Song Do Buffet

$14.99 dinner buffet. one of the cheapest i know in town. went w/ a relatively large party of 10 which occupied one of the side (non-heated, causing goose bumps) rooms.

lack of meats disappointed me. had kalbi, bulgogi, frozen unmarinated chicken breast/overly thick slices of pork, chicken gizards and a few very difficult to cook kabobs. no taeji bulgogi - my fave - no shrimp. our party was presented w/ 2 live coal grills, no gas assist. unfortunately one of the coal pits did not pack enough coal and had to be refilled. the bulgogi had decent flavor, but did not have even depth like what my gf's mom's recipe yields. kalbi was tender and sweet, essentially the only thing worth eating at the whole buffet. note worthy: only lettuce provided for wrap, no slivers of radish / rice noodle sheets just yet. chicago is still behind the korean bbq trends.

panchan bar was filling, but no muochi, salted raw crabs, etc. in general panchan side was lacking meats - a fair result of the low price. they did have shi kae! but was all out by 10pm when i was ready for dessert.

saw some folks drinking hite, not sure if BYOB. closes at 10:30-11pm, depending on business. service, as typical of most korean BBQ buffets, was non-existent. no refills of tea, no busing of tables, hard to consistently hunt down the staff to cut the kalbi off the bones, etc.

Song Do Buffet (hmf, i know a girl name Songdo)
4918 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago
Tel: (773) 878-0999

TonyC wrote:lack of meats disappointed me. had kalbi, bulgogi, frozen unmarinated chicken breast/overly thick slices of pork, chicken gizards and a few very difficult to cook kabobs. no taeji bulgogi - my fave - no shrimp.
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panchan bar was filling, but no muochi, salted raw crabs, etc. in general panchan side was lacking meats - a fair result of the low price.

Tony,

Ellen, myself and Peter D were at Hae Woon Dae this week, which has remained my favorite Korean BBQ throughout the years. Live coals, tender, well marinated meats, full spectrum of accompaniments, lettuce leaves, scallion, raw garlic, bean paste, sesame oil dip, etc.

Hae Woon Dae's panchan are excellent and they did have raw crab the other evening, though were out of small dried fish, and the panchan array is generous.

Korean buffet wise, Korean Garden has been my pick, good selection of meats, panchan, soup, sides, Korean style chicken wings, and even maki rolls, both Korean style and Japanese. No raw crab though, and I can't remember is there is shrimp included in the meats for grilling.

Enjoy,
Gary

Garden Buffet
5347 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL
773-728-1249

Hae Woon Dae
6240 N. California
Chicago, IL. 60659
773-764-8018

Korean buffet wise, Korean Garden has been my pick, good selection of meats, panchan, soup, sides, Korean style chicken wings, and even maki rolls, both Korean style and Japanese. No raw crab though, and I can't remember is there is shrimp included in the meats for grilling.

I was there recently. Shrimps with heads and exoskeleton were there. Raw crabs, I don't recall. They do bus tables, someone magically shows up to cut the meat off the bone, refills of drinks are your problem. They will change your grill rack if it gets too messy and food begins to build up on it.

It does cost about $4-5 dollars more and they do add a 10% tip automatically to the bill.

I was there with a group of 14 people last night. We got there around 7PM. Besides us, the place was practically empty. Having a real coal was a nice touch since that's a rarity nowadays.

Some positives:
Nicely marinated galbi
plentiful help from waitresses in terms of cutting meat and changing grill
Homemade sikhae (dessert drink made of formented rice)
Nice price (17.99 all you can eat meat)

Some negatives:
Some meat like slabs of ribeye looked obviously dried out

For the price, I think this is a good place for group parties and westerners who like Korean BBQ. Banchan and kimchi were actually not that bad. I liked the fact that they had sikhae, which was a nice touch.

One thing others might not know about is that usually as a sequence of things we eat after kalbi, Koreans order naengmyun (cold noodle with meat broth) as kind of a palate pleaser. Song Do buffet has it. You just have to ask for it, although I am not sure it's extra cost or not.
Overall, I would probably return for other group functions. This seems to be the only Korean BBQ buffet in town nowadays.

H