With Koba I believe my search for great Korean food in London ends. I have been everywhere from Mile End to New Malden and the best I have found is O.K. With Koba, the overall O.K.-ness of London Korean food continued unabated. The first impressions will likely be positive. The space is quite nice compared to other Korean restaurants in London. From the bar to the bathroom, everything is mimimal, tasteful, and clean. The back dining space is a bit symmetrical and oppressive but that's not uncommon for London (particularly in places relegated to underground). Still, it is pleasant dining here thanks to the attention to interior detail. The food is fine. Not bad, not great, just fine. We tried some LA Kalbi and bugolgi - both were marinated nicely, the texture was good but the taste was nothing very special. Same went for the mandu. I think overall it would warrant a 3.5 but... 18 POUNDS FOR JINRO FRESH SOJU. Okay so this same soju is usually not more than 2,500 won in South Korea. After markup and import it's like 6 dollars in the States. Often times restaurants will charge like 12 USD. But 18 pounds? GET OUT OF HERE. read more

Food was delicious and service was good! Highly recommend. They were very busy so I recommend making a reservation. read more

Been going to Koba for a few good years now and never disappoints. Pricier than most Korean restaurants but quality of the food is very good! From the minute you stand in front of their door, you can already smell the BBQ which just gravitates you to step in and go inside. Like a typical Korean BBQ restaurant, the tables have grills in the middle so you can cook the food in front you. We ordered the following for two people: - Marinade BBQ selection - Lettuce and spring roll - Assorted Kimchi side salad (kimchi, cucumber, radish) - Assorted Namool side salad (bean sprout, spinach, radish) - Bowl of rice (shared) There was a lot of food, and plenty for two people. They can either cook the food for you or you can cook it yourself, and I opted to cook the food myself. Also want to add that the staff were very attentive. The marinades were very tasty and just the right amount of spiciness. A dipping sauce of sesame oil and soya sauce was also given along with a small bowl of soybean paste. I love coming here as the whole meal is just interactive and the grilling is always a great talking point! Don't dress to impress here as all your clothes and hair will smell like the wonderful grill! read more

Koba - Menu (Sept 2017) - Korean Near Me - London, XGL

I think Koba is very good - coming from Los Angeles we have Ktown.. so I am used to some of the best BBQ. When I moved from LA to London 5 years ago, and I googled "Korean BBQ" and we hardly have any. Now, we have added quite a few since then. Comparing to LA, I think there is room for improvement - Banchan is not automatically included, or rice or soup etc. Ultimately that's really the full Korean experience, and it's disappointing. If I purely think about quality for London, I think it's good. read more

Had a great time at Koba. We only focused on Korean BBQ and selected our own cuts (no combo platters). The meats were all tender and very flavorful. They offered to grilld the meat for us but we declined as we are familiar with Korean BBQ places in New York. We also had cocktails (since they did not have flavored Soju) and they were consistently good. Minus 1 star because they took too long to bring desserts out and they gave them to the wrong table (who started eating them, even though they had not order them. Solid spot. read more

I've been to this place a few times now. Please note I've never ordered the Korean BBQ. Also, this review is going to be of my most recent visit to the restaurant which was NOT pleasant. So during my lunch break, 2 of my classmates and I decided to go to Koba for lunch. We were happy because we had about 2 hours for lunch and wanted to get something hot because it was so cold outside. We were seated right away. After that everything went south. We sat at our table for what seemed like ages and since we were placed in the far far corner and there was a huge group at the table next to us the service staff forgot about us. I had to wave my arms around to finally get someone's attention. After ordering our food, I ordered the korean tofu soup, we sat around for 30 minutes. People who were seated after us began getting food before us. I was so confused, we didn't even get our drinks. That made me furious...I don't understand why in the UK no one seems to care about customer service. What is that? Anyway after waiting another 5-10 minutes I got up and went to find the manager. It was ridiculous being in the restaurant for almost an hour with no food or drinks. After that we waited a bit longer and finally got our drinks. They were only okay. Then our food finally came out but we never got our baanchan (side dishes of kimchee etc.) That made me even more angry (you don't want me to be angry and hungry!). I flagged down the people and they came back and finally returned with some side dishes. The only plus from this meal was since I had complained, we were able to get a free dessert which was ice cream. Free ice cream...totally makes the asian in me a little happier. All in all this was a horrible experience and I doubt I'll be going back anytime soon. read more

