Shik Do Rak - Korean BBQ

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Went to this K BBQ place in Walnut Village (by Taiko) on Christmas Eve with friends...what a great time and great food. An insane amount of food for the price --- we had 7 people (three six year olds though) and one of their combo packages was plenty for us. I forget what # combo we had, but it was $118 and came with a bottle of Soju (most of the combo's do). Not bad price --- especially considering my wife and I can easily hit close to $120 with just the two of us at a place like Honda-Ya. I believe they also have all you can eat on weeknights and non-holidays.

We were very impressed with the quality of the meat here, and also impressed with the service on a very, very busy night. I read on Yelp, however, that you get much better service and faster seating with groups of 7+. We'll definitely go back. Oh, they also give you a complementary frozen yogurt (which was actually very good) after the meal....so you don't need to walk down to Yogurtland and spend more money.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/shik-do-rak-irvine
 
Nice... my sister-in-law went there and said it was pretty good.

We are used to the "get-it-yourself" KBBQ like Seoul Garden so we probably will check this out.
 
I love this place too. There is a similar one on Lake and Barranca, which is pretty good too with nicer place but a little higher price.
 
[quote author="purpletulip"]I love this place too. There is a similar one on Lake and Barranca, which is pretty good too with nicer place but a little higher price. [/quote]
Does the one in Woodbridge have AYCE (All You Can Eat)?
 
[quote author="cameray"]What's Soju??[/quote]

It's Korean rice wine. Much like Sake. But... for some reason it will knock you on your a$$ if you are not careful.
 
[quote author="graphrix"]
[quote author="cameray"]What's Soju??[/quote]

It's Korean rice wine. Much like Sake. But... for some reason it will knock you on your a$$ if you are not careful. [/quote]

Oh...thanks. Are they similar in taste?
 
If your not into Soju you can always ask them to subsitute it with more meat instead. I have done it many times =).
 
[quote author="cameray"]
[quote author="graphrix"]

It's Korean rice wine. Much like Sake. But... for some reason it will knock you on your a$$ if you are not careful. [/quote]

Oh...thanks. Are they similar in taste?[/quote]

Very similar. For me, Soju is lighter in flavor and less oily (I know weird term, but Sake leaves an oily character on my tongue) compared to Sake.

You should go to Zions and pick up some Kalbi, kim chi and Soju to have your own Korean BBQ night. Mmm... so good.
 
[quote author="USCTrojanCPA"]Awesome, thanks for the heads up CK. I'll have to check this place out.[/quote]

Thanks CK! I'll definitely check it on my next visit. For some reason, I've had the impression that all Korean restaurtants are pretty weak in Irvine.
 
[quote author="Panda "]
[quote author="USCTrojanCPA"]Awesome, thanks for the heads up CK. I'll have to check this place out.[/quote]

Thanks CK! I'll definitely check out the place on my next visit. For some reason, I've had the impression that all Korean restaurants are pretty weak in Irvine. Please keep me away from soju.... I start to act very very weird when i drink that stuff.[/quote]
 
[quote author="graphrix"]

You should go to Zions and pick up some Kalbi, kim chi and Soju to have your own Korean BBQ night. Mmm... so good.[/quote]

You just described our activities like every other weekend....
 
[quote author="Panda "]
[quote author="USCTrojanCPA"]Awesome, thanks for the heads up CK. I'll have to check this place out.[/quote]

Thanks CK! I'll definitely check it on my next visit. For some reason, I've had the impression that all Korean restaurtants are pretty weak in Irvine.[/quote]
Wow Panda, congrats on becoming a moderator. Guess I'll have to be nice to you now so I don't get banned. <!-- s:p -->:p<!-- s:p --> <!-- s:p -->:p<!-- s:p --> :-X
 
[quote author="graphrix"]
[quote author="cameray"]

Oh...thanks. Are they similar in taste?[/quote]

Very similar. For me, Soju is lighter in flavor and less oily (I know weird term, but Sake leaves an oily character on my tongue) compared to Sake.

You should go to Zions and pick up some Kalbi, kim chi and Soju to have your own Korean BBQ night. Mmm... so good.[/quote]

Thanks...I'll check that out!!
 
[quote author="ck"]Went to this K BBQ place in Walnut Village (by Taiko) on Christmas Eve with friends...what a great time and great food. An insane amount of food for the price --- we had 7 people (three six year olds though) and one of their combo packages was plenty for us. I forget what # combo we had, but it was $118 and came with a bottle of Soju (most of the combo's do). Not bad price --- especially considering my wife and I can easily hit close to $120 with just the two of us at a place like Honda-Ya. I believe they also have all you can eat on weeknights and non-holidays.

