(October 2009) I don't know when this happened but after trying to get customers with different systems...they failed to keep quality...and today when I passed by I found out that this Restaurant is OUT OF BUSINESS...

Wong Gal Bi Korean BBQ Restaurant has been through rough times and lots of changes. But I'm not sure how many changes were there for the management.

1.They tried charcoal BBQ but didn't work. I think they had a safety problem or something.
2. Then they started BBQ buffet (which wasn't really buffet) and this didn't work either. I didn't like it because they would bring a default meat combination which included meat I don't like and we had to ask the servers to bring more meat every time. I love to eat and I mean I can eat and my friends can eat too. After asking them more couple times servers started to pressure us to stop. What kind of buffet is that? So I stopped going there.
3.Then I heard they changed into different Korean BBQ buffet style AGAIN. (I'm not sure of the change in management though.). The good news was that it actually became a real buffet style with lower price of dinner around $12.99-$15.99 (?). However, I guess some people still didn't like it since they only had pork, chicken, and bulgogi and no GALBI. Korean BBQ is all about Galbi if you want to get your money worth for BBQ meat. I didn't mind that much though since it's cheaper than other Korean BBQ and pretty good Samgyupsal (like bacon.)
4.And I guess many people complained? They changed one more time! They added marinated Galbi, Ssang Galbi (not marinated/plain), and Joomooluk (marinated short steak) with increase in price to $17.99. I think it's still good price with what's all included since if you go to regular Korean Restaurant you need to spend more than $20 per person for BBQ. However, different restaurants have combo meal of their own. So you have to investigate some more and choose your favorite I guess. It's All-You-Can-Eat BBQ after all, which means it's more quantity than quality. If you are looking more of quality, I suggest that you go somewhere else.

So enough about their changes. I went there last weekend and liked it a lot. (I liked it since change number 3 LOL) Shall we look into it?

They now had more included complimentary food that servers brought out as well.

Servers bring this out for you. It's scallion strips and lettuce slices mixed with sweet and hot pepper paste (Restaurants have different dressings.) You can ask them for more! I think we (4 people) ate like 4-5 bowls of it. I always eat this with my meat instead of wrappping meat with lettuce since the salad already includes all of it.

Nice addition is this Steamed egg and Daenjang Jjigae (Bean paste stew). They go really nice with BBQ. Yummy. I'm not sure if this is unlimited too, but if you smile nicely enough your server might get you an extra one. Ha Ha.

And unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of Nangmyun (cold noodle soup.) When you are about done with your BBQ, they will ask you if you want your small Nangmyun (included!!) You can pick from two styles: Mulnangmyun (cold noodle soup) or Bibim Nangmyun (Spicy cold noodle-hot pepper paste sauce.) I always get Mulnangmyun since I love soup!

Now shall we go get some food?

The first station you'll see is the rice and noodle station. You can get some rice there, but my strategy? is to not eat rice. I don't really need it to eat BBQ. If you must, please eat rice. They have two different kinds. They also have Soojungwa (Dessert drink) there. On the left of this station are the plates.

I don't know what kind of station I would call this. It has different banchans. Far left is sliced radish salad. I always get this and eat it with scallion salad and meat together. Not scientifically proven but it seems to help me digest BBQ better and makes me eat more! White gelatin is Mook. I talked about it in my new year post. There are white ones and there are brown ones. You need pour sauce over it so look for it around the station (usually made of soy sauce and scallions etc.) And feel free to explore other stuff too.

I guess you can call this part a condiment station. Unlike other restaurants you need to get your own. The green basket is for the lettuce and smaller bowls for garlic, green peppers, and dipping sauce. Dipping sauce is made with bean paste and other vegetables mixed in. Oh but sesame oil dipping sauce is brought out by the server. Mine was little too salty so I asked for extra sesame oil.

Now to the main course! Yay! I labeled main meat for you.
On the far right are the unusual BBQ stuff. Gopchang is beef tripe. The other marinated meat there is pork marinated like Galbi. That's pretty good too. There's also spicy squid bulgogi. I'm not sure what the other one is but I saw this in a vietnamese pho too.

And on the other side are some more kinds of meat. Most of them are pretty good! When you get some Samgyupsal just be careful not to get too fatty ones. Not good for you.

There are sushi rolls there also. To me, they seem to be all very similar rolls. We ate these rolls instead of just plain rice.

Finally, some BBQ tips for you:
Start with plain, non marinated meat first. In that way your grill won't burn so easily that you don't have to ask your server to change it too often. But when you need to ask them right away! They will gladly change it for you. Also if you eat non marinated meat first you'll eat more! LOL.

Wong Gal Bi Korean BBQ Restaurant is located:
1111 North Rolling Rd
Catonsville, MD 21228
(410) 788-5678

I hope this helps.
Enjoy!

Popularity: unranked

Written on January 19, 2009 |