Koba - Kimchi tofu soup - Korean Near Me - London, XGL

I just finished watching S1E2 of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown about LA's KoreaTown and I'm finally starting to understand why my Facebook newsfeed showered him with praise. He understood that food is a gateway into the soul of not just individual chefs and families, but entire cultures and stories. In this episode - he captured the feeling of Korean-Americans moving to the United States. Those hoping to "lateral" into American society discovered that only technical skills and knowledge as mechanics and doctors to be valued in America. Anthony discussed the Rodney King riots and how formative it was for this entire society - 25% of stores left over, 3 days of fighting, seeing everything that you've been taught about the institutions around you crumble. The narrative thread keeping this episode together - Sizzlers, Korean street tacos, soon dubu, Filipino desserts - provided a small window into the larger narrative thread of immigration to the US. I saw in these LA based Korean Americans an incredible number of parallels with my own parents in the suburbs of ATL. And throughout this whole thing, I just wanted to eat a bit of Soon Dubu. Koba is the last Korean restaurant I ate at - for the Western world, Korean BBQ is the doorway into Korean cuisine - and at Koba, it's worth a try. read more

I came to Koba for a friend's birthday. Our party of 14 took up nearly a quarter of the restaurant. It is a fairly light, spacious restaurant with space for about 80 people in all. The staff were helpful and gracious. We ordered a mixed meat barbecue selection with was wonderful; the waiters set up our hot plates and set the meats going. They were similarly helpful with our stews and bibimbab. I love Korean food which I find perfect as a pick me up when I am feeling a little bit poorly. It is an ideal place for groups; 4-6 is ideal to get a good range of the dishes. It is not very cheap, about 20 pounds per people, but the more people you have the cheaper it becomes which suits. There is also a decent wine and beer wine selection. Koba is a great place that is perfect for mid-sized groups. read more

Koba - Korean Near Me - London, XGL

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This has always been my go-to restaurant foe Korean BBQ. Yes the food is pricey, but I always believe in quality over quantity. I have tried a few other Korean restaurants in London and none of their BBQ meets the standard. Of course you cannot compare the price tag to K town as we are talking about London here. The restaurant has a luxurious interior design. This will already have lift3d your expectation to Korean food, which are normally associated with the casual, street ambience. The restaurant has a proper grill for Korean BBQ, not a cheap portable gas cooker that I have experienced elsewhere. And trust me，it makes a big dicredence to the taste. all the other dishes are cooked with best effort too. Take the glass noodles （japchae） for example. Most Korean places that I have been to serves real greasy dish. In koba it tasted like it was oil free. My favourite BBQ has to be the kalbi （marinated beef ribs） read more

Koba - Japchae - Korean Near Me - London, XGL

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Like most Korean restaurants in London the impression Koba gave me was just 'OK'. Decor & Ambience: 4 Service: 4 BBQ: 3.5 Other dishes: 3 The restaurant is very modern and chic, nice soft lighting, relatively clean furnitures. Big tables with built in bbq stoves in the center, looks promising! The servers were all very friendly, took our orders promptly and helped us prepare the meat. It took a bit to get flag them down for bills but I'm quite happy with the service in general. We ordered: - kimchi jigae: The flavour was ok (could be more spicy) but it was not hot enough! Very important for this stew to be piping hot. - seafood pancake: average - bulgogi: although the texture was nice, the meat wasn't marinated enough. The cabbage leaves for wrapping also costed extra, but that seems to be the norm here. - spicy pork bulgogi: nice favour and texture, probably my favourite dish - ice cream combo: really plain tasting ice cream balls, would not recommend. I didn't like the black sesame (which was the most unusual flavour out of the 4). read more

Koba - Korean Near Me - London, XGL

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My friend and I started with the fried chicken, which was really nice (and boneless, which we weren't expecting). We then had some bulgogi and prawn for the BBQ. Bulgogi didn't seem particularly marinated and the prawns were fine. I was also looking forward to doing the cooking myself, but the staff cook it at the table for you. Food was decent enough, but it was definitely over priced read more

