Korean Spring BBQ

Perhaps the closest & the best korean BBQ restaurant in Santa Clara area. Good quality meat even though it is a bit pricey: P worth your money! Highly recommended.

food is not fresh.
My whole family has an experience that eat at this restaurant severe diary and vomit.
we complained to the owner.
He treat customer badly.
We have terribly bad experience.
we felt like eat rotten food.

Wood grill beef tastes great. So is raw beef.
And the service was great. A guy helped us to grill so everything was taken care off and we had a great time enjoying the food without worrying overcook.

Just had my Sunday lunch since the other popular restaurant in the complex was closed. Very average food and service. The pancake and soup were ok. Fish mackerel was pretty blunt. The chicken bbq plate was not worth 24 $. Overall a ripoff. You are better off waiting in line for tobang.

This is my favorite Korean BBQ place in all of the south bay. I’ve been coming here for 15 years, and the food is always amazing! I love Korean food!

This place is gross and a huge rip off.
The meat quality is disgusting, taste hella old. And they give you such a small portion for the amount they charge you.
They have really bad customer service too. Never once came by to refill my tiny cup off hot tea or brought us any water. And they completely ignore you. Don’t even waste your time coming here!

Heard about the new owner so tried a lunch special which is only $ 6.99!!! Worried about the quality, but this is the BEST korean lunch specials! Taste so much better than other korean restaurant! This is my everyday lunch place from now on!

The service is really good here! And the environment is comfortable! The gaiby tang is really good!

My friend and I actually wanted to go to To Bang. But as that place was completely overbooked, we decided to go to Korean Spring BBQ which was right next to it.
First of all, I have to say that the staff and service both were very good. The two waiters constantly checked with us for water, hot tea and overall quality of the food. Moreover, they let us sit an extra 30 min to chat even after we had finished our meal without ever bothering us. s
We didnt sit for the BBQ which seemed like the main attraction. Instead, I ordered the Jap Chae and I thought it was absolutely delicious. While I’ve always enjoyed Korean food, I havent tried a lot of it so maybe my opinion is biased but I thought it was delicious. The only thing perhaps was that it was a little too sweet for my liking and I would’ve preferred it to be spicier.
Overall, great place!

This place was Plan B, when the original venue turned out to be absolutely unacceptable for myself and a group of friends. It was a FANTASTIC decision. We were welcomed the very second we walked in, and given no grief for being a large and hungry party, unlike at To Bang next door.
Also unlike the place next door, the service here was amazing; attentive, friendly, accommodating, and seemingly genuinely happy to have us. Despite the size of our group, we were allowed to relax and enjoy our meal at a comfortable pace even as other patrons started filling up the booths. Refills of beverages and the small plates were frequent and friendly.
As a group, a variety of entrees were ordered; unfortunately though, the day was just too hot for the in-​table BBQ. For appetizers, the nine of us shared the pancake with seafood and onion (hae mul pa jun) and the yam noodles with veggies and beef (jap chae). Both were great, but those noodles were out of this world delicious, and big enough servings for everyone to get a comfortable portion.
I went with one of the specials, which was short ribs, rice cake, potato and egg. By gods, it was spicy, but so so so good. Since it comes with enough food for three people, there was plenty left over. When one of the waitresses picked up the bowl to box it for take out, she was surprised and pleased that I did not find it too hot, which made us both chuckle.
At the end of the feast, everyone was overstuffed and thoroughly delighted with the food and the service. This spot is definitely a keeper.

