Ray L.

Okay, this place is sooooo good I kind of want to gatekeep it because if more people go, there will definitely be a long wait. Price: 5/5 They have one of the best happy hour menus for their price. I don't know if it is because they are new and doing a promotional deal, but their happy hour menu is AYCE for around $30.99 per person before tax and tip. They have a huge selection that comes with beef tongue, pork jowl, and special items like wagyu fried rice and ice cream. Usually those items are found in a premium menu for like $50-$70. Food: 5/5 They have a great selection of meats. Their beef tongue was delicious, tender, and cut not too thin. Their marinated beef belly paired so well with their sweet sauce and aromatic spices. One of my favorite sides was their wagyu fried rice. It was a delicious umami flavor that pairs so well with their meats. They also use charcoal to cook their meats so it is extra flavorful in my opinion. The cherry on top was that they also have ice cream here after your meal. Service: 4.5/5 We had a party of 11 people and made reservations for 12:00pm right when they opened. We got seated right away. The service started off a little slow because most the tables were already filled but once they got our grill out, they took our order and the meats and side dishes came out super quick. The waiters were attentive and helped us change grills quickly. Ambiance: 4/5 This place is a little small. We had a party of 11 and were sadly split into two tables. We sat very comfortably but their setup is probably not made for larger parties. Additionally, their ventilation was not the best. When our meats were cooking, it got pretty smokey.

Mickey H.

This BBQ spot is the Chinese version of Korean BBQ. I particularly loved the cumin powder as one of the sauce options that you typically only see at skewer joints. This made all the meat exceptionally tasty. The customer service at this place was outstanding. Our second round of tongue plate was rather chewy and so when pointing this out to our wait staff, they immediately accommodated us by giving us another fresh cut plate. Just this act of accommodation is worth commending and noted as we loved their hospitality. Some of the highlighted items our table enjoyed the most include: boneless short rib, tongue, steamed egg, cold noodles, and mixed tempura. I personally would avoid getting the pineapple. It was straight out of the can and it isn't freshly cut slices. Also, the mixed tempura plate comes with shrimp. That shrimp is definitely frozen and store bought. You can tell that the batter on the shrimp was orange and different in color compared to the other mixed veggies. It wasn't good. Overall, I loved my experience here. Food was good and customer service was awesome. Also, their ventilation system is pretty good that you don't smell horrific afterwards. I would definitely return.

Chena N.

MEATING my friends here was a perfect start to my SoCal Trip. 3 stars bumped up to 4 stars because our waitress Elaine was just amazing. .:: FOOD ::. We went with the middle bracket, LUXURY for $48 AYCE. Meats: Wagyu Chuck American Wagyu Chuck Eye Prime Beef Chuck Flap Prime Beef Brisket Black Angus Beef Tongue K Style Short Rib Prime Beef Belly Marinated Prime Beef Brisket Marinated Prime Beef Belly Marinated Pork Jowl Marinated Pork Belly Chicken Wings Shrimp Cuttlefish Most of the meats were pretty good, I did not have a problem with any of them. But wish it was more marbling on the meats if they are wagyu They also had a bunch of hot/cold dishes. Ones that stood out to me: Steamed egg (comes in the cutest little portion, good for one person) Wagyu Beef Fried Rice Beef Bone Soup .:: Service / Ambiance / Parking ::. Elaine was our server and she was TOP NOTCH. She was SO friendly, always checked in on us, and helped us cooked. We got seated immediately on a Wednesday night around 7pm. Food came almost immediately after we ordered. The place was dimly lit. Very classy look. The vent pulls down from the ceiling. Parking was super easy as its located in a plaza.

David M.

First time but a big fan of Meating!!! Meating is not Korean BBQ despite how the dining area looks. It's still grill your own meats at your table but the sauces and flavor profiles are Chinese. The food is cooked with charcoal and not gas which should make the food taste better. They now have Happy Hour pricing which is 7-days a week between 12-4 pm. We tried most of what's on the Happy Hour Menu. They have a big selection of meats as well as side dishes. Again, keep in mind this isn't Korean BBQ so they don't just give you all the side dishes when you sit down. Check out my pics and everyone can get a scoop of ice cream at the end (Matcha or Strawberry). Bathrooms are out around the back in the (under renovation bowling alley).

Jonathan T.

-The best dish was the kimchi squid -The dipping sauces were kind of weird, they should change to korean style sauces -I'd give it a 4 star if the sauces were better. A bonus is they have a lot of side dishes available to choose from. The meat was pretty good wish I had some sauce or pink Himalayan salt.

Lisa D.

