Han Sung BBQ
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
36 Reviews for Han Sung BBQ
This place wasn't as great as I was hoping it would be. The nice thing is their tea. I'm not sure what kind of rice tea they had, but I loved it. They have a chinese waitress who speaks both taiwanese mandarin and korean so if you're wanting to test out your language skills go ahead. Knowing korean bbq places you will smell like bbq after eating out in this place. Open 7days a week from 11:30AM~10:30PM. If you're someone that has coffee after a big meal there's a Java something nearby. Or Verizon stores, acupuncture, nail salon, vacuum shop, office max and rite aid. I won't be coming back though.
My kids and I were supposed to go to the other Korean restaurant (buffet) in El Camino. But alas...we can not find any parking space. I drove around like 3 times along El Camino to Benton to San Tomas Expwy and back to El Camino again...so I gave up and told them that we'lll just go to a place where we can cook our own food. I just saw the sign that says Korea BBQ along El Camino. The place is actually between Home Town Buffet and a Beauty School .
Well, we didn't cook our own food, but we had some really good bbq. We had the lunch special. We ordered the ribs, chicken & round eye beef which includes the soup, appetizers, and rice. All 3 of us shared it. The price was really reasonable from $6.99 to $7.99. My son who eats like a bird actually ate a lot!!! My daughter who can be picky (smells her food first before she eats, but likes carb) did not complain about the food and actually gave the food 2 thumbs up. Service is good.
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Went here recently for the first time in a long while since it was past 9 P.M. and my other Korean food options in the area were already closed for the night or closing up.
Korean BBQ places always smell like grilled meat but the smell here was really strong - worse than at other Korean BBQ joints and worse than it was the last time I was here. Either my chronic aversion to meat has grown even stronger lately or the restaurant's just in dire need of replacing all the old surfaces that have been impregnated with meat fumes. (Thank god there weren't any draperies around to absorb the smell and turn into meat curtains!)
In all seriousness though the food was fine. I hadn't eaten red meat in ages and my dinner companions had never had Korean BBQ before, so I broke my restrictions for one night and treated them to grilled cow. It wasn't the greatest Korean BBQ but it was tasty and serviceable - good, casual, average fare. The banchan told the same story - they were nothing special and my mom and I both make better banchan, but they were still tasty and serviceable. My only real gripe with the banchan is that they were lacking in variety, though I suspect that if we had showed up at an earlier hour we'd've gotten the full range. (We were the last customers of the night and the only ones there for the last hour.)
Major props to the restaurant for the great service at such a late hour, for assisting us with the BBQ (because my friends were newbies and I was too distracted in talking to them to pay attention to the grilling), and for shooing us out politely when it became apparent that we'd be happy to just sit at the table talking about nothing in particular way past closing time. I'd give 3.5 stars if Yelp allowed half-star ratings.
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I come here usually for lunch, and for dinner. For lunch its really nice, not too crowded, fast and friendly service, and what I like best about it is that they always give us a little something for free. The soup(yukgaejang) is great for hangovers btw. If you are looking for somewhere that is pretty low key, cheap and good go here! I took off one star because one time when my bf was picking me up some soup to go, they overcharged him and we had to go back to fix it, which was kind of inconvenient and a hassle. But they did offer us our money back and even made a nice gesture to give us something for free for our trouble. Will definitely come back here as the food gets 5 stars!!
Edit..got take out and specifically ordered my soup not spicy and when the food came it looked like both soups were spicy(through the clear lid) but the girl looked at it and said "one not spicy" so i thought...ok...drove home to find that it was spicy still...so watch out what you order and make sure its right before you go home!
It started when a Korean coworker took me here. For a while, it was just the two of us.
Then more people started to join us.
Now, every month 10 of us from the office come here for lunch.
The food is fantastic*, the service is prompt, and the price is reasonable. Couldn't ask for much more.
* the only exception is the pa-jun, the seafood pancake. I've had better at other places, but everything else at Han Sung is tip top.
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I went here last night with my mom and had the dinner for 2 option 4 with kalbi, bulgogi, squid, shrimp, and salmon. We enjoyed every bit of it. There's a lot of sides that come with the meal, including chap chae. The chap chae's noodles were a little too brittle for my taste, but the flavors were good and I can't complain about free food. All the little dishes were quite tasty as well.
The only complaint here is that the metal grill top is not greased, so the meat/fish stick to it when you're cooking. our salmon pretty much ripped in half because the bottom half was stuck to the grill. However, they use real charcoal instead of a gas grill, which is great!
