Han Sung BBQ

So my cousin and I were looking for a BBQ restaurant where we can grill right on our table. Since the restaurant we wanted to go to permanently closed, we Unilocaled the nearest restaurant with our specific requests.
First and foremost, this restaurant is clean. From the entrance to the restrooms in the back, the place was spotless.
The hostess who was very kind sat us on a table that had the grill right in the middle and vent right above it. We ordered the kalbi, beef intestine, and baby octopus. I was surprised to see that our food was going to be cooked over charcoal rather than gas. We grilled our food to perfection and the taste was out of this world. Our food wasn’t marinated, which was perfect because the natural favors were brought out by the charcoal. Besides, u can flavor up the food with the usual spices and side dishes usually served at Korean restaurants.
The service at this establishment was impeccable. The hostesses were always checking on us and were even helpful in cooking our meal.
I would highly recommend this place. I would definitely revisit.

Han Sung is definitely a go-​to KBBQ place on El Camino because of their quality, service, and freebies that come with your meal. I was first introduced to Han Sung by my Korean friend and I liked it so much that I have been back several times. The staff is always very attentive. They bbq your food for you and are fast to refill all of your banchan.
They do offer combo meals but, I usually order a la carte #1 Han Sung Galbi or # 4 LA Galbi. The charcoal bbq comes with rice, salad, side of lettuce for wrapping, tons of really good sides, tofu soup, and a ginger rice dessert. For two orders of meat, our bill came out to $ 80 including tip — typical for KBBQ. We also had enough left over to take some home. Some AYCE places are cheaper but, their quality, service and banchan suck so bad.

One of the best, most authentic Korean BBQ places I have ever been. I loved it so much I have been here twice in less than two weeks. If I could afford to or had a babysitter for dinner, I would come at least once a week. I gave Gen a chance, twice. This place, far better. Not only will you be fighting over the very delicious Kimchi, but the seafood pancake, the bul go gi, spicy pork and chicken will have you fighting for every last bite. You get full pretty quickly so come hungry. Yum yum yummy! Not going anywhere else ever again.

On my day off this past Saturday, The wife wakes me up from my nap and tells me that she wanted some Korean bbq. She says, «You know the kind that you grill is at the table.» Being from Salinas, California and knowing that there were no good Korean bbq resturants nearby we jumped into the family car and we were off.
An hour drive later, we ended up in Santa Clara. Well first we drove to some new Korean bbq place near Lundy, but we saw the line out the door and were like «Oh hell no!»
We looked on Unilocal and found this place located inside a strip mall. We parked and I was expecting much from this place. We walked inside and the décor was not all that, but I said oh well you just never know. We sat down and noticed the table grill was built for the burning of real wood. Being half Korean and having been to other Korean bbq restaurants that aspect was new to me (Real wood fire).
We ordered the LA style short ribs, brisket and marinated pork. Some (Primo!) dude came out and bought the hot wood coals and placed it inside the container/​grill apparatus. Gracias Primo!
About ten minutes later the meat comes out and the Korean Ajumma was kind enough to grill it for us. (On and off the whole time)
All the meats were great! I was particularly fond of the LA short ribs as they were some of the best I’ve had in a very long time. The experience was a shocker for wife, daughter and I as we were not expecting much from this place. The banchan was good and fresh which I dug! I also had the combination tofu soup and was like meh. I’ve had better. (Sorry but true)
If your in the area, I would recommend dropping in a giving this place a try. if were us visting again, we would probably double up on the order of the La style short ribs.

early weekend dinner for three… deciding on pork. two orders of the pork rib meat $ 28.99 each… an order of the pork belly $ 19.99…few side dishes (banchan) and all standard… no bubbling egg or anything special… standard salad mix and lettuce wraps… everything refilled when requested… pork belly is cooked in the kitchen and brought out… don’t get the pork belly… dry, thin and few… the pork rib meat with the baby back rib attached was much better… tender thick filet of pork rib meat grilled over wood charcoal… staff diligently cooking the meat, cutting and trimming any burns… guess better to stick to the higher priced meat items… roughly a $ 100 dinner for 3… no complimentary soup or dish…

