if you want to experience Korea, come here. the quality of the meat is top tier, you won't even care that it's not AYCE. they cook the food for you, the soup is not too spicy but hearty, and the pancake did not make it to my plate (the boys ate it all). will definitely be back again soon!! read more

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서비스가 나쁜건 그럴수도있지만 저런말투에 내가 팁을줘야하나싶다 지적질 당하려고 돈주나 주인은 모르나보다 직원들이 저렇 다는것을.. 음식은 좋았지만 다시는 가고 싶지않다 미친.. read more

Mapo is located in strip mall, so parking can be hard to find during busier hours. We came around 11:30am on a Tuesday, so we got a good parking spot and the restaurant was pretty empty. They do offer lunch specials but we wanted kbbq. They have two separate dining areas, one for kitchen prepared food and the other side for grilling your own meats. Menus are different in each rooms too. It took awhile to place our order since there was only one waitress. She eventually came out and gave us our banchan. She gave us 5 kinds. Everything tasted fresh! I like how they already provided us a plate of sliced jalapeños and garlic with our banchan. I also like how the salt, pepper and sesame oil is self serve on the table. I can get as much as I want! They gave us green lettuce leaves and an onion / cabbage salad to eat with our bbq... these could have been fresher. They also gave us a soy-vinegar dipping sauce that had sliced garlic and marinated jalapeños in it. When we ran low or out on any of the banchan, the waitress would offer us a refill. We ordered.. SPICY MARINATED BEEF INTESTINES (TRIPE) $37.99 -soft and chewy, in a good way. Wasn't too spicy, just a kick and pretty flavorful. It's stir fried with onions, carrots and jalapeños. Similar to the spicy squid stir fry dish. I only wish it came out piping hot. 4/5* SPICY BUCKWHEAT NOODLES $23.99 -came with half boiled egg, sliced radish and cucumber. Super cool, refreshing and the noodles were chewy. The sauce was good, not spicy and perfect amount of sweetness. Towards the end, there was a strong kick of hot mustard. 5/5* BEEF BRISKET $45 -good, nothing special. I like to leave it on the grill so it gets crispy and charred. 3.5/5* MARINATED RIB FINGER $50 -rib fingers were superrrr tender. 5/5* PREMIUM PORK JOWL $40 -pork jowl was soft and tender. 4/5* The waitress came to start the grill for us, then we'd cook along the way. She'd come back and add on more meats or grill a little for us. Overall, service was good and the food was better than expected. When we left around 12:30pm, the regular dining room was pretty packed. I'd come back to try their other dishes. read more

Mapo BBQ - Spicy Buckwheat Noodles - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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4.5 Stars. Authentic Korean BBQ & soups/stews. It would be 5-stars on the quality of food, but expensive/pricey. Larger portions/family style stews, fresh meat, great taste, homemade kimchi & side dishes. Price is reflective of increase of ingredient prices apparently caused by Covid19, tariff wars, global conflicts as the rationale. Serving staff are great, attentive, good atmosphere. Closes at 10PM. Great food... read more

I ordered a soup and I saw the chef handling payment, phone call and touched food without washing hands. I canceled order and walked out.

This is one of my favorite Korean restaurants on El Camino Real. The place is divided into two sections one for regular dine in and another for Korean BBQ. I personally prefer the regular dining area. My go to dish is the spicy squid with a side of bean paste stew. This isn't fusion it's legit, traditional Korean food. The interior is simple and nothing fancy. The staff are pretty friendly, which is a nice surprise. Whenever my son comes home to visit, he always asks to come here for the spicy squid. It's spicy, salty, and just a little sweet really hits the spot. I think price went up! Oh well... read more

