Back again recently. Service was very attentive and super quick bringing orders. Meat quality and portions are solid. I like the banchan and sauces here better than the new place, Gaja. Gaja is more stylish and has the cat robots though. Wish they would use real cups here. The thin solo cups for water still bug me. Everything else top notch. Don't miss out on the soup. You may want to order light on the bean sprouts though or you get a ton. read more

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We came here near closing and the workers were still so accommodating. The food was great. The ambiance amazing and I just can't get over the staff and their customer service! Will definitely come back when we visit!!! read more

Sonu BBQ - Sorry it's not the best photo but it was great! - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

Delicious meat, exceptional service, and a cozy, traditional old Korean restaurant atmosphere.

Never disappointed with the food and service. Great food selection and the staff is super friendly all the time. Will keep going back.

After visiting Japan and eating the best quality meat in the world it was difficult to enjoy eating meat in U.S. restaurants again. Sonu BBQ is the only place in north county where I can satisfy my meat cravings. Really good quality food at a good price. I would highly recommend this place. The spicy Bolgogi and cheese corn are delicious. read more

High quality meats, amazing soups, great pickled sides and the staff was so nice! It was worth the money!! I do recommend it be deep cleaned by an outside company cause the place looks a bit grimmy. read more

Sonu BBQ - Family time! - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

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Certain female that works there has a slight attitude but other than that, amazing food, amazing service, great prices as well.

This place is the only KBBQ place I know that offers salmon poke as part of the course! That's insane. For what you pay for, you get a load more! I love that they have options other places don't offer such as shrimp tempura, tofu soup, and naturally the poke. Now, the quality of the meats - I guarantee some are definitely better than other spots I've been to. Service has to be called upon in order to be served - so it's nice that they have a button in the wall. At least, that's from my experience. It's nice and dark and the music doesn't blast your ears like other places, which is really, really nice. Overall, this place is one of my go-to's when I'm in the area! Def recommend! read more

Sonu BBQ - Poke - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

Solid 4. AYCE, get the premium, totally worth it. Order 4 meats at a time. To start, must have rice paper and salad. **the meat portions on the deluxe plan are HUGE! Ask for a half order** The good: American Kobe Beef, Prime Cut steak, beef tongue, shrimp, beef brisket, marinated boneless short rib. These are the really good meats! We especially love the American Kobe beef. It's perfectly thin, not too marinated and has good flavor. This is what we stuck with most of the time. Their beef tongue is also really good. It's perfectly thin and taste like butter. They also put a little salt and pepper on their shrimp! So good. The okay items: pork belly, squid, marinated sliced beef, steamed egg, spicy beef soup and their banchans. Pork belly portion was way too much, most of their portions are meant for 4 people, so get a "half order" if you can or else you'll be stuck eating just several items and won't be able to try it all. Marinated sliced beef had good flavors but just too sweet. The steamed egg was flavorless. Spicy beef soup had a Chinese taste to it instead of Korean. And their banchans (mini assorted item plates/appetizers) were pretty bad, sweet or bland. The kimchi and cucumber were way too sweet. Bean sprouts were the good. The fish cakes were too mushy and flavorless. Overall some better meat quality than Mannas IMO. But the banchans are a big let down. But it beats driving all the way to San Marcos!! Also, good service, just press the button when you want their attention! read more

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Great service, good music, great sides, great meat. Fair pricing. No fountain drinks unfortunately, but we ain't here to drink soda, no robot to alert everyone of your fifth tray of brisket. As good as any place in Kearny Mesa and probably the best in North County. read more

Love the owner was really nice took care of us great service the food was amazing and orders came right away!

The service is always great, we have never had any issues. 10/10 our favorite KBBQ, we don't go anywhere else

Good really good. I liked it. I got everything on the menu and everything was crazy good. I went multiple times. It was beautiful every time. I really felt taken care of and protected. read more

Best Korean BBQ in North county. All you can eat fresh Koren sides and meats. No robot gimmick, just smiles and great food.

