Koji Bbq Buffet

Koji BBQ Buffet is a mom and pop local Korean BBQ favorite in Torrance located at the Eastgate Plaza in Torrance. If you are not familiar with Korean BBQ, here you sit at a table with a grill in the center of the table and cook your own food!
We come here for company luncheons, and I have to say, the food is actually pretty decent for a serve yourself Korean BBQ establishment. There are PLENTY of meat selections to choose from: bulgogi, kalbi (bone-​in and boneless), spicy pork, spicy chicken, beef brisket, and other interesting things like beef intestine and hearts.
Since it is a Korean BBQ buffet, they also offer seafood selections and various assorted items: mussels, shrimps, crab legs, gyoza, and noodles. There is also a salad bar if you want to diversify your plate. Koji’s also has a small dessert bar with jello, some baked goods, and an ice cream bar (the usual all-​you-​can-​eat offerings).
My favorites are bulgogi and kalbi because the marinades are delicious! The only thing from the salad bar that I get is the fresh sliced mushrooms and tossed salad, which I like to grill and eat with meat. The rice paper and salad are the perfect complements to grilled bulgogi!
The service is hit and miss, especially when the place is busy. However, they do a very good job to refill your beverage when you are running low or when your grill needs cleaning!

it has been closed for renovations all summer! cannot wait to check it out when, if ever it re-​opens

I ate here last night and the quality of food is horrible
Service wasn’t great either and when it came to the bill they stood there waiting for us to pay while we were talking. Food was not refilled promptly and just nasty place with the grill not being exchanged.
I’ll go elsewhere no wonder place wasn’t crowded on a Saturday night.

Wow. Place is not good. Would not recommend.
They refuse to change grills when it was burning smoke and dirty. So yes it all you can eat but you have to use the same burnt grill only…
Also some foods in buffet is missing and they refuse to fill it… When asked, they said they will fill it soon, but never refilled it.
Would not recommend.

I like almost everything. What really disappointed me was the guy that serves the ice cream. So fucking rude, acting like i if was gonna take the entire bucket of ice cream

Love this place food is Delicious fresh and service is great love that this establishment has so many choices and very reasonable

So today my wife and I decided to have lunch. All was ok. Food was decent. Service was acceptable.
So it was time to pay. Bill came out to about $ 35 plus change. I put $ 40 cash and usually it would be up to me to determine how much tip I would want to leave. But after 5 min and the waitress passing me up 3 to 4 times without my change I realized she made the executive decision that she’s keeping the rest of my change to herself.
Note to yourself if u decide to pay cash don’t expect any change back.

Not sure how I feel about this place.
Been wanting to try Koji for as long as I can remember. I really hate to only give them 3 stars but here is my experience:
This place is pretty much a buffet where you grab your own meat, sides, rice, etc. I really love the concept, however, I feel that letting the meat sit for such long periods of time makes the meat not as tasty. The brisket was probably the worst brisket I’ve ever had. I did like the other choices though. It just sucks because brisket is my number one choice at any kbbq restaurant. The price wasn’t too bad because we did get a lot of meat and sides!
They even have sushi here. Wasn’t that good though.
You have to finish what you take otherwise there will be an additional charge. There’s also free icecream when you leave which is always nice!
The waitress who helped us was beyond kind and always checked up on us. Big difference in customer service that I’m used to from other kbbq spots.

I have always passed by this place and was curious to try it out.
Totally worth the $ 14.99/person price for lunch. There was a wide selection of meats and veggies. The servers were very attentive and overall a great experience.

I use to enjoy coming to this place. But within time they removed many things from the menu. It was fine until today. A friend and I went to have dinner and the service was horrible. The owner seemed bothered. We had dinner and he was upset because to drink we ordered water. And we asked for a refill and the look on his face was horrible. We were so disappointed since they didn’t want to bring more food out. I mean if you’re paying for your food you should get great service. So after all we were annoyed and asked for the bill. It was $ 40 for both of us and since the service was horrible I refused to leave tip. He called me out and said «no tip?» And I clearly said no the service was horrible and I am never coming back. So people it isn’t cheap here. So might as well go somewhere where you will get what you paid for. Never coming here again. Horrible service.

Took them three tries to get mt drink order right. This is the only type of order considering how they don’t have to bring out any food plates and what not… So this was a bit annoying and disappointing.
The meat was alright but there wasn’t a huge selection. Vegetables ans rice papers were out for awhile so the taste was compromised compared to freshly prepared or refrigerated before serving.
There was also a fly or baby cockroach in my boyfriend’s drink…
Not a fan and I definitely won’t recommend this spot.

All this time living in the South Bay and I’ve never been here once.
Guess I wasn’t missing out on much.
We were greeted immediately upon entry (yay!) and were seated right away.
They fired up the grill for us and away we went to the world of noms.
Their meat selection is ehh. They have the basics (brisket, kalbi, chicken, some seafood), salad bar, sushi, & soup. They don’t have the usual sauces I’m used to at the typical KBBQ places.
Our grill was never changed once and they’re stingy with their ice cream! :(They don’t give you more than one scoop and you have to wait for them to do it for you. I don’t think they let anyone touch that ice cream freezer.
As a buffet, I thought they would have more of a selection! I prefer going to Star or Moon BBQ if I’m going to come here. Sorry Koji!