We came here for korean BBQ and it was pretty decent. They had 3 combo bbq options - the cheapest at $150 and the most expensive at $220, the main difference between what meats/cuts are included - or you can also order a la carte. It's definitely not the cheapest KBBQ option out there, but they do cook the meat for you. The menu stated the combos also come with salad, side dishes and house stew, and while the side dishes were good, the salad was pretty meh. They also didn't provide the house stew until we asked them for it, which was a bit weird. But all in all, we had a very filling and satisfying meal for 2 people and had plenty of leftovers to take home as well. Meats were good quality and tasty. There's two rooms here - one for non-BBQ and the other for BBQ, so make sure to indicate if you want bbq or not. Staff was polite but not overly attentive nor friendly, also they spoke very limited English. The parking lot was fairly small but we didn't have any issues finding parking. No wait on a Friday night which was nice. read more

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Went here for lunch with my work team... its unfortunate how everything tasted so good but left all of us sick the following days with food poisoning... it was most likely the raw oysters that was in the spicy side salad paired with pork belly.. my co workers and I are no strangers to eating oysters but this time around it got us in a bad way. Throwing up and Diarrhea.. Restaurant was clean and mom and pop vibe. Service was nice and quick but only because I didn't order the food. My Director was ordering for us since he spoke Korean.. We told couple more coworkers about the experience and they told us they got food poisoning here at the restaurant too... I would say just stay away from the seafood and you'll be fine.. read more

Summary: horrible and bad service 그간 5번의 방문을 했었는데, 오늘의 서비스는 정말 최악이었습니다. 제가 직원의 비위를 맞추려고 굳이 음식값과 팁을 지불하는 것이 아닙니다. 음식맛은 나쁘지 않습니다. 서비스가 최악입니다. 가게 들어서자마자 "일행이세요? 일행이시냐구요"라고 소리를 쳐서 아니요라고 대답을 했더니 "아 거기 말구요"라는 말과 함께 따로 테이블 안내도 제대로 못받았습니다. 말투가 너무 퉁명스럽습니다. 할머니께서 순두부를 주문했는데 "순두부 뭐요!" 툭 던지는 말투. 반찬 리필을 요청하니 반찬 그릇을 테이블에 툭 던져놓았습니다. 노룩패스인가요. 이 가게는 인종차별하지 않고 모두에게 불친절한 가게입니다. 여기보다 더 나은 한인 식당 많으니 다른 곳을 가세요. 아니면 포장만 해서 드시는 것을 추천합니다. read more

팀 빌딩 저녁 모임을 위해 이곳에 팀원들을 데려갔는데, 서비스 수준에 매우 실망했고 개인적으로도 부끄러움을 느꼈습니다. 직원들은 친절하지 않았고, 기본 반찬을 추가 주문하는 것에 대해 불편한 기색을 보이기도 했습니다. 또한 직원이 고기를 굽던 집게를 그대로 사용해 가스 조절 손잡이를 만지는 모습을 저희 팀원 앞에서 보게 되어 위생적으로도 그리고 전문성이 부족하다고 느꼈습니다. 좋은 식사 자리를 마련하고자 이곳을 선택한 한국인으로서 매우 실망스러웠습니다. I was very disappointed and embarrassed by the quality of service when I brought my team here for a team-building dinner. The staff was not welcoming and seemed more focused on pushing us to order additional food, even complaining about our consumption of side dishes. It was also concerning to see the server using the same tongs for cooking and then handling the gas controls in front of customers. This felt unprofessional and unhygienic. As a Korean who chose this place hoping to provide my team with a great dining experience, I felt ashamed. Mapo--this is not the level of service customers should expect. I would not recommend this restaurant, especially for business gatherings where service quality matters. read more

