Saw that this was a new restaurant on Yelp! Parking is behind Lava's- very tight space so turn in slowly! When we came in, there was a big party settled already. It was one or two workers running back and forth to fulfill all the orders. One of the auntie's at the restaurant advised us to just take a seat anywhere and that's what we did.
The chairs are a bit high, so we weren't seen right away, but once they saw us they got us a menu, water and asked us what we wanted. We chose from the menu: soondubu, kimchi jeon, and kalbi (which we didn't get but I'm sure they were overwhelmed and didn't notice since there was a big party). Just by observing the place and the orders placed by the bigger party, if you look around the restaurant there are other food items that you can order. We didn't know and just stuck to the menu, lol but a note for next time!
Again, the seats are very high so we were waiting for our food for quite a while. But once they noticed that we didn't have our food, they apologized and got our food right away!
First came the banchans, I really enjoyed them! My favorite was the fishcake and radish kimchi. Kimchi pancake had other vegetables mixed in, not just kimchi. I wasn't expecting the other veggies, but it was good nonetheless. Then the grill and meats came. It is a portable grill and each table has an extension cord to plug the grills in. Once the uncle came to our table, he got us started with the grill and meats and cooked for us a bit! The attentiveness and effort was there and we really appreciated that. We then got our soondubu. It was very warm, refreshing and not too spicy. Our once empty table was now filled with banchans, sauces, meats, and lettuce!
Once all our food came, the nice auntie came over and apologized again for the long wait for our food. She had said she would give us the kimchi jeon as a "service" which kinda means "it's on the house" as an apology. We understood the busyness with the restaurant and short staffed workers, but we're grateful for the effort and attention they had once they realized.
Overall we enjoyed our experience here at O BBQ! We left full and satisfied, but not over bloated! I know Oahu has all you can eat KBBQ, but all you need is some good food, good meats and good company to enjoy KBBQ on Maui! We are glad we chose to dine in and try this new spot on Maui. We'll be coming back again! read more