Had an amazing experience at GEN Korean BBQ thanks to David! He was attentive, friendly, and made…read moresure we had everything we needed the entire time. He explained things clearly, checked in often without being overbearing, and really made us feel taken care of. Great food, great service--David truly made the night even better. Will definitely be back! Great food awesome service amazing experience Recommend 100 percent

Gave our name to the host and she said it would be a 10 minutes. Got a text confirming my waitlist…read morequeue at 5:45PM. A few tables got sat before us and I assumed that maybe they were just waiting outside. Checked the queue and I was 6th in line. We waited until roughly 6:10 before I asked the host to re-confirm the time. She sat me right away even though we weren't next in queue). We don't mind waiting, but would have appreciated a more accurate time quote). We get seated, one of the plate setting was dirty. We order our first round ( some apps and 2 order of meat) with our server. The next time we see our server, we ordered another order of meat and ask for a grill change. Our server stops coming to our table for 10-ish minutes. Had to flag down a different server to ask for a grill change. He explained that they were currently out of clean grills. That's fine. We waited. The server we flagged down ends up changing our grill a few minutes later. At this point, our server hasn't returned. We see him stopping at other tables, but not ours. We get it; we aren't the only ones here, but we sat with no meat (already ate it all) and empty cups for 15-20 minutes before we saw our server again. We finally get to order some more after making FULL eye contact with the server as he was walking by. By the time we get our 4th meat option, it's 7:10. So, to recap: we had been here for 1 hour and we only got 4 orders of meats and some appetizers. We had to turn out grill off twice, because we didn't want it to burn and had to wait for a grill change. Now look, I'm not being unreasonable. I've been in the food service industry for over 15 years. In fact, I worked at GEN Carrollton in Texas 3 years ago. I know how the place is usually run and this place is not being run very well. Our server should have gotten a runner or a smaller section. I'm disappointed every time I come here and the only reason we came was because we wanted Hansel's after our meal. The only reason I'm giving it a 2 star is because the server that helped us change the grill was nice. If you're wondering about the food quality, it's mid, what you'd assume for an entry point KBBQ joint. If this is your spot, I AM judging you. There's so many AYCE KBBQ options in town. Go to Brave's KBBQ instead. EDIT: We checked out at 8PM and only got to order 5 orders of meat because of waiting for our server to come back, waiting for our food to come, and waiting for our our grills to be changed. Also, our mandu came out cold and the first time our carne asada came out without sauce. The ube drink we got taste like straight syrup water + with no ube taste. The (ladies) bathroom was not usuable. First stall was locked. Second stall did not flush. Third stall, toilet was leaking all over the floor.

I was very happy with my choice to have lunch here. It was delicious. Family owned restaurant. The…read moreserver was very helpful with assisting me with the menu. With his help I made the correct choice. Will repeat. Great atmosphere. Very nice and clean place!

Great option for a variety of Korean food. You can choose to Korean BBQ side (cook your own) or…read morekitchen prepared. They have wonderful dishes to choose from - the food is fresh and very good! If you are looking for good Korean food try Koreatown! Bonus- the restaurant is so clean and lots of seating!

This is my favorite go-to place for Korean Tofu soup! I got…read morethe beef tofu soup - medium spicy. Tofu soup comes with rice and the side dishes. I love the rice with the pumpkin/squash in it! And the side dishes are so delicious! They switch to different ones every few months. The soup also comes with the raw egg that you crack it on top when they bring out the dish. The broth is always flavorful and depends on which tofu soup (beef, seafood, kimchi, etc) you get, the broth flavor is different. The tofu is made in house so it is fresh and soft. The staff is always friendly and the restaurant is nice and clean.

I have to report here what happened when we came here a few weeks ago and it was not cool what the…read morewaitress did. My friends and I came to this place together because I had been before and liked the Korean food here. Food was legit and was a good experience previously. However, the day we came in, the waitress got my friend's order wrong as my friend wanted the bibimbap but the waitress heard something else and brought out a soup. When my friend immediately told her that isnt what she ordered, the waitress (new) proceeded to argue with my friend. I watched incredulously as things started to unfold. The waitress even asked my friend to pronounce bimbimpap again and told her she should learn how to pronounce it better. She kept arguing wirh my friend and mind you, waitess wasnt Korean or Korean American. At this point, I had to step in, as I also heard my friend say bibimbap clearly. The waitress didnt know what she was talking about and at the same time was being rude as heck to my friend. Then, my other friend shows up and orders a bibimpap. When the bibimpap is brought out, I asked her to bring some gochujang for my friend. I didnt know if my friend would like this chili paste, so wanted her to have the option to try it. The waitress again decided to argue about this and at this point, she was really testing my nerve. She said bibimpap doesn't come with gochujang and I am like thinking are you crazy, woman? I am not Korean but I have been eating Korean food for 30+ years, I know what I am talking about. She then asked me to repeat gochujang several times and I was very annoyed at this point. Its like, look lady, you dont know what youre talking about, stop sticking your foot in your mouth and come on, be nice to your customers! Because of this terrible behavior, I asked to speak to a manager, a woman came over and listened to what happened and apologized and thats how we found out she was new. I was beyond frustrated at this point. Despite the horrible service, I still left a 10% tip, but honestly the waitress deserves zilch and needed more training. The food is solid here but I wont be returning with that kind of behavior, I can choose where my money goes, and these days with it being so hard to get by, good luck to this place as I am not coming back.

