Gen Korean BBQ House

Don't waste your money. We ordered the premium $50 (a considerable price for a buffet) to "try the full experience," and it was the thinnest Wagyu beef I've ever eaten. I'm only giving the food two stars because the short ribs and skirt steak were good. I had to go straight to the bar to ask for a glass of water because all three waiters I asked for it forgot. The place is huge, and the bathrooms are unisex. I won't be back, and I don't recommend it.

I’ve been to several Korean BBQ restaurants and was excited to try this location. Unfortunately, the experience did not live up to expectations. We visited on a Sunday with a group of four to celebrate a birthday. Despite the restaurant not being busy, we waited approximately 15 minutes to be seated. The restaurant itself is aesthetically pleasing, but that was one of the few positives. Once seated, our drink order (three waters and two Cokes) was taken. The Cokes arrived, but the waters did not. We had to flag down another server, and the waters didn’t arrive until nearly 30 minutes after we were seated. Our waiter explained the menu, the all-you-can-eat process, the two-hour time limit, and the premium option. Since the entire party must order premium, we all did. The premium meat selection was underwhelming, with portions that felt very small for a table of four. Aside from the rib steak, the meats were not particularly impressive. The biggest issue was the service. After the initial interaction, our waiter was extremely difficult to find. We repeatedly had to ask other staff to locate him, and we noticed him spending extended periods at the front of the restaurant rather than attending tables. With a strict two-hour limit, this lack of attentiveness made it nearly impossible to enjoy the all-you-can-eat experience. We only received one round of premium meats, and after more than an hour, continuing felt pointless. We eventually spoke with the manager and explained our concerns. His response was dismissive. He stated that he found it "unbelievable" that our waiter (who he said is his friend and someone he personally knows) would give bad service. We advised him to review the cameras, and made it clear that we would not have complained at all if we hadn’t had such a genuinely horrid experience. While he did remove one meal and downgrade us from premium, the overall response lacked accountability and professionalism. Overall, the atmosphere is nice, but between the slow service, limited food rounds, lack of urgency, and poor management response, this location falls far short. With better staffing and accountability, it could be much better. Unfortunately, based on this visit, we will not return.

I want to start by saying that I am very familiar with Gen Korean BBQ House in various locations throughout several states. I was excited to come to this location and was very disappointed. I know that this is a corporate restaurant and I feel as if they are selling out, especially at this location with no AUTHENTIC Korean oversight whatsoever (Management, Cooks, Servers, etc). I'm saying this in respect to keeping the authenticity similar to other locations with bigger Korean populations (California, Washington, etc). I am Korean and I can say that this is NOT Korean food at all and I do not want El Pasoans who have no insight of authentic Korean food coming here thinking that this is it. It most definitely IS NOT. The meat quality is horrendous, smells disgusting and has an unnatural texture as if it is some sort of faux mystery meat. The bulogogi came in a block like structure which is strange, and was very mushy. The Samgyupsal (pork) was flavorless and sliced too thick with no proper seasoning (seasome oil, black pepper etc.). The spicy chicken looked like chopped up hot dogs and had a rubbery taste to it. The japchae and other side dishes reflect no authentic Korean taste at all and all missed the mark. The rice is either microwaveable or old, but is not Korean sticky white rice. This is why I say if you are trying to emulate another countries cuisine, you need to have the people cooking there that are from that country or at least familiar with the cuisine. You can't expect people who have no idea how to cook Korean food to replicate that. Other people told me that the soups (kimchi soup, etc) are garbage and sometimes there is no attempt to make them at all (no surprise). I ordered two plates of take out and had my wife go inside to pick up the order, only for her to be ignored by two female hostesses. My wife showed the order on my phone and told them my name and they asked her for her name. She told them her name and they handed her the order. We drove home only to discover that the order was wrong and had another name on the receipt with completely different menu items. I called back and the manager let me know they can remake the order and I can come back and pick it up. I eventually did go back to pick it up, mind you this was another 20 minute drive there and back from my home. I was assured that the items were correct in the remake, only to find out it was most definitely not. Both plates were missing the "japchae noodles" and instead had an extra scoop of dry white rice. At that point in discovering the horrible quality of the meat and the inauthenticity of every single item, we couldn't even stomach the food. It really ruined our night and it's safe to say we will never go back. If you want authentic Korean food, I suggest you go to Garlic1% as a new restaurant and then Korea House on Hondo Pass which has been in El Paso for many years. My grandmother who immigrated to El Paso many years ago always came to Korea House up until her passing. Honestly, I wish I could get a refund from the service alone. I had to add my jar of authentic Kimchi to even try to eat any of this "food".

Wow ! what a great night!! I had the honor, to spend my birthday at Gen and it gonna be a night to remember. 🥳🥳🎂🧁🍰🍥🥮 First of all of all the thing I’m going to say first is the customer services. Every single worker was on point! The meats are freaking delicious! To be honest, I can’t really say much on the food because there was so much, just try all of them. 🥩🍖🍗🥓 Restaurants was clean and the restroom were clean!!! I always say if restrooms are clean, food taste good! 😊 good job 👏 Thank you Gen , I’ll be back

As a Korean, I can say this is not a real Korean restaurant. The first dishes I ordered, Doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew) and pork jowl, didn’t come out for over an hour. I mentioned it twice, but they finally brought only the stews — Doenjang-jjigae and Sundubu-jjigae (soft tofu stew) after 1 hour and 10 minutes, and the pork jowl never came out at all. When I told them the order took over an hour, there was no apology, and the hygiene was terrible. On top of that, the grill heat was so weak that the meat took forever to cook. It was truly the worst restaurant experience I’ve had. Korean food is supposed to be fast and flavorful, but this was nothing like that — I’ll never go back again.Add this to your review: Also, it even took a long time just to get the check. After 1 hour and 30 minutes, the rest of the food still hadn’t arrived, so I left the restaurant. They even told me the meat would be "made into some kind of powder," which was absurd. I’m **never going back.**

Gen is by far the best Korean bbq restaurant i have been to, all the food and appetizers are amazing, all the meat is very fresh and super tender! Premium menu is highly recommended! The k ramyun is so good and the skirt steak is so juicey and delicious 😋 and thats coming from a person who does not really like steak!

Tried it out for the first time , it was very cool having it be an all you can eat with a two hour limit. Our service was a bit slow and our appetizers did come out cold which was a bummer. We did have to ask to change the grill since it had become so covered by the meats we were cooking, I don’t think they would’ve done it on their own. I wish there were cooking time recommendations for each protein but other than that I did enjoy it there was some cool appetizer choices and a variety of proteins to choose from