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

Tried this place for the first time. It is a bit pricey, but I defiently recommend it. The service itself was great and very friendly. We had ordered the combo B and at first I did not think it will be much, but it was very filling for 4 people. We also order the squid with the rice cakes. Best dish I have ever tried so far. They offer tea and water when seated. The place itself for the bbq area is small though. I would recommend this place again. read more

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Even with all of the kbbq spots nearby, this is our families favorite spot. My wife and I have taken our 11 month old daughter here a few times and the workers always take such good care of us. They bring my daughter seaweed and soup/rice to eat and it's on the house. The pork belly is our go to meal here and it's the perfect thickness and the ssam jang plus garlic and jalapeño make it a mouth watering lettuce wrap. Staff is attentive and they cook your meat for you and to your liking. Banchan is good and their soups are like halmuhni's (grandmas) read more

This place deserves more reviews! This was my third time here and the food does not disappoint. I've brought my boyfriend here and he was amazed at how good their sides were. We ordered the budae jigae for the two of us but ended up eating only half and taking home the rest because the portion was for 3-4 people. They also serve fresh kimchi (goet-jori) and it is so good! They're currently taking covid precautions so they're using paper plates/cups/utensils to be safe. read more

Mapo BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Good taste and service BBQ is real nice to enjoy with your friends. Think about having a dinner there read more

Newly modified, with soups and seafood on one side and BBQ on the other. Both are extremely delicious. I got the stone pot rice with beef and loved it, and also tried the seafood noodles and agujjim - both were delicious. When we came to the bbq side the thing I liked was they pour egg into the sides - though the egg is a bit on the salty side I still loved the idea of unlimited eggs with my meat. Delicious and will definitely come back to try some more of their soups! read more

Meat is lower than AYCE quality. Service was a ZERO if I could. Food was very mediocre. If I wanted AYCE level food I would go Bull or Gen. Very disappointed. Our late lunch bill came out to $135 (including tip). Talk about rip off! The texture and taste of the meat was not worth the "high" price. Costs $30-$43 per serving for meat that is AYCE quality. Very disappointed. #TLDR# I met my friends from out of town, wanting to try live octopus and kbbq again. I called the restaurant and they picked up, but couldn't understand me. So we decided to swing by. But to our sad surprise the restaurant we were looking for (DoNi DoN BBQ) was sold and gone since May!! Should've checked their yelp page sooner. We tried asking the older lady if they moved to another location (early 50's& short hair, maybe the owner?) but she couldn't understand. Instead sounded very irritated. She just kept shaking her head when we showed her Doni DoN BBq's yelp page with photos. Since we felt bad to just leave (we were the only customers at the time) we decided to stay and try it out. Soon after, another table came in. We should've left right there. We ordered 2 meats (their order requirement?) And their large seafood soup. We asked if this was enough food to the lady, but yet AGAIN we were ignored and she just walked away. By now, our guts were telling us we made a bad choice. Then 15 mins go by with nothing served (still have not gotten our drinks). Finally the lady comes out with the food but to our surprise walks towards the OtHeR TaBLE!! the table which came in after and ordered way after us. My friends and I were looking at each other like wth? We still patiently wait. After she helps them put the meat on their grill, she goes back to the kitchen to finally grab our food. Comes back to us then plops it down and leaves to the other table again!! So we decided to grill our own meat and watched her the whole time. She was laughing and talking with that table (4 old guys) while they were offering her their alcohol. Are u serious???? We get it! Since we were all females with no liquor to offer her, she chose to serve them first? Totally unacceptable. This is not a bar. Our soup came out 45 minutes later than our meat. All the meats were absolutely BELOW AVERAGE and the soup was so bland. Seafood was very minimal and nothing spectacular. We will not be coming back to this place. Especially when the manager #owner? seems to prefer drinking male customers rather than regular dining customers. They should name themselves #MaPo BaR? instead. read more

Mapo BBQ - One order of pork belly. More fat than meat? - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Pros: fast and friendly service Good food Good portion Parking read more

As a person who feels like it's a waste of money eating Korean food outside of my house, this place is so worth it! I think it's my favorite Korean BBQ joint in NorCal for various reason: 1) Meat quality is excellent (that's why it's a bit more expensive here). None of that AYCE mediocre quality stuff. 2) They have the best gopchang (intestines) in the Bay Area 3) True family owned business feels... nothing fancy, but feels like home or like you're actually somewhere in Korea 4) It's consistently good each time I visit (and I'm VERY picky when it comes to Korean restaurants) 5) The kimchee is SUPER good here!! Other than the Korean BBQ, I've tried their spicy noodles, cold noodles, pancakes, kalbi, and ah-gu-jim. Everything is delicious and the closest thing to Korean home cooking you can get. I usually don't eat the side dishes at Korean restaurants because they are always too sweet or salty for me, but everything here tastes like my auntie made some for me! Don't come here expecting world class service and vibes. Come here for authentic Korean food and what it actually feels like to eat in a typical Korean restaurant IN Korea. read more