Dat gives the best service! The quality is so much better than any other korean bbq! Food is great…read moreand the place is very clean!

Had such an amazing dinner here at Jin BBQ tonight with my family! The ambiance inside has a more…read morelively feel with the new revamp and the K-pop playlist sets the mood for a night of eating! The new menu offers an array of different side dishes and meats that weren't there before! Coming from someone who is often indecisive, I LOVE that there are new combo options that help guide you through the various cuts of meat. The new small side dishes (banchan) that come with your meal when ordering is so delicious as well! I love how the staff is never shy with refills when asking for more!! Speaking of the staff here, they were all so attentive to small details and super friendly:) They were all quick to notice when our table needed water, sides, a grill change, etc... It feels as though the workers here take pride in what they do and what they serve! All in all, I will be back again sometime soon to bring in new friends to eat here! I have always loved the quality of meat here, the fun upbeat vibes, and the friendly staff members that create a cheerful ambiance.

My first time at Zu Izakaya was a blast! I came in with a group of 5 and were seated quickly. Our…read morewaitress Tiana was very attentive and helpful as we decided our orders. Overall, the place has a fun vibe with lots of string lights and Japanese decorations. They have happy hour twice a day. We came during their 9-11PM happy hour (we love a late night happy hour!) Lots of options for sushi, drinks, and appetizers on the happy hour menu. The spicy tuna roll was a refreshing roll with just the spicy tuna, cucumber and rice. A simple roll that still has a good spicy flavor but not too overpowering that it takes over your meal. The Vegas roll is a classic if you like fried rolls! Can't go wrong with this one. The nigiri was top notch. The yellowtail nigiri quite literally melts in your mouth and the flavors are buttery and soft. It's my personal favorite whenever I want nigiri. The salmon nigiri was also very good. Slights sweet but if you add soy sauce it balances it out. The jjambong pot was so filling. We ate this after the sushi. It's enough to be shared with 2-3 people and includes a mix of some seafoods, enoki mushrooms, onions, and ramyeon with a spicy broth. The noodles were good, the broth was delicious and not too spicy if you're not a person that handles spice well. My only complaint is that we had about 6-7 mussels but only 2 pieces of shrimp. It would've been nice to have a more even distribution of the seafood but other than that the taste was amazing. With the happy hour it was incredibly affordable. Even without the happy hour I would definitely come here again. 10/10!!

I absolutely love this place! The details, especially down to the gold chopsticks is amazing. It's…read morea fantastic date spot!

My boyfriend and I tried Hodori and were recommended it by one of our friends. It was sort of busy…read moreon a Thursday night, but we were still able to get a table. They are a bit busy so we had to flag them to come over. We split the army stew. This had sausage, spam, rice cakes, ramen, and kimchi, I believe. Everything was very flavorful and went well with the rice. It's also a pretty big portion for two people and I want to say it was around the ballpark of $30. We got the complimentary banchan (side dishes), which was nice. Our favorite side dishes were the braised potatoes and the spinach. I don't love candied sweet potatoes or potatoes for that fact but these were so soft and tender. There is plenty of parking in the area, which is quite nice. I'll be back here the next time I am in the area.

My absolute favorite Korean restaurant in Arizona! Every time I visit from out of state, this place…read moreis a mandatory stop. I've tried a huge variety of dishes across the menu, and I've genuinely never been disappointed -- everything is consistently excellent. The standouts for me are the spicy tofu soup, kalbi, and seolleongtang.

