Gen Korean BBQ House

I’ve been coming to GEN Korean BBQ off and on for years, and last night’s Thanksgiving visit with my son was one of the best experiences I’ve had there. We ordered beef bulgogi, brisket, garlic chicken, shrimp, short ribs, and popcorn chicken. Everything was flavorful, but the short ribs were easily the standout—tender, juicy, and perfectly seasoned. In the past, I’ve noticed that when the restaurant gets extremely busy, the service can slip a little. But this time, even with a moderate crowd, the service was excellent. The staff was professional, attentive, and genuinely helpful throughout our meal. The atmosphere was relaxing and made for a great dining experience. Overall, GEN delivered a solid meal with great service, and this visit reminded me why I keep coming back. Happy to see them at their best again.

I came here with my boyfriend because we received gift cards for Christmas. I had high hopes due to him being here before and saying it was good. The food was actually really good! Well except the garlic chicken. That was underwhelming. I also loved the lights and atmosphere. Then came the service…I rarely care about the service so long as they are attentive. However, the wait was abysmally slow. We waited over 30 minutes for ONE refill. Never even got a second one. That and they took ages to do a grill change. By the time they came to replace it, which only happened twice, the grill was charred black and burnt. Never have I had this issue with previous KBBQ places. It really is a shame because I was super excited. Overall, I’m just glad the food wasn’t a letdown. If it’s busy, I’d recommend going elsewhere.

We've been coming to this location since it opened, but we stopped the past couple years because of how crowded it usually is. We had a large party on Saturday night, it's busy as ever. It's rather chaotic when we were seated, they split us into 2 tables (which is fine) but the customers at the other table are still eating, so 5 of us had to stand around our table waiting for the 2nd table to finish up. That's pretty awkward. Even more chaos as some of our orders did not arrive until we asked the servers multiple times. The music is so loud, we can barely hear each other. The quality of the food is worse than the other KBBQ places we go to. The staff tried their best to accommodate everyone, it's just one hectic chaos. Purchasing gift cards ahead of time will save you 20% off the bill, although not the taxes and tips. There are many better choices so I'll go to other restaurants instead.

Extremely Disappointed Visited on 10/28/25 around 3 PM Came to try this spot with my sister, who had raved about it, so I was genuinely excited. Unfortunately, the experience was a huge disappointment from start to finish. First red flag: the women’s bathroom was filthy — toilet paper and seat covers all over the floor, an empty soap dispenser, and a wet floor. The manager actually sat us, and when I mentioned that my expectations were low due to a previous poor experience at the Gen KBBQ Fullerton location, she smiled and said, "Only high expectations here!" Sadly, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Our server, Harvey, was nice, but the service overall was 0/10. - We were served cold bulgogi fries with cheese that wasn’t even melted. - We received two separate items we didn’t order. We asked for beef short ribs, instead got Korean style pork riblet and Spicy pork riblet. - I had to repeatedly ask for things — cheese corn (twice), radish paper (three times), and even napkins well into our meal. - Our salad refill never arrived, drinks weren’t refilled, and no sauces were offered or provided. - When our grill top was changed, the flame wasn’t turned back on, and I had to flag down the manager who did not have a lighter so had to flag down the server to get it lit again. - The restaurant itself looked messy, with multiple dirty tables left uncleared even though the place was mostly empty at that time. As we were leaving, I approached the manager to share our experience and let her know it wasn’t a good one. Her response? "Oh girl, well you should’ve flagged me down! But have a great day!" Not exactly the professional response I expected — or acceptable from a manager. After this visit, I won’t be coming back or recommending this location to anyone. My sister, who initially convinced me to give it a try, said the same.

I enjoyed the variety of premium meats; they were flavorful and delicious. The salad was also good. Overall, it was a positive experience.

Food and value was superb. Great selection of meats that were premium and flavorful for dinner. But most of all just want to shout out the incredibly tentative and amazing service! Sarah C. specifically made me and family’s visit so fun and memorable. Thanks again and will definitely be back!

This was one of the worst Korean BBQ experiences I have had, and unfortunately it confirms how much Gen has gone downhill since expanding. We visited the Cerritos location on Sunday, 1/11/2026, during what should have been a normal dinner service. The restaurant was not packed or chaotic. From the start, service was extremely disorganized. Barely any side dishes came out for us. The only item we actually received was brisket, which arrived fairly early, but that was it. We ordered spicy squid and were told by three different servers that it would be coming out shortly. After waiting a long time and asking again, we were finally told the item not available. Okay. Fine. We will order something else. We then ordered a different squid dish. Same story all over again. More waiting, more vague responses. Eventually, a completely different server casually tells us, "Oh, did no one tell you we’re out of that item too?" At that point, we had been sitting there for close to an hour. By the one hour mark, we were done and didn't care anymore. Just got the check paid, and left no tip since the service was terrible. On top of the service issues, the floor was greasy in multiple areas and noticeably slippery, which is both unpleasant and unsafe. It is unclear why the floor was like that, but it added to the overall negative experience because it showed nobody cared. I can understand mistakes if a place is slammed, but that was not the case here. This was a normal dinner service, and the issues came down to poor communication, lack of organization, and inattentive service.