Gen Korean BBQ House

The food was very good. The wait staff we had was amazing. Raymond and Luke turned our experience around 180 degrees from when we first walked in the doors. Sub par hostess staff almost had us walk out the door immediately. Raymond and Luke with their amazing attitudes made our stay great and made us want to come
Back again for sure.

So tasty. Seriously. We have visited Gen a few times since they opened. The food is so good. Everything is seasoned well and the glass noodles, while they look like worms, are delightfully savory and delish. The service is hit and miss. When they first opened, I had exceptional service twice, since then, not so much.
A few weekends ago I took my brother and his GF here for lunch, Sunday is dinner prices all day. No problem there, it’s still a good deal with the amount of meat you can order. However, it was hot. Like the temperature inside the building was so hot. It was a hot day and I was hoping the restaurant would be cool, but nope. And we didn’t get prompt water refills. We had to ask multiple times for dishes and grill changes.
I can forgive all things except the lack of water refills. If you can’t quite get the place cooled off, I get it. If you are short on clean grills, I get it. But, leave a carafe of water for the table if you are prone to forgetting. Leave more than one carafe if it’s hot as balls and your table keeps asking for water. We are dying, mister!
I will be back again though. The food is too good to hold the heat against them for long. I’m hoping they get the air conditioning sorted out and that they can get the staff up to its former glory. If they can do that, it would be 5 stars. Yeah. Meat. It’s good.

Would definitely give this place a zero star not because of the food quality but the service being provided. I’ve had Gen before but this was our first time dining at Gen in Las Vegas. We had a party of 10 adults and 1 baby. First the waiter asked how old is my baby and I told him he is two and he gave me the look as if he didn’t trust my word for it. He asked me once more and I gave the same answer.
After we all sat down, my son started to have a bloody nose, and I asked for extra napkins to attempt to stop the bleeding, but they took their time and said please use the restroom because he was bleeding too much. I didn’t say anything and did as they asked. After coming out from the restroom, took my son to the car to let him rest up with his mom. I went back to let the group to start ordering the meat without my wife and I. I assumed that the Gen in Orange County had great service before and will be able to accommodate my group without me, but they provided terrible service. The grill wasn’t changed not till upon request. We ordered veggies but they took their time bringing it out.
After the group ate for about 30 minutes, since everyone was concerned for my son, I asked for the bill so that we come back to the hotel, and they charged is for 10 people! I was shocked since my wife was out in the car and she didn’t even get to sit to dine. I asked them why they charged for 10 rather than 9 since my wife didn’t even had a bite to eat, their initial response was unfortunately you told us 10 adults and 1 baby they have to charge. I asked but she didn’t even eat anything or even touch her plate, she used the restroom to tend to my son and left to the car right away. They then said that once she comes inside the store they will charge. I asked to speak with a manager, and she said the samething.
Worse experience at Gen ever!

I wasn’t crazy about this place. I was excited to try it and ended up disappointed. We had a large party of 11 so I understood there would be a wait but the wait was almost an hour. Tofu hut late a night can long but this seemed to take forever. Once we were seated our grill went out-​that took another 20 minutes for someone to fix it. So by now, 45 minute wait and 20 minutes to fix our grill, we still didn’t have any food yet. Small portions so you have to order about 3 plates minimum to get the same portions as other places. Food was okay.
The service was not good. The girl in the front said she’d get the manager three time and still, he/​she never showed up. Forget refills on drinks, and the server brought us sesame oil after having to remind him about 4 times.

I had my first Korean BBQ experience as Gen Korean BBQ House. We came here for the lunch AYCE special (only $ 14.95/person, what a steal! Dinner is $ 19.95/person). I LOVED this place and I officially love Korean BBQ! The meat was seasoned perfectly and there was so much variety.
The best part of my experience at GEN was James. James was our server and he went above and beyond to make sure my boyfriend and I had an excellent experience. He suggested different appetizers and was so attentive! He truly deserves praise, he did everything he could to make sure we were taken care of.