The service was excellent, which isn't always expected at these places. The waitress was very friendly and attentive. She stopped by to help cook our food a couple of times.
The decor is nothing special. It looks like it was converted from a pizza parlor or something. A mix of booths and tables. Not a romantic place for dinner plus you'll smell like bbq afterwards. It's also in a strip mall near a save mart I think.
To recap: The meat and seafood were great, particularly the kalbi and bulgogi. The prices were reasonable. The service was great. The decor was decent.
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My 2nd visit.. The first time I went alone for dinner and did not leave hungry.
On my most recent visit I took two brothers in law who had little or no experience with Korean food. The service was very prompt and friendly. The food from appetizers to the main meals, we shared kalbi, bulkogi, & marinated chicken to give them a feel for the standards.
We pretty much ate all the the food presented and my lunch companions were impressed. Han Sung did not let me down.
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The best Korean foods can be found either at your korean friends parent's house or in K-town in LA. For all the bay area peeps that don't have korean friends with parents that cook, this place is for you. Not quite as good as home made cooking, but a close second. You have the choice of either getting the meat cooked at your table or having it cooked and brought out for you. Have only tried the former option. The kalbi meat (beef ribs) are tender and well marinated. I went with the pickiest of eaters and even Mikey liked it. Try the kalbi and the spicy pork. Comes with a bunch of sides so even the hungriest of people will leave satisfied. As for the sides kudos to the sweet potatoes and the noodles.
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Good place for kalbi and the service is friendly. I've been here quite a few times and would suggest it to people, but nothing too special about it.
However, when I went there yesterday, the coals didn't seem to be as blazing hot as it should be and therefore took longer to cook the meat which caused a lot of waiting time for everyone. Nonetheless, we left full and fairly satisfied.
Very tasty tradtional Charcoal BBQ. You'll get your $ worth from the amount of food you order.
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My Korean friend suggested we go here for lunch. She said their spicy pork was good. The restaurant is a hole in the wall, but the service was very friendly and the food is good. We ordered the spicy pork, kalbi and this noodle dish with mushroom, zucchini and fish cake. The spicy pork was very good, especially since I'm not really a big pork eater if there is beef around. The kalbi was delish as well. I really enjoyed my lunch and the waitresses were very friendly. The portions are really good and prices at lunch were really inexpensive for all that you get. They are one of the few Korean restaurants that use a coal grill instead of a gas grill. Another plus, is they stay open from lunch all the way to dinner.
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I'm not exactly a Korean food expert, so I really just compared this place to Korea BBQ, down the road on El Camino at 3258.
Both offer huge heaps of meat, with a good selection of pickles.
The big difference is that this place offers a "cook it yourself" option, for meals for two or more. That's fun, but it also means that 1) it's colder inside in the wintertime (all those fans), and 2) It smells like burned beef the entire time we're there.
I like this place fine, I like the other place better.
Today I went with my bf and we ordered three lunch specials cuz we're pigs (lunch specials are a good deal at around $8). Anyways the kalbi was good, the kalbi tang I thought was good but the bf didn't like it, and the bibimbob was average. The food is good but nothing spectacular compared to the other korean restaurants in that area. Compared to restaurants in the peninsula though it's amazing.
i've been here twice and i never leave hungry. first, all the little plates that come out (dried fish, sweet potato, pickled bean sprouts, pickled cucumber, potato cake, and a couple others i can't determine) are tasty but can be overwhelming for those with a more 'american' palate. my favorites are the bean sprouts, potato cake and sweet potato. also, you can gross out your friends that come here for the first time by nibbling on the tiny fish heads. yum.
i've only ordered the beef, chicken and battered shrimp, all bigger portions than you think. i would say that if you ordered the chicken and beef, along with the shrimp and all the little dishes, that could easily serve 3-5 people. very easily.
i was not adventurous enough to order from the 'adventurous menu.' i say if you really want to impress your friends, go ahead an flip the menu over and order from that side. someone actually ordered the beef tongue soup and gave me some without telling me what it was. it was surprisingly good.
our group didn't feel like cooking the food ourselves, first for fear out of buring the place down and also, and more importantly, we didn't want to stink like beef for the rest of the night.
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Great place for their lunch specials. For $8, I had the galbi ribs, rice, soup and appetizers. It looks like an old diner inside. The wait stuff was very friendly. They gave us my favorite...on the house...paejun! I'd like to come back for dinner sometime and then walk down to Vip (my fave Kbar) which is in the same plaza.
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The first thing my grandma makes my husband and I do is to try their chapchae(noodles) and then declare that hers tastes better! OF COURSE it does! Home cooked meals always taste better! But you gotta go out once in a while!
