K. Grill & Tofu House

No idea what we ordered, but the food was great. Pork belly was good. Soup with fish was good. I’m really sorry that I cannot be more specific. I suppose that is what happens when I let my friend do the ordering. Price is your standard Korean bbq place. I do not have much to compare with since my friend has yet to fail on finding good Korean places to eat. Maybe I am just a sucker for Korean food?
On second thought, I haven’t found a equivalent Korean restaurant in nyc. Although across the river in Fort Lee, NJ, there have been equally good ones. Maybe I just need my friend to move to the east coast.

This is the best freaking Korean place I have ever been to, and that says a lot because I am Korean. The bathrooms are so clean and the whole restaurant is clean and they employees have great hospitality.

«AnYaeng Haseo!»
After the awesomest Memorial Day with so many firsts, I got to top off the evening with dinner here!
My uncle ordered the Mushroom with Soft Tofu Soup (medium), Galbi, Spicy Squid (hot) and sticky rice in clay pot.
The banchan came out first with the little fish. The fried fish fry were whole, and needed some dexterity to flake, but was a delicious appetizer. The hot sticky rice arrived shortly after and we waited a short while for the bottom to caramelize into crispy bits before devouring it with the lovely cabbage kimchee, daikon radish kimchee, mung bean sprout, seaweed, tofu and braised pumpkin. 7 Superb Banchan in all. I really enjoyed the crusted sticky rice at first, but it became hard, waxy and difficult to chew when left in the claypot too long and eaten cool. Highly recommend you order what you need in rounds to get fresh, hot servings of the claypot sticky rice.
The Mushroom Tofu Soup came next and was simmering – we cracked the egg into it immediately and it coddled in residual heat. There was something alluring about the rich soup broth and the heavy collagen content that drew me back to this soup over and over again. Will need a large bowl of this during Winter!
Next came the Galbi (Grilled Marinated Beef Shortribs), but where was the basket of romaine lettuce leaves, garlic slivers and chili paste I saw at other tables?!! I guess we could have asked for it, but we were already inundated with yummy banchan. The Galbi was tender enough to bite off the bone using chopsticks, and was seasoned well with equal components of savory and sweet. But, it was not charred enough to my liking.
Finally, the Squid Bokeum (Spicy Squid) arrived, and with all that was already going on, the fiery dish while good in itself, was left by the wayside.
Clearly, the star of the line up was the Mushroom Tofu soup tonight, followed closely by the Banchan. I could make many an awesome meal with those things alone!
«Kamsa hamnida»
ADDENDUM: Having done a little more research on Korean BBQ cafes and restaurants in the area that serve banchan, I realized that K. grill charges about par for these places. With that in mind, I have upgraded my rating to 5 stars. You can still find lunch dives serving Korean Food for $ 2 less, but you will be lucky to get kimchee, let alone a collection of banchan with free refills.

What are all these side dishes? I just wanted soup!
I found this spot looking for a place that served a basic salad because I’m trying to cut weight in the next two months. (I’m working on my summer beach body. in May.but whatever, I can still make it.)
Anyway, I couldn’t find anything after 5 minutes of walking so I decided soup would be my next best choice. I come in, I order the Kimchee Tofu Soup with beef and like 6 side dishes came out which included a fried fish, kimchee, bean sprouts, this type of melon, rice, an egg and more! Why would they do this? Why are they so nice? Do I have to pay extra for this unwanted deliciousness?
I eat it all because I was blessed with the best intentions but zero will power to say no to food so now I’m just sitting here writing this review with a full stomach and no abs but it’s cool, I’m happy.
Pro tip:
The egg they give you is raw! So, before you snapchat all that goodness while your boiling soup arrives in an iron pot, crack that egg open and let it cook before your soup cools and you’re sitting there contemplating on what’s the worse that could happen if you eat an uncooked egg.

I’m originally from San Jose and frequently go to Santa Clara or Milpitas for my tofu soup fix. But I am so glad that there’s a delicious tofu soup place next to my apartment in San Bruno! The ladies who work here are so nice and attentive. I usually order the seafood tofu soup, mild. They don’t skimp on the seafood at all. The meal comes with the typical side dishes, fried fish, and rice cooked in a stone pot! The rice is amazing since you get the crispy burnt rice at the bottom of the pot. I’ve also tried the ramen stew (budae jigae). Spicy, but so good, especially on a cold day.
Don’t forget they’re closed on Tuesdays! (My friends and I always crave this place on Tuesdays)

Basic, no frills Korean place. Not the best I’ve had but good for a quick lunch.