The food is amazing. They have so many options to choose from. The price for lunch is good. Even though it is all you can eat. I noticed that they are bringing out smaller portions. For example, with a table of 4 they would only bring out 2 pieces of pork belly. It would be nice if they can bring out at least 3 pieces instead.
The staff is ok. It is a hit or miss with them. Some days more than half of them just stand around and talk. Other days they are amazing. I think it depends who is working. They also do not have certain items on their menu. I actually like the California locations a lot better.

Although, they have the best japchae I ever tasted, this place doesn’t deserve all the praises what so ever.
First things first… The service is horrible! All the staff were young and have no idea what they’re doing! All they’re good at is walking around. Walking like they’re all models for us to watch. They did not tend to any of our needs and it took multiple waves for us to be noticed even though they kept walking pass us. Honestly, we only saw one person who was actually doing work and that’s the guy who delivered the meat.
And don’t even get me started on the side dishes… You have to order kimchi separately. So when we came here, they’re out of kimchi because it’s «seasonal». I guess If I want to come here again, I would have to bring my own kimchi lol.
Overall, the restaurant looked pretty overstaffed, maybe they need to focus on hiring people with experience or people who can do a proper job first then I’ll go ahead and give it one more shot.

KBBQ at the Galleria Mall?! I love the location! It’s easier to get to and you don’t have to drive down the busy streets of Chinatown.
The service here is always hit or miss. The first couples of times I’ve gone, service was a mess. The burners would always go out because of the AC and we would have to be seated elsewhere after asking them to light the grill 5 times. As of late, service has gotten a lot better! Grills work well now and the food comes out in a timely manner. They also offer rice paper now, but I’m still waiting for them to have steamed egg.
My favorites are beef tongue, pork belly, pork cheek, japchae, and their KFC. They also bring out 4 – 5 different ban chan and salad that’s unlimited. If you’re interested in dessert, they also offer ice cream macarons!

Uhm no. Terrible service, small portions, bad meat quality, and did I say terrible service? Stay away! Don’t waste your time.
Other than what I had already mentioned, there was an incident during our dining experience where I accidentally spilled water. If I had not waived down a server/​bus person endlessly, they were not going to do anything about the spill on the table even though they were walking by our table multiple times ignoring the situation. They didn’t even offer a new glass of water when everything was half-​ass cleaned. Only the floor was wiped but not the table. The food that had water in them was not replaced or taken away. I know it was my fault to spill the water but accidents do happen and I was once a server so I know what level of service is to be expected when drinks are spilled as it happens more often than not.
I can only see this place getting 4 stars because people that are giving high ratings are not used to going to real korean bbq places so Gen blows their clueless minds.

My new favorite place in Las Vegas. It’s just $ 19.95 per person for all you can eat Korean BBQ and side dishes and appetizers. It’s like a dream you don’t have to wake up from.
The garlic pork belly and spicy pork is the best. Make sure you get Jap Chae too.
Alodia was an amazing server. She made sure our drinks were full and our BBQ was sizzling clean.
I want to come back tomorrow, but I’m leaving town. :(

We enjoyed it, it was our first time at a Korean bbq. Very interesting I must say. We tried quite a few things on the menu that we’ve never eaten. The japchae noodles were tasty. Pork belly was not my favorite! I liked the fried squid legs until my third order then they were kind of burnt.
James was good, he suggested a lot of things for us to try. Happy hour is at 9:30pm.
The ambiance is nice. You can have a private table or table with a different party. We came on a Wednesday and we the wait was about 5 mins. But then they sat us at a table we had to share, then we requested a private table and waited less than 10 mins. Over all experience was nice.
Thanks to Sierra L. I didn’t put my noodles on the grill

If your goal in life is to eat as much Korean BBQ as possible for one flat price, this is your place! Service is fast and variety is good.
HOWEVER, if your goal is to eat really good, high quality Korean BBQ without over eating, head on over to Gangnam in the CVS plaza across from the Hard Rock Hotel. You may need to wait for a table, but the food quality is waaaaay better.

