Buga Korean B.B.Q. Restaurant

Member Reviews

• Foodie247, from Los Angeles/ San Diego
  4/9/09

  I recently moved from Los Angeles, where there are a number of note-worthy Korean restaurants and I have been having a difficult time finding a good Korean restaurant here in San Diego...Until I found Buga! Wierd name yes, but I found out it actually means a grand table of food, which is very true for this restaurant!
  
  The restuarant is simple and nothing too amazing to look at, but the seats are comfortable, the grill is clean and smokeless (so you don't want out smelling like galbi and kimchi for the rest of the night), the beef is all-natural (no hormones, healthy coleman beef from colorado), and the service is wonderful. The manager at the front was very nice, sat us promptly, and out waitress was also very helpful and explained things well to my friends who were not very experienced with Korean food.
  
  The service was quick! Our table was soon filled with all the Korean side dishes you could think of (these are my favorites) and the flavors were right on (thank goodness). We ordered galbi, nengmyun, deng jang cheage, and kimchi chigae and everything was simply...the best. simple and done right.
  
  I live about 30 minutes from Buga but I go there atleast once a week...Korean food cravings, what can I say. And everyone I bring there has loved it. Their BBQ dishes are right on, and their traditional Korean soups and hot-pot dishes are amazing as well. Try their dol-sot bi bim bap if you're feeling adventurous, it's to die for. Make sure to go early on weekends or make reservations, make friends with the manager, and check out their lunch deals.
  
  Mmmmmmm SO GOOD!

  Ratings details: Food: 5 | Atmosphere: 4 | Service: 5 | Value: 4
• SDNYC, from San Diego, NYC
  2/4/08

  I would not recommend, in fact I would recommend going anywhere but here.
  
  Food: Below Average
  Service: Horrific
  Price: Way Over priced
  Atmosphere: Bad Vibe
  
  I heard great things about Buga and was excited to experience it first hand. I went with my brother and my girlfriend who is from a Korean Family. I can’t understand the positive reviews on this place; my experience was anything but positive. We showed up for our 9:00 Friday Night reservation. My first reaction was that it looked like a mix between a high school cafeteria decorated for some kind of international food fair and Denny’s. But, I’m there for the food so I got over that real quick. We were greeted by the host who explained to us that they stop serving at 9:30 and they close at 10:00; I was a little surprised that this was the first thing they said. Despite this comment, it was only 9:00 so we would have plenty of time to relax and enjoy our meal. Not the case. We ordered appetizers, soups and salads and we got it all at once with the main meal and even the desert ginger tea - yup all at once – very strange. The server cooked as much of our food as possible all at once, (they did all the cooking) She then loaded our plates faster than we could eat it. I was still on my salad and she just dropped a handful of beef right on top of the salad -ridiculous. The management came over to our table a number of times before 9:30 to let us know they stop serving at 9:30 and then stood over us from 9:30 -10:00 telling us they are getting ready to close and we need to finish up. I asked if the pork was ready to eat, they told me no if will take a few more minutes and we could take it with us- Shocking. The entire experience was a very odd rush, the food was sub par, and it was way too expensive for what you get. I will not go any further into the food because its’ just not worth the time, I will just say if you go to this place you are getting charged top dollar for frozen Steakums and a bad attitude. I will look for another spot and you should do the same.

  Ratings details: Food: 1 | Atmosphere: 1 | Service: 1 | Value: 1