Among the myriad of yakiniku restaurants in Honolulu, there are only a few that I frequent on a regular basis, and they all happen to be right off of Kapiolani Boulevard. One of these establishments, named Seoul Garden Yakiniku, makes its home across the street from 24 Hour Fitness, and shares its parking lot with Club Femme Nu.
Parking for Seoul Garden is limited, but at night the restaurant does offer a valet service to park your car up front. If you choose to park your car in the back lot, it will cost you a small fee.
One of the things I like about Seoul Garden Yakiniku is the seating. Unlike many similar restaurants, Seoul Garden offers mainly booth seating which provides a very spacious eating area for smaller parties. The seats are wide and comfortable, with ample space to comfortably seat two people on one side.
The restaurant’s interior is decorated in mostly brown wood tones, with a few pictures hanging on the wall of previous notable customers. Even when you first step into the restaurant, the sound of sizzling beef on the yakiniku grills can be heard. The aroma of grilled meat lightly fills the air, creating a very appetizing (and hunger inducing!) atmosphere.
When we first walked in the servers all greeted us warmly. We were seated in the center row of booths, but saw that there was an empty side booth available. Hoping to have a little more privacy we asked to move, and our server was kind of enough to oblige our request.
Seoul Garden’s menu features primarily yakiniku meats ranging from barbecue chicken to beef tongue. The rest of the menu is comprised of rice dishes like Bi Bim Bap, in addition to various soups. As with every yakiniku restaurant, Seoul Garden offers a variety of alcoholic beverages to go along with your meal.
Having a hard time deciding what kind of yakiniku we wanted, we opted to try the Combination Meat which is meant to be shared by at least two people. This order included portions of beef brisket, beef tongue, and inner rib meat. These ingredients are very popular among yakiniku diners, making this combination plate a great item to order if you are dining with a small party.
The first thing to roll out of the kitchen was a small foil container of chopped garlic cloves. As the golden metal grill is fired up, the garlic cloves are cooked in a small amount of oil. I have seen this at other yakiniku restaurants, but it does not appear to be too common a practice.
Soon after the grill was turned on, our server brought to our table a slew of small plates which contained the classic side dishes that accompany yakiniku. Although these dishes typically vary day-to-day, many of them are consistent throughout different establishments. For tonight’s selection the side dishes included bean sprouts, kim chee, kim chee cucumber, kim chee tofu, potatoes, eggplant, and salad. The salad is often used to wrap around the pieces of meat you cook on the grill, adding an extra level of flavor and helping to cool the meat.
All of these dishes were delicious! From what I have observed half the experience of eating yakiniku comes through sampling all the wonderful side dishes. Although this amount of food was more than enough for just the two of us, larger parties do have the option of ordering additional amounts of any dish at no extra charge.
Next to come out of the kitchen was a bowl of steaming hot tofu soup that was “on the house.” I’m not sure if there is some kind of magic in these black bowls, but this tofu soup stayed pipping hot nearly to the end of our meal!
The soup itself contained a mixture of tofu, onions, and cucumbers. The broth was very good, using just the right amount of seasonings to compliment the flavor of the other ingredients. This soup, as with many Korean soups, did have a bit of a spicy kick to it as well.
This picture might be a bit deceiving as to the portion size of our Combination Meat order, as our server had started cooking about 1/3 of the meat before I was able to snap this photo.
The meats are very good when cooked on the grill. These meats do not come with any inherent seasoning (although some yakiniku places will add a dash of salt/pepper before bringing it to your table), but still managed to come of the grill with a lot of flavor. Every yakiniku restaurant typically gives you a small plate of oil and salt to dip your cooked meats into, but I seldom find myself using it.
At the end of a yakiniku meal, it is traditional to be served this barley and rice drink. Although personally I am not a big fan, the drink is very cool and refreshing, especially after a heavy or greasy meal like yakiniku.
Final thoughts: Soul Garden Yakiniku is a very popular spot for lunch and dinner (the value is especially good at lunch!), and for good reason. Service is excellent and the wait staff is very friendly. The food is about as good as you can get from any yakiniku restaurant. Although the price tag is a bit high in comparison to your average restaurant, Seoul Garden offers a little better value than most other yakiniku establishments in Hawaii. The portion of meats and the wide variety of side dishes are certainly a bit above average. So, if you’re looking for a place to enjoy some fun dining over yakiniku, you might want to put Seoul Garden on your list of places to visit.
| Service: |   |
Above Average |
| Food: | |
Above Average |
| Atmosphere: |  |
Average + |
| Overall Value: | |
Above Average |
Seoul Garden Yakiniku
1679 Kapiolani Blvd Honolulu, HI 96814
Phone: 808.944.4803
Tags: Hawaii Food, Hawaii Food review, Seoul Garden Yakiniku, Seoul Garden Yakiniku review, Yakiniku
Other Popular Reviews:
Looks good. I’ve heard favorable comments about Seoul Garden from a number of people.
You should also check out Camellia Buffet Yakiniku on McCully street. Unbeatable value.. all you can eat buffet, with all the stuff you got at Seoul Garden, including the table-top grill for just $11 per person for lunch.
That was a great review, but what some might really want to know how is how things were lookin’ next door at Femme Nu. lol
I’ve heard Camellia is a good value, but I haven’t been there in years. I’ll be sure to stop by
As far as Femme Nu goes… no comment
Another Korean restaurant to try is:
Choi’s Garden
1303 Rycroft St
Ala Moana, Honolulu
596-7555
Open Daily 24 Hours
Im a big fan of Camellia’s. Great Value and all you can eat ensures you wont leave hungry. I like the dinner menu, even if the price is upped a bit, you cant go wrong with all you can eat chu ma luk (beef brisket). I wish they were open longer. For our lates after the club, Millions takes care of our late night korean food needs..
Try Yakiniku Seoul sometime. Their korean food is beyond excellent with wonderful service from cheerful waitresses. The side dishes are very tasty and none of their food is “too sweet”.
Hope to see a review from there soon =)