My friends and I were craving soup for dinner on a weekend night. This was one of the few places with soondubu that were still open after 8pm, so we decided to go for it after skimming at pictures of their menu online. Going in, I knew it was going to be pricey, but I didn't expect their soondubu to be around $24 (pre tax and tip) as well...so I decided to go for their gamjatang (spicy pork bone + potato soup). I was a bit worried about the quality since I couldn't find many reviews about their soup items. However, I was pleasantly surprised! The broth was flavorful and the meat was tender. I really enjoyed it, and if it weren't for the overall dining experience, I'd probably put this place high on my go to place for Korean soup. They use purple rice here! Now, the meh/could be improved: - They warned us about last call being at 9:30. We said okay, no worries. We had at least 40 minutes to order before kitchen is closed anyway. Pretty sure we can place our orders within that time frame. However, a few minutes passed and no one gave us the menu...they only handed the menus to us after my friend asked for it. Then, they only gave us less than 3 minutes before coming back and asking if we were ready to order yet. And again, very soon after, when we said not yet. It gave me a sense of being rushed. - They asked us to pay the bill at 9:30pm. I gave them my card, but they wanted me to tip and sign (the paper receipt) immediately as well. That was a bit awkward to do considering that I was holding a piece of bone and trying to get to the meat while they stood behind me and waited. I didn't realize that when they said "kitchen close at 9:30" = cashier will also be closing at 9:30, so it took me by surprise. They did let us know we could take our time and continue eating after paying though. - The togo containers (3 soup, 2 rice) cost us $4. They did not warn us there were costs associated with the togo boxes. We even told them we wanted togo boxes when I gave them my card for the bill, but they didn't include that in the receipt. They only told us to give them $4 after they dropped the togo containers off at our table. It sounded a bit abrupt when the lady just said "$4". We were confused about what she meant, and had to confirm if she meant it was $4 for the containers. Good thing my friend had cash... Overall, I guess I was expecting friendlier attitude with the pricing of the menu. We only felt welcome at the very end, when they saw me struggling with transferring the soup from the heavy/hot stone pot to the togo container, so they graciously helped me with the transfer; and when we said thank you and bye. They were definitely happy about getting off work before 10pm, lol. The were two entrances to the restaurant. The right is for if you want bbq grills, left side is smaller with no grills on tab. read more

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Mapo BBQ is split into two distinct sections--one for Korean BBQ and another for homestyle Korean dishes. The menu offers a decent selection, and I do think the flavors lean toward authenticity, which may explain the strong Korean crowd that flocks here, especially in the evenings. That said, the pricing is truly outrageous. A tiny plate of three small fried mackerel runs you $40--which is wild when you can get an entire bag of frozen mackerel for less than half that. Expect to drop at least $150 just to satisfy two people with BBQ, and even then, the portions are on the smaller side. You can find better value, atmosphere, and service elsewhere. Ambience is typical of your average Korean restaurant--nothing memorable. At night, it gets rowdy with large Korean groups taking over tables, drinking heavily, and smoking just outside the entrance. Service is passable but not particularly warm or attentive. Also, their hot tea consistently has an off, moldy aftertaste, which is honestly off-putting. Overall, I'd say the food is fairly traditional, but the prices need serious adjustment to match the experience and setting. read more

$40 for a couple of pieces of grilled mackeral, and $38 for a regular portion of pork bulgogi. Flavor was nothing sprecial but the pricing is comical. Skip this place until they recover their common sense and decency. read more

True authentic Korean restaurant. They are not the kbbq with the grill. The sides (banchan) were really flavorful. We ordered stone pot bibimbap and monk fish stew (a-gu jjim). The bibimbap was one of the best I've had in years with the right amount of veggies and meat. The stone was piping hot. Sizzled for a long time! A-gu jjim: 4 to 5 ppl can eat it. There are a lot of fish, tons of soy bean sprouts in a spicy sauce. Even though it was spicy, the flavor was delicious. Side note-Maybe ask for less spicy if possible. CB Water sea squirt were in there too. I had to ask the waitress what these small circular thing was. It was rubbery with slight sea like saltiness. My mom said those are very healthy, but i didn't like it. We'll be back for sure. read more

Love the beef brisket, beef sirloin, kimchi, pork jowl, seafood &green onion pancake and chicken soup here. However, not a lot of options for non-beef eaters or vegetarians. Service can be hit or miss, depending on how crowded it is. Also, parking is a major problem, since there's a lot of construction and it's located in a small narrow plaza. Menu is on the pricey side, so budget accordingly. read more

