- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee & Tea |
- All
Korean Grill House
Category: Restaurants Korean Korean [Edit]
369 Yonge StToronto, ON M5B 1S1
Neighbourhoods: Ryerson, Downtown Core
(416) 596-9206
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
25 reviews for Korean Grill House
Review Highlights
-
"The side dishes are fantastic." In 5 reviews -
"...include beef, marinated chicken, lamb, squid, fish, etc." In 5 reviews -
"Korean Grill House's lunch menu provides about the best..." In 2 reviews
Loading...
25 reviews in English
-
Review from Janet S.
Toronto, ON
5/17/2012 1 Check-in Here
I'm sure most of you will know that this is not actually Korean BBQ. But as there is Korean style Chinese food (Jjajangmyeon and Jjamppong), I can accept Chinese style Korean food.
I've visited several different locations under this franchise, and I'm pretty confident that all of the food is the same. They must use the same recipes for the sauces. The thing I find weird about this franchise is that everything tastes the same. Even the kimchi and the bean sprouts all taste like BBQ. It's weird.
Unlike, say AYCE sushi, KBBQ is very generous with its "all you can eat," moniker. In several of my visits, the plates get replenished readily, and often, staff walk around with trays full of plates of raw meat, asking if you want more refills.
Eventually, I stop eating because I get tired of eating the same flavour, and not because I'm actually full...maybe they do that on purpose!
I can't deny that it's a fun time with a group of friends.
Some tips:
Ask for a new grill when your food starts to all taste like burnt stuff
When cooking fish, place it on top of a piece of beef so that it doesn't stick to the grill. -
Review from Frank L.
Toronto, ON
4/17/2012
You won't miss this restaurant as you walk along Queen Street from University westbound. Within the area, you can smell the BBQ. So be prepared to dress appropriately so that you won't leave the place with the BBQ smell on your body the whole night.
This is AYCE Korean BBQ. There is the base AYCE for $15.95. If you want lamb and shrimp then pay $2-3 more. The basic covers lots of meat but if you want any vege, then another $3 more. We like the AYCE Kim chi as starter. Here come the many square dishes of meat that you can pile them up. There are beef slice, ribs, liver, chicken, salmon, sausage, pork and so on. The meat is marinated to be on the salty side. So you have to drink a lot while BBQ.
The service is quick at the beginning. There is a long line up right after the baseball game. The waitresses are fast enough to remove the trays once they are empty. At the end, I can see my empty trays keep piling up at the edge of the table without anyone taking them away. But what do you expect for an ACYE restaurant. For the price, it is a good deal. -
Review from Maheen M.
4/11/2012
Korean BBQ on a chilly spring day really hits the spot. Korean Grill House is located just a block north of Yonge & Dundas square; there are two floors of grilling goodness. When you arrive and are seated, you have the option of ordering from the a la carte or the all-you-can-eat menus. We opted to go for the $9.99 AYCE lunch menu which gave us chicken, beef, squid and fish to grill (they had pork as well but we were going kosher today).
Alongside the unlimited access to meat, they have rice, soup and korean side dishes that can be replenished as well!
Service is ok, our waiter had his hands full with the packed first floor.
Korean Grill House is on the revisit list for cheap AYCE eats!Listed in: All-you-can-eat (AYCE), Yonge & Dundas
-
Review from Catherine W.
5/6/2012
Reasonable AYCE menu - we opted for $17.95/person which included lamb and shrimp. This did include small selection of panchan. Could add $3 extra for veggies, but we did not. Standouts were lamb, beef ribs, tongue, and liver. Basic service. Decor was super casual.
-
Review from Edwin A.
The concept is all you can eat BBQ. Order up your meats and vegetables and you cook them on the round circular grill .
There's a veggies option for $3 more. It includes lettuce, pineapple, onions, green pepper, mushroom, roasted garlic. We tried this tonight, it was pretty good, and breaks up the monotony of a pure meatfest. Lettuce wrapped beef = yum!
It's fricken cold in here. It is sparsely decorated, a majority of the seating is at the second level.
The service was terrible tonight. We found ourselves having to ask at least twice for anything and if he had forgotten we didn't bother asking again.
I'd say only worth it to go late night (after 10pm) or during lunch when it's $8.99. I would also strongly advise to not sit downstairs. It cold and the kitchen is upstairs to begin with.
Oh yeah the food, this time leaving the worse til last. Massively salty. -
Review from Mike U.
