HUNGRY-COW K BBQ

3dogs1monkey

6 months ago · ★ 2

I always tell my kids "if it works, don't fix it" at the same time "be adventurous to try new things". It may not work with eating out, find new restaurants to try, but sometimes it's good to stick with some restaurants we're already happy with, especially locally. My daughter came back to visit from NY, she's craving for Korean BBQ, we normally go to Real Korean restaurants to have Korean food, sometimes we want to try many dishes with one price AYCE. GEN in Fremont was our favorite, we went there many times. Since we experienced hot pot like Shabuya, we don't go to BBQ any more. Since my daughter like to try new things, we found this one on Yelp with 4.5 stars, so we thought it's better than GEN because the price is higher $44 compares to $31. We're totally disappointed, not sure how all these high scores are on here. One thing I don't like to go where there are 2 prices $44 and $55, if we chose $44, we're second rate customers LOL and it shows with the quality of the meats. 1. 4 of us can only order 5 plates of little meats each. 2. We have to wait until the plates get to us before we can use the digital touch screen at our table. 3. Each time it took a long time for the orders to get to us, we told the server and he said it was busy. I was joking if you only give me 90 minutes to eat and each order took 5 minutes we may not have time to finish our meal. After that the orders seemed to come faster. 4. We like briskets and they're don't look like brisket, extremely tough and not much fat. The bulgogi cuts with chunks of beef like leftover pieces of meat cuts from a big one, the marinate is worse than I made at home. More chewy than less flavorful than Costco bulgogi. The BBQ ribs with all the fats and also tough. The meats are so tough that our kids have to order beef belly and pork belly with all the fat so they can't be tough. My chicken wings appetizers are crispy but so salty and the shrimp tempura are tasteless. I ordered the beef broth soup, one spoon and I returned it, salt and water with a little flavor of Pho. My son only ate kimchi fried rice and pot belly, some bulgogi that we ordered the first time. Ah, we got some ice cream for dessert, that's a plus. $200 for 4, I told my kids that we should go to "REAL" Korean restaurant to get quality Galbi and Bulgogi still wouldn't cost this much for 4. So, I'm not sure what's the different with the $55 premium, but poor people like us, definitely don't get the good stuffs. We all voted for 2 stars, my daughter said in NY, it cost $45 but the quality is so much better and services too.

Olivia Dunham

a month ago · ★ 3

We came for the sizzle 🔥 but left smelling like we marinated in it 😩 Still giving it 3 stars because the vibe and service were solid! Pros 👍 • 🔥 Super cool mist + fire atmosphere that feels fun and modern • 🤖 Robot food delivery = automatic entertainment • 📱 Super easy iPad ordering • 👏 Sweet & attentive customer service (big reason for the 3 stars!) • 🅿️ Easy parking • 💰 Decent prices + dessert included Cons 👎 • 🥩 Meat was noticeably chewy • 😶 Everything tasted pretty bland — even the banchan! • 🥫 Sauces were nothing special • 💨 Very smoky with poor ventilation we smelled like BBQ for hours afterward 👃 (not a fan) • 🥤 Drinks are extra (bummer) Cute concept and nice staff, but the food needs more flavor/tenderness and the smoke situation needs fixing. Good for a casual try if you’re in Fremont!

Carlos Mangrobang

6 months ago · ★ 5

First time eating here and it won't be our last. There's a 90 min time limit on the all you can eat menu. We chose the Signature option for our luncheon meal. It was more than enough for how much food we could eat. The usual vegetable Banchan and white rice were there to complete our Korean meal. The hero of our food was a seemingly endless meat options. We tried everything from beef short ribs, belly and fingerlings. Pork belly, lamb, brisket, spicy pork, octopus, and tempura shrimp didn't disappoint. Everything tasted good especially with the triple sauce that was given with the meal. We also opted for the lettuce and rice paper to bring depth and texture to our meats. Sure we had to cook our own meats but the staff made sure our grill was always clean and are operating at optimum levels. In the end, we also had fruit and ice cream, also included with our meal. I highly recommend this place.

Peg Su

3 months ago · ★ 5

Juicy meats, uplifting music, gorgeous decor, and friendly service. Kate, our server, went above and beyond to make us feel comfortable on our first time here. Our favorites were the Garlic Pork Belly, LA Galbi, and Chicken Bulgolgi. We loved the little salads and ice cream bars, too. Kate's friendliness really made my friend's birthday dinner special!

Isabel Lacerona

3 weeks ago · ★ 1

My family and I used to love coming to Hungry Cow K-BBQ. When they first opened, everything was easily 5 stars, the food quality was great, the service was excellent, and it became one of our go-to places to bring friends and family. I understand that prices have increased over the years due to inflation, and I don’t fault the restaurant for that. However, the quality of the food no longer matches the price you’re paying. The biggest disappointment is the meat quality. The first order of brisket is usually decent, with a good balance of meat and fat. But if you order more, the quality noticeably drops. The second serving often comes out paper-thin, chewy, and with little to no marbling or fat, making it much less enjoyable. The banchan has also declined significantly. The fish cake lacked flavor, the kimchi was just okay, the broccoli salad was watery, and the mashed potatoes were dry. Even the lettuce seemed old and not fresh, the crisp, refreshing lettuce that you normally expect at a KBBQ restaurant was missing. It’s disappointing because we remember how good this place used to be. We were happy to support the price increases if the quality remained consistent, but unfortunately that hasn’t been our experience. We left feeling unsatisfied and disappointed, especially knowing how much better this restaurant once was. At its current price point, we don’t feel the quality justifies the cost anymore.