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Food: - delicious and quality meat - good portion (we got the combo B for 4 people and were stuffed) - the sides were all really good and loved the green onion salad Service: - friendly and fast, they cook the meat for you which is really nice - even though the restaurant was full and only a few waitresses, they were super attentive Parking here can be a bit tough and they're doing a bunch of construction so mind your step! read more

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Had a yummy dinner here! It was a Sunday dinner, and we just so happened to get there right before the rush. As a note, I'm writing this as of 12/18/22, and while there appears to be construction going on in this plaza, the restaurant is still open. On to the food! First off, there's no all you can eat option. Honestly though, it wasn't a deal breaker because we left full and satisfied. Our group of 4 ordered the "B" combo, which included 3 meats and banchan sides for all of us. The meats were high quality, fresh, and tasty. The sides were great as well. Also noted that this is one of the KBBQ places where the server will grill the food for you. All in all, the meal was yummy and my KBBQ cravings were definitely satisfied. The service was good as well. The only other thing was this meal was a bit pricier than the average KBBQ meal, but it was still an overall enjoyable meal and experience. read more

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We visited on a Friday night and the parking was a bit full bc of construction but there were spots still available. There was lots of seating/tables available. The appetizers were 10/10! Some were sweet and spicy and savory! Overall perfect! (I'm usually picky but I liked all the food!) The pork belly and pork jowl were well marinated, and was delicious and perfect with the lettuce (the textures and flavors are SOO GOOD!) The soup that came with the meat was 10/10! It was well seasoned, and savory perfection! Very soul warming! It had delicious zucchini, tofu, and other veggies! Loved it! The seafood pancake was soo good! Creamy texture and savory perfection! Just what I was craving! The service was attentive and great food, it was a bit loud (which is fine still worth it) and I would recommend coming here! read more

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I loved Korean food and this is the best. Hands down the best seafood bibimbap I've had--fresh ingredients, bold flavors, and absolutely delicious. read more

I was surprised because the food was much more delicious than the food I ate in Korea!

Service - very bad service and i was even buzzed so that's when you know it was bad. this sobered me up real quick. waitress was very rude when we were ordering and the lady grilling the meat never spoke a word to us. is it because we don't speak korean? Food - overpriced food is fine if the service is good but we were so uncomfortable eating there it made the food distasteful Everyone acted so busy and wouldn't even listen to you but there was only 5 parties including us . the waitress had all kinds of rules to order like 2 meat minimum and when i said ok 2 meat she got mad because she wasn't listening and thought i was still ordering 1 meat. Because they forced us to order more than we wanted to they also said take out boxes costed extra money.... we ordered 2 meats and 1 tofu stew and the total was $150. BEWARE before coming , these 1 star reviews are legit I thought it was like a hit or miss place but I understand why these people had 1 star experiences. read more

Excellent service. I went there with a team of 20 people from work and the staff was very attentive cooked large barbecue and couldn't recommend this place anymore. They even gave us a private back area for all of us to sit together read more

Food tastes good but they charged us $10 for one pack of instant noodle... And they never filled our water cups... read more

Mapo BBQ - Gam- Ja-Tang-Joen-Gol (감자탕 전골) with noodle - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Tasty, but pretty expensive and not great vibes. Detailed breakdown below: **Service, 4/5** Pretty friendly staff, but keep in mind they close at 9pm, not 10pm like their website says. **Decor & cleanliness, 2/5** Very plain decor and the restaurant is in a plaza with tons of construction and scaffolding. Don't take a date here. But everything inside was clean. **Price & portion, 2.5/5** They have plates of meat for about $40-50 each, and it isn't AYCE. We ordered a combo platter, intended for 2 people, for 3, and it filled us up. But that ended up being about $60/person and didn't seem much better than other kbbq spots I've been to. **Presentation of the food, 5/5** All the banchan (side dishes) and big platter of meats to grill were stunning! **Taste of the food, 4/5** The meat was cooked for us by a staff member and it was tasty! Tender and not too chewy, although nothing seemed especially premium for the price. **Other notes** BEWARE! Parking here is an absolute nightmare. It's a one-way narrow strip of parking spots, so there's a good chance you'll need to park on the super busy street out front. There's also an "adult" store almost next door, so not the safest vibes. read more