First time at Gen this even and I have to say it is our new spot for date night! I’ve heard soo much about this place and we finally tried it. It being Mother’s Day we expected to wait long. Longer than the wait we had. Given it was Mother’s Day we actually didn’t wait long. I checked in at 4:30pm and was told it was going to be a 60−90min wait. They took my name and phone # and texted me when we were close. We were seated by 5:30pm and out the place by 6:45pm! Impressive!
The service was spectacular! From the start to the end and everything in between! It was a well oil machine, in my opinion. Ordering was easy as the server had iPads (or some electronic device) that they used to input our order as we spoke and the food was out to us in minutes. They had servers to take our orders, bus persons for drinks and «runners» as I call them serving our food. From one order to another, wait was minimal. We even had someone offer us a grill change in between! The meat was nice and fresh. Selections of meat was outstanding and to top it off they had appetizers that were included in the AYCE price of $ 19.95!
The place was more of a lounge feel. Dimmed lights and loud music. It was nice! I definitely think it’s more for adults because of the feel but it was still a kid friendly restaurant. They had spacious booths and walkways. I personally won’t take my kids with us here but if you had to, there’s no harm as several families had babies to kids with them.
Another thing I loved was the place was not smokey! We didn’t leave smelling like Korean bbq like we would at any other kbbq joint. They had the new grill that had the vents on them and smoke went directly in. It was awesome!
Will definitely be back for more date nights or girls night for sure!
Great job GEN!
Btw, out server was Justin and he was awesome!

This was a really fun atmosphere. We went on a Friday night and it was definitely full, even at a later dinner time. Luckily, there were four spots at the bar that we were able to nab, which still made for a fun experience.
We did the AYCE dinner experience and honestly, it’s a great price for what you’re getting. The bar was set up so that there was a grill between two people and we were still able to talk and enjoy each other. The noise level was a little high, but nothing that dampened our experience.
It’s not even worth listing everything we tried because I’m pretty sure we tried about 60% of the menu. It was all very yummy and filling and I didn’t think the meats were too salty or anything. Our waiter was great and accommodating and since we were at the bar, the bartender was great as well. Our grill was changed out once it got pretty dirty, we didn’t even have to ask.
Summary: There are a lot of options on the menu /​it’s a large, great space /​clean and great customer service /​yum.
Next time: I want to try their desserts that they showcase in the front — was too full from dinner last time!

People I know kept raving about this place, so my expectations were sky high… Unfortunately, I was disappointed.
[Let’s start with the POSITIVES]:
* Food came out very quickly after the initial order (as in, immediately after the server completed our orders since she used an iPad — or some electronic device — to take our orders to then send to the kitchen). This was AWESOME!
* Meats were fresh & delicious
* Serving size was sufficient for each order
* Beef tongue was the best, and we ordered it about 8 times (and I’m not exaggerating)
[Now on to the NEGATIVES — which could make or break the restaurant for me]:
* Macaron ice cream was $ 4 each, and they were just OK. Macarons were stale.
* Tables are not good for a large party w/​kids (the max they can fit in the low booths is 6 people). Tall tables fit large parties better, but high chairs aren’t allowed
* Initially, we were told by 2 hosts we can have a high chair at the tall tables. After waiting 40mins, we finally got seated, then another host said we can’t have high chairs & removed them (which we understand can be a fire hazard, but we wish they told us this in the first place). My siblings then had to hold their children all night as we all ate/​cooked dinner
* Ambiance is very lounge-​ish
* Pretty loud inside (like a lounge/​bar)
* They don’t take reservations, and wait could take as long as 30mins — 1.5hrs
* The hosts didn’t know how to pronounce Gen & they didn’t know what it meant! We asked a couple other hosts, and we were shocked they didn’t know the answers as well!
Sadly, I came here with my family of 10 hoping to have a great experience for my Dad’s birthday: 7 adults, 1 toddler, 2 infants. I know they tried to accommodate us as best as they could, but the inability to seat all of us comfortably, and the miscommunication between the hosts & servers to us were quite disappointing.
It’s a shame it’s not as family friendly as we’d hope, and the servers had no knowledge about the restaurant name (nor did they have an interest to ask management for the answer). Their food is good and their prices are really reasonable compared to other AYCE Korean places, so I wish my review was more positive.
I know they’re still new, but I only hope they’ll make these improvements before it gets worse.