A pleasant surprise for someone who is not a fan of this type food. Invited to join friends. First timer so my expectations were low. Expected to enjoy the company but not the cusine. Food was tasty and very enjoyable. Great servers. Biggest surprise? The food served in the bowl remained steaming hot for the entirety of my meal, which is a big deal, as I'm a very slow eater and the downside to eating show is the food gets cold before finishing. Good job Mapo! read more

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We ordered a Seafood Soup, trying to avoid anything too out of our ordinary, due to seeing that there was a fish innard soup on the menu . Once the soup came out , 2 pieces of fish , with 3 crab legs and one crab body. The rest of the protein was fish innards. Keep in mind this soup is around 65-70$. The seafood soup DOES NOT SAY IT HAS FISH INNARDS IN THE INGREDIENTS. It makes no sense. We did not want to leave not feeling full, so we also ordered a 25$ green pancake , not knowing the seafood pancake was the same price. The pancake was just a thin sheet of batter with chives and jalapenos, extremely disappointing. We did leave a 20% tip because the server was kind , but it is a shame because my family would frequent this spot often. We paid 120$ for a meal we both were not nearly full on and un-satisfied read more

Where's a good kbbq around Santa Clara....? Well there are tons. Depends what you consider kbbq and what you want out of it. This is the place where food is hearty and authentic. If you aren't respectful to the ahjummas, you may get emotionally damaged, ridiculed and they may curse you for 10,000 years. Maybe, just maybe you give them a nice greeting in Korean and usually the meanest eemohs turn into the nicest eemohs. Been there with a bunch of loud guys and the treated us great. Went there with my fam on multiple occasions and again great service..... jiggaes are pretty good too read more

This placed used to be a different Korean BBQ place, but it seems like they changed ownership. Interior is still the same, and majority of the menu is still the same. However, the price of the bbq is a little bit more expensive. Expect to spend around $40-50 per one serving of meat, and 1 serving is usually not enough. I highly recommend the pork belly, the meat quality was really good and I like how the meat was really thick. The staff is also super friendly, and they cook the meat very well! All you have to do is sit and enjoy. The only drawback is that they have limited number of side dishes and banchan to enjoy with your meat. The soup and the egg is also just mediocre, not too good. However, I definitely recommend this place for their pork belly and their excellent service. read more

a local hole in the wall place for korean food. They serve a selection of grilled fishes and grilled beef.Although it is a bit pricey on soju and food,the beef is definitely thicker than that of other restaurants. read more

Mapo BBQ - croaker fish and galbi beef - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Service- Lacking; Price - A way too high; Taste - Fair to good; Menu - Good variety (gop-Chang dishes was good). More ideal for bbq.

This place is arguably the best korean restaurant in Silicon Valley at this moment. It's def not one of the fancy places but every dish tastes more than decent. My fav from here is gopchang boggeum. Real Bomb stuff. read more

I came here with a party of 3 and ordered Combo A. When I got to this place, I thought that it was going to be a normal kbbq place. It was set plates that you have to order. The meat is cooked at your table by one of the staff, absolutely wonderful. They were really accommodating, when I was reaching to grab a napkin, the lady who was cooking already handed me two! Talk about paying attention to the customers. The meat was higher quality than I expected and it was cooked beautifully. Banchan was excellent as well. At the end of my meal, I was left satisfied. read more

The meat quality and amount is very good. Nice side dishes and good service. External appearance is somewhat dilapidated, but clean inside. Will definitely go back. read more

Came to visit because saw a few blog posts that highly praised this restaurant. First of all this is more like a $$$ price restaurant. The entree is somewhere ~$20-25 pp and BBQ is ~$140 with tax Service: 1 star. I am very disappointed. We visit the store after 1PM it was by no mean busy. There is absolute no service for us at all. They first seated other group come after us. And then did not serve out hot pot after 30 minute. And when it was served, it was only a pot of soup with frozen seafoods. The other group come after us was already done with their food. Also we did not get refill of the side dish by our waitress at all. Further more I asked the bill and wait about 10 minutes nobody give me check. I have to go the the cashier in person to ask for check. It is 2:30PM, what a ridiculous. Food: 3 stars. The side dish is pretty good and was a highlight. We order the sea food hot pot. And we regret it. The materials are frozen seafood and there is no taste in those meat. The soup is better but after all. It is $49 for a hot pot. And we don't think it worth the price. Overall we are disappointed by both service and value of the food read more

