I'll start by saying that my husband's Korean, so we've had our share of table cooking over the years, and Mapo gives you the full experience of a fantastic Korean meal. It starts with traditional appetizers (unlimited it seems, they keep replenishing the ones we finish), then the do-it-yourself BBQ (or assisted if they see you're struggling), accompanied by this delicious corn and cheese mix, and an egg soup that cooks on the same table, then the tofu stew (which was the highlight of the meal for me, I've had many of its kind before but this one had so much flavour without being overly salty), finally finishing with the frozen probiotic drink. They have nice little touches like the salad and the yummy sesame oil mixed with salt and pepper to eat with the meat as well. We typically would order 2 rice bowls and a bottle of soju on top of everything; the total bill would be around $90 for 3 people. The portions are more than enough, I'm not sure who would complain about the quantity, we've been here twice now and both times, we've all felt so full from the meal.
The manager is such a nice guy, who sets a great example for the rest of his team; they all work very hard and efficiently and you never see anyone just standing around doing nothing. Our 4 year old dropped his fork at one point during the meal and someone showed up a few seconds later with another set of cutlery, without us even asking for it, that's how attentive they are. One of them even saw how much our son enjoyed the dessert drink and gave him an extra one for the road.
I love how small the restaurant is too, we just try to beat the dinner crowds to make sure we get a table. I cannot say enough great things about this place: amazing food, great location and one of the best customer service, this is a great dinner place for the whole family (even though its target client base is probably the early 20s crowd). If you're ever in Korea town in the evening, make sure you check out this place! read more