Carbon Grill

I have been coming here for a few years. I was a bit disappointed because the last time the girl at the bar was so drunk that she cut herself. So far the food has always delivered so if i decide to come back I want to make sure they make my experience better.

They usually have not disappointed me. The meat was always fresh, fresh ingredients, and the ability to sit with friends and enjoy all the food.

I think I will give it one more try soon to see if things have changed. I've had most of the meets, but always go back to marinated Ribeye and Bulgogi meat.

This place was the best quality and friendliest place! So sad to see it closed permanently

Food: 4/5 the quality of the food is not bad, but they seem to run out of a lot of stuff (i.e. the scallop, ramen, etc). I would recommend the briskets and short ribs. Note: we came on a Sat night.

Service: 2/5 Our waitress does what we asked, but she was definitely not friendly and not attentive. We had to ask her for water refills, grill replacement, additional orders. She never once came to check on us unless we waived at her. We were also there late, so it was not busy.

Improvements: I understand if they run out of food, they run out, but they can definitely address that by adding more supplies (esp on days like the weekend). Also, the service can be definitely be improved as well.

Due to the "okay" service and limited food options, I'm giving them 3 stars.

Carbon Grill is definitely worth a try. They have notable items that are nonexistent at other bbq restaurants in SF such as scallops on the half shell, lemon basa fish filet, Vietnamese bbq pork, huge slices of peppery, mouthwatering beef tongue, and more! They strive to provide a unique variety of Asian bbq items, not just Korean, which I find intriguing and delightful. Overall the service is good and the food is good enough where I'd crave the green garlic cilantro crack sauce from time and time again.

My favorite meat is the marinated boneless short rib. It's marinated well, sweet but compliments the sauces, and I don't have to worry about the bone getting in the way.

My favorite seafood item would have to be the scallops. They're on the shell which takes a while to cook, but they are fresh and simple! It's a good "break" from all the meat.

I also love the cheese corn. It's buttered up and I like how the cheese is a singular type of cheese, not a Mexican blend/mix. The corn is also sweet, not bland.

Their sides are good too. The kimchi is spicy and not overpoweringly sour, although it bugs me that the kimchi is sliced up into small pieces. Their rice paper is huge and thick! And OMG they serve spicy pickled cucumbers!!

So... Why'd I give this place four stars instead of five? The ventilation is horrible. It's the only thing that irks me from eating here too often. My clothes smell like meat at the end of the meal and it's all in my hair, my jacket, my shirts, etc. you get the point. Expect to walk out smelling like meat. Another thing is the price. It's $29.99 per person which is pricier than most bbq places in SF. Of course the perk is all you can eat, but how much can you possibly eat with a 90 min time limit while ordering 4 meats at a time?

If possible, I recommend coming at 5PM when they open. Weekends including Friday may be a pain to wait, especially if you come around 7. You might end up waiting like an hour and 30 minutes which is what happened to my group of five friends. The restaurant isn't very large but the good thing is they are strict about the time limit. 90 mins for every party! The time limit is a pro and a con, really depends how you see it. It has been enough time to eat and cook for me. The servers remind you in a friendly way when it is last call for your group.

Inside while you wait there is a bar/seating area and you can order happy hour drinks there. I'm not sure what the happy hour deal is but on their menu, they serve a variety of alcohol such as beer, soju, sake, and wine. They also have plenty of tv screens so you can watch the game and enjoy cooking and eating a nice meaty meal.

All in all, this place is good. I can see why people eat here and why people come back. I've enjoyed my visits so far for the most part and leave looking like I have a food baby aka FULL and happy!

Let me start by saying, LA is the KING of Korean BBQ in California. But if you are looking for your KBBQ fix, Carbon Grill has a lot to offer you.

Food: Their meat options are plentiful. I usually stick with their boneless short ribs, their bulgogi, the beef tongue, and various pork belly options. Their chicken is good but takes to long to cook lol. Their bonchon is not as diverse as most Korean bbq places, but they have some of my favorites. Garlic Green Beans, Kim Chee, Radish Wraps, Rice Wraps, and the CUCUMBERS (very addicting). They have a side dish option for Steamed Egg, which is one of my all-time favorites, plus fried eggs, and spicy tofu-soup.

Group Size: Best time to go is when they open, or at 7pm once the first tables are finishing up If you are a small group (2-6) will get you one burner. 8+ ppl will get you a table with at least 2 burners which would be ideal for the size. The max I would go with is 12, maybe 13, because you'll be able to take advantage of their longer tables. If you have a group that big, definitely get their early to have the best shot and least amount of wait time.

Overall: This is one of my favorite places to go in SF for Korean BBQ. Perfect place to stuff your faces while watching a warriors game and slurping down tasty Soju and craft beer. Bring your friends and enjoy the experience. If you don't leave full, did you even try?

As a Las Vegas resident, I am no stranger to AYCE KBBQ. In fact, it's one of my favorite foods and I frequent new and tried and true establishments all the time.

This place was great. I liked the atmosphere. The air was clear and it wasn't too smoky inside. I wasn't a huge fan of our seating arrangement, as we were at the longer communal tables in the back that have stools as chairs, but there are other spaces in the restaurant with booths and real chairs.