I spied this little gem when while having a few pints at the pub across the street and I'm so happy I teetered over after hunger had overtaken my thirst. I've not found much in the way of Korean BBQ here in London and coming from a city that has what has to be the largest Korean population outside of Korea itself (and thus 5 square mile area of Korean BBQ to choose from), I was struck with how delicious and authentic tasting my meal was. I'll admit I'm a bit spoiled with Los Angeles Korean joints, who kindly throw heaping plates of panchan at you before you've even sat down for your meal. (Panchan are little appetizers that usually come with the meal at no additional charge and may include things like fish pancakes, a couple types of kim chi miso soup, green salad, unidentifiable fishy items and oddly, potato salad). Sadly, like the other Korean places I've experienced in London, Koba doesn't do this. I had to pay for my kim chi!!!! This seems unprecedented to me...However, the plate came with three types of pickled lovliess, the bulgogi was tender and succulent, the kim chi fried rice was fantastic and our bowl of bi bim bap was heavenly comfort. 5 stars. I'll definitely be back. read more

Things started by looking good, nice bar area with grills on top and the menu looked like solid Korean. The first warning signs came when we were told that you have to purchase all the side dishes as well as the dips for the BBQ meat. Let me explain what Korean BBQ is, in the 100's of places I've ate it around the world. You order a number of different types of meat and then grill them yourselves, while eating side dishes (usually between 6-10) of kimchi, beansprouts, tofu, veggies, etc. (every restaurant usually has it's own specialities). It also comes with a small bowl of rice and either miso or seaweed soup. Not in Koba - each side dish costs AND so do dips for the meat. I don't want to hear "this is how it's done in the UK" because that's a crock and an excuse to milk a few extra quid, this is how Korean BBQ is. So to the food. Starters were ok (jellyfish and shrimp salad was very good - while mixed Joen was a bit dull). We then ordered mixed kimchi and £7 plate of kimchi came out ... to be fair, it tasted excellent but it wasn't enough, the lettuce cost even more as did some dips for the meat (bewildering). The real insult was the meat - we chose 1 order of kalbi (about £9), 1 order of Ox tongue (£9) and one order of chicken (£8). what arrived was about 1.5 oz of tongue, under 2oz of kalbi (it wasn't even cut thick enough to be proper kalbi) and ;less than one thigh of chicken meat. I'd estimate the chicken meat cost them 25p and they're selling it at £8. As the meal didn't come with rice, we had a bimbimbap also, which when arrived was about 1/2 the portion of anywhere we've had it before. This meal is an insult to Korean BBQ. It wasn't expensive cuts of meat (I've ate and paid those prices) it was basic wholesalers meat. We complained to the manager about the size of the meat and he actually agreed with us, told us most Korean people when they visited complained and that when he wants Korean food he goes to New Malden. He was apologetic but refused to do anything about the bill, which wasn't really the point but I feel he's used to people complaining enough. This is a rip. We paid £80 between us (incl. 2 beers) and ended up with very little food. The owners are banking on tourists and those who don't know better about Korean food. I'd urge you to avoid this at all costs and either take a trip out to where Korean people eat or try and make it at home, it's not haute cuisine. AVOID!!! read more

Decent enough Korean in nice digs in Fitzrovia. Their menu has enough options to cover three of the four classic Korean restaurant themes: 1. Jeon (savory pancakes) 2. BBQ 3. Hot stone rice bowl (they do have some of theme no.4 - stews, but not enough to shout about) With decent decor and service, and good options this makes it a good choice if you're in Central London on a date or with a group of 4 to 8. There will be something for everyone and of course with BBQ you'll get to cook some of your own meat. Highlights from our meal there this week were the cola-soaked rib meat bbq, the seafood jeon and the kimchi. But here's where it falls down to 3 stars... portions are small, costs are quite high and all the usual little things like kimchi and beans are not free with your bbq but have to be ordered extra. Sad faces. Now I spot that others have said 'this is about the best you can expect in London, blah blah blah better in US... YAWN' - well that's rubbish. New Malden is a lot closer to home than NYC and has exceptionally good Korean food at lower prices. So based on other places within the M25 like Jee Cee Neh and You Me... Koba gets 3 stars. read more

I definitely wouldn't come here again. I found that the food was overpriced for the amount that you got, and it wasn't even that nice. After having been to a few Korean food places in London, evverywhere seems to be a bit expensive so I wasn't too surprised when I saw the menu. But I found that the taste of the food wasn't even that good, so I felt quite unhappy to pay the price. Also, beware that they add a service charge to your bill! Mine was about £8 and I was kind of shocked, so beware! You have to pay an expensive service charge on top of their overpriced food. The service there wasn't bad, but wasn't amazing either. I spent a lot of money after having leaving this restaurant and I definitely wasn't satisfied. I will NOT be coming again. read more