Came here right after our SoCal trip cuz honey pig got us hook on kbbq.
Charcoal kbbq is different but in a good way.
The meat tasted really good being grilled on charcoal than electric.
I really like this place!
Ahjuma was really friendly n motherly. It feels like a family member was cooking the meat for you.
The only meat that u can’t grill on the charcoal was the pork belly. It’s hazardous cuz of too much fat on charcoal.
They do need a better ventilation system though. I feel bad for the workers being in that place for a long period of time.

The manager, Judy responded with deep rage when asked to show me some drinks.
I’m not Korean and I don’t understand a lot of Korean names for beer and other drink varieties. A 5-​year old child would’ve understand that. Not Judy.
When asked to see the only area displaying an array of beers and sake’s, and that happened to be located next to the kitchen Judy jumped me. She started to scream violently, waving her hands in the air like a confused 300-​lbs gorilla. After 3-​min of being literally shouted at I backed down.
As this place appears to be completely mismanaged, I must stop all my support. incl. referring my friends and other Unilocalers.

6 people’s dinner, the owner put the tips by herself.
Be care for to be charged two times tip.
The service is horrible, the owner is rude.

Came here with my Korean friend to fulfill a bi bim bop craving we were both having, so this is focused entirely on that menu option. However they do use charcoal so you leave smelling like bbq regardless of what you eat: P
It had a good amount of beef and the standard normal veggies that come with the dish, the one disappointment I had was that the egg wasn’t runny but fully cooked :(The stone pot is my favorite part since I can get the rice crispy but not burnt.
Apart from the food the service was okay, they kind of forgot our waters at first and weren’t very warm but that’s pretty normal. It was efficient and polite so I enjoyed my experience! I would come back, preferably for lunch when it’s cheaper (I think!)

Came here wanting to try their charcoal BBQ for lunch with my mom, but they have a minimum of 2 BBQ so we decided to just order Kalbi from the kitchen instead.
We ordered Kalbi, Squid, and cold noodle soup. Although the food was good, I was shocked to see the bill to be $ 70 bucks!!! So I found out the Kalbi was $ 32.99 even from the kitchen. Wow! Super pricey!
In that case I would rather go to a AYCE, or a cheaper korean BBQ place cus to me that’s just ridiculous. Oh and get ready to smell like BBQ in ur hair, ur clothes, cus ventilation sucks there.

I want some real charcoal bbq found it !
So great Hansung Galbi.
BBQ with reduce, paste (ssamjang), galic, pepper
we ate all haha ;) aww so yummy
Small banchan was good small fish and radish order again. Salad sauce is my style :)
after bbq Desert Sicke was good too.
I’ve been many korean BBQ restaurant.
i can tell Hansung is best of 5 my list. ;)

Biggest game changer with this place is how they use wood/​charcoal instead of gas for the BBQ grills at the tables. It changes the flavor of the meat and gives it a little bit of a smokier flavor! Their bulgolgi here would be my favorite meat. The only downside is that their isn’t too much of a large selection of meat and because it’s extremely pricey compared to other kbbq places. In addition, we felt really awkward because we were grilling, I guess we weren’t doing it correctly and one of the servers just took the tongs out of our hands and did it for us. I appreciate the concern so we don’t mess up our meat, but an excuse me or something would have been nice. I felt like I was being scolded by a parent and got my candy taken away and I was scared to grill again LOL. Overall, I think this place is good to try out the taste that their wood charcoal gives to the BBQ, but it wouldn’t be a place I would frequent often.

Came here cuz it was next to my favorite massage place. Two items cost $ 35 which is quite pricey as Korean usually is. I got beef tofu soup and kimchi bi bim bap. Both were basic and nothing special. The banchan were below average including those clear noodles that were stale. Sigh who knew Korean food could be so bleh. They gave us this ginger soupy dessert in the end which I had never seen before and it was quite good.