My parents really like coming to this place. My mom says "the price is good" and she's always concerned about the price.
The service was friendly, fast and efficient. The "service" items (which translates to "free"/ "on the house" items in Korean) were good. We got as "service" 2 jigaes and fried fish! Both jigaes were hot and spicy and great with my rice. The fish disappeared pretty fast, so I'm assuming it was good.
Their panchan was standard, but slightly fewer than other Korean places I've been too. Shikae at the end of the meal.
$162.00 tax and tip for 7 people.
Pretty good deal! Considering my dad decided to order everything he could off the menu since my husband was buying!! :D
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Our family likes eating here for Korean BBQ. The choice of cooking it yourself over hot charcoal or having them cook it for you is great! Every time we've eaten here, we have come away feeling quite full and satisfied. We've eaten at other local Korean BBQ in Santa Clara (especially my hubby as he works for a Korean company) but this is our hands down favorite.
We both like the spicy pork and the boneless beef (bul golgi - spelling?) along with the large variety of side dishes and kim chee. I particularly like the spicy tofu soup and our son loves the bim bim bop, a rice dish where the rice is crunchy at the bottom and its topped with veggies, egg, kim chee and beef or seafood. We also liked the onion flecked pancake (not in the American sense of pancake, more like an omelet but thinner) and the dumplings.
Service is spotty where its either really good or indifferent (not so much with us but what I've seen with other customers). I would recommend this place especially if you've never had Korean BBQ. Lunch is the best time to try as the prices are low because during the dinner hour it can get pricey. We've gone here late afternoon and we were able to order from the lunch menu on a weekend...not bad!
Parking is ample and this place accepts credit cards.
They use charcoal here! That seriously makes the bbq taste so much better. It's also piping hot. I get a little nervous whenever that guy comes out with his metal basket and then carries the tray with only one hand holding something that looks like prongs.
We went here for my friend's surprise 25th birthday party and it was cool! We were in the back room where the big screen TV & the karaoke machine are. That room can fit about around 40 people. The service was super fast.
We had bulgogi & kalbi although I wish it came with duk bok sam (white rice squares) instead of lettuce. Everything was very good quality. We also had deng jang chigae (soy bean soup) and compared to other styles, it wasn't as soybean-ish which I would've wanted. Jap chae didn't have as much other veggies in it and it was a little watery on the bottom; haven't seen that before.
Karaoke machine was a little ancient but it worked and there was a good variety of songs.
I glanced at the lunch menu and each dish is still $7.99 which is a little pricey. I'd definitely go here again for a special occasion. Korean bbq can get pricey!
**UPDATED 3/11/08: Came here for dinner and ordered a combination meal (kalbi, octopus, intestines, tripe, another meat). It's a good size for 2-3 people depending how hungry you are. We also got soon dubu with it that was more like a soup than a stew. It was very thin & not spicy. Strange. The panchans were pretty good but the meats could've been better.
My favorite place for Korean food on El Camino. Ever since my friend introduced me this place 3-4 years ago, I rarely go to other Korean restaurants on El Camino. I've taken my friends here and they love it too! This place is cheap for lunch, under $9-10. During lunch all bbq meats are cooked for you. But at night, they let you cook it at your table. Dinner tends to be a little pricier.
Great Korean BBQ~! its soo good and the prices are awesome. You can either cook the meats yourself, or have them cook it for you. I actually prefer to cook it myself, seeing as how I'm a chef and all. The meats are really well marinated and I love the Korean short ribs and chicken. Their Korean noodles are also really good. Dinner can be a bit pricy, but the Lunch specials are really good (less than $10/person). What I love about Korean BBQs is their free little appetizers! They will refill whatever you like as many times as you like too. I especially like the sweet glazed fried potato, kimchee, and salty spicy fish. Much better than the overcrowded, overpriced Brother's Restaurants in SF.
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The food is not the best, but it's pretty good. I'm giving a high rating because, we had a large party and they gave us tons of stuff on the house, including beers! The service was great! Servers were super attentive and nice. And, how many Korean BBQ restaurants have you gone to where they use real coals?! Not many, but they are one of the few in the area. You also have the option of having them cook the meat in the kitchen so you dont smell like BBQ all night!