Probably the best Korean food I've ever had in London. The same owner of popular Korean fried chicken place On The Bab, this is even better with a focus on Korean barbecue, definitely recommend. read more

Koba - Korean Near Me - London, XGL

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Many of Koba's reviews say that it is exceptional, with some of the best Korean food in London. However, after trying it out with some friends, we had a different food experience. The service is quick and the ambience is fun (good for friends, a bit loud for a date), but the food was a bit of a disappointment. First, there was no banchan!!! WHAT???? I was so looking forward to munching on some pickled cucumbers or kimchi! The appetizers are actually quite good, especially the beef tartare. Even if you don't like tartare, this will be nothing like you've had before. It's chilled to an almost frozen state, and it's sweet! But ask about the pancakes before you order. Our "pancake" turned out to be tempura vegetables. It was a bit different... The BBQ meat was an absolute disappointment - pretty much almost flavorless except for the salt and pepper rib eye. Oh, and you must save room for some dessert. The best are the green tea ice cream with red bean sauce and the black sesame ice cream. Overall, Koba is a mediocre, overpriced Korean restaurant... But perhaps I'm biased since I'm from the US and we get divine Korean food there for a relatively cheap price ($20-30, not 45 pounds per person thoug that's including. 20 pound bottle of wine shared amongst 3 people...). read more

We hadn't been out for Korean in a while, so I was looking forward to this visit. I learnt that Koba stands for Korean Barbecue, which is their speciality. We built a dinner around a few barbecue choices and side dishes. We ordered some drinks to start. We got the Bek Se Ju, a wine which we shared in shot glasses. The custom is that you don't pour your own drink, so my wife would top up mine and I would top up hers. It had a clean, floral flavour and I was drinking it throughout the meal. I also had a Hite beer which I was craving at the end of a busy day at work. To start, we had the kimchi pancake. It was thicker than we expected and had a nice crispy outside. There were generous morsels of seafood. The spiciness of the kimchi was present, but not as strong as I had hoped. On it's own, this is great comfort food - I reckon I could eat three of these in one sitting. For the main part of the meal, we had three servings of barbecue: beef rib, Korean beef (bulgogi) and thinly sliced pork belly. The server cooked these for us, in that order, on the hot plate on front of us. Each was good, I enjoyed the beef rib the most. You could pick up a piece with your chopsticks and bathe it in the dipping sauce before enjoying it. We also ordered some kimchi rice to eat with the barbecue courses. We rounded off the meal with desserts. These seemed more Japanese style to me: chestnut cake, red bean, green tea and black sesame ice creams. They were nice flavours, but it was not too special. Total cost was around £80. That is pretty expensive, but I think the drinks pushed up the price. I liked the setting of where we were seated: at the bar, by the entrance. It looks like a quality place and I would be happy to return. read more

I was telling my coworker how much I missed korean food, and when her hubby came into town, we decided to all go in and enjoy some. The food had a very good selection of different meats, which were bbqd. Be stone was the spicy pork, chicken. We ordered the kimchi pancake, which was soooo good albeit small. I missed my tofu soup and ordered that as well. Tough it's not everyone else's fave, I really enjoyed it. We also washed it down with shoju, which was surprisingly tasty as well. We ended our meal with a rice drink to cleanse our palate and end the night which was icing on the cake for me. I cannot wait to go back!! read more

This a sleek Korean place near Charlotte Street, but it can be pretty dark. It serves a range of Korean food including the popular BBQ. We started with both kimchi jeon and the parjeon. Follow by the beef japchae which I thought the taste was not as good compared to other Korean restaurant in London. The Korean fried chicken was okay but preferred other places in both texture and taste. There is a variety of BBQ meat and seafood, including platter. I find this is great when you don't know what to select or you are in a large group. We ordered the meat platter which include beef, chicken and belly pork. Prices was okay depending what you order and how much you eat. But it can get pricey especially just having BBQ which is not nesscearily filling. Koba is nice with the sleek deco but would prefer more lighting. The food was okay but feel some dishes other places does better. read more

