- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee & Tea |
- All
Pork Belly Beer House
Categories: Restaurants Korean Restaurants Barbeque Korean, Barbeque [Edit]
841 Bidwell StVancouver, BC V6G 2J7
Neighbourhood: West End
(604) 602-9543
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 4:30 pm - 12 am
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
8 reviews for Pork Belly Beer House
8 reviews in English
-
Review from Taylor K.
5/23/2012 1 Check-in Here
A hole in the wall place off Robson. I would have never found this place if it wasn't for the yelp community. This is why I love Yelp!
The place totally reminds me of the cook yourself meat places in Korea. This is how Korean people hang out and rewind after long hours of work; cooking meat and drinking some soju. I wish they had mak-gul-li (Korean rice wine) because that would have been perfect.
The buffet seems like a good deal. For $15.00 you can get unlimited sam kyub sal (pork belly).
Sure I can go and get the meat from the Korean market and cook it myself but it's a bitch to clean up the grill afterwards and not to mention washing the lettuce and getting the side dishes ready is also a big hassle especially since my darling hubby don't like this sort of meat.
A little gem found and I will be bringing my darling sis next time to share with. -
Review from Kai C.
Vancouver, BC
3/13/2012
Excellent and authentic. For true cultured food lovers, not the haute couture foodie crowd. Grimy and real, and proper food prices. $10pp pork belly meat or beef comes with the usual (leafy lettuce, garlic slices, hot pepper slices, chilli soy bean paste, sesame salt pepper oil, mushroom, onions), a bowl of rice, soup, 3 banchan (cold side dishes with free refills: soy sprouts, kimchi, and leafy spicy salad), and soft drink with refill. A 2L jug of beer (GI honey lager) is $10. If you decide you want to upgrade after, it's an additional $5 for all you can eat meats. amazing. Some English is spoken, def. feel of a neighbourhood beer house with older men running the joint. You have to love it.
My friends and I were there on a slower time of night, and they offered to grill for us and serve, totally a bonus for us. A true Korean/Asian eating experience, which I have been homesick for... will def go back :) Who's with me?!
Tip: You will smell porky from the meal. dress in clothes you are not afraid of getting grease splatter (table top grill) and smelling like grilled pork, and easy wash ;) -
Review from Nigel Q.
Surrey, BC
4/27/2012
I was on my way to another restaurant when I walked past the Pork Bell Beer House, the place was packed so I had a good feeling it was going to be OK, but I was wrong it was better than OK it was great.The staff are very friendly and the food was good and reasonably priced. I can't wait to go back, just looking for an excuse to head downtown. As all the other reviews say, its not a fancy looking place, so don't be put off by appearances.
-
Review from Robin M.
Like it or not, it's a fairly common occurrence to be stopped dead in my tracks by some of the most enticing aromas of char-grilled BBQ goodness while walking through the West End. On one corner there's Guu, Zakkushi lives on another, Hapa is down the street, and countless Korean grills are scattered in-between. But these places are well-defined, well-marked - Vancouverites know them, love them, frequent them. Hell, tourists do too.
So what is UP with Pork Belly Beer House?
If traveling through Asia has taught me anything, it's that if a restaurant doesn't have proper signage - or better yet, has a sign but one that's haphazardly handwritten on a dirty old board in characters that are unintelligible in *any* language - then it must be either rillyrilly good, or will send me straight to the fetal position in front of my friend the porcelain bowl. Fortunately for me (and soon, for you) this was a seriously hard case of the former.
Oh-dear-lawd-in-pork-heaven, where has this place BEEN all my life? Not for the faint of heart, the all you can eat (or AYCE for you acronym-lovers; you know who you are) is no joke. They've got at least four fans going at any given time, not including those on the ceiling, as the marbled fatty pork belly goodness drips its way down each grill and adds to the already sowbelly-smoke-filled air. Don't expect to leave smelling pretty, because this stank ain't goin' anywhere. But man is it worth it.
Word to the wise: don't judge this bellied-book by its cover - it's a sad dive in the best of ways. And don't (I repeat: don't) settle for their more fatty cuts of meat. They've got the good stuff somewhere, but will try to pull the wool over your eyes.
Part of me never wanted to write this review - I want their yellow sign to remain unmarked forever... but I'm merely a convert simply spreading the word. -
Review from Beck C.
11/6/2011
Hole-in-the-walls seduce me. And this place has my heart (uh, literally) in the 604.
They clearly operate on the motto of no frills, no sign, no problem!
*menu/price changes to note:
AYCE pork belly is $15 for first 1.5 hrs. Extra $0.50 for every additional half hr after. Same deal with the $10 platter.
Protein options: beef AND/OR pork belly (don't do the beef. no marination = bland central)
Pop: free (99% sure that wasn't just a side perk of eating w/ a Korean). help yourself at the front counter!
Accoutrements: usual side dishes (NO sweet potatoes!?), spicy bean paste, salted sesame oil, lettuce leaves. Ask for rice & soup if you so desire!
Eat here & feel yourself ascend to a hazy heaven of porktastic bliss (ie. me).
Or descend to carnivorous hell (ie. my friend).
Either way, it's well worth it! -
Review from Steven S.
11/24/2011
You know this place is about pig when the windows look like they were frosted with lard. It looks dodgy and honestly it probably is. But I love the piggies and this eatery of questionable housekeeping is a temple to our little pink friends and their cheeks. The AYCE is a great deal for a carnivore like me. I am no stranger or shirker of dives, hell I drank beer siphoned from a tub by mouth in Vietnam. But it is a stand out here in a city of flash and foo foo, food. Maybe they do it because it keeps the norms away? Yes like other reviewers I did notice a hoarders like collection of electric fans, yes it has a almost rendering plant level of animal fat over everything. But it is good Korean BBQ, no pretence, no show just endless pork! I may recommend a tetanus shot booster as a appie but I will return. Oink, delicious Oink.
-
Review from Larry L.
1/23/2011
There are a few things you will eventually overlook after your initial shock of coming here. Just remember four words "Hole in a wall" which means Tasty.
1) don't think this ia a quaint little date place you take youre little filly to.
2) It is a hole in the wall, so don't pretend it's some fancy schmancy diner.
3) Be prepared to get full on Pork belly. (think FAT BASTARD from the movie Austin Powers)
4) $2 Kokanee!!!
What you say?
Two dolla Kokanee!!!!
It's a trick. yeah, it's gotta be, but nope, it isn't.
So eat, drink and be belly and have a pork of a time here.
Come again?
yeah. -
Review from Jordan H.
9/12/2010 1 photo
Thank you, blog world. I would never even have noticed this place. It's run down, it's kinda dirty, and there's very little signage.
There's really only one thing to get: Pork Belly. They bring a big plate of it, and you cook it on a butane grill at your table. It comes with salad, soup, rice, kimchi, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, bean sprouts, onion, peppers, garlic, sauce, and lettuce leaves to wrap it all up in.
Don't forget to order some beer to wash it all down.