My wife introduced me to Korean BBQ at Koji and I was an instant fan. We loved that place for about a decade, eating there often, taking friends there, as well as family members from out of town and we have recommended it many times.
The food is great, the (Evening) waitresses were fun and they always made us feel at home. Thus it is a real disappointment for me to have to write this.
This incident happened on Thursday 4÷30÷15. I actually already wrote this, screwed up and accidentally deleted it before posting, cooled off, then realized that, cooled off or not, this still needs to be put out there.
While we did not have anything against Koji, sometimes you burn out on a place after eating there so many times, so, we tried out a new Korean BBQ place in Torrance called Gen and we have become regulars there. Yes, we do prefer the food at Gen, but we never stopped liking the food at Koji and I’m not actually writing this for Gen’s benefit (Though I probably will write a positive review about them later), so this is all I will say to promote Gen in this review.
While I was at work on 4÷30÷15, I got a major craving for Korean BBQ. Gen is too far away my office for a lunch hour, but Koji is right down the street, so I thought it might be nice to go there for lunch and visit a restaurant that I liked and had not been to in a while.
When I arrived, I saw the sign for the lunch special at $ 14.99 per person. I also noticed that in smaller writing were the words «2 Person Minimum». «Fine», I thought to myself. «Let’s see if it’s worth it to eat here at whatever the full price is if I can’t have the special».
I entered, a waitress (Whom I’d never met before) greeted me and I asked how much it would be for me to eat there by myself without the special price. She said «$ 17.99 per person»
I thought about this for a second or 2, decided I could live with the price difference and said «Ok, I’ll eat here».
«How many» the waitress asked. I was a little perplexed by her question, but I answered «just me».
«Oh sorry, 2 person minimum» she said. Note that I think this a stupid rule and you may or may not agree, but I wasn’t mad about it and this actually is not what drove me to write this.
I was, however, shocked and I said «You mean you won’t serve me at all if I’m by myself», but she turned her back on me and walked away just as the word «You» came out of my mouth.
«Excuse me» I called out, but she just kept walking across the room to drop off silverware or condiments or something at an empty table.
It should be noted that, while it was lunch time, the place was not busy, so the noise and stress of a lunch rush are not factors that would have prevented her from hearing me. She heard me and she ignored me.
I realize that she may not have initially understood that I was alone, but I also need to point out that, while the lunch special price was $ 14.99 she quoted the dinner price per person to me. So, she was going to charge me and whomever might be with me the dinner price at Noon?
Again, I called out to her. She turned around from the empty table and looked at me as if she could not understand why I was still there. «You walk away from me while I’m talking to you? This is how you treat your customers?» I asked. Her facial expression remained unchanged.
And it is this that inspired the writing of this review. Without any provocation, she was simply rude and that is both inappropriate and unacceptable
.
Yes, I think the 2 person minimum is stupid when you can charge a higher price to someone who is willing to pay it, but I respect their right to have that rule. If this was all there was to it, I would have simply left and made a mental note to make sure someone is with me the next time I go eat there.
Instead, I was treated poorly and, thus, my family is now done with Koji.
This is actually not the first incident of rudeness that I’ve had at Koji, but it will be the last. If this had been the only incident, I actually would not be writing this. The other incidents were mostly minor and, while I will not take more of your time by detailing them, I will say that one of them was major enough to make us boycott Koji for several months. Eventually, we cooled off, we forgave and we resumed eating there.
This time, I have cooled off and I do forgive, but my family and I… Never gracing Koji’s door again.
This place will never see another cent from me and I definitely will not be recommending it to others.

Nasty place, never coming back. Did that should have been frozen was thawed in blood, terrible
service

We came here last night for the first time. There were only two other couples there besides us. The service was okay and the waitress was attentive, but there was only one waitress here. There was a good selection of meats and sides and everything was fresh. I was surprised they had calamari and shrimp. The cost for dinner was $ 18 per person. My only complaint was the waitress refused to clean or replace our grill, because it was starting to smoke. She constantly came by adjusting the flame even though I asked politely not to.
When I went to pay with my credit card, the owner rudely asked me why I didn’t leave a tip on the credit card. Then he insisted for me to leave a tip. I had left a cash tip on table. This buffer gets 2 stars for the service. I wonder how the service would have been if the place was half full with only one waitress.

