Tofuya BBQ - National Blvd. @ Sawtelle WLA

[Servorg]

Finally got around to trying this K BBQ place just across the parking lot from Primo's Doughnuts. We did the "AYCE" BBQ special for $16.95 pp (wife, son and I). I will give it an overall of a B - with potential to go higher as we tried one of their weaker meat items (pork belly) along with kalbi and bulgogi and the spicy chicken. Gas fired grill in the middle of the table did an able job of cooking the meat. The banchan was not bad and they even bring out a bubbling hot pot of an egg custard like dish as part of the spread.

It was not too crowded when we arrived, but by the time we left it was jammed with lots of folks waiting.

Some of the other meat choices sounded intriguing, but my wife is not an adventurous eater so we skipped the beef tongue and the brisket...

Service was fine. I mean they were all running around like headless chickens, so I'll give them a pass if it took a few minutes to get and then pay the check. I also goofed up and got the "big" Sapporo beer. It was not in a bottle, so I ended up with a gigantic pitcher of beer for like $11. I was definitely not short of beer last night!

For very close by west side K BBQ I can see putting it on our infrequent rotation. Total check (including the beer which was $8 more than I needed to pay or drink) came out to be $71 and change, plus tip. They will give you a small discount (would have been $68 and change) if we had paid cash instead of credit card.

I don't know if this place is connected to the other place by a very similar name on Sawtelle or not.

[wilafur]

agreed. the ayce deal is pretty good....by westside standards.

[mdpilam]

Do you know if this is related to the Tofu-Ya on Sawtelle?

[Servorg]

Gotcha! ;-D> Anticipating that question might come up I did address that in my post...and I said I don't know. Anyone else know? Somehow, I don't think so (they seem so very different to me in terms of look and concept). But that's a pure guess.

[Servorg]

Well my pure guess was exactly wrong (like that's ever happened before... ;-D>). My father-in-law (information comes at you from every angle when you are least expecting it) told me yesterday that these two places are indeed owned by the same people. He's Korean, so his ability to chat with them in their native language proved useful in gathering data in this case.

[Ogawak]

Thanks for the update. I went to the Sawtelle one and had their bulgogi and thoroughly enjoyed it. My wife had the kalbi which was a bit under-marinated. Overall a good Korean place without having to go to Koreatown. We will have to try this one on National.

[Skunk2Racer]

I thought this place was Decent also. Only thing is the Tables are crammed in tight. So it gets a little Smokey.....

[Servorg]

They maybe upgraded their exhaust system? Because I noticed the smoke went straight up the stainless steel hoods above each table pretty much.