Do you love bbq? Do you love beef? What about AYCE? If you said yes to all three you gotta go to Meating. They grill with charcoal which is a nice change of pace from all of the local bbq spots. There's three tiers to pick from for the AYCE options with $39 being the lowest. I ordered the $39 option and I have to say that I walked out of their stuffed and super satisfied. I didn't think I would but I was really happy. You cook yourself and they change the grill pretty often. Side dishes usually are ok at most but the side dishes here were all really tasty. You don't walk out of here smelling as the ventilation is really good. Food comes out well presented. So its perfect for snapping photos. Service was really good at the beginning because they weren't super busy but as time passed it definitely got slower and slower because there wasn't enough staff to help. I would recommend the steamed eggs, beef broth, and wagyu fried frice from the menu. Would I come back? Heck yes I would come back! 2 thumbs up from bbq lover! Tips: *Shared parking lot with other businesses. *Credit card accepted. *Restroom available. *Kids ages 5-10 is 30% off *Limit of 6 items per round. *90 mins time limit. *Not all staff speaks English, we called initially to ask about wait time and the staff did not understand what we were asking.

Ann T.

It was nice MEATING you! Always appreciate businesses with good, punny names! With the slew of wagyu centered dining options popping up recently and all over SoCal, it seems like the market is booming with more options at more competitive prices and varied experiences. Thus far, Meating has the lowest price point for AYCE wagyu AND is unique in that they do charcoal BBQ rather than the standard flame/gas grill. It was my first time eating at an AYCE charcoal BBQ. It does take a bit longer to cook the meat, but this allows you more time to digest and enjoy your food than cooking everything super quickly and hitting a wall real fast. It also creates a nice rich, smoky taste with the grilled meats. There are 3 tiers for the meat menu and based on the number of items the best options are either to go for the $39 premium with 12 items or the $56 menu with 15 items for more wagyu cuts. It's the rare moment where I think the middle option isn't easily the best. Still, it's cheaper in comparison to the other eateries. For banchan dishes we got kimchi, kimchi cucumbers, pickled radish, lettuce for wraps, and pickled mixed vegetables (there's tofu skin in there too). For cold appetizers from the menu, we ordered crystal skin jellyfish, edamame, and cold cuttle fish (mixed with kimchi and gochujang). For hot appetizers we ordered mixed tempura (comes with 2 pieces of each: zucchini, potato, shrimp, and mushroom), the wagyu fried rice (pretty big bowl but great to share with the table and had scrambled eggs in it as well), corn cheese (cooked on the grill), beef bone soup (pho broth basically), and steamed egg (chawanmushi style with a shrimp on top). Loved that the portions for the soup and egg weren't big at all and was like a small pudding cup single serving. Moving onto the meats, the first 6 menu items are neatly presented in a box and brought to your table first. Great for pictures. They include the American Wagyu Beef Boneless Short Rib, American Wagyu Cube, American Wagyu Chuck Eye, Wagyu Chuck Flat Iron, Prime Beef Chuck Flap, and Black Angus Beef Tongue. We did multiple orders of the Black Angus Beef Tongue as it was thin, tender, and cooked fast, as well as the flat iron and chuck eye. Good cuts of meat that went great with the dipping sauces and wrapped in lettuce. The cube pieces and the thicker cuts did take much longer to cook, especially charcoal style, so keep that in mind and pay attention to any pinkness of the meats. We also ordered everything else off of the menu that was not the chicken or seafood. We ordered the: prime beef brisket, Korean style ribs, marinated prime beef brisket, marinated beef belly, prime beef belly, marinated Berkshire pork belly, and the marinated pork jowl. Pork meat was probably some of the best here and cooked to a delicious crisp. This is also one of the ONLY places that I've seen that does the marinated beef brisket. Most other places only marinate their pork or beef belly or do bulgogi. The marinate is different as well, sweet with umami taste and the beefiness of the meat really shines through. EXCELLENT customer service. Even though the atmosphere was more casual, this really made us feel so much fancier. I think there were only 2 waitresses working that night but the one who served us was super attentive and our grill was constantly changed and dirty dishes were taken away. She really didn't have to but she COOKED OUR MEAT THE ENTIRE NIGHT. Every single cut and made sure to server it to us. I have never seen this done at an AYCE place only at those pay per plate fancy places so this was a really neat experience since we got to try the meats cooked to perfection thanks to her dutiful cooking. | If you are reading this, know what we appreciate you! At the end there's ice cream and we had the option of either green tea or strawberry. Nice, cool ending to a delicious meal.

Nathan L.