This place is super dirty, I've never been to a restaurant this dirty. The entrance had spider webs that looked like it was years old and Flies flying on the entrance. Years worth of dirt on walls and everywhere. I can only imagine what they prep their food on. I saw their entrance and left read more

Service was good! but the quality of the meats and food were not up to parr for us. Normally we go all in on Korean bbq, but for some reason none of the food, including the ban chan, hit for us here. Our kids who usually go crazy for brisket did not eat more than a few pieces before giving up. We will not be returning. read more

Probably my new favorite go-to KBBQ place! Solid service, great food, and the atmosphere feels nice! The wait isn't bad and you can reserve via yelp. No matter how small your party may be. read more

We went right when the restaurant opened on a weekend (11:30am), so there wasn't any one waiting. We were the first ones there. Upon arrival, there was a staff member cleaning the glass window, but he didn't even greet us. We asked if we can be seated, and he literally just stared at us and turned away. That wasn't a good start in my book. But regardless, I figured he was busy, so I called for some assistance, and finally another male employee approached us and again, didn't say hi. He just made a hand gesture to follow him and told us to sit at a table. It was really dark inside, and the place wreaked of smoke (no brainer, since this is a kbbq joint). There is only a bright white light per table. I'm sure that's the ambiance of the restaurant. I looked around, and all tables had side dishes sitting out. I get that things pick up, but the side dishes are just sitting out unrefrigerated, for God knows how long. It's not very sanitary either, as there are pathogens in the air. Wasn't very settling for me. Plus, the seaweed salad was mushy, which means it has been sitting out for some time. It was our first time at this particular restaurant, but definitely not our first kbbq experience. The staff didn't even welcome us nor provided any instructions. The male employee who took our orders was barely talking, and when he did, we couldn't really understand him because he kept looking away. We were the only customers at the time, so you'd think customer service would be better! I was so turned off by their service that I wasn't even looking forward to the food. The male employees x2 were very dismissive. We had to ask them to change our grill as it was getting too smoky and burnt. You have to scan the QR code for their menu, and can order 6 items per order. We wanted to try the finger meats, but they only had marinated ones. My goodness they were EXTREMELY SWEET. We barely finished it. Not the typical kbbq, overly sweet. The beef brisket was good though. Better portions than the other local kbbq joints here, but don't expect OC or LA kbbq. Not sure what the hype is... maybe being Korean, I had higher expectations? The corn cheese was good too. I do have to say that there was one male employee who appeared later, who was actually very friendly and helpful. He made up for it at the end. We left full, so that was good. I wouldn't come back though. read more

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This is the best Korean BBQ for your money. The meat quality is top. Alot of variety to choose from. All the servers were hard-working and friendly. read more

Everything from the staff to the quality of food and meats was just a 10/10! Food: the meats were in abundance and some of the other sides that we ordered were huge. Like the cheese corn. It came out hot and bubbly and the order was massive! I wished I ordered more short rib but didn't realize it until the end it was on the menu. Staff: we got seated right away, our food came out prompt and didn't have to ask for anything twice which was very nice. They were just super nice to come by every once in awhile to check up on us and they just did a great job explaining everything. This is definitely a must go to whenever we are on our way to San Diego or back up to Orange County! read more

Sonu BBQ - Food is amazing - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

Still really good. They have changed the menu since I last came here to include, among others tempura shrimp and Korean fried chicken. The chicken is saucy chicken wings not a boneless fried type that some other places have. The tempura shrimp was def not tempura. It was Panko maybe and reminded me of fish sticks. I would skip both of those next time. Still the best corn cheese around. Some of meat didn't seem as high quality as in the past though. Prime steak seemed like Chuck and bulgogi had some weird pieces in it. Place started to smell like a dog. Would still come back but I'm a 4 star instead of 5 now. read more

Service is amazing. One of the best at a KBBQ restaurant. I have never seen a corn cheese so big! Overall good. read more

Sonu BBQ - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

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Friendly staff. Attentive. All the proteins are fresh. Super friendly vibe overall. New go to for Korean bbq.

All the hype is real! Probably the best AYCE bbq in north county. The variety of cuts was amazing. The variety PERIOD is worth coming back. Food was great! Service was awesome! Definitely coming back even though I'm all the way in Temecula. Please come over here! read more

Sonu BBQ - Deluxe! - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

Su ch a great environment and high quality meat! Their premium menu includes ramen and tempura shrimp and their corn cheese is the best i've ever had! also... PEAR JUICE is delicious! i would come here just for that! read more

Another amazing experience. Warm & experienced receptionist/server, kind and patient servers, well and appetizing prepared food. One of the few places I know the managers are doing things right. Props to the whole team. Despite working as a teppanyak for nealry a decade,, I always say this is my favorite. read more

Service here was amazing. The entire staff was very attentive. The meat and sides were delicious, the kimchi stew was one of my favorites. I cant wait to go back. read more

Food/ Service and workers were amazing! The place was clean and welcoming! This is definitely the place to sit down with friends and family and enjoy a meal! read more

They now offer kids meals and the little piggy buns are adorable and delicious! My little one loved everything on her plate when normally she only will eat a little bit here, so love that they offer this for picky little eaters! read more

Sonu BBQ - I loveee this place even more They have the cutest kids meals! - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