I first tried Gen in California and I liked it. You get a nice variety of meats at a very reasonable price. There are some appetizers that are part of the AYCE menu. Price per person depends on when you go: weekday vs weekend, lunch vs dinner. We’ve been here for lung during the week which is probably the best time to go because you avoid the ridiculous wait during the weekend AND it’s only $ 15 per person.
The banchan was good. From the AYCE menu, we tried: brisket, bulgogi, garlic pork belly, signature steak, KFC, and jap chae. I liked everything especially the garlic pork belly. Yuuuum!!!
The thing I like the most about Gen is that each grill has its own vent. The smoke doesn’t even get a chance to go up more than 2 inches — it gets sucked in right away so, you don’t end up smelling like grilled meat!
Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich — it’s not part of their AYCE menu but it is available. The flavors they have include coffee, vanilla, mango, green tea, etc. They’re ok. The macaron shells are very dry and hard. The ice cream in the middle is icy. Skip this and just eat all the meat!

Meh, I don’t get the hype over this AYCE KBBQ spot.
Literally everyone has been raving about GEN so I finally went to check it out with a friend who’s never had KBBQ before. I was really excited and looking forward to try a newer KBBQ spot in town, especially after hearing all of the positive reviews.
It’s definitely the most Americanized AYCE KBBQ I’ve ever been to. All of the KBBQ places are usually employed by Koreans, smaller hole in the wall type restaurants (besides Sura, which is huge). GEN is located in Galleria Mall and the inside is ginormous and quite colorful. The ventilation is great so you don’t have to worry about leaving smelling like a walking piece of grilled KBBQ meat. I couldn’t help but notice that they played old school R&B and love songs…(?) The menu also strayed a bit away from a traditional KBBQ menu. Some apps were popcorn shrimp, edamame, and fries (?!?) Interesting choices to say the least.
The meat was subpar. I usually go for brisket but since I was with a newbie, I ordered a variety of meats to share:
— Brisket; Pretty good! Very juicy
— Bulgogi; Fatty, the marinade was so-​so
— Kalbi; Tender, same marinade as Bulgogi but the quality of meat tasted better
— Spicy Pork Bulgogi; One of the more flavorful meats, not very spicy but tasted good. Also fatty
— Pork Belly/​Smoked Garlic Pork Belly; The slices were SO thin that it cooked really fast. I’ve cooked pork belly enough times to know when it’s time to eat, but these thin slices tasted like pure bacon
— Spicy BBQ Chicken; Took FOREVER to cook thoroughly and tasted like a teriyaki stir fried chicken. Definitely not worth the wait. Took over 10 minutes for sure
— Spicy Baby Squid; We ate the legs and not the head. We both actually really enjoyed the flavor
The salad was good and tasted similar as salads served at typical KBBQs. For dipping, we each received soy sauce/​vinegar and salt/​pepper. I had to ask the server for sesame oil to add into the salt/​pepper. The banchan (side dishes) tasted average. We also ordered Japchae (Korean stir-​fried glass noodles) which was tasteless and dry and the Fried Gyoza which was unmemorable.
Overall the service was pretty decent. They changed the grill out for us frequently (which was good because the meats would burn and the grill would get black rather quickly… they didn’t use any oil on the grills) and our waters were refilled whenever empty. We had to call a server over to order more meats a few times which was the only negative, especially since they weren’t very busy on a Weekday afternoon.
I think I went with too high of expectations. Unfortunately I was not impressed. I would give GEN:
−1÷5 for the overpowering grill which we kept trying to decrease the heat but would somehow end up burning the grill anyway
−2÷5 for the side dishes and apps
−3÷5 for the meat taste/​quality
−4÷5 for the overall customer service
−4÷5 for the ambiance (gorgeous restaurant but doesn’t fit KBBQ? The love songs also caught me off guard when trying to feast on meat and kimchi…)
I’d recommend venturing to Spring Mountain for a more authentic and tasty AYCE KBBQ dining experience.