3.5 stars. Came here after finding out that we would probably not be able to eat at Palace BBQ Buffet because of the long ass wait for dinner. The place is split into two sections, half for bbq and the other is regular tables. We had the bbq, they have real charcoal here which was nice but they have a weird way of putting it into the pit. It freaks me out!! The Hispanic worker with the charcoal trays would use tongs to pick up the hot charcoal trays and place them into the pit. It seemed really dangerous cuz he would get lazy and try to pick up two trays at a time. We ordered a combo with lots of meat, but I can't remember which one. We also got some bean paste stew, tofu soup and kimchee jigae. The food in general was pretty tasty, flavorful and enjoyable. The soups were also pretty good, nice and hot and had plenty of flavor. Prices are like any Korean bbq restaurant ranging from 15-20 bucks for a plate of raw marinated meat. Service is okay too, if we needed anything they were pretty nice about it. All in all, I would come back here if Palace BBQ Buffetwas crazy crowded (which is always), so I guess I will be here more frequently.
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I'm not really in San Jose that often anymore cuz I'm at school in SD, so I don't know if any new Korean BBQ places have popped up, but from what I remember Han Sung is in my book one of the top 3 places in the South Bay for some K-BBQ lovin', along with Neul Bum in Kiely Plaza and Palace. It's probably a notch below Neul Bum in quality and Palace in value, but it's still pretty good. For all the other Korean BBQ connoisseurs out there, you know that Galbi places with charcoal pits rule those with gas pits. Han Sung has pretty good quality meat along with that smoky charcoal goodness. The banchan (side dishes) are OK, but nothing to rave about. The only main gripe I have with this place is the decor. The inside looks so freakin old school it feels like I'm walking into my grandma's living room. Oh and the last time I went, there was something wrong with the fan on one of the tables so it was smokin up the whole joint, but luckily it happened as we were finishing up.
To be honest Han Sung probably is not the best Korean BBQ I've had but this place has not yet disappointed me. Even when there's so many places to choose from in Santa Clara the fam and I seem to keep coming back to this joint, simply because you get what you pay for. Price is reasonable and it hits the spot just the same.
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i decided to take two of my girlfriends out to dinner for their birthday. they wanted to try something new and so i took them to an euthenic korean bbq sit-down-do-it-yourself-grill restaurant. THEY LOVED IT!!!
MENU: we got some hot stone mixed veggies with rice. (the best part was the crispy rice stuck on the bottom of the stone bowl) korean bbq ribs (not too sweet and not too salty, like some other places. it caramelized wonderfully onto the grill) pan fried dumplings. (crispy and tasty). marinated chicken (it was a little bland but still good). THEY WERE ALL SO YUMMY!! plus it came with the traditional side dishes, plus tofu soup, plus kimchee pancakes, PLUS slices of oranges and the sweet rice refreshment. ALOT OF FOOD, I KNOW!!
PRICE: It all came out about $60. the price was perfect.
SERVICE: outstanding. our waitress was very sweet and nice. she was very attentive and made sure that we had everything we needed.
FUTURE VISITS: yes...yes...yes...
not good... pretty dirty & the side dishes werent good. i dont enjoy hole in the wall kind restaurants no matter how good the food is... it didnt feel authentic & it didnt taste good at all...the service was bad too.
I forgot how I first found out about this place and wound up here, but since that ambiguous time long ago I've been here to enjoy many a delicious Korean bbq meal. My friends (including Korean friends) have all enjoyed this place also. In my experience the prices are pretty good compared to other bbq places. It's not all-you-can-eat, but....let's be serious....if you really want all-you-can-eat at a Korean bbq place, you need to start paying more attention to your diet. The marinated meats are tasty, the side dishes many, and the waitresses always friendly. On occasion I've even gotten some complimentary dishes I didn't order....wow! Try getting that kind of service at other Korean bbq places. Good luck my friend...
My friend is very passionate about Korean food and very judgmental of Korean BBQ places (and yeah, he's an old soul Korean, an admitted kimchi snob, and is often confused by potato salad being served as banchan). He has often lauded the greatness of wooden charcoal BBQ and how local Bay Area restaurants are of low BBQ tier because they use gas or electric or at best, coal charcoal and yah-dah yah-dah yah-dah (you can tell I've heard this speech quite often).
We were in the mood for Korean food and just cruising past Kiely on El Camino into "K-Town" territory, trying to spot a place we hadn't eaten at yet when we saw the big glowing "Korean BBQ" sign for Han Sung. Immediately my friend gave a haughty grunt, thinking once again we would be met with a gas fueled contraption.
As we were being seated and overlooking the neighboring tables, he was about to go into his speech once more when he noticed one of the waiters hauling a huge smoking metal basket of... can you believe it? glowing, burning charcoal! And, not only that, it was WOOD charcoal! Before I could say anything he spun around and sputtered to me "Oh my god we have to get BBQ" even though just a minute ago he was muttering about trying the noodles and stews as there could be no way that the BBQ was anything but Americanized decent.