Please beware of this place. IF YOU POST ANYTHING BELOW 2 STARS YOU WILL BE BANNED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH. My group and I are frequent customers of this establishment. We had a party of 10 in total but one of our group members was running late (he's a college student). The server by the name of NEW YEAR came back and forth and was very upset that ONE person was running behind. She mentioned it to us about 3 times. We said nothing and apologized several times & she continued to tell us to go back and forth with us. Dinner goes by he gets there and at-last we paid $376.00 as we should for the service rendered. After our unpleasant visit one of our group members left a review of the events that took place. This morning the member that placed the reservation initially received a text message saying that the member that placed the review was banned. I have never encountered something this unprofessional and emotionally driven.Due to this I will never return to this establishment. Picture of the text attached. read more

This was my first time going to this place and on my birthday! The wait wasn't too bad and the server for our table was very tentative. He explained everything to us and made lots of delicious recommendations. We ate a ton of food and we're not rushed during our allotted time either. The food came out quickly and they changed our burner pretty regularly. The Soju was SUPER tasty - I'd recommend the grape opposed to the peach. read more

Been there a couple of times now and it's always amazing. Food is great, lots of choices. Service is fast and super friendly! Ambiance is also great, I love that it's kinda dim but enough that you can see everything it's just such a nice place. read more

Ariana was a great server! Thank you again for a wonderful dinner! Dinner $28.99 regular menu items And for $32.99 for premium items All you can eat ... awesome experience! Plum & Peach drinks were yummy!! We will be back again zzz thank you read more

We come at least once a month. It's a must! Wait times are always reasonable and I love that we can add our party to the waitlist ahead of time. 10/10 best customers service from New Years and Jocelyn always have a smile at every moment! The place is always clean and the entire staff is very attentive! This is why we always choose Sonu over any other Korean BBQ! read more

I'm from LA, so we have access to delicious, great quality K bbq. Sonu BBQ really went above and beyond and I felt like I was at a great quality kbbq spot in koreatown. I called a few days ahead and asked if they could accommodate a party of 19, they generously did so and did amazing with handling such a big group. My grandparents were so excited trying out their first kbbq, and I am so happy Sonu bbq showed them how great kbbq is. The banchan was delicious, the meats were fantastic as well and even though it is an all you can eat, the meat quality is really fantastic. I would come back here if I lived in San Diego. read more

Sonu BBQ - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

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Our favorite KBBQ in North County! We the finger meat, thin pork belly, bulgogi, kimchi fried rice, salad, corn cheese, and chicken wings! We're here a few times a month. read more

Pretty good place. But I don't recommend if you can't eat a lot or don't like this "type" of food. It's very expensive BUT it is all you can eat. Also, if you're sensitive to seeing foods raw, or can't stand the smell of cooking food again I don't recommend. My sister just got off her vegan diet, so just ordered chicken.... And of course we cook it ourselves so she didn't like it and was skeptical. I can barely eat as it is because of my surgery, but I ordered fresh shrimp. And fresh it is... they are whole shrimps, heads, shells, everything still attached & of course that means they are NOT debombed. So cooking, & peeling was a huge pain, then I got completely turned off seeing the poop streaks. After leaving and getting in the car I threw up btw... but I think it's just because of my surgery everything turned me off. But it's a great place. Don't get me wrong. I would be grubbing if it weren't for my surgery. The have a small bar as well. I didn't take pictures because my phone died... but it's nice inside the outside doesn't look like much. But awesome place. Just if you sensitivities, I don't recommend. read more

I always have such good service! The interactive environment makes for a fun dinner experience. They have the best macaroon ice cream for dessert. read more

One of the best Korean BBQ places in North County! My boyfriend and I have been on the hunt for a delicious Korean BBQ joint that doesn't have to involve with driving more than 30 minutes-1 your to get our fix. We came here and to our surprise, $20.99/ person! It can't get any better than that, especially with how much meat choices, sides and vegetables they provide. The flavor of the marinade on the meat was juicy and yummy. Our favorite here is the cheese corn, spicy soup and the steamed egg of course! My personal touch is dipping my meat with the cheese corn and you get a whole new LA Korean BBQ experience without having to drive so far. Me and him will be coming here very often. read more

Sonu BBQ - I came here for my graduation with my family and it was totally worth it to fill all of our appetites! - Korean Near Me - Oceanside, California

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We loooovvveee Sonu BBQ. The wait is sometimes long but totally worth the wait. We come here on a regular. The sides are the best- kimchi rice, corn cheese, kimchi soup. And they have the best spicy bagogi. It's delish and great with their fresh lettuce. The service is also great. Friendly and fast. They are great about changing out our grills and keeping the food coming. Our number 1 choice for kbbq everytime! read more