Review: K-pub BBQ

When anyone in our family celebrates a birthday, they get to choose where we will go for the feast and what activities are done. My boys had actually hoped for Gelatissimo but unfortunately, it had closed and we didn't know since their site still has Trinoma branch listed :( so after going 'round  a bit, the boys settled on K-pub since it had meat all you can.

The place is bright on the outside but the inside was dimmer but not gloomy . This may be because it is also a club with band performers and TVs all around.

It being our first time, I was very glad to have such helpful attendants. Most of the food is cooked on a grill set in the midle of the table though some items come out of the kitchen ready to be eaten such as the pizza.

The menu is simple enough. They have set menus or you can order ala carte.  We chose to go with set B, from their Eat and Run Menu (they let us have/cook all the items from the set within an hour's time). The set the timer once the first piece of meat hit the grill.


While waiting, we had some appetizers. They gave us dry fish in a sweet sauce (caramelized), tofu, pickled vegetables, bean sprouts, sweet potato mash, and of course, kimchi. Personal opinion, there should have been two sets of these since the size of the trays are for one side of the table, not exactly pass aroundstyle and awkard to be reaching over people and the grill heating unit.

Each table is assigned an attendant. The attendant places all the orders and does the grilling. I appreciated  this since the grill is hot!

We tried almost everything in our set menu. The items that we ended up ordering more of were the beef sukiyaki, korean bacon, marinated chops, the lamb chorizo, calamares and the buttered shrimp. We wrapped them in lettuce leaves, put some sauce and down the hatch they went. No need for rice - and speaking as someone who normally MUST have rice with her meal, that's saying a lot.

My son liked the spring rolls. The way it was served made it look like on roll was cut into 4 bite-size peices and served as  one dish.

We also got one spicy pork pizza and a bulgogi pizza. I personally liked these. These are heavy though and will make you full so if your goal is lots of meat, you want to leave the pizza for last.

The most important things to remember: you pay for any leftover meat at ala carte rates. This just meant ordering only what we could finish since the other rule is you can't take anything home either. The good part is you can order stuff to cook til the end of your hour. They will cook all of the orders and allow you time to finish the food without additional charges.

I like that almost everything was cooked in front of us. My hubby and son however weren't happy with the heat wave wafting at them from the grill and the scent of grilled meat sticking to them. I got lucky, I had the spot where the heat didn't go.

I liked the taste of the food but my hubby was quick to point out that this definitely is not a quality meat place, which he'd have liked. The meats were just regular. We also would have been happier if the grill was bigger or there was more than one so cooking would be continuous, no lull in between.

For first timers, I'd suggest placing a big initial and then ordering what you want next while the batch on the grill is still cooking. This will do away with the waiting period caused by not having enough food on hand. Also, make sure your party is complete when you place the order because the order is per table and they don't restart the clock just because some arrived late.

By the way, this is not a fine dining restaurant (just in case some are unsure). It is a pub where you can get the set meal for as little as PhP 499. The plates are bright colorful plastic not porcelein or ceramic but they look great in pics. They have Korean music playing rather loudly but not enough to give one a headache, with the video of the songs showing on TV screens up on the walls beside the tables. If it is your birthday, they sing a portion of the birthday song in Korean mashed up with the Wonder Girls' Nobody But You and Psy's Gangnam Style while the assigned attendants dance around your table. It's enough to give one LSS (Last Song Syndrome).

Would I go back? Yes, I would though I don't see myself as a regular patron and I will never tell them if we are celebrating a birthday.