Caution.
Ownership changed in September. I’m Korean and have been going to Korean Spring BBQ since 2000. It’s been my go-​to Korean BBQ and edges out Han Sung in the South Bay by just a bit.
I miss the old owner of Korean Spring BBQ (aka) and hope the new owners turn it around. Granted, ownership has only just changed. But so far the restaurant is a far cry from what it was.
Changes for the worse so far:
— The grill wasn’t hot enough and the kalbi didn’t cook quickly enough. The owners explained that the units in which the wood coals are placed were old and had to be replaced. Regardless, something was off with the grill. It wasn’t hot enough and the meat was cooking slowly. Kalbi is intended to be seated and cooked quickly. We asked for a replacement basket of coals but this didn’t change anything. We then resorted to having the meat cooked in the back and it came out like, well, meat cooked in the back: dry and with some gas smell. And we don’t pay $ 35/​order for meat cooked in the back.
— The marinade seems to have changed. Maybe the problem was with the grill. But the meat wasn’t as flavorful as it usually is. The marinade and treatment are all important and very tough to replicate.
— The side dishes seemed to have changed too and were different and not as good.
— This place used to sell various kimchees to go. It no longer does. And they were excellent. Even if the new owners sell kimchee to go, there’s no way to replicate the prior recipes. Such is the nature of kimchee craftsmanship.
— Can’t verify this, but from our recollection, prices for kalbi per person seem to have gone up as the quality has gone down. Frankly, could be wrong about this. $ 35/​order for kalbi.
— We made it clear that we didn’t enjoy the kalbi and there was no apparent remorse and certainly no discount offered on the meal.
— We were told that the menu is the same as before now but will be changing in the future — not sure how.
Service was attentive and quick and good. But couldn’t overcome the disappointing departure from the usually consistent high quality food I had been accustomed to here.
Not sure I would wish to give the place a second shot nor whether I’d be welcome after this review. But big bummer that one of my favorite Korean places in the entire Bay Area for the past 15 years has changed.

Came here because the line for the Korean BBQ down the street was quite long, and overall I was quite pleased with Spring BBQ. At first we were hesitant because of how empty the place was at 7:30pm on a Friday night, however the individual dishes were quite flavorful and the charcoal (instead of a gas grill) made grilling really enjoyable. Everything tasted great and the staff were very friendly.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this place for anyone who is looking for a great Korean BBQ restaurant.

After a week’s hiatus from Unilocalin’, felt this place deserved a review. Unfortunately, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. But alas tis life!
My second time here. My first time, I came with a friend who thought the galbi (kbbq short ribs) was bombtastic. From a Korean’s pov, it was pretty good but slightly overpriced.
This time around, came with my mom for the naengmyon, a purr-​fect cold noodle dish for the summer. Had similar thoughts: decent but not worth it. For $ 12.99, they had some sliced cucumbers, some yulmoo (radish kimchi), a boiled egg, some fine noodles, and some refreshing, cool yulmoo broth. But the end product was not particularly memorable. The ~$ 18 lunch special until 2:30PM (naengmyeon w/​galbi) may be a better deal.
The place itself is pretty dinky; don’t expect anything fancy.
The service is practically nonexistent. Ok it’s somewhat standard for a lot of Asian spots, which I’m usually fine with, but it gets annoying when you have to wait 10 min for another bowl and another 10 for the bill. And of course, we were absolutely ignored after we were delivered our dishes. The only time we got some lip service was before leaving a tip.
Another pet peeve: water cups were old and smelled like cigarette smoke. Thirsty as I was, I didn’t find myself reaching for that cup after that first nauseating sip. Blegh.
Pros? Their kbbq is charcoal-​grilled instead of electric, (which is a definite plus in terms of meat flavor in my book) and is seasoned pretty well. They give sikhye (Korean rice drink) at the end as dessert. Also, it seems it usually doesn’t get too crowded, which allows for more privacy. Hey glass half full kind of deal.
For other local options, Hansung on el camino offers comparable charcoal kbbq with better service imo.

It was my first time here for dinner tonight. I think their food was way better than tobang. But I give it four star because the service was too slow and also it was too expensive! I would come back to this place more often if the price become cheaper.

Real wood charcoal placed in the middle of your table. Kal bi short ribs are seasoned perfectly. I also love like the jap chae noodles. The jalapeños are sometimes not the most fresh but most of the time they are ok. I’ve been here about 5 times and really enjoy the experience.