We were very impressed with the quality of the meat here, and also impressed with the service on a very, very busy night. I read on Yelp, however, that you get much better service and faster seating with groups of 7+. We'll definitely go back. Oh, they also give you a complementary frozen yogurt (which was actually very good) after the meal....so you don't need to walk down to Yogurtland and spend more money.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/shik-do-rak-irvine





[/quote]

1. Thanks for the head's up on this. We will need to check it out. We are always looking for something good, new (to us), and different (not Japanese, bistro, or pizza).

2. What do you order at Honda Ya that brings your bill to $120?!? I know we have bigger appetites than you and our worst bill ever was around $80, and that's because we ordered a bottle of wine. We usually get out of there for $40.
 
[quote author="evalseraphim"]
2. What do you order at Honda Ya that brings your bill to $120?!? I know we have bigger appetites than you and our worst bill ever was around $80, and that's because we ordered a bottle of wine. We usually get out of there for $40.[/quote]

Uh, the sake samplers can add up. Does that count as part of the meal? <!-- s;) -->;)<!-- s;) -->
 
So we checked this out last night (curse CK for this thread) and it was pretty good.

This isn't really Korean BBQ but more like Korean Grill as their menu stated "Home of Duk Bo Sam" (or dduk bo ssam... which I think is the correct spelling). Using Google-Fu, that refers to the rice paper that you used to wrap the various meat (usually the Black Angus Deckle) and the vegetables that go along with it. This was different as I've never really had DukBoSam so it was enjoyable.

There is an issue with waiting for a seat because most of the tables are designed for 6 or more people so if it's crowded, they usually seat the higher count parties first. I didn't expect it to be crowded on a Wed night but we had to wait about 30 minutes to get seated.

Once there, you can order a variety of "combos" from their menu. They have All You Can Eat on weekdays (defined as Mon-Thu) for $16.99 per person and most of the combos are for 2 or more people and start at about $36 per combo. The combos basically are what types of meat and for how many people (and may have some different add-ons like soup and soju).

Since the lowest priced combo was basically $18 each, we opted for the All You Can Eat since we wanted to try the different meats. Unfortunately, short ribs were not one of the meats you can get.

The main meat that most people get here is the Black Angus Deckle, it's basically a thinly sliced square of beef that is given to you as small frozen rolls. If you've ever had Mongolian BBQ, that is what these things look like. Along with the meat, they serve you an array of sides which is KimChee, assorted pickled veggies, lettuce mix, rice paper and this pickled radish that looks like mini tortillas. It was the first time I've tasted those radish things and they were really good when you wrap them around the meat.

The grill is basically a round pan that's slightly coned towards the middle where the grease flows out. This is why I say it's more like a grill than a BBQ because you don't cook over an open flame but more like pan fry your food. The thin meat cooks really fast and you're pretty much eating minutes after you put the food on the grill.

Throughout your meal, your sides are refilled by a server with a rolling cart and you can also get soup and rice. If you've never experienced this kind of dining before, you should try it at least once and the way it is set up, it's usually good to go with a group of 6 people.

We had our kids with us but we brought fast food for them except one kid wanted to eat rice so they charged us the "kid" price which was $10. We didn't really mind considering they let us bring outside food into their place (not something I recommend for restaurants that we've never been to before... heh).

Next time, we would probably order either a combo or just the a la carte meats because the servings we saw at other tables were well into the All You Can Eat range. And the AYCE doesn't come with onions which was a bummer for me as I like my steak with onions. We only tried 3 things, the deckle, the bulgogi (marinated steak) and the chicken. The chicken was probably our least favorite and we wouldn't order it again.

And yes, you get free yogurt but only when you leave. There is a sign specifically stating not to bring the yogurt back to your table because they want you out of there... so funny.

Thanks CK for the recommendation!
 
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT KOREAN, NOR AM I AN EXPERT IN KOREAN CUISINE.

IMO the best quality K-BBQ restaurants are non-AYCE and found in LA K-Town. Garden Grove & Buena Park area comes in second, but are more affordable. When I take guests to K-BBQ, I take them to Go Goo Ryeo in Garden Grove:
http://gogooryeo.com

For AYCE I take friends to Cham Sut Gol:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cham-sut-gol-korean-bbq-garden-grove

Shin Do Rak's quality is probably comparable to Lighthouse in GG. Not the best but very acceptable and reasonably priced.

For non-BBQ Korean restaurant, try Ye-Dang in La Habra:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/ye-dang-korean-restaurant-la-habra

Their flavor is closer to what restaurants in Seoul serves today, slightly sweet.
 
ive been to the location in Garden Grove, it was ok, not great, not bad, about $75 for three people. For very tasty k bbq i would recommend Park's Place in Ktown in LA (3rd street & Vermont, on Vermont). They do cook it there over an open grill.
 
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