Their Gopchang seriously tastes better than what I had back in Korea... The portion is big. They said it's for one person so we ordered 1 Gopchang and 1 Makchang, but we ended up getting full after finishing half of those&brought leftovers home. Def recommend & will be coming back for gopchang jeongol. btw my dad recommended getting bossam here! read more

Mapo BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Food: I got what I guess is known as soldier soup. It's meant to be a simple dish, so I really enjoyed it. Properly spicy, which I expected and not overly to the point where I go numb. Service: Not great tbh. They listed and told us that they closed at 10pm. We got there at 8:45pm. By 8:55, they were telling us last call was at 9:30pm. We ordered before 9pm, and we were not the only customers there, but they were pushing us to pay and leave before 9:30pm. We had just gotten our food. We decided to save half of our food and asked for to-go boxes. They said ok, asked us to pay our bill so we did. When they came back with the take out containers, they charged us $4 for it. We did not see any signage about having to pay for to-go containers and they did not tell us when we first asked for it. This was something they could've added to our bill too, but they did not. No communication whatsoever and they had already closed the register so we paid with cash. It wasn't a lot, but I think sneaking up on customers with this is pretty rude. We left shortly after 9:30pm and they were closed well before 10pm. If they didn't want to stay open until 10, they should just change their hours. Ambiance: They have 2 rooms. One with BBQ grills and one without. I did like this setup because we were not there to have BBQ and so we didn't have to walk out smelling like it. read more

Mapo BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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I was a bit nervous before coming since the reviews don't seem great but I had a good time here! We did the Korean bbq (they have a whole other side of the restaurant that isn't bbq), the meat quality was good and they did a good job cooking it. The side dishes were also pretty good and the service was not bad at all! It's a bit on the pricier side but overall it was a good experience read more

We've been to this place many times even though it's quite a drive out. We often took our family, staff and friends from out of town here for KBBQ. Last night we spent over $400.00 and initially had fun and ate well. Then when I asked for a small to go container after paying the bill, the lady said it was an additional $1.00. I asked if it was a Santa Clara County policy or their store policy. She responded with "isn't this standard?" I paid the $1.00 and wasn't in a good mood but didn't want to ruin the mood with our guests so I kept quiet. Then, when we were about to leave, the owner came out with the entire staff and apologized saying that the lady was still in training and didn't know better by accepting the $1.00. But she ultimately didn't make matters better. If I were the owner I think I would've offered something small as a token of my apology such as free sodas on my next visit OR SOMETHING. They kept the $1.00 until the end. They lost us as return customers due to $1.00. Pretty pathetic. If you're going to take the time to come out and make excuses why do it without any true resolution? read more

We tried another Korean BBQ but didn't want the hour wait. Lucky we stumbled on MAPO BBQ. The service was attentive and the food really good. read more

Bad food and worse service. If you've been to any decent place in Korea or LA, this place will seriously underwhelm. Got Korean BBQ. All the beef was flavorless. Had to dress it up with salt and sauce. Pork belly was ok To make it worse, server literally gave us attitude for basic requests. *She then came out after and asked us for more tip. * Trust me - there are more worthwhile places. read more

Ok yes the prices here are on the higher side. But their meat is so tasty, you're definitely getting quality. We ordered the Combo A for two people and one kid and although I'm now practically comatose I have no regrets!!! All three meats were good with the rib tips definitely the star. As a kimchee fan I also give their banchan full stars. We also appreciated the friendly and attentive service though it's possible I'm biased bc they said my kid was cute XD Anyhow, the three of us ate until we were shiny faced and very content! We will be back when we feel like treating ourselves :) read more