Great service. Food came out fast. Flavor was great. Highly recommend Korean food in AZ. Portion…read moresizes are huge so that's a plus for family style sharing. Ambiance gives me a cozy feel of a mama/papa kitchen. Banchan 10/10 Japchae 8/10 Seafood scallion jeon (seafood pancake) 10/10 Spicy beef soup 9/10 Lettuce wraps spicy pork 8/10

Nice little Korean place I wasn't blown away, but it wasn't…read moreterrible either A solid C on the grading scale. The beef was just OK. I just wasn't dazzled The WIFE had the pig trotters. Again, just OK

Best darn chicken sandwich I have even eaten. I had the garlic and soy sauce version (there are…read morethree versions) and it came with a special cole slaw on top and a wonderful sauce and side of excellent fries. The portions were extremely generous and the price was fair at $15. I will be back and looking forward to trying some of the other dishes.

ordered a Buldak bowl and it was honestly terrible. The chicken tasted boiled, rubbery, and…read morecompletely flavorless. There were literally three rice cakes in the entire bowl and an absurd amount of thick-sliced onions. The dish looked sad and tasted even worse. This was nothing like buldak--just a weird, unpleasant mess.

We had two ribeye steaks & pork belly, mushrooms & all the sides two large South Korean Beers & a…read moresmall bottle of their Korean whiskey. First visit & it was absolutely stunningly delicious. Highly Recommend

First time in Arizona and my family and friends wanted to take us to this kbbq spot because they…read moresaid it was good and comparable to the ones in Cali. We came on a weekday afternoon, so it wasn't busy when we arrived. We got seated within the 10 minutes since they were setting up the tables for us. Ordering is fairly easy since they offer combos depending which meats you like more. Everything we ordered was good quality. My favorite meat cuts were the beef tongue, brisket and the intestines. If you're not into eating inside parts of animals, I would recommend getting the brisket or kalbi cuts. The Banchan (sides) were good too. They had fish cake, kimchi, pickled radish and cucumbers available. We also tried the tofu soup, steamed egg and corn cheese which all came out hot and tasted flavorful. This spot is a-la-carte, so you order off the menu and pay by items. My only downside is that they didn't have rice paper here since I don't really eat the white rice since it fills me up too quickly. Other than that, I would come back here again next time I'm visiting family. Service here was awesome too! We were checked on throughout our whole meal and the servers were friendly.

Popped into this place for our last meal before leaving AZ and it did not disappoint! We were the…read morefirst people in. When we walked in it had a very fishy smell, so it kind of made us second guess our choice. But we went for it anyhow. The greeter/server was very pleasant and sat us. It was very clean inside with ample space between seat. We browsed through the menu and started with our usual edamame and pot stickers. The edamame was salted well throughout where a lot of places just put the salt on top only. We ordered a couple varieties of sake which were both good. Out of all of the things we ordered the karange skewer was just a little more oily than were use to, but still good. The spicy salmon roll had really great flavor and the lollipop roll was probably one of the better versions that we have had. The musubi was giant to say the least, it was good, but offered a bit too much rice. Overall the food and service was great and we were very happy that we ended up here!

On a Sunday evening, after checking out the Desert Botanical Garden, I was looking for some food in…read morethe area. I came across Zu Izakaya and it's great reviews as one of the options. I love Japanese food so my decision was made. I drove over and parked in their complimentary lot. Ambiance (3.5/5): I've been to Japan and there are plenty of izakayas there. Think of them as small bars which often serve solid food. Zu fits that bit. It's a relatively small restaurant, probably seats about 30 people. and it's pretty no frills for a Japanese spot. I was seated at a booth in the corner of the restaurant. They have free WiFi which is always a good touch. Service (3/5): Service was friendly, though a bit inconsistent. My waitress wasn't as attentive as I would have liked. The type of service where you have to flag them down to get what you want and to close out. Drinks (4/5): Zu has a nice menu of Japanese and Korean beverages, including sake, soju, Japanese beer, and more. With that being said, I just had an iced green tea. Food (4/5): I got a nice variety. I went with the Japanese sausage off of the grill menu, the OBI mayo roll off of the sushi menu, and the cheese corn off of the appetizer menu. Let's start with the sausage. It's a small item, two small sausages, but absolutely delicious. The sausage was bursting with flavor and basted in a sweet sauce. Minus the portion size, perfection. The cheese corn also hit the spot, but the execution was off. The corn is served on a hot platter, and unfortunately some of the corn on the edges was badly burnt. The type of situation where they should start over. Which they didn't. Lastly, the OBI mayo roll is essentially a California roll with marinated warm shrimp on top in a mayo sauce. I didn't love the hot and cold combo (shrimp and sushi), but outside of the temperature, it was a delicious roll. All in all, a very food meal. My only gripe with Japanese food is that it can get expensive quick. Given that Zu is in Tempe, I was hoping that prices would be a little cheaper. With that being said, they do have a solid happy hour (and reverse happy hour) with both food and drink specials. Next time I stop by, I'd like to check out some of their Korean options. I focused on the Japanese stuff this time (which makes the majority of the menu). Next time around, the bulgogi is calling my name!