November 5, 2017
The wildly popular Orange County-based chain of Korean barbecue restaurants is opening a location in San Diego! Heading into the space that last housed an art store within the Mira Mesa Market Center in Mira Mesa is Gen Korean BBQ House, an all-you-can-grill Korean BBQ restaurant and bar with more than 20 locations.
Founded by Thousand Oaks-resident and second-generation Korean-American Jae Chang, Gen Korean now has 22 locations around California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and Hawaii. Wang's Octopus Restaurant Group also operates the chain of H2O Sushi & Izakaya restaurants, which has a location in San Diego on Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest where
D-Bar once was.
Gen Korean BBQ offers a menu consisting of freshly prepared meats, seafood, and vegetables served along with traditional Korean banchan (side-dishes). The restaurant offers all-you-can-eat dining for $20.99 per person at dinner and $15.99 at lunch (both with a 2 hour time limit), when diners choose two AYCE items. The chain avoids buffet-style dining that can be found at many AYCE Korean BBQ eateries, instead bringing meats, seafood and vegetables - including bulgogi, Wagyu beef tongue, shrimp, spicy samgyupsal (pork belly), daechang (ox intestine) and more - to the tables for diners to grill. The restaurant also offers a menu of other hot dishes, as well as wines, soju, sakes and draft & bottle beer.
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| Robot servers! |
The San Diego location of Gen Korean BBQ will be located within a 2,675 square-foot space and offer a modern design, with booth seating, neon lighting, and tabletop grills with a high-end ventilation system so that diners don't have to leave smelling like grilled meat. This past June at its restaurant in San Bernardino County, Gen Korean BBQ launched a pilot program where wheeled robots with flashing green-and-blue LED lights deliver the meat and seafood to diners right to the table from a track system. There is no word on whether this program will be implemented in San Diego.
Gen Korean BBQ House is anticipated to open at 10765 Westview Parkway in San Diego's Mira Mesa by Spring 2018. For more information, visit
genkoreanbbq.com.