With all the surrounding hype and negative publicity regarding their reviews it was time for us to finally visit Gen. It has been almost 3 years since I last set foot in a KBBQ place since leaving California, there was always that hesitation that nothing could ever compare lol.
All that changed when I tried Gen for the first time last night. The food itself I would give 4 stars, more on that later. What really sold me on this place is the crews dedication and quality of service. TOP NOTCH. I have never seen a group of people work so good together, everyone was in sync. It wasn’t like, this is your table/​area you deal with it. They all pitched in as far as clearing your plates, asking if we needed anything else, can I replace your grill? And all with courteousness and smiles to boot. It was fine dining caliber of service for sure! Our waiter Ozzy was wonderfully pleasant and friendly, almost giddy lol like he truly enjoyed being there. I think that speaks volumes on how management runs this place. Though it was busy on a Wednesday night it wasn’t chaotic.
For starters we ordered their crispy sesame chicken and pork cutlet, both moist and flavorful. The banchan offered were tasty though I wish there was more choices, I would’ve loved to see some bean sprouts and fish cakes. The meat selection was plentiful, too much choices if you ask me. We settled with the crowd favorites:
–Gen Yangyum Galbisal (marinated premium steak) only offered during dinner AYCE which is $ 19.99 by the way. Delicious marinade that you can really taste.
–Spicy Pork Bulgogi I’m a weak sauce and a sissy so I didn’t enjoy this as much but hubby loved it. The beef bulgogi on the other hand was melt in your mouth goodness!
–Gen Chadol is my go to in every KBBQ place, it cooks very quickly and it’s scrumptious wrapped in Rice paper (another HUGE plus for this place is they carry rice paper, brings back such great memories of home) and dipped in sesame oil and salt. Ahhhhh I’m craving this again!
–Smoked Garlic Samgyubsal (pork belly) is the least of my favorite, though it was good and tasted like bacon, the garlic flavorful was not prominent at all.
Of course we couldn’t leave without trying their Macaron ice cream sandwich. It was tasty but not worth the $ 3.95 price tag in my opinion with its minuscule portion. Definitely looking forward to going back, it’s a great place to eat and be merry with friends and family. Only bad thing is it’s quite a trek for us to get there but maybe that’s a good thing or else we’ll find ourselves here a little more than our waistlines would like.

My second time here and I can confirm my positive first impression of this place wasn’t a fluke…
4 Food
5 Service
4 Value
The food was good… we stuck mainly with the thin ribeye, bulgogi and the galbisal out of the dozen or so options offered. The spicy pork bulgogi was also a hit.
I like my Kimchi a little more funky/​strong but I’m an unusual white boy. I also wish they offered full lettuce leaves with which to make an Asian lettuce wrap with the grilled meat rather than the lettuce strips in a bowl.
Appetizers:
STAY AWAY from anything that is fried/​breaded as the breading was way heavy. Popcorn shrimp: 80% breading (seriously could not see the shrimp) Pork cutlet 60% breading. Fried squid about 70% breading… and the breading was salty. No thanks.
DO GET the K.F.C chicken. It’s like orange chicken but with a slightly spicy Korean sauce coating it.
I see people complaining on Unilocal about having 4 different servers and not knowing who their server was… I see this as a positive. Due to the amount of servers floating around, my glass was never half empty, the side dishes were always refilled, our next round of meat orders were taken even before the current one could hit the grill. Our grills were changed frequently without having to ask. Waiters were friendly and extremely attentive. Why would I want to hunt down «my server» if I needed a grill change? I felt things ran smooth.
Value was spot on. For $ 20 I walked out extremely satisfied. I could definitely see myself coming here monthly if they opened one up in Summerlin… driving way out to the bowels of Henderson is a schlep.

20 minutes drive from the strip but it’s worth it, they’re super friendly here and the meat options are extensive… Most reasonable AYCE in Vegas. $ 15 for lunch and $ 20 for dinner… Not bad.
I especially like the spicy octopus n the galbi steak which was tender n had a good marinade. The squid was just salt n peppered. Utilize the scissors, ain’t no table side service here. The only time they do anything at your table is when they change the grill. Fast process btw, they got it down to max efficiency.
We came in a little late at 10:30pm n their last call for meat orders is @11pm so we ordered a table full and spent the last hour just cooking n eating. Had a really good time. Our waiter isn’t the most skilled at waiting but he certainly tries hard and is super nice.
Ambience is modern, music n blacklight… Nothing distracting though, pretty comforting not having to see other peeps too clearly.
Wish they’ve more assortment of banchon. Nothing seemed made in house. Still, unlimited so keep ‘em coming!
They’re located at Sunset Galleria (right across the casino) on second level next to Larson’s. Outdoor entrance.