3.5 I haven't tried many Korean restaurants in London, but of those I have tried, Koba ranks in the top. Koba's menu can be described as a little bit of everything Korean. Generally, my understanding is that Korean restaurants (perhaps outside of the UK) specialize, i.e. if the restaurant does BBQ, then it only does BBQ, it doesn't sell Pajeon as well. Still, I think it's nice that you can get a little taste of different Korean dishes in one place. Some of the options on the menu also reflect this "generalization' trend. I ordered a meal that offered a bit of bbq, bibimbap, pot stickers, miso, and salad. Everything was cooked to good standards, but nothing particularly outstanding. The service, however, was outstanding - 5 stars. We ordered an appetizer, and ate nearly all of it, but the last piece had a hair on it. Of course, we pointed this out to the wait staff. They were so mortified that they made an entirely new portion of the appetizer for us, and refused to charge us for it (we essentially got two portions for free!!). In addition, they offered us free dessert, coffee, and tea at the end of dinner, and refused...REFUSED to accept any service tips. We tried to tip, but they absolutely insisted that we did not leave anything. I was extremely impressed by how polite everyone was. I will definitely be coming back here when I fancy some Korean BBQ. read more

I love korean BBQ and I was disapointed by this one. The main reason was the really expensive price regarding the quantity of food you get. We had a mixed BBQ with different types of meat (beef, pork, chicken and duck). I was suprised that when you order a BBQ you just get the meat, and you have to order the sides (rice, vegetables) as a supplement. So in the end, the meat alone is expensive and you have to pay again for the sides. I thought the quantity of meat was just ok for 3 people, but it was good, as for the sides. The waiters were nice and attentive, but I didn't like that instead of bringing all the meat on the table and let us deal with it as we like, they brought each kind of meat separately and put it all on the BBQ. I think it spoils the pleasure of a korean BBQ which is to cook your food yourself, at your own pace! In the end, I didn't enjoy this place only because it is not what I'm used to. In the BBQ I've been to in France, there are menus with sides and often starter and/or desert included. I know that restaurants are expensive in London, but this one definitely didn't worth the £30/person we paid (for a BBQ without starters or desert). read more

Pretty good selection of BBQ and non-BBQ food. We opted not to cook our food today and went for the spicy chicken noodles and the spicy chicken bibimbap. Both had a good amount of spicyness and flavour. We also had the beef & mustard pancake starters and the kimchee side. The kimchee was really nice, and the mustard to meat ratio was good. All in all a pretty good place. I'll probably try a few more Korean places before coming back. I did note that most of the people in there were Korean, which is always a good sign! read more

Koba in Fitzrovia offers some great value and tasty lunch sets. For under £12 I opted for the BBQ beef set lunch consisting of soup, dumplings, kimchi, omelette, beansprouts, a side salad, small bimbimbap and BBQ beef cooked at the table by the server. So much food for lunch! read more

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One of my favourite Korean restaurants in London! The decor is nice, the atmosphere is smooth and slightly romantic. And the food.... some of the best quality Korean BBQ I have had in London! The bulgogi is absolutely fabulous, and the miso-paste that comes with the lettuce leaves to wrap it in is incredibly addictive. Price-wise, its slightly more expensive than most standard Korean restaurants in London, but I think the extra you pay is definitely justified at Koba! The London Insider http://www.london-insider.co.uk/ read more

I really enjoyed Koba last time I was here. In fact, it's about the closest I've come to finding a replacement for my favourite Korean restaurant back home in America. The dolsot bibimbap and the seafood pancakes in particular were great! And on a lunch deal, it's very very afforable. read more

I have just been there yesterday for the first time! At first glance the place and the menu looks a little gimmicky. I had my doubts before the food arrived. However, my attitude changes once the meal was served. There were 5 of us, we had 6 starters and 6 BBQ meat with rice. Each of us had 2 bottles of beer and the bill came up to about 27 per person. It was really reasonable and the service was great! The BBQ meat were well marinated, served raw and the waitress cooked it on a hot plate placed in the centre of the dining table. All was quite entertaining and enjoyable. One advise from me: do not wear white shirt / blouse if you are having bbq meat. The hot plate spatters gravy and juices from the cooking meat. On the whole, a place worth a try! read more

