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When I first heard about an all you can eat Korean BBQ, I practically wet myself. The thought of stuffing myself full with bulgogi and kalbi was too enticing. So this past Monday with a nice group of six people, I found myself sitting in front of an open face barbeque ready to dig into copious amounts of meat.

You first get a set of side dishes like at any Korean BBQ. The customary kimchee, seaweed, semi-sweet pickled radish, etc. were on hand. Of course, they don’t give you too much since they know that the focus is on the meat.

I left the ordering up to my friend who had been there a few times. He went with the kalbi, bacon, and what he termed brisket. The brisket was merely rolled up thin slices of unmarinated beef with rather large stripes of fat. If you’ve ever eaten at a Mongolian BBQ place, it is the exact same. The kalbi was slightly marinated so it had some flavor. The bacon was one what one might expect…namely a large strip of cured pork. Overall, the meat is a considerable drop from what one would find in many normal Korean BBQ restaurants. However, when you are eating all-you-can-eat, you can’t expect filet mignon.

So given that the meat was mostly unmarinated, one might wonder why you even go to Manna. After all, the whole point of Korean BBQ is that the meat is already bursting with flavor, having been marinated thoroughly. But for Manna to offer all-you-can-eat for 15 dollars (yes that’s right…15 DOLLARS!!!), it has to cut back on some things.

But, it does not mean that you can have flavorful meat. You get a bowl of soy sauce flavored with some peppers, some soy bean paste, and a bowl of pepper infused sesame oil. Personally, I dipped my meat into a mixture of soy bean paste and soy sauce and then topped it off with the oil. The combination worked out quite well. We also got cloves of garlic and sliced green chili peppers, which we grilled and ate with our BBQ.

So even though the quality of meat wasn’t the greatest, I was still able to enjoy my meal thanks to the dipping sauce. Also, considering that my friends and I went through four larges platters of meat, I’d label my experience at Manna a success.

By Jeff (see more of his posts).