Just happened to be walking around with my tummy growling and howling for some food. Korean BBQ!?!?! oOOoOOoOhhh... Let me tell you, for an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ that you cook directly on your table...Not too shabby!
You sit down, they hand you a menu with a la carte items, or you can pick the all-you-can-eat options...there are several, depending if you want fish or not and so on. But what a reasonable price to pay and on top of that, they really don't care if you leave items you ordered behind. Order as much as you want and as often as you want. Busy grills at the center of the table all around and pretty chic modernized buffet.
Service is good and always coming around to either change your grill plate or refill an empty glass. -
Review from Raf P.
York, ON
Good place. Alot cheaper than chako.
No sushi tho -
Review from Ander R.
Toronto, ON
1/31/2012
Love the food here, been many times. Service is usually above par too. Everything is tasty, and all the side banchan are good.
I do feel like its gotten a little grottier over time, used to feel like it was clean and slick and now it feels kinda dirtier. -
Review from Lula L.
2/20/2012
My boy and I were in Toronto for a wedding on Saturday and visited the Grillhouse on Friday night. We are both a bit familiar with Yonge Street and remembered that there are great spots to grab inexpensive meals. We were sat immediately and the spot was lively. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
I'm a veggie and had my requisite Bi Bim Bap and he had beef barbeque. While my meal was overall tasty, I was a bit disappointed. At any other Korean spot, my meal has arrived with my veggies, egg, etc sitting atop or aside the pot of rice. That works for me as I typically do not eat the rice (or have a bite. I'm not getting younger after all). At the Grill House the server mixed it all together. Oye. Way too little rice to the amount of veggie stuffs. Also, I missed having a whole fried egg to delight over. That said, the dish was still fresh and tasty. Boyfriend mostly enjoyed his meal. His dish consisted of strips or pieces of beef that we were able to throw on the pit. That's always fun. Our service was great and the prices are of course beyond resonable.
While not my favorite Korean spot ever, most certainly worth visiting. -
Review from Michael L.
Richmond Hill, ON
7/29/2011 1 Check-in Here
Great lunch price of $11 after tax and tip!
Now onto the food, had the ayce normal menu so the squid, White fish fillet, shaved pork, shaved beef, and spicy chicken. Side dishes included fried tofu (spicy), kimchi, spicy and normal bean sprout, pickled radish, beef soup and rice. considering it is a lunch menu offering this isn't too bad and earns 3 stars.
Where they shined was on service, now this might have been an odd staff member who took pride in great service, but I found that they were very attentive, and kept our table well stocked with the side dishes that we were pounding through and the meat which we were dumping into the grill.
We had to change the grill once and that was quick and courteous.
Note: they offer an AYCE veggie+pineapple addition that you can get, but it is 3 dollars and if you are going strictly for the cost-food ratio it isn't recommended.
I would definitely return, however considering how hard ayce is on the healthy living aspect of my life, it is unfortunately an once in a while splurge.
3 stars for the food + price, 1 star for the service -
Review from Karl R.
2/17/2011 7 photos
$10 all you can eat meat cooked on fire? Korean Grill House's lunch menu provides about the best AYCE deal in Toronto. That it's available on weekends is worth an extra star.
Yes, it's not really Korean BBQ. But if you just look at it as lots of meat cooked on fire, is there a problem here?
They now seem to offer vegetable sides you can grill up for an extra $3 but, I mean, vegetables? Anti-meat? Are you serious?
Don't let the small main floor fool you. There's a much larger upstairs.
Service was quite good. -
Review from Ken L.
Toronto, ON
1/5/2011
Big problem. They opened this close to home and I need to control my AYCE urges. This place is always busy so make reservations if you can but this location is bigger than the others as it has 2 levels plus if you are not having the AYCE, they can sit you in the adjacent restaurant they own too (called Made in China). Line ups are not as long here except during the busy dining hours so do expect to wait 30-45 minutes to be seated during the busy periods. That's not very good if you're hungry and they don't have a place for you to sit and the line up is at the door and spills onto the street. The bibimbap here is kick ass. Sometimes we choose it over the AYCE when we're not so hungry cos they offer a terrific combo that includes shrimp, beef, chicken and veggies in a large stone pot with an egg and veggies plus hot sauce.
The bad: you gotta like to cook yourself. You gotta cook BBQ style so don't wear your good clothes but do wear clothes :) You would want to wash them too cos everything (hair, skin, clothes) are all destined for the wash after you eat here. Seating is a bit tight as the cooking grills have limitations. The wait for seating can be long. Easy to put on weight here. Too much red meat... keep it to a limit and go for more chicken, etc.
