friends would get one of the combos depending on how many of us were there.
With the combo you get a certain number of rice (the combos have serving size so it goes by that), a steamed egg or two, a choice of either kimchi jjigae or bean paste soup (I usually get the kimchi jjigae), and whatever meat you choose from the menu (which you can choose to marinate. or not).
If you like barley tea, you can ask for that instead of just water.
You get a good amount of food for the price you pay.
When I get pork belly, I ask for the kimchi you can cook on the grill to mix with the pork and onions. (The kimchi that comes out with the other side dishes is different than this glorious one)
They also have other Korean dishes you can order. Their buckwheat cold noodles are good for hot days. Their kimchi and pork pancake is also good.

The meat quality is definitely better than most other AYCE in the area. I like to get the volcano fried rice with it too. However the only thing lacking for me are the side dishes. I don’t really like the variety they have here that they have at other places. But that’s really my only negative. If you don’t care for the side dishes, this is a good place.

Aside from good service and kind owners, this place has nothing else going for it. After a few bites of the brisket and bulgogi we weren’t interested in more. It’s definitely not good beef if that’s what you’re looking for, and unfortunately because they’re popular for their «all you can eat» option, their selection of beef has only two prime beef options– and those are definitely nothing close to what real prime beef tastes like.
The tables are also very small, they kind of reminded me of lunch tables at my preschool. Very hard to eat with such little space, we constantly had to move things around to make room for our plates.
We asked for glass cups and they don’t provide you with any glass cups or plastic even, it’s all brass which I don’t find all that hygienic.
If you want really good Korean bbq, you sure won’t get that here.

This place caught my eye. I was looking at the menu outside and the stew reeled me in. Ordered the tofu stew with dumplings, beef, onions with mushrooms and a large Hite.
The banchan came out. All of the dishes they served were a little less than average for SD Korean. Out comes the sizzling stew. Cracked and threw the egg and some rice in it. It’s pretty good. First time seeing dumplings offered in stew so I went for it it and ordered it spicy. Pretty good. I left with a full warm belly determined to come back and try their BBQ. I screwed up on the lunch specials. Need to take advantage of them too.

Soooo disappointed after hearing such great feedback on other people’s opinion on the best KBBQ… Marinade? I didn’t taste any, brisket was paper thin, pork belly was mostly fat and cartilage bone– total disappointment there, bulgogi wasn’t great either. I wasn’t interested in ordering anyone meat and my family lost their appetite. Side dishes were pretty non existent and their kimchee is probably one of the worst! Never ever again, actually worse than my opinion of Manna. Geesh.
You want a great KBBQ go to Taegukki backside of Zion!

So we literally pulled into this small plaza of restaurants and blindly chose this one! SO happy we did! It was clean cozy and the service was amazing. Having never been here before our server was very helpful in showing us how to order and even when out food came how to cook it.
We order 5 meat combo with sides that consisted of dumplings, salad, kimchee, steamed egg… I’m sure I’m forgetting some! I tried the sliced beef tongue and duck and it was so good. We also ordered spicy pork, ribeye and chicken and topped it off with a bottle of sake’ :)
If I ever find myself in that area again I will definitely be back. I am From Ohio. We just don’t get that kind of food here lol.

Mapo’s serving style was like Taeguki’s — everyone must order the same AYCE deal and you must share all that comes out. Honestly, I’m not the hugest fan of this. At Jeong Won, you can go up to the meat bar and put what you want to bbq on your plate, then go back to your table and bbq it. Much better idea in my opinion, because people don’t have to end up paying for what they don’t really want to eat, and you can eat as much as you’d like, of what you’d like :)
When we went to Mapo last time, we were the ONLY people in the restaurant for lunch. There were SIX workers. Every time we needed something or wanted to order more, it took a minimum of TWO requests each time. When we left last time, we realized they never even brought out the Kalbi ribs that we ordered.
FOOD — Pretty good.
SERVICE — Terrible, I think they probably fell asleep on us at some point.
I still prefer Jeong Won… you can get the food yourself AND have some yummy self-​serve ice cream at the end for your dessert :)

I love going to this place. Their meat is seasoned and it’s the only ayce kbbq place I go to now. I use to go to manna but the wait is so long and it’s over rated. The meT their is plain. Taeguki isn’t all that great neither.
The service here is on point. The finger meat here is delicious. And I love how it’s not too busy here but good quality food. I highly recommend this place.