I really liked the quality of the meats and the taste of the marinades. While they don't have the largest selection, I do appreciate what they do have. The side dishes are pretty good as well. I kind of like that you have to order the banchan instead of it just being on your table because there is much less waste. I do think the variety could be higher (I want bean sprouts!!!) but all in all I think the selection is good.

When you go to a AYCE place, you would think that the you can just inhale a large amount of food in a short amount of time to get your money worth. However, after my meal here, I definitely felt like like I was very disappointed and here's why:
- The food took FOREVER to cook (trust me, we were on max and we asked them to double check too, since our grill wasn't hot we actually never burnt our food.
- Some orders were forgotten
- The quality of the food was ok. I definitely had places that had more options and more flavorful meat

Overall I don't think it was worth the $37. There are places elsewhere where I can eat for cheaper.

One great thing I enjoyed about this place was the service. Our waiter was really nice and kept refilling our water pitcher and taking our order (if possible due to the slow grill)

This review is for both times I went within a two week period.
1st time - SATURDAY - 5 stars
Hands down my favorite KBBQ place so far. With a wide selection of meats, sides, and soju, I knew this place was it. Only thing is, they are $29.99 weekday/weeknight. Now the price isn't crazy, as most kbbq places that don't serve food poisoning also charge this price. The meats were all marinated very well and it was matched with great customer service. However, the second time I went, the experience was a bit "lacking."

2nd time - FRIDAY - 3 stars
I went in with a group of friends a week later and the place was empty! The girl asked how many in my party and I said 7, with 6 of us already there. However the girl walked off and made us wait as they tended to other things (in an empty restaurant) and it wasn't until I asked again to be seated at one of the MANY EMPTY TABLES, when she sat us. Nevermind that, we were excited to get the food we got a week ago.

When we started off ordering some meats, seafood, and soju, they told us that most of the seafood, and soju were sold out! I'm not sure if it's sold out or if they just ran out or had a shortage on a weekday, but if the latter, then it's more bang for your buck going on a weekend. Half way through, we had to ask two to three times for a grill change, flag them down (in the empty restaurant) for more meats, etc.

Verdict: go on a weekend :) || ig: @misslilianeats

If you're looking to splurge on KBBQ, this is the place! $29.99/person AYCE. Unanimous Favs: boneless short rib, brisket, soybean paste, lychee soju, Fieldworks Hazy IPA

+ the food was delicious!
+ wide selection of meat, including seafood!
+ service was fast and frequent stops were made at our table
+ a wide selection of beer
+ cooking time was decent, not super fast and not slow. No grill issues

- does not take reservations
- parking can be tough to find during dinner rush
- 90 minute time limit to keep in mind
- difficult to contact business via phone

I planned a dinner here for a company team outing for a large group of 15. You know when the head honcho's come out and the group is that large, there is no room for missteps ...cue my anxiety when I found out there were no reservations at this place! I was able to visit the restaurant in person and was informed that if I can give the staff a heads up a couple hours before the event, everything should be fine.

The staff were true to their word and the whole dinner was received extremely well by everyone on our team. I have to give credit to specific staff members in particular: Judy, Stephanie, and Denise, who made sure everything was smooth from start to finish.

You can imagine how needy a large group can get...so to be consistently on top of our orders, grill changes, and requests, in such a timely manner was very impressive. I will say our tables were in an advantageous spot near the cash register and order window, but the staff was also supremely patient and kind. It was a fun night of stuffing ourselves so much we couldn't even feel the effects of the beer anymore lol...

It was also three team members' first KBBQ experience and many other team members mentioned they'd love to visit here again. Thank you for making our night! I would highly recommend Carbon Grill.

I got here around 6 and was waiting for my whole party to show, but was seated almost immediately once everyone was here which was really nice! My first thought walking into this place was.. holy smokes (literally). There was SOO much smoke from people's grills... Their ventilation was little to none... and while waiting for the rest of my party, my friend had to use eye drops every 10 minutes because her contacts were drying up and even grabbed a glass of water from the bar because we were all getting lightheaded... Luckily, they sat us by the door/window and we all got a bit of air there.

The food/service there was good! We got to try a lot of the meat, but one that we couldn't get enough of marinated short ribs! Some other favorites include the bacon wrapped enoki, pork belly, beef tongue, scallops, and oddly enough, the kimchi! A few that I didn't enjoy as much was the cumin lamb skewers (it was SUPER chewy, couldn't even get a bite off), calamari steak, and the radish wrap (super pickled).

Another thing to note were their grills - not something I'm used to at other KBBQ places. They left great grill marks on the meat, but there were large holes all over so when the meat would grill, and the fat/oil dripped down, a huge fire would light up. I know this often happens at other places as well, but this was literally the first meat that we put on and it continued throughout the entire night. Quite dangerous - definitely something the owner should look into. Because of this, I do not recommend bringing kids here.

Overall, it was a decent experience... but -1 star for poor ventilation/grills and -1 for running out of rice paper early on in the evening.