Jang Soo BBQ

Solid KBBQ joint. Need more words so I can post.

Came here with some friends for a impromptu korean bbq birthday dinner. At first we were bummed that this was not the traditional all you can eat korean bbq, but since we are friends we decided to each order a meat selection and share. Each portion is more than plenty for one person. Each dinner gets a serving of white rice and they bring the traditional array of side dishes. The meats were tender and flavorful with their marinades. The bulgogi was tasty for any lover of korean bbq. The only dish I was slightly dissappointed about was the calamari dish. I was looking forward to light, crisp calamari, but instead the calamari itself was dense and thick, as if it was the calamari steak and not the tenticles which I prefer. The service was delightful and attentive. I would visit again.

Came for lunch, place was empty and cold (no heat). Food was average Korean, on expensive side. Appetizers were good and food was fine — solid 3 stars

This is our third time here. The four star is only for the price. It is a slightly more pricey Korean place, and the waitress needs to warm up to you. But I appreciate it for the lean meat and free range chicken. Their vegetable are home grown and they make their own bean paste, etc… They even have a garden in San Rafael that their veggies come from. They don’t use MSG and they try to use organic ingredients as much as possible. The main thing is, the food is great here. I’d come here again and again when I’m in the city.

Came on a rainy day… walked in wet and hungry (since so much time was spent looking for parking).
Ordered Kalbi and Bulgogi BBQ for yo-​self.
Ummmmmmm we had difficulty cooking the meat cause the grill wasn’t hot and they never came to check. I mean. its bulgogi– it should have cooked fast but we had to continuously flip the thin piece of meat. I’ve been to places where the grill was so hot, my eyebrows are gone at the end of dinner.
We didn’t get any rice… sounds like they forgot to give it to use and we didn’t ask. I mean. it’s an Asian restaurant. rice is a staple. HELLO.
Ordered a few beers. maybe 3 – 4?
Bill came out to 134 with tip… and we walked out wet. and still hungry but poorer.

I was extremely underwhelmed by my experience at Jang Soo BBQ. My boyfriend and I were craving Korean BBQ one night and decided to go after we got off work. It was a Saturday night and we did have reservations– but parking was the BIGGEST pain in the a$$, so I highly suggest taking an über or finding another method of transportation that doesn’t require you parking.
On to the food, by default, we wanted to the whole «cook it yourself» experience. So we ordered the kalbi — man did this break the bank. It was $ 26. We also ordered the bulgogi for $ 20. On the side we had our own personal rice, I opted for the mixed grain (I don’t recommend it — it’s super dry), and the seafood tofu soup — yummy, spicy, full of seafood $ 13. I was disappointed that they didn’t offer to have egg added in to the soup or anything.
The portions were okay, but honestly for the price of the kalbi alone we could’ve went to an AYCE restaurant with better service. We felt discriminated against, as if we weren’t being checked on as frequently as others — she only checked with us once, and that was at the near end of our meal. We wanted to get the grill changed but didn’t even have an opportunity to.
All in all, our experience was disappointing, and it was way too pricey for what we received. I won’t be back.

Their staff is super friendly and attentive, how can you not have a good dining experience here.
I came here for lunch with a friend and we ordered:
— japchae (mixed with veggies and not oily at all)
— pork belly (a little thicker than I expected but their sauce was a perfect pairing for the meat)
— bulgogi (you can never say no to bulgogi)
— grilled rice cake (came in a order of 6 squares)
Personally, every Korean place I eat at, I always want to try their rice cake and since I can’t eat spicy (sadly), I pray they have rice cake that isn’t already marinated with spicy sauce. Lucky me, they had grill rice cake and that wasn’t bad. It was the perfect mix of chewy and not too gooey.
Their side dishes overwhelmed my friend and I with happiness! They had this fried potato with sweet sauce dish, SO GOOD! The waitress was so kind and gave us tofu soup on the house.
How come I haven’t found out about this place until now?! You know you had a good meal when you leave smelling like kbbq because you stayed long enough for the bbq to sink into your clothes.

In my opinion, the purple rice isnt anything special. The side dishes are great. Rice cakes were delicious. The tofu soup was good. The noodles were yummy, wish it came with more haha. Decent prices. I’ve been here before they fixed things up and it was good as well. Place is clean and service was good. I would be back

Honestly, the food wasn’t anywhere near amazing considering the price of this place. We ordered entrees instead of doing the Korean BBQ. The buckwheat noodles were completely drenched in the sauce so that you couldn’t taste anything but the sauce (which was also way too spicy and sour). The soft tofu soup was pretty tasty, it wasn’t spicy at all initially but our waitress was able to take it back and add some more spices. All in all probably won’t be coming back.

