| Grill your own selection of meats at your table at this large buffet. |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 3/7/2006
Rating: 9
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Whenever I think buffet, I automatically think total crap. There are exceptions to the rule like Las Vegas, champagne brunch at 4 star hotels, and once in a blue moon, you'll get a place like Palace BBQ Buffet. From the outside of the building you cant tell what lies hiding inside. Its the palace of gas grills and gold colored air vents.....this place is huge! I dont know if it was by chance to seat us the farthest from the buffet tables. Maybe they figured we'd get lazy and wouldnt do so many trips.
Since it was a buffet, I wasnt sure what to expect. I would have thought the meat would have been pre-cooked and that was it. Over at Palace, every table has a gas grill for you to cook your food, I love this kind of stuff :) I head over to the buffet tables and I was blown away with the selection of meats, they had pork belly, pork tongue, squid, octopus, chicken, short ribs, spicy pork, bbq beef, and some other I forgot. I picked up some spicy pork, bbq beef, pork belly, and short ribs. The side items americanized and just ok, I picked up fried rice, sesame sprouts, and seaweed salad. If you are looking for those small white bowls with pickled everything (banchan), you arent going to find it here.
Now the fun part begins...the grilling. Its usually the waitresses job to start the grill going. It might take 5-10 minutes to heat up properly, so take your time at the buffet tables. Once its hot enough, take the tongs and place the meat on top of the grill. The meats have been marinading for hours and the meat is fatty so you wont have to worry about overcooking. It takes about 2-3 minutes to cook a piece of beef or pork.
spicy pork - spicy, yes. On the spicy scale, about a 7. tender and great on steamed rice
bbq beef - my favorite, great marinade, semi-sweet, heavy on the garlic so watch your burps later on.
short ribs (galbi) - marbling all over the ribs, maybe too much but it sure tasted good. Each table comes with a scissor so if you're too lazy to pry the bones using your teeth, use a scissor.
pork belly - its basically bacon, looks kinda white when cooked. Ive had it before but with some hot pepper sauce. I didnt have any pepper sauce so it was bland. I can only blame myself.
ventilation - i thought it was great until I got to my car, my gawd, its like I hung my clothes in the vents.
I think for the lunch price ($12) Palace BBQ Buffet is a good deal. I know some of you are saying, I can go down the street for $7 all you can. Thats fine, but I like cooking my own meal, variety of meats, and having HOT food on my plate. The meats were a little on the fatty side but I can live with it. My only complaints were the greasy floor and slow water refills. I think dinner prices are much higher for who knows what reason??? Id recommend going for lunch and bring an extra set of clothes cause you're going to smell like a campfire. Palace BBQ Buffet is now my favorite south bay Korean BBQ restaurant.
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 723
Reviewed: 3/7/2006
Rating: 7
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I hate to be rating it a 7, as meat eaters will probably really enjoy this place. I found myself just sitting there watching Jason grill. And while that is a sight to behold, I just was not too thrilled with their non-meat selections. I thought the tofu dish and the eggrolls would save me. The eggrolls turned out to be chock full (solid) with ground beef. The tofu had pork in it as well. sigh. Oh well. The chow mein was actually pretty decent, rice was just so-so. I left this place a little hungry and a bit disappointed, with a much lighter wallet.
I'm rating it a 7 as I don't want to knock the place down too far. For a Korean place it was relatively clean and the selection of meats was impressive. Prices, for a buffet of all those meats, was not bad. If I was to judge on my satisfaction, though, I would knock it down to a 6.
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 165
Reviewed: 12/21/2005
Rating: 8
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This is a popular place if youre a meat eater and you enjoy grilling your own food. Some what similar to Hot Pot City except youre grilling Korean style marinated meat. There are the more common choices such as Korean BBQ marinated beef, pork in spicy sauce, and marinated short ribs. For the more adventurous there are the likes of cow tongue and gizzard, along with various other choices of delicacies typically found on Fear Factor.
Although a bit pricey as lunch is already 11.95 and an extra soda would cost 1.50 more and dinner prices at 16.95, this place still manages to fill up and people typically stand in line at the door waiting for their names to be called.
My co worker and I decided to come here today as work was slow due to the Holiday season and we were allowed to take a longer lunch break. We got here around 12pm and the place was already packed. We went up to the front to write our names on the waiting list. We were about 6th in line with several parties of 6 and 7 in front of us. My friend thought we would be called a lot sooner as we were only party for 2 but it actually took over 30 minutes as they called all the parties in order. By the time we were seated the plates were gone so we had to wait a few more minutes for them to stock up on the plates so we could go grab out food.
