I will be intellectually honest for my review. As I have had the pleasure of living, working and visiting Los Angeles, CA over the past 30 years, I've encountered dozens of REAL Korean BBQ's, of which the NaDeFo "All You Can Eat" is not one of them. They are a total ripoff.
We arrived (party of 5, 3 men/2 women) at approx. 4pm. We were seated immediately, at TWO DIFFERENT tables, and they refused to allow us to sit at a table for 6 as were only 5, even as there were only 2 other groups of 4 or 5 people in the entire restaurant. After they seated us they waited about 15 minutes to even ask if we wanted something to drink, even as the staff was sitting and standing approx. 10 meters away from our tables.
When they finally decided to ask us what we wanted we ordered the Korean BBQ "All You Can Eat" program, all 5 of us at $380 pesos per person + drinks. They brought the coals and drinks a few minutes later and then about 7 or 8 minutes after that they brought the platters of meat and 4 sides + 2 sauces (woefully small portions of sides for a party 5).
We started cooking our meat, and the waiter didn't like how I was doing it so he came over and took the utensils from my hands to very condescendingly "show me" the proper way, which is NOT the way REAL Korean BBQ's do it, but he thought I am stupid, so he did. So we ate through the 2 platters of meats (plain pork belly, tiny pieces of steak, and thin slices of marinated pork) in about 1/2 hour or so, ordered another round of drinks, which never came, then asked for more meat, which also never came. They just sat 10 meters away, watching us, waiting for us to leave, which we eventually did.
Here is my take.
The Service: Without a doubt, the WORST service I've received in a restaurant in Mexico ever in my life. My wife is Mexican, so we're in Mexico quite often visiting family. Rate the Service as .5 out of 10. This is NOT a typo. 1/2 of 1 out of 10, 10 being best service. I didn't rate them lower because they did bring us one set of drinks and food, then they ignored us.
The Food: They brought the soup first, and though not very flavorful, was OK. The meat was actually fairly good, but no Spicy Pork Belly, just plain thick bacon? Spicy Pork Belly is staple of ALL Korean BBQ's that I've ever eaten at. The kim-chee was the highlight of the meal, it was nearly authentic and quite tasty. The other 3 sides lacked flavor or had been prepared hours earlier and were texturally lacking. The 2 sauces (black bean and I'm not sure what the other was, were both very good). The grill did have real charcoal, but were very small. You couldn't cook much meat at the same time. I'm sure this helps their "2 hour" in and out rule which saves them mucho dinero on meats!!! Rate the Food 3 out of 10.
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The Ambience: Granted, this IS Mexico City, MX. Things here are different than in the USA. But this place was somewhat rundown and not very clean looking. No decorations of any kind, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but normally a good restaurant attempts to give the patrons a good feeling about their establishment.
I don't want my money back (we paid in cash), and hopefully they'll use it to hire some help that actually cares about the service and food. I'm not sure how many actual Korean BBQ's the owner/mgr. of NaDeFo have been in, but it's either none or their memory of what a real Korean BBQ is, is horrible. A real Korean BBQ gives you a time limit also, but allows you to select your own sides and choice of meats.
At NaDeFo, their motto must be "All We Allow You To Eat". Definitely NOT "All You Can Eat". read more