If you're looking for the traditional Korean barbecue style food, then I recommend this place. It is more of a hang out with friends and drink a little and eat Korean barbecue type of place. The service here was great and they speak English well. The food was great as well. read more

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Pork belly was really good and the side dishes were good too. But for some reason after we ate, we felt little 느끼해. I know it's pork and it's greasy but still I normally don't feel this way after eating at home, but I felt like I needed something spicy to eat, like a spicy broth. read more

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This is a new restaurant with new ownership, taking over what I believe used to be Doni Don BBQ. The restaurant is split into 2 parts - BBQ area and regular. Overall, the food was OK but the staff was extremely friendly, helpful and attentive. Didn't try the BBQ so I can't comment on that but we did have the Pork Bone Hot Pot. At $39.99 it is a little steep but it is definitely a lot of food. Two of us couldn't finish it. Flavors were OK and the meat seemed fresh. Don't forget to mix everything! The banchan (small dishes) were a pleasant surprise! You get 6. They are made in house and they definitely have an old school feeling to them. The kimchi wasn't spicy enough for my liking but everything was good. It's rare to find dried anchovies as most korean places opt in for other, more common choices, so that was a nice and welcomed change. Don't forget to ask for extra if you finish them! The service was superb! The servers were very attentive, kept track of all the tables and were vigilant and came when needed without being too intrusive. They were happy and approached everyone with a smile. We even had one of them come and talk to us about our experience at the end of the meal. I hope they improve as time goes by and they keep the positive attitude and stellar service! read more

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Covid review: called for takeout and it was smooth, took 20 min to make. They have three tables inside (more than ample space apart) but we took it to go. They have only four , three of them spicy and one squash one that the kid liked. I got which was good, unique in that they add pieces of rice cake in the mix which was a good addition. Very spicy though so make sure you like that. They were one of the only place I can find around that have which was good, but very spicy watch out. It's for like 3 people, it's so big. read more

Mapo BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Just had a lunch here. Price on menu was $16.99. Asked waitress to get bill, I just gave my credit card without checking amount; my fault. It came put $21.80. Asked them about it, and lady said I didn't mention lunch so they charge me dinner price which is $19.99. Her excuse was she served full amount of food as dinner, which i don't get it. Btw, I got in there 12:30 and asked my check 1:00pm on Wednesday read more

Oh I love this place. I like the food so much that I order way beyond my stomach capacity. The cold noodle was spot on, and the pork is just out of this world good. The portion was super generous. If they could just adjust their portion to like small, medium or large size would be perfect. read more

Mapo BBQ - Lol wayyyyy too much food for one... - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Food is always good! I've always had good service here. Appreciate the cleanliness of the restaurant. Prices are getting little pricey these days but I understand. Keep up the good work!! read more

Aside from the food being so PRiCEY and EXPENSIVE, the server/waitress was so rude and not so appreciative. She confronted me for not giving her the tip she wants! Rudely she asked me if I am not at all happy with the service and why I gave only that amount for the tip. I stated tips are not mandatory and should be whatever amount you are willing to give. There was only 3 people in my party for lunch. If you are not ready to spend a good amount of money and give huge amount of tip then don't come to this place, or not come here at all because the food is not worth the price you pay for it. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE!! read more

This was one of the last restaurants I got to eat in before Covid really took off. I came back a few weeks ago and I didn't really realize how much I missed it. I ordered the gamja tang, which is the pork and potato stew, and it was such an amazing dish. The pork on the bone is a lot of work to take off, but it's still good, nonetheless. I remember the last thing we had before Covid was the fish/seafood dish. I'm not sure what it's called off the top of my head, but that was so flavorful. It was definitely worth the $60 or whatever it was and the communal sharing. Mapo can put me down as a loyal customer, because I will definitely be back. read more