Koba employs the modern, dark, sombre and minimalist thought in their interior design. Walking in you immediately notice the clean and distinctive lines in their main restaurant. The main restaurant seats approximately 45 people (plus a further 10 at the bar) so its also a rather intimate atmosphere. As it always seems with Korean restaurants when coming to our food selection we were almost overwhelmed by the options on the menu. However, aided by our friendly waiters and waitresses and also by suggestions from the editors of Top Table, we soon came up with what seemed like a fairly balanced meal. We started with Pajun, a Korean pancake with spring onions and seafood, and Samsaek Milssam, wrapped pancakes with meat & vegetables stuffing. Both were extremely delicious and probably just right as a starter. This was then followed by the classic Korean meal of BBQ. We were hungry so we went for the Koba Modeum which was basically a giant platter of meat and seafood. The BBQ was cooked by our waitress though I felt we had a bit of time to manage the BBQ ourselves. We also went for a noodle dish Yaki Myeon (beef noodles) which was very tasty. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Koba with the meal without alcohol (but including service) being about £30. We did have a lot of meat and seafood though so it was reasonable value for money. read more

Terrible service experience. I felt as though our group of 8 was being completely ignored. Considering that the majority of the entree food ordered in our group was raw (which is cooked by ourselves on the grills on the table - that part was the coolest part) it took a good hour to receive our order. Even our appetizer orders took a good half an hour to arrive. When asking for more water rather than serving everyone who was out they only refilled the person who had asked for it. Then when I asked again (when I finally managed to flag down the waitress) for water to be refilled she completely forgot and I had to ask the bus boy for more when he finally came over to the table. By the time the orders started arriving for the grill and everyone was eating, I still hadn't received my order. Due to food restrictions I couldn't partake in sharing the items being grilled and I waited at least another 20 minutes for my food to arrive, at that point everyone was nearly done eating. An hour and 20 minutes for waiting for my food to be served is ridiculous and, had I not been with a group of friends, I would have walked out - and that is something I've never had the notion to do at a restaurant before. When I received my food, that was ordered in a hot stone bowl, the bowl was hot but the food was cold and had no flavor. I will never go here again nor will I recommend it to anyone. I only give it two stars because, while my food was awful, the others exclaimed that they enjoyed their grilled items. read more

As part of my noodle mission, I plumped for jjambong (£6.50). This bowl of mixed seafood soup with udong noodles was an easy choice. Well actually it was the only choice being the only soup noodle dish on the lunch menu. I'm no expert on Korean food so I had no idea how this dish was going to turn out. Nevertheless, I was a little surprised to be served up a bowl of lurid red soup noodles. It reminded me very much of spicy flavour Nissin Ramen ! I knew this soup was going to be spicy and I admit to being a giant wuss because I thought it was too spicy. There was also an aftertaste but I couldn't work out what it was until I discovered that jjambong is a Korean-Chinese dish flavoured with doubianjiang (spicy bean paste). Now I'm sure if I were a homesick Korean then I would have loved this dish. But I'm not and I found these noodles a bit hard work. Notwithstanding the "in your face" spiciness and bean paste aftertaste, I realised that I'm not a big fan of thick udong in soup. I prefer thin noodles in soup and I think thick noodles work better in stir-fries. My griping aside, this was a generously proportioned bowl of noodles with lots of seafood including mussel meat, squid, and baby shrimp supplemented by a single king prawn and a large mussel on the half shell. There was also plenty of udong and veg like carrot, onions, and peppers. I liked the ambience of the restaurant and service was efficient. The special lunch menu is excellent value and my meal cost only £9.30 including tea and service. Whilst I didn't overly enjoy the jjambong, there's plenty of choice at Koba and I'd like to return to sample their Korean BBQ, which looked fantastic. read more