Ordered family style and total came out to be a little under $ 55 (tax + tip included) for our family of 3. Average pricing for Korean cuisine and portion sizes were decent too. Definitely recommend sharing dishes!
The banchan included fish for each of us which was a pleasant surprise! I really enjoyed the bulgogi and the grilled mackerel. Both were flavorful and cooked just right. The rice is a healthy alternative to white rice and comes in these little wooden pots. Good presentation and delicious! I only wished the macaron ice cream was cheaper. It tasted fantastic, but was expensive at $ 4.50 for the tiny size. Good treat to indulge in every once in awhile though!
Service was friendly and attentive enough considering how busy they were. We arrived around 11:30am on a Sunday and were seated immediately. I noticed the place really filled up around noon so try getting there earlier! Parking may be a bit difficult to find on the main street, but quite plentiful in the residential area the next street over. Great place to visit if you are craving Korean food!

Our table of 4 enjoyed pots of tofu, across the spectrum of spice level, from mushroom to seafood, to kimchee, to vegetable. Yummy all around. And how about that banchan, including a little fried fish for each person — actually nostalgic for my Filipina/​Pinay soul. Everything hit the spot on this cool spring Saturday afternoon. And so affordable for this student on a budget. Yesss…
Besides the deliciousness all over our table, I MUST speak to the service. Firstly, My 3 friends arrived way before I did, and they kindly allowed them to converse and chill till I arrived quite late. Thank you for your patience.
And THEN, my butt driving all the way back home to San Jose realized I left my credit card with them. I called and asked if they had it– they did. I apologized and asked if they could mail it to me. The owner/​manager gave his personal cell phone number to which I could text my apartment address. He then went the distance by mailing my credit card in ultra-​secure packaging with a tracking number, and staying in touch with me via text to confirm.
Service like this is a testament to the goodness still left in the world. It’s not just service, it’s KINDNESS. Thank you thank you thank you. I’m still trying to figure out how to repay you for this golden act. Deep gratitude.

Went here for Easter dinner with my family. I was happy to know they were open. We arrived a little early, but the girls were nice and had us sit down while they were working to set up our table.
We had a mix-​up with our numbers and went from 5 to 7 back to 5 and they were very nice about it.
We got a nice big table and it was good because with all the food we ordered, our table was full!
We ordered the Kalbi, Bulgogi, Japchae, Seafood Tofu Soup, and Duk Bok Gi.
We were served rice and then a small fish each. Afterwards the food started coming out. The Kalbi was nice and tender and the other foods were good.
I’d go back again.

A truly hidden gem.
If you’re hungry, try their giant Budae Jigae tofu soup. One order can serve 2 – 3 peeps, it’s f’in huge!
We also grabbed the Bulgogi — it comes on a sizzling heated plate, so good!
The best part, complimentary fried fish for all! Felt like fishin’ with my buds and cooking our catches.
The service quick and friendly. Place packs up and goes empty in waves. Come hungry and leave a happy camper.

When it comes to Korean eateries, I’m always iffy because I’m constantly comparing it to the joints that I’ve had back in LA.
So with that being said, I’m forever on a hunt for THE ONE that’ll keep me coming back. (if you got the goods, don’t hold back)
Moving forward, I gave this place 4 stars which includes customer service rating. The food is decent but not something that’ll make me scream in ecstasy. Believe me, you’ll be surprised if I hit that point of no return. (Lol)
We were seated quickly even though we found out momentarily later that there was a sign up sheet? Thanks for the heads up Unilocalers –_​-​‘
Hubs and I ordered the Budae Jjigae (spicy ramen noodle soup) which feeds up to 2 people. There’s also another option if you have a larger party of 4, I recall.
It consists of sliced spam and hot dogs with ground pork or beef, tofu, and scallions. This meal included banchan ‘side dishes’ and a piping hot stone pot encaved in a wooden box with steamed rice.
Everything was delicious but not great… or have that WOW factor some may be looking for. The amount that we paid for was definitely decent.
Budae Jjigae $ 24

Came here last night and thoroughly enjoyed the meal!!! We ordered the seafood pancake, which was pan fried and wasn’t dry or too soggy. The seafood in it was fresh and there was hearty portions of it, so they didnt skimp on anything.
We ordered two tofu soups, which the Medium was not as spicy as I imagined it to be/​are at some places. We also ordered the Galbi which was really tasty.
Only reason why its 4 stars is the service. Not that they weren’t courteous or anything, more like thye were busy and clearly they need more than 2 people handling the tables. Seemed flustered at times. But they were always gracious when asked twice about things.

The food here seems to me pretty consistent I’ve eaten here a couple times a year for many years already. Included with the banchan is a fried fish which is really cool. I usually order the tofu soup while my wife gets spicy pork. We always fill up and end up with a little snack to take home. Prices are typical for a Korean restaurant, this is my local «go to» for my Korean fix.

Great place for lunch in San Bruno downtown!
They give 6 side dishes and a small fried fish which is pretty generous. The rice is served in a hot stone bowl and the roe tofu is pretty yummy. Jap chae had a good texture but had too much spring onions and too little glass noodles.
Service was quick but not the best. I tried to request for cold tea and was denied. They refused to add noodles to my tofu soup even after I said I’m okay with having less soup (almost every other korean tofu restaurant I’ve been to would do it). And they forgot our order of jap chae, and it finally arrived at the end of our meal when we were all ready to leave.
Nonetheless, in spite of the service, this is definitely one of the better lunch hunts around downtown.