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Went here randomly because we were craving for Korean BBQ and the place we were planning on going to was about an hour out. (Pokémon adventure gave us a big detour). So when we got in, there were plenty of open tables. First reaction was, I wonder why no one's really here. We sat down, looked at the menu, and at that point picked whatever meat we wanted since we were all starving. It didn't take long for our plate of deliciousness to come out. (We ordered combo B). This place actually has someone grilling the meat for you. Which was a nice change for me since I'm use to grilling my own food at kbbq restaurants. The meat was pretty bomb. We had the briskets, steak, pork belly, and something else I forgot lol. The sides they brought out were good. We also got a steamed egg and the soft tofu soup with our order which were pretty good as well. Overall, it the food was delicious. I'm surprised there weren't that many people at the restaurant cause there should be more! read more

Mapo BBQ - Barbeque Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Mapo BBQ is the my new favorite hole in the wall korean restaurant! The staff are super friendly and even the owner came over and greeted us right when we came in. The food is amazing and well worth the price! I know his place is going to be super busy! read more

Delicious! I like there soup more than their bbq Reasonable good lunch price Enjoying lunch menu But sometime they closed earlier at night than the time they posted, so thats kind of disappointing But food was great! Recommended! read more

a bit pricey for the various non bbq items. but gives you the Korean feel and nice soups. for example, try dong tae ji gae (pollack), and enjoy the broth, also soondubu was nice and spicy at medium. haemul kalgooksu was ok. kalbi fatty but good. panchan traditional. read more

This place is authentic and delicious. We were so glad we skipped the wait at gen! Cost was higher but the food was worth it. great service as well. We definitely will be back. read more

Ordered take out for dinner. When they pack food, they put everything in a box. But once I got home I noticed one of container wasn't closed properly and the sauce spilled everywhere. read more

Love this place. Very authentic Korean BBQ spot versus the more mainstream "Gen." It's a bit more on the pricier side, but you get what you pay for - for both service and goods. I've taken friends here who visit from out of state, and they all love it as well. Will keep coming back in the future. read more

Absolutely poor service. We came here because the reviews said food is good here but it's not worth the experience you get. The owner is extremely rude and I've never left a restaurant feeling this insulted. Spend your precious time and money elsewhere. This place is NOT worth it. read more

We came here at odd lunch hour 3pm on Saturday. No there was no one on the front. The other customer helped to wave to the kitchen to get us help. Service was outstanding to help us to cook meats and instructions how to eat them. The meat was okay quality. Beef brisket was chewy and tough to swallow. Portion was good. First time tried grilled kimchi with beef to eat together. Interesting to me but my hubby didn't like it at all. It looked like very authentic Korean restaurant with all Korean language posts on the wall and we can't read and order those. Price was expensive like $120 with the average meat quality. We prefer Gyu Kaku, Chikara, Gen or Jang Su Jang more. read more

Great first experience of good service and high quality of food. Definitely good spots for groups. Multiple choices and nice environment. Strongly recommended. read more

Great service! Great food! Great late night place to grab a bite after a long day! We really enjoyed their Combo dinners and they provided us with lots of tasty food. read more

Food quality is great and service is friendly every time I go in to eat. Very comfortable environment to get food and drinks and have a great time with friends or family. I try to stop by every time I'm in the area. read more

Really great quality Korean place. We went there for lunch on Sunday (very quiet) and had a great time. Service was good, great selection of banchan, and high quality meats. We will be going again! read more

I've been here several times now. The staff is friendly and service is good. I have tried multiple dishes from the grilled items to their stews. I will be back. read more

Great quality KBBQ. Meat quality is and the side dishes have great seasoning. If you are brave, try grilled organ meat - crispy chewy texture dipped in garlic salt is . Ask for the Chinese spice powder to dip ANY meat in and you will NOT regret it. read more

This is my favorite restaurant. This place os very similar to the place i have been in Korea. BBQ is best quality. Also other menus are good. Lots of potions and kind people. I love this place. read more

This is similar in quality (and price) to premium Korean BBQ places in the vicinity, but with the added benefit of being less busy. Give it a try. read more

Hi this restaurant food is very. Good I was with my family we are ordered. Potato tang. And. Dol sot Bibimbob. And Pan fry fish. Very good tast good service read more

Really good quality of Korean dishes even comparing restaurants in Seoul. Not like the most of Korean restaurants in Santa Clara(they make food as old style, too sweet, salty or floody of msg), Mapo serves real Korean food. Try soups, fish or pajun. (But BBQ is average.) read more

Mapo is definitely one of the better authentic Korean bbq restaurants in the South Bay. Korean Restaurants usually skimp out on the kimchi and bean paste but this place loaded it on...I mean why not get your customer full off anything else other than meat right! Their pork belly and galbi was amazing, definitely coming back here again. read more

I liked it! Food is delicious (and lots of it!), the waiters and waitresses were attentive, overall a very homey style. Will be coming back.