We got the BBQ Combo 4, and were allowed to switch one of the combo items out for a replacement; for whatever reason, he chose salmon. The Combo is $40/2 people, and it was absolutely worth every penny.
Really great Kal-bi and squid; salmon cooked so nicely, but not the biggest fan of cooked salmon; insane amount of food. Side dishes came out really quickly (and there were a butt load of them, too), and not the best but were pretty decent; my friend was impressed because, as he put it, he only had to think "When are they going to bring out the banchan?" once before we were served, which is apparently some record because the average at other Korean restaurants is five or six times. Yay?
Totally reasonable, really sweet staff, and having that nostalgic glitter appear in my friend's eye was absolutely priceless.
I am not new to Korean Cuisine but I can say that BBQ and all the "BanChan" that goes with it is pretty much all I have eaten, this place looks dated and like a typical strip mall location but the food definitely overrides the decor! The BolKogi (rib-eye) was marinated perfectly, we grilled it at the table, we also got one of 6 combinations to grill also, steak, marinated chicken, shrimp, squid and salmon. It was ALL good! the Banchan was excellent as well! not too spicy (although I love that! my peeps do not) but just seasoned very well. the dangmyun (noodles) were perfect and yummy! I like the food here but the atmosphere needs a bit of help!
This used to be my favorite local Korean restaurant for bbq beef and fried oysters. Last few times I've eaten there with my honey bunny, we were disappointed. Their side dishes have been getting really mediocre, food isn't as hot or cold as they should be, and some of the variety of meats on the large platter of the raw bbq meats weren't that fresh looking or tasty. The main meat, Kalbi, is always good though. Fried oysters are still pretty good. Crab soup should always be tasty and good, but not at Hansung. It tasted like dishwater with salt. I'm sorry to diss on my past favorite restaurant, but it seems like the cooks just don't care that much any more, or they're too tired to care. It's really sad because I like their waitresses so much. Most of them speak Korean, English, and Chinese since most of them are the Chinese who emigrated to South Korea, then emigrated to the US. I hope food gets better because I still would like to have hope in this restaurant...
The only reason I popped in here was because I was next door shopping for an item and it was lunch time. There is BBQ seating on one side and regular tables and booths on the other. Menu is average, nothing too impressive. Lunch specials are reasonable and seemed to be what everyone was ordering. They draw in a good enough crowd at lunch time with the restaurant about 80% full. Service is good although I noticed that the Caucasian males seated alone were getting better service than everyone else. Food was okay, nothing special. Panchan were average too but good selection.
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Decent Price for Korean Charcoal BBQ. $9.99 / choice of meat (minimum of 2). Comes with different kimchi, tofu soup, and rice
you can always count on this restaurant for good korean food at good prices with fairly good service. so far, every dish we've had here as been pretty good. my favorite is the dukk bokki. i think they have the best dukk bokki in the bay area. other stable dishes here are really quite good, like the yukae jang, hobak jun, BBQ meats & chickens, tenjang chiggae, ojingoh bokkum. they offer a nice assortment of pan chan (side dishes) that are all pretty decent. i would say this place is just as good (if not better) than going to brothers in SF without the wait --and cheaper too.
Never been here for lunch specials but I have been here for a traditional sit down do-it-youself spare rib bbq. Nobody in my whole family of five was very pleased with this place. I might warn you that we are all Korean however and have experienced a multitude of Korean galbi houses. The moment you step in, even when it's almost empty, you immediately smell the smoke. Not a big turn-off at a Korean bbq place, but it just gives you the feeling that you've stepped in a country-side korean diner with 1980's furnishings. The dark wood veneer wall treatment along with a nasty mix of incandescent and flourescent lights makes even the lame person feel queezy. The price for 4 servings of gal bi was not cheap compared to other places, but the service was pretty excellent even including 2 free cans of sprite, some fried fish, and mystery jjiggae... I would recommend Spring (Neul Bom) Galbi on Kiely just 2 blocks away over this place any day. Though Neul Bom's service is almost always crap, the taste of their food including most importantly the galbi is way better.
this place is known for some of the best tasting korean bbq in the el camino area, but it's decor and ban chan (little plates of appetizers) are a little lacking. the prices are decent, and really, the only thing you should get here is the bbq and cook it yourself. there's nothing much else it's known for. if you're looking for quantity over quality, head on over to Korean Palace BBQ. it's not as delicious, but definitely will fill you up as it is a buffet.
Typical Korean BBQ lunch specials.
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