The good: AYCE... All you can eat!!! You have a time limit (though it's rather loosely enforced) but the food just keeps coming. Chicken, BBQ ribs, pork, beef, fish, squid and a whole ton of veggies (both spicy and not). Free hot tea is needed to wash down the nitrates (love BBQ's but gotta keep an eye on over consumption). Great value if you like this kind of experience. Aside from the long waits (not their fault), everything including the service is pretty good value. 5 stars. -
Review from Harold E.
Toronto, ON
10/12/2010
Korean Grill House is a chain restaurant that has a few locations in the downtown core, this location in between College and Dundas, on Yonge, another exists at Yonge and Bloor, and yet another on Queen St. West.
Here's the low-down: you grill your own food, in a firepit, in the middle of your table. Good first-date activity? YES. Safe place for the munchies in a state of inebriation? NO.
The style of the restaurant is very modern, you'll likely share a table - but not the grill - with many other restaurant goers. The washroom at this location is again, shared, you won't find this out until you enter it. I did a double take when entering it, as so many women where excessively primping and priming themselves. They would of put a mortician to shame... that's another story.
Service was not so great. I mean, the waitress was friendly and everything, but she was hard to nail down. Case-in-point, it took us twenty minutes just to go through the whole bill paying dance.
Not sure I would go back. -
Review from Marcus D.
2/23/2011
I made a complete slob of myself in here the other night.
Beef, chicken, lamb, squid, tongue, shrimp - how may I count the ways? -
Review from Howard H.
5/17/2009
Korean Grill House is a chain. And as some of the other reviews have mentioned, it's not really Korean. It's Korean-style BBQ. This particular branch has 2 stories. Most of the seating is on the 2nd floor. Wait staff is attentive and friendly.
The food is good. The all-you-can-eat dinner is $12.95 Canadian dollars. Comes with thinly-sliced beef, BBQ ribs, pork, salmon, and squid. Also comes with side dishes. The kimchi is good, but the rest are just OK.
Had the mango sticky rice for dessert, which was terrible. The mango was unripe, and the sauce was way too sour. -
Review from Rita M.
Toronto, ON
9/1/2011
This is a good place. Unlimited meat grill. Cheaper cuts of meat, but they aren't complaining if you don't eat or grill the fattier pieces. The side dishes are fantastic. The bean sprouts are the best. Huge wait for dinner on a weekend. So big in fact it isn't worth it. But late night dinner (after 10pm) has a reduced price, so check that out!!!
-
Review from Miko L.
5/10/2011 1 photo
If you wanna stuff your face with meat this is the place to go. I've been here twice for lunch and I don't think I've had a more filling $10 sit down lunch anywhere else. The side dishes are good as well. The service could be a little bit better but I wouldn't classify it as being horrible.
-
Review from Aaron P.
8/11/2011
I used to be a very frequent korean bbq customer with this chain of restaurants and this was my first time coming to the new Yonge and Dundas location. In short, it is very similar to all the other korean grill house restaurants, AYCE for low prices and tons of MEAT MEAT MEAT.
A quick rundown on how korean grill house restaurants work. You can order AYCE or you can order off the menu (everyone gets AYCE), however if one person gets AYCE in your table, nobody else can order from the menu, everyone HAS to get AYCE. Basically, they give a you a large selection of meat and there is a grill in the middle where you essentially cook the meat yourself given a pair of tongs per person. Meats include beef, marinated chicken, lamb, squid, fish, etc.
Let me start off with the food. If this is your first time coming here and you are CRAVING tons of meat and grease then you're going to love it here. It is essentially unlimited meat grilled to your heart's desire (not really since all your arteries will be clogged up afterwards). However, the meat here is LOW quality meat and full of grease and nasty preservatives. The food is very very greasy and may give you a stomach ache afterwards if you eat way too much. Also, although they say it is "Korean BBQ" the chain is actually Chinese owned and the BBQ here is not authentic korean bbq. Authentic korean BBQ has much higher grade meat and is generally not AYCE. If you are craving a lot of meat and/or are with a large group of friends and you want some AYCE this place is great. However, if you are on a date or want a nice classier dinner, this is definitely not the place to be as you will smell like grease and your stomach will feel horrible afterwards.