Worst service ever!!! this place used to be good food ever… Now… It’s worst food and place ever!!! The manager is sooooo rude!!! I recommend people not
To go to this place

Love this place, super friendly. Nice environment. Great food and very spacious.
IF ANYONE KNOWS THE RECIPE ON THE DIPPING SOY SAUCE PLEASE LET ME KNOW ! it’s that good, especially with spicy pork chop. I remember it having sesame seeds and vinegar. Thanks

My first attempt at eating Korean food in Torrance led met to Koji, and sadly, though perhaps not surprisingly, it was a let down. In fact, I’ve hardly had any KBBQ in LA outside of Koreatown, and now I know why.
To be honest, I had my sights on the recently opened «Gen» on Lomita and Crenshaw, but on this particular evening was ousted due to a 1hr 40min wait.
I guess it’s fair warning when: a) the staff beckons you to come in from the door; b) there is absolutely no wait; c) there are only a handful of occupied tables – all of which were true. And this is with the line-​out-​the-​door Gen just a quick drive down the street.
I guess I’ll get the good out of the way first: they do have a fairly decent selection of meats, mostly pre-​marinated and all raw, housed in deep steel buckets around the food area. They also have a fine selection of vegetables, ensuring you are not completely inundated with meat and carbs. As far as the positive, that’s about it.
The food is low quality and lazily prepared. Most of the meats are cleverly cut long and thick, curtailing how much you variety you can get unless you want to bust your gut or pay any «extra food on your plate» fees. I perceived the dipping sauces to be almost unpalatable, which is very unfortunate considering their crucial role in KBBQ.
They have a «sushi» corner and a «dessert» corner, but both were so visually unimpressive that I passed on them. I was surprised at my cerebellum actually preferring to pretend the dessert wasn’t there than to satisfy my sweet tooth. Good call, brain.
Koji is «raw» proof that too much of anything can be a bad thing. The concept of «take all the meat you want» is charming at first and nice in theory, but in practice, there’s something very diminishing about it. Meat should be appreciated, not lavished. At other All You Can Eat Korean BBQs, actually putting in an order and having the meat brought to you somehow feels less wasteful.
In retrospect, I’d actually rather have waited the 1hr 40 to eat at Gen. Yeah.

I was somewhat hesitant to eat here as I did not have a cell phone data plan on my CDN cell phone and our #1 option was closed. So here we go! Diving into the unknown as we were feeling like some Korean BBQ for supper.
You enter the place and one of the first things you observe is the advertising for cheap Japanese Kirin beer ($ 3 mugs and $ 9 pitchers). Second thing I notice is it’s self (buffet) service. These two things could either be good or be a very bad omen! We were seated at a table the woman flipped on the grill switch and you could feel the heat on your face. Let’s get this meal going!
Over to the buffet they had a very large selection of meats (chicken, beef, pork), organ meats (heart, liver) and fresh shrimp. I focused primarily on the boneless Kalbi and the beef bulgogi (with a couple of shrimp). I was not in the mood for any chicken or pork this evening. They also had very nice vegetable line with kimchi, marinated cucumbers, sprouts and various other pasta and potato salads (to blend off the meal). Also further away there was rice and a few different kinds of soup plus a sushi section. I was thinking to myself the selection was pretty good! One concern I had was thinking… that the meat was not covered up (which could be better for health reasons). Depending on how busy it is some eat could stay out there for a while! I try not to think of these things too much as I know it will gross me out more!
Here is my review of the food:
Bonelesss Kalbi ⁴⁄₅
Bulgogi 3.5÷5
Shrimp — 2.75÷5 (small and shelled with head on)
Various salads 3.5÷5
Sushi ³⁄₅
Udon soup 2.5÷5
Dessert selection ²⁄₅
Jello ³⁄₅
Rice crispy squares — ³⁄₅
Green tea ice cream ⁴⁄₅
The advantage of the buffet is you can choose what you want and load up if you are a big eater. The disadvantage as mentioned is I wonder how fresh the meat is?
Cleanliness of restrooms — 1÷5− This grossed me out a bit as friends have told me «If a restaurant can’t keep a restroom clean, how is the kitchen»?
Overall grilled meat was good. Not spectacular but not bad. Selection good quality and freshness (okay — slightly questionable).
Price was just over $ 22 per person which was okay.
Experience was not outstanding but not overly bad!

The place is open and lots of seating. We immediately got seated and drinks came fairly quick. They do have a different concept here. It is buffet style for your meat, sides, soup, etc. I guess, it can be a good thing since we do not have to wait for our meat and you get what you only want. The do have a wide variety for all taste buds.
Tried the following menu items:
1. Miso soup — decent
2. Radish salad — refreshing and cleanses your pallet
3. Stuffed mini crab — mayo makes everything delish
4. Fried rice — average, nothing special
5. Meat — bulgogi beef, beef and pork ribs, spicy pork, pork belly, spicy chicken, beef heart. Spicy pork was my favorite.
6. Soft serve vanilla ice cream, fruits, and brownies — sweets are always yummy
The service was quick and good, but felt kinda rushed. Drinks were always filled without asking. Dirty plates were quickly taken off the table. No shortage of clean plates and utensils.
Food was nothing spectacular but the price is pretty cheap and it is buffet. Parking is pretty easy. So if you want a quick kbbq fix and you’re on a budget, check this place out.