Some of my favorite aspects of the meal weren’t even the main orders. First, the banchan – loved the little fried fish that everyone gets at the table, as well as the variety of other standard items as well. Our table seemed to like the pumpkin, cucumber, and bean sprouts a lot, and they were happy to give us more of those when we asked. The sides of rice were awesome as well. They came out still sizzling in those huge clay pots, and were mixed with grains of so many different colors.
And then there were the entrees, all of which were fantastic. The combo soondubu and galbi were my favorites. The tofu soup was not too spicy but packed lots of flavor, as well as tofu and seafood. Galbi was tender and marinated very well. We ordered a ton of food but were still evidently able to finish everything, probably because we couldn’t stop eating!

Landed in SFO and immediately opened Unilocal to find the closest Korean place. South SF it is!
Boyfriend and I walked in and half the tables had a huge pot of budaejjigae. Um yes please. But… I spoke too soon.
While the pot is big and the fillings are there, the flavor is really lacking. The taste is almost nonexistent and watery, with a huge dollop of gochujang. Seriously. I couldn’t taste any other flavors even though I understand that budaejjigae is supposed to have lots of gochujang and kimchi… $ 25+ from what I remembered for two people serving. $ 35? for the three people serving.
+1 for that banchan! Standard six and a fried fish. Yes! I think because we went closer to the end of the night, they were more generous with refilling. Not sure if it’s like that all the time though.
Overall very meh, I’ve had better. For this price though, I wouldn’t go back.

The budae jigae, (what appears to be their speciality) is underwhelming. Watery, even. Service is fairly decent but the street parking isn’t ideal.
I’m a little surprised at the high reviews and had decided to give them a try based on proximity to SFO.
I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t go back.

This review is for 3.5 stars.
The food itself receives 4.5−5 stars. I deducted stars for service alone. When this place gets busy, they just simply do not have enough wait staff to accommodate for the volume of people, especially since this is a larger restaurant than most authentic Korean restaurants. I think they had the owner (or owner’s wife?) with just one other lady manning all of the tables. It was difficult to get water refilles or to get anyone’s attention for that matter. At one point, a mother and her small child walked in and sat at an empty table, and left after about 20 minutes when the wait staff failed to realize they had a new customer and didn’t give them water or a menu.
But again, the food was delicious!
We ordered:
The ramen tofu stew — included a lot of food and great for sharing. This was a little bit too spicy for my liking. It was good, but I probably would not order again.
Short rib — good, nothing spectacular
Grilled eel — I believe this was the priciest entrée, but it was SO GOOD. The eel was soft and grilled well, and came with soy sauce and wasabi for dipping.
Squid appetizer — Another dark horse but definitely a win! The squid was not too chewy and not too soft — the perfect consistency and flavorful. Would definitely order again.
It’s really too bad that the service is poor when it becomes crowded (seems to be a trend with other reviews) — if they just hired one or two more people, it would take the weight off the other staff and it would be a much greater dining experience.

I am SO DISAPPOINTED in K Grill. I’m a frequent customer there and always had great food/​service. I ordered Door Dash from them just now. First they got my order wrong. Fine, DoorDash’s customer service fixed it. But when I opened the box for my seafood pancake this is what I found. Burnt and overcooked pancake with some kind of plastic container in the middle. What the… Tsk tsk. Don’t trust delivery from them you guys. I guess you gotta just go in for the food. Too bad the quality is not consistent. K Grills customer service is SO POOR, UNLESS you’re a dine in customer? Really? Am I being punished for ordering delivery?
Edit: the plastic thing in the middle of my pancake is deformed from being microwaved. It must’ve been the sauce container– no sauce, can’t open the lid, it’s molded together. Wtf is this???

After being under construction for so long, K Grill is finally back. I’m extremely happy about it because how often do you get an your own little non-​anchovy fish served with all the banchan?
However, I feel like it’s not as price worthy as before. Most items are on the slightly expensive side, easily $ 10+ for your normal stuff. Portion has shrunk down a bit, last time I ordered their dukbokki, I could almost count the pieces of rice cake at about 2 – 3 hands. They do serve bu dae jji gae here for about $ 25 a pan. It looks really tempting since almost every table ordered it.
Other than pricing, taste is still there like before. Still quite delicious. Certain dishes were a bit heavy handed with the paste and became extremely salty, e.g. dukbokki. Also ordered their dumpling soondubu, definitely was satisfied. I didn’t order their hae mul pa cheon this time, so can’t compare it to before. It used to be just alright, has a ton of seafood but the pancake wasn’t crispy enough, the insides still had a bit of a doughy texture before the fire. Maybe I’ll give it another go next time. But nonetheless, still a pretty decent spot for that area, otherwise I’d go to Mom’s Tofu House in SSF.