Jake had been wanting to try Korean BBQ for quite some time. The allure of “all you can eat” was a siren call to him and he knows I’m super reluctant to go to all you can eat places, but I had been wanting to try Korean BBQ as well. A few other bloggers suggested that I visit Jeong Won Korean BBQ buffet for our first AYCE try.
At Jeong Won, in the back of the restaurant is an area for grabbing all of the meat and vegetables you want, plus a few cold side dishes. The raw meats are in bins in one side and veggies/side dishes are in another. There’s another area with small dishes and various sauces for your grilling needs.
They had chicken, beef, lamb, fish, shrimp and pork – all various styles and cuts including honey bacon (which I loved), pork belly, short ribs, and a bunch of other stuff (I didn’t document it all).
Here’s my plate filled with a few veggies and some really delicious Korean style potato style. I’m not sure what exactly made it “Korean style” but it had bits of veggies in it and it was very tasty. Jake totally skipped the veggies since he’s such a boy, but I went and got some zucchini, mushrooms and onions to grill up. Plus some corn on the cob, which was hard to grill since it was rounded.
We were able to pretty much figure out how to long to grill things just by looking at it and seeing if it was done. The grill isn’t set to super burning high or anything so it’s easy to monitor and check on your meats. Besides, they’re sitting right there in front of you! What else have you got to do?
Well, Jake was watching the Chargers that day actually (it was a quiet Sunday afternoon in December when we went here) but he managed to not overcook anything.
There’s a bunch of different sauces to sample as well. From top left – sesame sauce, ginger sauce and on the bottom fish sauce. I didn’t like the fish sauce on the meat, but I loved alternating between the ginger and sesame sauces. The sesame sauce was Jake’s favorite – he probably had like six saucers full
Our waiter swung by and brought us this complimentary dish – Korean pancake. I thought this was yummy, even when it got cold. It reminded me of a cross between pancake and flatbread with some herb/garlic kind of seasoning on it. It was on the savory side with a nice chew and a little bit of char.
For dessert, they have a soft serve ice cream station with chocolate and caramel sauce available. Only vanilla. Nice way to end a meal – just simple soft serve.
When you visit here, you can amuse yourself by reading the many, many signs that they have posted around the whole restaurant. Not all are sentimental like the ones in my photo. They all seem to be on different colored papers, in different fonts and haphazardly placed everywhere.
Here’s a another peek at the restaurant. The tables are all metal with the tabletop grill in the middle.
All in all, Jake and I gave this place two “tongs” up! Haha, I crack myself up. The price is pretty reasonable here as well – $20 per person. You could really stuff yourself silly here with the all of the meats they have available. They do have a charge if you have a “gross” amount of leftovers – basically, only get what you think you’ll eat and don’t be insane about it! The meats are pretty good quality and I liked the flavor they got from the grill. I’d totally come here again if the mood strikes!
Who else has dined here?
The ladies from Convoy Conquest
Kirbie of Kirbie’s Cravings
Faye of Faye’s Fork
Jeong Won Korean BBQ Buffet
(Yelp review here)
4690 Convoy St., Ste 104
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 292-4670
Jeong Won is pretty much my favorite AYCE korean bbq place, mostly because you can pick what you want (and how much you want) AND they have soft serve ice cream. Sometimes I just want one piece of squid to grill, so I like that I can get one piece and not have to order a whole plate if no one else is going to eat it.
It’s been so long since I’ve had korean bbq… now I’m craving it!
Hi Leanne – I thought this was a good place for us to try it out! We were pretty much left to ourselves after a basic explanation and it was easy to figure it out and just get what each of us wanted, which I really liked. We’ll have to try another one just to compare and see the difference. Plus I got to have my seafood, yay!
Oh that’s great you were finally able to try an AYCE KBBQ. I like this place too but mostly b/c they let you self serve the amount of proteins/veggies/etc. I didn’t see any frog legs or beef intestines on your plates. What’s up with that. J/k! I avoid those items too. And I love your line about the ‘gross’ amount of leftovers line. Gross is such an underrated word. I must use it ten times a day.
Hi Faye – Yes, I like the self-serve approach. Now it seems weird to me that other places bring you the stuff! They didn’t have any frog legs or anything really weird so I think I got off the hook! heh heh. PS – Gross, gross, gross. 😀
Ooh I really want to try this place for AYCE! It sounds like you & Jake had a good time 😀 It’s nice that they gave you guys a free appetizer!
Hi Jinxi – I liked this place, it wasn’t too intimidating for a first-timer! I liked the appetizer, too, it was pretty yummy. Hope you get to check it out!
Yay! AYCE Korean BBQ rules! We went for Bert’s bday last fall and liked it. I didn’t take a lot of photos because it was dark too. I grilled one frog leg and that was enough for me, haha. Our favorite cuts were the ribeye and the porkbelly. My sis and I were going to try Roadem bbq today (also AYCE) but ended up going somwhere else (not Korean) and regretted our decision.
Hi CC – Yes we had fun! I really liked the pork belly and the bacon. I don’t remember which of the beef I liked best… I think the brisket (the long, thin one) was the one I liked the best. I didn’t take enough notes. Too busy grilling 🙂 Interested to read/hear about your 2nd choice place that you & your sis ended up at!
Taegukgi is over price. They don’t explain much between 21.99 and 25.99. Sorry, it is my first and last. I will explain to all my friends. word of mount is louder than thunder.