| Cuisine | Korean |
|---|---|
| Price | $$$ (31-50) |
| Rating | 8/10 |
| Last Visit | Sept. 30, 2023 |
| Location | SFBA: South Bay |
Excellent KBBQ restaurant. From what I've heard, Baekjeong is a well-known institution down in LA, and they just recently opened their first restaurant in the Bay Area in Valley Fair. There's been a ton of hype around it, and for good reason. It's surprisingly affordable, comparable in price to entry-level KBBQ joints, but the quality of the food is comparable to more expensive restaurants, where you might pay 1.5x the price. Great food, very reasonable price, nice vibes and great location. Would definitely return again on future shopping adventures. I'm not entirely sure why the ratings on Google / Yelp are so low, probably related to the long wait times
> The servers cook the meats for you! In my experience, this has been mostly reserved for more upscale places (which I assumed this place was). This is definitely the most affordable restaurant where they offer this service for you.
> The combo is a LOT of food. I came with a group of three other guys (who are all capable of eating quite a bit), and we would have been comfortably full with the Large Hadong's Favorites Combo. We ordered a few other items, not knowing how much food it would be, and we couldn't finish it all. It's great value, especially considering the price.
> The combos come with a lot of other nice extras, like rice, egg, kimchi or soybean paste stew, and a whole bunch of banchan. They have both rice paper wraps and radish wraps, along with the scallion salad!
> They have a very well-designed smoke vent system. I usually come out of KBBQ places feeling a need to change immediately, but I could barely smell the KBBQ on my clothes after leaving here.
> There's often a bit too much food that's finishing cooking at any given point in time. It makes enjoying the food at the optimum temperature difficult, because the dishes continue to cook in their vessel, such as the meats, the steamed egg, or the egg on the side.
> It's very difficult to get a reservation and the wait time is VERY long. The good news is that it's in probably the best mall in all of the Bay Area. Put your name down early when you arrive, then go shop until they text you to come back -- it actually all works out pretty nicely.