Had to give this a try a few days ago mostly because I love the name Standard AYCE situation, had the cheapest $40 Premium option, there are several categories, there are meats, cold dishes, appetizers, etc To start off, let's talk about the meats. Overall, AMAZING. I've had lots of AYCE kbbq places and while I always enjoyed it, the meats weren't necessarily the best quality. Usually they were always so drowned in sauce that you couldn't really taste the full flavor anyway. This meat, in my opinion and for the price, was definitely a level higher than normal. We had beef tongue which my date said was the best she's ever had and I pretty much agree, the beef belly, pork belly, chuck, pork jowl, all of it was really delicious, they come pretty thin sliced and maybe just grilling with charcoal is better or the meats were just better but all of it was so delicious. The sauces they give you were pretty good as well. I love sesame paste sauce but I barely used it as it was so strong it would've overpowered. If there's one advice I'd give to the restaurant it's to offer just salt or just salt with some oil too. There's a dry cumin mix that was good but sometimes I wanted an even more simple flavor The other stuff that you can order was in my opinion not as good but there are some good dishes here and there. We ordered a tempura that never came. There was a fried rice too but I wouldn't waste the room in my stomach on that if I had to do it again. It was kinda gummy and too soft which is why I guess they say to use day old rice when making fried rice. Got the beef bone broth soup, it was a tiny cup that looked totally different than the picture. The cuttlefish and vegetable mix were all slathered in the red kimchi kinda paste that is really overpowering. Like it's good, but I'd prefer to be able to control the amount i'm eating and I'd rather just have the simple vegetables. The cold noodles though were actually really good. Like the perfect texture and exact right level of chewiness. Also, do not waste time trying to grill up like the mushrooms. I just didn't think it was worth it and it took a long time to grill. Unless you're a hardcore vegetable fan, grill more meat instead. In the end you get strawberry or green tea ice cream which was good, creamy, and refreshing without any chemical aftertaste. Overall, I think the meats were terrific and the reason why I'll be coming back. The other items were very hit and miss. And as far as overall value, I thought it was pretty good. The experience is similar to KBBQ and while it is a little more expensive than your standard $30 AYCE KBBQ, I think the $40 price was actually quite reasonable for the quality that I got. I would definitely come back again and I'd highly recommend you give it a try

Will M.

Saw this new place pop up on Yelp - the word is that this place has some pretty good all you can eat Chinese style barbecue. Came on a Saturday at 6pm. No wait it was kinda empty, but that's okay better for us. Right when we sat down they immediately brought us charcoal for the grill and side dishes to eat. I ordered the least expensive option for $38 per person which is labeled premium. Actually the first round of meat you don't order as they will bring you a box full of different meat to try, after this round, you can order the meat that you like on the side. You can order side dishes like steamed eggs and cold noodles. They give you some different sauces and a powder to dip the meat. I really like this place the charcoal gives the meat a nice flavor - the charcoals are nice and hot it really cooks the meat perfectly. The meat quality for premium was really good imo, as for the service it wasn't spectacular - definitely needs improvement. I had a great meating experience will be back again.

Anthony C.

This is a hidden gem. Less of a wait than chubby cattle. And they do charcoal on each table. The only difference is their high grade levels aren't as comparable to chubby cattle. However, the happy hour is a great deal 12pm-4pm every day for $30.99!

Rei E.

The food was great! The meat was fresh and high quality. They also offered ice cream for dessert. Awesome customer service. The place was chill and cozy. They use charcoals for the grill.

Maria Lia M.

We've always wanted to try Meating since they opened. Charcoal grilled BBQ, why not? Read up on reviews here and saw it was not KBBQ but we didn't mind. We chose the Ultimate and were very satisfied, loved the short ribs and chuck eye!!! The sides we chose were delicious too (to mention that custardy steamed egg). Over all - will meet you again Meating (HAH)!!!

David C.

This is a new addition in Monterey Park to the AYCE Asian BBQ dining world, but the angle is this really doesn't seem to be a Korean BBQ joint as much as a Chinese interpretation of a KBBQ joint. Some may find this interesting, like I did, and some may not find themselves a fan, as the missus was when we went. They do a lot of the dishes differently. For instance, they have the world's tiniest steamed eggs with a shrimp baked into it. It's like two scoops and you're done. They also offer odd items like steaming baked bread, which is just buttered sliced dough you cook on the grill by yourself??? Yeah, odd. The dipping sauces are different than you'd find at a KBBQ place, but I thought they were good. The beef wagyu fried rice was really good. They have lettuce wraps (lord knows why so many KBBQ don't offer sanchu leaves and bean dip - even places like Ook Kook, which used to have lettuce wraps, refuses to bring them back since the pandemic as if they are a huge expenditure), however they don't have the bean dip to put inside the lettuce wrap with the meat. They offer other unique items for most AYCE joints like mixed tempura. That's a nice addition. The ban chan are pretty much the same as any other KBBQ place you'll find. The meats turned out to be where the missus and I disagreed. I think the meats were all good quality and enjoyed the experience. She loved the American Wagyu Chuck Eye, but didn't love the prime beef brisket or prime beef belly. We usually don't eat wagyu, so I think it was simply her experiencing something new of higher quality and then feeling the other two meats we basically kept to all night along with the wagyu was not as good. I don't think you can judge it that way. Just be thankful they offer the wagyu on the AYCE menu at all. Personally, I liked the place a good deal. There is also complimentary ice cream at the end. They have a lot, so parking is easy. They aren't terribly busy, at least on a weeknight, and service is friendly and attentive. It's also got nice dark decor. I say give it a shot, but go in knowing that it's going to be noticeably different than a KBBQ place. Really go in thinking it's like Chinese KBBQ. I will be back!