Nom Nom Nom! I was craving for Korean food for foreverrrrrrr!
We waited around 5 minutes before being seated next to this table with jerks who scooted their chair super far enough to push my sister. LOL It was pretty hilarious.
They use wood instead of gas for their grill which definitely gives the meat a different taste of deliciousness! We ordered the package #1 I think and it was enough for the three of us to eat with some left overs. They assisted with cooking our meat and cutting it making sure everything was going well. Someone forgot my Kimchi but it’s okay because she came out with more eventually.
Their definitely is a language barrier, but I wasn’t there for the good conversation aspect. The food definitely satisfied my tummy and the banchan was delicious!
My dad enjoyed the left over intestines so I’ll just have to take him back here for the whole shabang.

It’s more like 3.5 stars and the pricing is almost as similar to Jang Su Jang
The food was good, but not compared to other Korean bbq places I’ve been to… one thing I like about this place though is that you can cook your food over charcoal… yeah, you go out smelling a lot like you just bbq’d yourself, but it brings out the flavor of the meat a little bit more…
My friends and I ordered cooked pork belly (they cook it in the back b/​c it has fat… fat=lots of smoke when you grill), but yet one of the servers put it on the grill anyway cuz she said we could cook it a little bit more??? Anyway, we ordered the raw short ribs and one other cut of meat… again, good, but not as good as others…
Of course they serve the banchan, and this clear soup with daikon or onions in it… whatever it is, it had no taste, but the server said we could use the banchan to liven up the flavor of the soup… it did a little bit…
We got up to pay our bill, but were then told to sit back down b/​c we hadn’t had our dessert yet… I don’t know what it was, but if I understood the server correctly, it was an iced soup with baked rice in it… doesn’t sound like much or taste like much, but it was kind of refreshing to eat haha…
Customer service is good here though, the female servers are so motherly haha

Lunch on Saturday, 4÷25÷15 (first time visiting)
This place is located inside a large plaza so be sure you don’t miss it. We came on a weekend at 11:30am with no wait in line. The restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived. We were greeted as soon as we walked in and then seated right after. The restaurant was casually decorated, nothing fancy.
I had expected an AYCE Korean BBQ menu because in LA, it’s almost a staple. This place is known for their charcoal grill but since the dishes were pretty pricey (~$ 20/​plate), we opted out on the lunch specials (~$ 9/​order).
I ordered the bone marrow soup and it was delicious. I enjoyed the bon-​chons that came with our meal. Next time I come back, I’ll have to bring more money to try the Korean BBQ grilled over charcoal. Yum!

Han Sung, located in a nondescript shopping mall, came highly recommended as a great Bay Area representative of Korean wood charcoal BBQ.
With a casual and clean décor, Han Sung is well known by locals and reservations are highly recommended, especially if you want a charcoal grill table or a private dining room.
For Mother’s Day weekend, it was even busier and we had a small scare when they couldn’t initially find our reservations. Luckily, it was cleared up quickly and we were promptly brought to our spacious charcoal grill table. The restaurant is quite family friendly and not only are high chairs available but the friendly staff quickly bring child friendly utensils and water cups.
The menu is both straight forward and comprehensive with a diverse selection of appetizers, Korean soups, noodles, rice bowls, and finally their signature BBQ items. We sampled a selection of items and while many combos are available, I recommend the a la carte options to both choose your favorites and for slightly larger portions. Our feast:
Seafood pancake — the popular Korean appetizer is done well here. Plenty of seafood. Nice crispy egg pancake and a generous serving size. Great for sharing with a group.
Bo Ssam — the pork belly appetizer is served with a nice selection of vegetable condiments including Napa cabbage, bean sprouts, radish, and a salty and pungent fish sauce. The pork belly is served precooked but we had fun crisping it up on the great charcoal grill.
Sang Gal Bi — wonderful unmarinated high quality prime chef cut short ribs. The servers nicely help you cut it up and won’t let you over grill it seeming to have a sixth sense on when to drop by and remove it from the grill for you. Well worth ordering.
Gal Bi Sal — marinated boneless short ribs. The marinade here isn’t overly heavy but well done and doesn’t overpower the meat quality. Smaller pieces though not as high quality as the Sang Gal Bi. Very tasty.
Spicy Sliced Pork — a great contest to the beef ribs. Delicious marinated sauce and great for cooking thoroughly on the grill into its crispy and well done. The servers helped us here too as we initially cooked it too little for eating. Loved wrapping this in lettuce. Must order.
Banchan — these free appetizers are always a great part of any Korean meal. They bring plenty of plates to your table and nicely ask if you want more. You won’t leave hungry!
Overall, we had a great meal at Han Sung. The wood charcoal grill is great and the meat quality is both top notch and reasonably priced. While some say service is hit or miss, we found it to be both helpful and very friendly. I’m a fan.
Han Sung accepts credit cards including American Express.