I’m Korean, and the Bulgogi here was basically the worst that I have ever had. I’m really sorry to say that, because I wanted so much to like the place. The service was friendly and the banchans were all great.
We ordered the Bulgogi to be cooked in the kitchen, because we didn’t have a lot of time, and grilling at the table would probably take too long.
The beef that we were served was extremely dry, tough, and lacking in flavor. I will even call it borderline inedible. It honestly seemed like it had been cooked the day before. (I decided to take it home and stir fry it up in sesame oil with some kimchi, to try to «fix» it.)
The other two dishes that we ordered were also at least a little off. The pancake would have been delicious, but there was almost no batter, just the veggie and seafood, so it didn’t hold together in any way (just a crumbly mess). The cchigae /​stew was a bit lacking in flavor, but not bad.
I really had high hopes, due to the good Unilocal rating, but I will have to say that it was one of the worst Korean restaurant experiences that I have had, just from the beef alone! It’s too bad, because the service was so nice, and I really liked the banchans.

Party of 2, Sunday night around 7 pm, no reservation. We were seated immediately!
Service was super nice and friendly! The restaurant itself is nice too and pretty spacious (for SF standards I’ve been told).
We ordered the kimchi pajeon (kimchi pancake), the kalbi (beef short ribs), and the doenjang jjigae (bean paste soup). They were all delicious! We cooked the kalbi ourselves on the table. The only kind of disappointing part was that it was extremely difficult to get the kalbi off the two pieces with bone, which was disappointing cause there seemed to be a lot of meat on those. Not sure if it would have been better to get the boneless kalbi!
The banchan (side dishes) were also good, and the free barley tea and shikhe at the end of the meal were delicious!
It took forever to find parking around the neighborhood.

Another korean place? What? Yes I love korean food, Jang Soo is right across the street from my friend’s place. See a pattern here? I am only friends with folks that live next to korean bars.
We ordered take-​out. I got the the tofu soup in mild. I am weaksauce. What happened?! I don’t know.
I wish it was more flavorful and what happened to my raw egg? It was mostly veggies, which is fine. i love veggies, but I did ordered it to be seafood style.
One thing that I enjoyed was if you order take out, they still pack the ban-​chan for you. That with wild grain rice is a meal on it self. Would I come again? Yes. Perhaps this time eating in.

Our first time at Jang Soo was good. The meat was tasty and service was attentive. Our second time there was not as good as the first. The meat was not like marinated enough. My boyfriend ordered the bulgogi while I had the kalbi. Kalbi was like usual almost, but we can both taste the lack of flavor in the bulgogi. The difference between our visit was the first time was during dinner hour while our second visit was during lunch hour.
But yeah, the bulgogi was pretty lacking in flavor. It took awhile to get our bowls of rice after all the banchans & meats have arrived at the table for awhile. We had to remind our waitress about our missing rice bowls.
All in all I think there are better kbbq places around that are better consistently than Jang Soo.

(Service) Party of 7, Saturday night around 8pm. Great* customer service throughout the meal, I honestly wasn’t expecting much since we had a large party and its was packed. The Banchan was constantly refilled, I felt bad asking third time for few of my favs … Which was brought out right away
(Food) I moved from Cerritos (SoCal) to SF, and I miss quality Krn food more than my own friends. I’ll sometimes make my journey down to SJ just to satisfy my cravings. Jang Soo, perfect little hidden gem, I’ll be back.

Came here with the LADY for our Friday date.
Had passed by this place numerous times and my lady was craving some Korean food so we made our way on over. Found parking right in front. On the way over we passed by Trader Sam’s, my old drink spot!!! # Scorpionbowlsallday
As we entered we noticed how clean this place is. One of the fancier Korean restaurants that I have been too. Once seated the menus were handed out and our eyes got BIG! Just like my appetite. I let my lady order because she loves some Korean food. I wanted to get some Plum Wine because I always see it but I decided next time.
The corn tea was amazing as always. Corn tea is the BEST. If you haven’t had some GO buy some.
I don’t really recall what was ordered but the food was good. There was a mix of ribs, noodles, and small vegetable saucers. I forget the exact names for all the little food in the saucers but it was good. I was full by the end of the meal.
The food was good. I think I would have ordered more ribs for next time but overall it was a quality meal and reasonably priced. I would definitely want to come back with a larger party that way I would not look like a hungry BEAST eating so much BBQ.
Well done.

Pay per platter — no AYCE option here.
They offer pretty standard plates of meat, both marinated and not. Each platter is also a pretty good size which is nice. My only complaint is that some of the meats were frozen which affected the cook time (completely sears the outside leaving the inside raw/​frozen — no good for any non-​beef option). It’s also interesting the the grill is located on the far side of one table… basically leaving 1 – 2 people to cook as opposed to making it more of a group experience. Our favorites were the marinated short ribs and the salmon fillets.
The ventilation is pretty good though — much better than Brother’s. I didn’t leave smelling like I was drenched in Korean marinade/​smoke. And we all left fairly full and satisfied — averaged $ 28/​person for 7 people. Not bad.