Came here with my family as a goodbye/​birthday dinner. I would say the quality of food deserves 3.5 stars… its comparable to kbbq in LA Ktown but not as good, good enough for Bay Area standards though. At least 10 different banchan dishes, decent meat, and good service. I bumped them up ½ a star because they use charcoal for the grill instead of gas, like most places do these days. No wait on a Monday night either, which is even better :)))
Happy tummy!

This review is for the naengmyun!
This place was just eh. The service was pretty slow, especially considering that there were barely any customers there. The naengmyun was more expensive and less tasty here than at Kun Jip right next door… which would explain why there was a long line for Kun Jip and almost no one at this restaurant. The galbi that came with the combo was just okay and definitely not worth the combo. I would only return if I was extremely hungry and Kun Jip was too busy.

Fun! You get to grill your own meats over hot charcoal BBQ! Friendly service, more so than Tobang… Actually, I prefer this restaurant over Tobang for service, flavor and atmosphere! Jalapeños weren’t very fresh, but overall I really like this place for Korean BBQ.

I came here with my brother around 8:30 on a Saturday night. There wasn’t a wait and it was decently crowded in the BBQ section. My brother and I sat in the regular table room.
We ordered the beef soft tofu soup and the bibimnyangmyun. This was my first time here, so I’m not sure if they were having an off day, but both dishes were very mediocre. The soft tofu soup didn’t taste like how most soft tofu soup tastes. The noodles in the bibimnyangmyun was way too chewy almost undercooked. The banchan was decent however. The shikhae at the end was frozen, not sure if that’s how some places serve theirs but it was mostly ice.
The service was kinda slow or unattentive. Not sure if I would come back to this place.

(: Boba-​Foodaholic Says :)
My order: Galbi + Yulmoo Nengmyun
We visited this place at night around 1 hour before they close. I get that people are frustrated when people come at night. The service started bad from here because they didn’t even smile and greet to us whatsoever. Since we already know what to order, we just ordered and waited for our food.
The Galbi is the best here, can’t compare to any other places in San Jose. However, Yulmoo Nengmyun was the worst. We ordered that cold noodle at the end, but I guess they were so lazy, the soup was just a plain water. I don’t get how people can serve their food, not it supposed to be, even though they don’t want it. Also, their services are really bad. I know that it’s just Korean and lazy to work and just want money, they should not serve the customers like this.
Lastly, the prices are too expensive to what they have. For 4 Galbi + the cold noodle came out to $ 170. I was so surprised by the total, but what can I do, gotta pay for what I ate.

Right next door to Tobang and a bunch of other Korean restaurants in the same plaza. Definitely underrated. Sure the meat is pricey, but it’s high quality and juicy. You can definitely taste the difference in comparison to AYCE places! Plus, sometimes I enjoy the smell of that charcoal grillin’ your meat. Smells more authentic which just makes the meat munchin’ so much more delightful!!!
Seafood pancake is a yummy one! Side dishes. ermergerd. so fresh! And the soybean soup was good as well!!! I paid a big-​ish bill! But for a satisfying, refreshing meal!
Get the kal bi and the sam gyup sal!!! Mmm!!!

After realizing that Tobang was closed, we decided to check out this place because we noticed that we could grill our own meats. Fun! This restaurant has two sides to it. One side, you can sit and grill. Other side is for when you want to go have a quickish meal.
At first, it was just my cousin and I (we were expecting 3 other people) and we were starving so we just decided to order ahead. We ordered the seafood pancake, the spicy soup with fish roe, and kalbi and ribeye to grill. Note: you have to have a MINIMUM of two orders for the meat. We asked if we could get one order first and order another one later seeing as the rest of our party wasn’t there. Nope. It was minimum two order only. The meat was ridiculously expensive! The kalbi was $ 31.99 and the Ribeye was $ 26.99. You would think for the price you would get a large portion right? WRONG. The portions were pretty damn small. Also, the marinade was a little too sweet for my palate.
The seafood pancake was definitely my favorite part of the meal! Throw it onto the grill, and it’s awesomeness in your mouth!
Service was quick and good, although I felt like it wasn’t too friendly maybe because of the language barrier.
Overall, I felt like the experience was ok. There is nothing about this restaurant that would make me want to come back