I came here for my pre birthday dinner last night for the first time. It was really flavorful and fulfilling, we had a table with the fire pit in the middle and a ordered short rib stack which was pretty good compared to the chicken we ordered. We also ordered the raw seafood platter and large squid. The bill was quite hefty but totally worth it. The waitress came and cooked the bbq for us, which was nice. Our waitress sang happy birthday to me and she was so adorbs. Her bday gesture and hand dancing movements made me feel like a kid again. She thought my name was magenta… when she sang happy birthday to me though lol.
One con: the lemonade is $ 3.00, I was expecting something like real lemonade since it was more expensive then the sodas but when it came out it was in a minute maid can.

Went here with my family and boyfriend. Ordered the japchae, Gal Bi Sal (marinated boneless beef short ribs slices $ 22.99), Dal Ji Gu E (spicy sliced pork $ 19.99), Mal Un Dak Gu E (spicy chicken thigh meat $ 19.99).
My favorite of the three meat options is the beef short ribs. I didn’t like the chicken at all. And the pork was okay. I loved the ban chan especially the kimchi and their sweet potato.
I had a problem understanding the korean waitress. She had a really thick accent and I don’t think she understood me when I was trying to order. She kept trying to press my family and I to order more stuff off the menu. Also she scolded us when we left our meat on the grill too long. Like chill, let us do our own thing.
Overall, it was a good experience getting to grill my own BBQ. I don’t think I would come here again though.

The location is pretty sizable– with many tables. They are accommodating with reservations, we arrived 10 minutes late for our 6:30 reservation, and there were still many tables open. We were seated right away. We got a table in the corner of one of the partitioned rooms.
A huge persistent problem with this place is service– which is why I docked a star. The waitresses always seem too busy and make a point to avoid eye-​contact/​look around. This proved to be terribly inconvenient when we were trying to get their attention to order, to get the bill, to get more water, to get refills on the dishes. All of these instances we attempted for at least 5 minutes to get ANYONE’S attention, yet to no avail. The host/​waitresses sometimes would see us and kind of glaze over us. A lot of instances one of my party had to physically get up from the table to find a waitress and tell her what we needed. So, she ended up getting up around 3−4x JUST to get some attention. I understand it does get busy, but there’s no excuse in being completely ignored or forgotten. Even a simple, «we’ll be right with you» would do, but that didn’t happen.
The food was decent –nothing amazing. I had the marinated chicken thigh-​meat, which I thought was too salty, and I felt super dehydrated afterwards. I like the fact that they do have the charcoal grills, and that they gave us many sides and cloves of garlic to roast. They do allow you to refill side dishes– provided you are able to flag them down. There is free tea and water, and I absolutely loved their seafood pancake– probably one of the best I’ve had. Their tofu soup side dish was subpar at best. The lettuce leaves seemed crisp and fresh.
The girls bathroom had 2 stalls. The décor is interesting. and I like the marble table set up for our charcoal grill.
TL;DR: Bad service, decent meats; amazing seafood pancake.