Things to take note of:
PARKING: Wayyyyyyyy difficult– Came here on a Sunday night and since it was a big group of us we had 3 separate cars. All 3 cars took at least 25 minutes to find parking in the area– granted it was also OSL weekend so there’s that, but if you make a reservation leave enough wiggle room to find parking with because you will be circling around the residential areas to try a swoop a spot
FOOD:
The meat: I came here for a family dinner that included a good amount of elderly guests– they did not want to bbq their own meat so we ordered some pre-​cooked meat that comes on a sizzling platter and some raw for the younger guests that did want to cook. The pre-​cooked meat was horrible– everyone who tried it complained it was dry and flavorless. On the other hand, all the raw marinated meat that we cooked ourselves was 10 times better. (Hah! How funny) My boyfriend raved about the spicy pork and the beef short ribs. So if you’re going to order meat I would strongly advise AGAINST the pre-​cooked meat.
Seafood Pancake: It was okay– decent but nothing amazing
Seafood Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap: It had a lot of interesting flavor combinations that were very unique. Definitely unlike anything I’ve tried before– worth a try
Soon doo boo: Really good! Spicy and flavorful Korean tofu soup loaded with seafood.
Cold Buckwheat Noodles: Really interesting as well! It comes with actually chunks of ice and melon and a hardboiled egg. The broth is really flavorful.
SERVICE: Service was alright. It DID bother me however, that when we complained about the dry pre-​cooked meat, the waitress did nothing whatsoever to address the problem– no apology– no nothing. I think that was some bad customer service on their part, but otherwise it was okay.

We had the jap chae, yellow corbina, and seafood tofu soup. The food was pretty average. I loveee Korean food but this place was a little disappointing.
A+ for atmosphere though!

Even though Jang Soo is THE most expensive Korean restaurant, it used to be my favorite Korean restaurant in SF until yesterday…
(1) INCREASED PRICES. DECREASED PORTIONS.
Ok, I understand the need for price increases but the portion size have decreased. Significantly.
*Kalbi Jjim from September 2012 ($ 32):
*Kalbi Jjim from October 2014 ($ 34):
The Kalbi jjim has gone from 5 – 6 meaty chunks to 3 [cut up] chunks for $ 34!!! WTF.
Fyi, it was $ 100 for one app, two meat orders, and one beer! Yah, I’m sure all the SoCal folks are laughing at us NorCal ones for paying such ridic prices for Korean food.
(2) BLAND FOOD. New recipes?
*The Kalbi Jjim last night tasted like straight boiled beef in mirin. If moi, a Chilapina can make a better, more robust Kalbi Jjim than a restaurant, that’s a big problem (my Kalbi Jjim:
).
*Despite the Dae Ji Bulgogi: Spicy Pork’s ($ 21):
bold scarlet color, it was so bland and not even spicy. I was going to eat it with the kimchi but we were only given 3 measly leaves so I had to use the pajeon chili dipping sauce to give it some heat.
(3) SLOW SERVICE.
It took over 25 minutes to get our first order (Pajeon: Korean pancake) in a completely empty restaurant. Fyi, unlike other Korean restaurants, Jang Soo doesn’t provide the banchans until your main course arrives. If you’re starving, too bad.
(4) No more complimentary Sikhye (sweet korean rice dessert drink). Seriously? This cost pennies to make!
What a bunch of cheap ass mofos!

FYI… I’m writing this post sedation from dentist so. Excuse me if I don’t sound coherent…
If I’m gonna be forced to eat liquid food for the next three days for the post all 4 wisdom tooth extraction, then u already know I will want to eat GOOD the days before. Like BOMBDOTCOM good. Hahaha
Jang soo is one of those super expensive Korean restaurants, but which one isn’t right? It was one I eyed for the longest time but was never brave enough to step foot in to look at the price. And I’m glad I finally got to try it.
.: The Peeps:.
The waitresses were friendly and never gave us THE STINK EYE when we asked for refills on the side dishes. Loved the sweet potato and the fish tofu? They greeted us when we left and everything! Kudos to good service!
.:OOooOO The Lights:.
The place was newly remodeled in the past year or so and u can tell. Everything was clean classy and cut. The walls were a kick to the whole modern look since it was all stone contrasted with cherry wood? If I remember correctly. Lights were at a good level. Not too bright not too dim.
.:The Goods:.
Kal bi $ 29: one of the most juicy piece of cow I ever had. Ever. Either I’m hungry thinking about it now from a whole day of not eating or they fed them cows really well. Kal Bi is the one attached to the bones and they cut it into pieces for you. It was definitely marinated well. I found myself grabbing piece after piece nonstop.
Bulgogi $ 22: it was very moist and cooked to perfection unlike many place whose were dry and unappetizing. This actually was marinated well too!
The side dishes came with pieces of lettuce too in case u want to wrap it up or feel a little healthier from all the meat.
After dinner, they also give us each dessert! The rice drink that tastes so simple yet so delicious.
BTW…
–Free soda if you check in on Unilocal
–You can have the choice of cooking on your own
–parking may be hard but not impossible
–place IS expensive. Don’t go in expecting something cheap, because it will affect your experience.
–OMG THEIR SPOONS ARE LIKE FLINTSTONE SPOONS… Huge.