This place is divided into three short sections, raw meats, salad, and steam table. The meats here seem fresh as they commonly restock the meats as it runs out. The salad bar is not much as people dont come here for salad. They have some cold noodles here and some Jello and a bit of salad but not enough to feed a vegetarian. The steam table serves some fried rice, some shredded beef egg rolls, sweet and sour meatballs, spicy tofu, and some more traditional Korean cold plates such as sea cucumber and the various items found at a tofu house. They also have steamed rice and choices of several soups against the back wall. The soup choices are usually Seaweed soup, clam chowder, and two seasonal soups. The calm chowder is inconsistent as the previous times I ate here it was a bit salty, yet this time it was a bit thick but I managed to consume three bowls.
As I said, you cook your own meats here. Its best if you come in a smaller group or two or three as the grilling plate isnt that big and with three people your real estate space on the grill is already very little. With four people youll be fighting for your territory on the grill. The grill is nothing more than a hot plate with a gas lit fire underneath it. Our flame was not that hot today so the meat items took a while longer to cook.
Some people love this place and come often, but for me this is maybe twice a year thing as its nothing special and a bit pricy. The best item here is the Korean BBQ beef as its marinated very well and its all you can eat.
Pluses: Takes a major credit cards. All you can eat meat. Decent service as I was offered a refill on my soda where as my friends water was never refilled.
Minuses: Long wait. Hard to find parking. Clothes smell like greasy bbq after the meal.
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Reviewer: dalbiratwall
Total Reviews: 2
Reviewed: 9/17/2006
Rating: 8
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My family and I were in the mood for Korean BBQ. Both my wife and son love grilled marinated ribs. Since I live on the peninsula, our choice was either Brother's in SF or Palace in Santa Clara. In the end, we decided to go south to avoid the traffic and parking. I find that going south is easier because parking in SF is hit and miss. I've been to both places and do like Brother's because it isn't an all-u-can eat buffet. I find that in a buffet setting, I gorge myself silly and feel awful for several days.
In any case, we got to Palace BBQ buffet at 6pm on a Saturday evening. Parking spaces were filling up pretty quickly but if you park on the sides of the restaurant, there is plenty of room. In SF, I would have to drive around for 10-15 minutes looking for a spot or park far, far away.
As we entered, the 3 of us were seated immediately. In fact, I think we took the last empty table. Immediately after, the people had to wait.
Service was efficient and quick. I ordered a Coke and my son and wife wanted iced water. Instantly, I went to the back to grab my pile of meat.
As indicated by other reviewers, this is a meat lovers paradise. If you are a vegetarian, this place will be less appealing to you. If you are looking for the quaint little side dishes that most Korean restaurant dish out, you won't find that many here. On the other hand, I figure if I am going to pay $22.50 (per person weekend prices), I am going to zero in on the meats. $22.50 is a bit much, but I come here maybe once a year, so it's OK. The only unfortunate part to this is that my wife eats like a bird so no matter how much I gorge, they are still going to make a ton of money off of me.
Our favorite is the marinated meat that rolls out from the bone. It's very well marinated and most delicious. You are also provided dull siccors to cut the meat from the bone. These siccors may have worked well when new, but they need to either sharpen them or replace them with light saber siccors.
Each table has a small grill and I can also see how the small grill size works to the restaurants advantage. Imagine if you have a massive grill, the customer will tend to grab more food and fill the grill up with meats. For a buffet restaurant, that would be profit suicide. Also, it's in the best interest of the restaurant for you to eat slower because you eat less. So as you are forced to grill on a small space, it slows the speed of your eating down somewhat. It also saves on the utilities bill because they are using less gas.
Overall, I find the food delicious and the marinate perfect. It's not too salty and there's something for everybody. They have octopus, shrimp, pork, chicken, beef, etc, etc. They also have lots of interesting side dishes such as chow mein, fried rice, etc as well as deserts. For me, I usually zero in on the beef and simple white rice.
The place is relatively clean, but I find myself dressing differently for this restaurant. I usually don't like to wear anything nice there. Not that it is an upscale place, but as the cook, I find I am spending a lot of time cooking on the grill and your clothes absorb the smokey aroma from the meats. So if you go, be sure to dress casual. I usually wear an old T-shirt and jeans.
While my wife eats probably ($2-$3) worth of food there, we still enjoy going there. It's fun to cook your own food on the gas grill and like I said, once a twice a year won't decimate my wallet. I suppose I could go on the weekdays to save a few bucks but time wise, it's a bit harder. Besides, we don't want to deal with the weekday Silicon Valley traffic.
I think the restaurant can also be fun for a large group, but the tables hold only 4 seats and the grill is tiny. I see that some families have to split up at different tables. If you want to sit together, it becomes nearly impossible.
It's cheaper to go on a weekday. Also, lunch prices are cheaper, but I have only eaten there on a weekend dinner.
We will be returning in the future, but like I said, it's usually once a year, but when we do go, we enjoy the food very much. On the other hand, there will be a small Korean place that will open a mile from my home (I can actually walk there), so if the new place is good, then I may not need to go back to Santa Clara.
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