For Photos see Greedy Diva @ http://greedydiva.blogspot.com/2010/03/koba-korean-bbq-in-london.html I have now tried walking into Koba so many times, only to find it full, that I had almost given up on it altogether. I'm still not used to having to plan so far ahead in this city. Get with the programme, GD. Fortunately for me, A Rather Unusual Chinaman, is a man with a plan, and secured us a booking at this fabulous little Korean BBQ restaurant, tucked away near Charlotte Street. The setting is clean and minimalist, detracting nothing from the food. The delicious, BBQ aromas wafting over from nearby tables had me drooling even before we ordered. Not even the fact that ARUC was drinking cocktails from a curly pink straw could distract us from the main event as plate after plate of scrumptious fare came our way. Naturally, we started with some obligatory Goona Mandoo (pan fried dumplings - £5.50) - lovely. Being indecisive about which meats to order for the BBQ, we decided on the Koba Modeum Gooi - a "grand assortment" of meats, prawns and vegetables (£23.90). Our waiter started off the cooking at the hot plate in front of us, although I think we took over as we got into the swing of things. The sirloin was smoky, tender and absolutely lip-smacking. Just as good as the BBQ was the Yookwei Dolsot Bibimbap - steamed rice with raw beef and vegetables in a Korean hot stone pot (£9.20). All this was mixed in together at the table. Loved it. Finally, we had desserts - green tea ice-cream (always a favourite with me) and some weird cakey thing with green stuff in between. I can't remember for the life of me what it was, and it was fine although not really my thing. So, Koba has a new fan. I've tried a few Korean BBQ places around the West End now, but Koba is a new favourite. read more

Ordered a set lunch there: BBQ beef (bulgogi) with a mini bibimbap. Nice ambiance, the bbq beef was good and good quantity but the portion of the mini bibimbap is a little too small. Service was good, modern decor and nice ambiance. read more

Big fans of Asian food but never tried Korean, so after hunting around we found Koba. Walking in you could smell the spiced barbecue and I just knew it was going to be good! The waiter was very friendly and described the dishes in detail and we ordered beef in sweet soy sauce and wraps; mixed barbecue; and rice with chicken. The food was fantastic with the barbecue being cooked at the table was an added delight. We were tempted by the deserts and they were great even though the portions were large and hard to finish off! In summary Koba is a must! I can see it turning into a regular place for us. read more

My boyfriend took me here last year for my birthday and I must say that it was amazing. I totally loved the food and the atmosphere was great! I would recommend this place any time for Korean food lovers :) thank you guys! read more

Koba - Absolutely amazing food! Loved it! - Korean Near Me - London, XGL

It's really nice Korean BBQ. Just compared to real Korea BBQ still little bit different, but in London, it's totally good enough! Love their kimchi! Soooooooo good!! read more

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Just went to Koba for the first time yesterday evening with a group of friends. Definitely the best Korean BBQ I've had in London, and I daresay better than anywhere else I've tried outside of Korea. For a group of five, we ordered two trays of BBQ meatbeef, pork, chicken, octopus, prawnsfor about £30 each. In retrospect, we probably should have ordered three, as they weren't terribly large and all of us left wishing that we'd had a bit more. Everything was very tender and tasty, albeit a bit on the pricey side; the poor Americans in our group almost went into shock after doing the conversion to dollars! With drinks, we spent around £100. The service we received was good. We arrived shortly after Koba opened and were seated immediately despite not having a reservation, and staff were attentive and helpful in explaining which sauces to use etc. Decor was minimalist yet comfortable and inviting. I'll definitely return to Koba again and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good Korean BBQ experience in London. read more

Really nice authentic Korean bbq in London. They cook the raw marinated meat in front of you. Not a lot of korean restaurants in London do that, but I like this is the best way. I have only been here once but will recommend you go here for the Korean barbeque. The other dishes like jap chae, is only okay, you can find better elsewhere. The korean fried chicken is also only just okay. But the dish portions is big and the price is reasonable. The bimbimbap is good too. For drinks, order Ginseng tea of course! read more

I wasn't hugely impressed, probably because I only went for a quick set lunch and they had very few on offer. I went for the BBQ Lunch set, which was very average and didn't offer much for £9.30. A la carte menu seems to offer decent variety and the place has nice ambiance (and well ventilated). I think there are better Korean options in the area. read more

A Korean friend took me here as Koba is one of her favourite Korean restaurants in London. There's nothing groundbreaking here - just authentic Korean food - but it's a shade fresher than at other establishments I've tried, and pleasingly, the interior is sleek, modern and very clean. Of note was one of my fave dishes that I must remember to record the name of (a beef and glass noodle thing) - it was the best I've had yet. Also, the meats for the bbq were exceptionally tender and flavoursome. read more

Bloody good Korean food, in a tucked away location. Good deals at lunchtime costing between seven and eight pounds. Friendly staff who are happy to explain to newbies how to eat and the customs behind Korean food. Initial service can be a little slow, but after that they are attentive and friendly. Delicious. read more