The service here is mediocre, it is not amazing yet they are not generally horrible. It was a problem for us getting the attention of one of the servers as they do not constantly come and ask if everything is ok or not, you have to call them down (in typical chinese restaurant fashion).
The decor is quite nice and the place is large enough to fit a lot of people but it is not overly popular unlike other restaurants around the area. We arrived on a friday dinner and there were tons of open seats whereas places like salad king were full to the rim.
In short, come here only if you are CRAVING all you can eat greasy meat and don't mind the low quality cooking. It's alright, I have to admit we always have these cravings every now and then. Don't expect a nice, classy dinner with a date, this place is just a lot of fun cooking and hanging out with a large group of friends. -
Review from Sanzo L.
Scarborough, ON
5/3/2011
Been here twice. The staff are really nice. Lunch special is the bomb! Sadly, I went vegetarian so no more KBBQ for me. Anyways...I love this place. Oh don't order the fish to grill...it was such a pain to get out..almost burnt it
-
Review from allison j.
2/1/2010
Just when I thought I couldn't feel any fatter, I went to eat at the Korean Grill House. Maybe I was challenging myself when I ordered the all you can eat Korean BBQ, but it was worth it. The food was excellent and well priced and the wait staff was awesome. The kimchi, radish, bean sprouts and tofu leave you feeling like you've even eaten a few vegetables. We loved this place, especially my kids. They had a blast watching the food cook before their eyes and we will definitely be back!
Kids 2 and under are free!
Most likely if you have stomach issues after you leave, it just means you stuffed yourself with too much meat. . . -
Review from Ann K.
5/10/2010
Awesome Korean BBQ! We had the "all you can eat" and boy did we eat! Multiple servings of side dishes, lots of good meat selections! Really tasty.
The only downside of the meal was that the cookers are mounted a little low in the tables so you had to lean forward more than I would have liked to cook the food.
Plan to drink lots of water though - lots of sodium here! -
Review from Richard M.
Toronto, ON
11/13/2010
Lunch all you can eat meats for $8.99? Sign me up...
Service is pretty much non-existant, but I don't really expect a lot of service at what amounts to a buffet, but topping up the kimchi, rice, and drinks without being asked couldn't hurt... -
Review from Philip D.
7/12/2011
Small modern designed restaurant. The set up of the shop is very well thought out and well performed. The fans of the grill are on the sides of the grill rather than on top like places. This is good because you dont have smoke in your face all the time. The grill was good and always hot. The Prices for korean bbq VERY good. All you can eat is available for a good price.It includes alot of different meats. You will eat your filling. Ok now on to the part that causes it to get a 2 star. The food here is NOT authentic korean food. 1st of all korean's are known for there little dishes of pickled food at the beginning which most places have around 10-15 of. This place has 5. Kim Chi was one of them and even that was not very good. The meets were ok but not marinated properly. So if you looking for a place to eat just meat and your not into real korean food this is the place to go. If you looking for authentic korean food go to korean town.
-
Review from brian b.
8/15/2010
Was here by myself today. Probably should go with 2 or more to make it more fun. Service was OK. Food overall, very salty. Cheap though. All you can eat for $13.95 with probably 7 types of raw fish and meat to cook your self plus kim chee, tofu and Korean spicy potato salad plus rice is dang cheap. Started slow because this was my first time doing this grill your own meats thing. But after abut 10 minutes, I had that table grill thing dancing with sizzling meat and fish. The trick is get a good load going of a little of everything. As soon as its done, re-load with more raw before you eat which will be done by the time you finish eating the first round. Not sure exactly what meats they brought. Could have been German Shepard for all I know but it was good overall. I 'd try it again with a group next time.
-
Review from Taylor O.
1/19/2010 1 Check-in Here
The restaurant on Queen Street was closed due to exhaust fan issues so we hiked over here. The service was pleasant for the most part from all other helpers except one insolent server who took our order. As far as the food, the wonderfully marinated single orders of lamb and higher quality steaks were amazing and what earn every star. The vegetables were indeed weak, deep fried garlic was a tough disappointment and for the rest you get some tiny rings of green peppers and like one cut of onion. Not worth 3 x the required every party. The rules were overbearing. We all ordered plenty of food with 2 single orders of meats and veggies and drinks, but "no sharing." Seriously, I spent forty dollars, let me try a shrimp without fear of reproach. Also, if one person orders all you can eat, all have to for they fear your tablemates would mooch off yours. This may stop me bringing a group as I'd prefer better steak cuts and there's no way I would be able to upgrade this.
