Jeong Won Korean BBQ Buffet

As you walk the strip of Convoy trying to find the best and/​or highly rated Korean style food, it’s hard not to get caught up on the flashy signs, bigger restaurants, and promotional deals. In fact, Jeong Won seems to be the opposite, and a spot I unconsciously actively avoided as it seemed a bit too dingy to be worth my time. But what got me into this hole in the wall was the best advertisement you can get for a business; word-​of-​mouth from multiple satisfied customers.
When entering, the first noticeable trait of the restaurant are the long tables which made me personally feel less crowded than having a booth, especially since my particular lunch was with a larger party of 7. However, smaller tables were available for a slightly more intimate if not so romantic meat-​fest. The place is overall a bit small, so getting up and around to get more food when already full is a bit of a chore if you’re a heavy eater like me. This especially true if the place is crowded or the party you came with is a larger one.
In terms of pricing, there is a definite «bang for your buck» quality compared to other local KBBQ places, including the variety of sides and sauces. Boy are there plenty of sauces! Aside from the typical meat selection such as bulgogi, chicken, tongue, and so forth, what won me over was the mussels available to grill alongside everything else. Something about not only smoking mussels, but watching as the salt water bubbles out next to pounds and pounds of red meat evokes something primal and comforting.
As with any buffet, the cleanliness is largely affected by how courteous other patrons are. Considering typical habits the average consumer has when dealing with food (mixing serving tongs, placing plates and dishes in non-​designated areas), I’d recommend keeping an eye out for some shady eating activities. The servers, however, seem to do their best to be on top of this. The biggest tripe (har har) about this place that I often hear is the lack of service from often times younger staff. Well, for your $ 20 bucks mostly going to the food and business cost along with the DIY meat service, what else would you expect? Tip well regardless and brighten some kids day. Who knows, doing so might actually help the service problem everyone seems to complain about.

This was my first experience with Korean BBQ and it was great!!! I love the vibe of the restaurant as soon as you walk in, very relaxed and friendly. The choice of meats and veggies is good. And the 2 hour limit is enough time to eat plenty of food! Definitely going to come back soon!

Taekugi is my usual place for all you can eat BBQ, but I wanted to try something else. This place caught my eye because it’s a buffet style so I can choose my own serving sizes.
This is place is fantastic. The beef tongue was my favorite as it’s usually a pricier order at non AYCE places. I tried a little of everything though. The top sirloin was tougher than I expected. Short ribs (both marinated and non-​marinated) was good as well.
My only complaints is the sauces are a little lacking. Nothing stood out. Spicy mayo, sesame, ginger, spicy, and smoky.

I am from Phoenix and I wish we had a Korean buffet like this here in Phoenix. Great food. Fun atmosphere. Will definitely go back there when in SD.

Love the buffet style for selecting meats and veggies. This is ideal if you’re a smaller group and want to try a variety of dishes without having to order large plates of one item. The buffet section does get crowded so I usually go when the restaurant opens.

hands down — my favorite and #1 place for Korean barbecue. and i’ve had my fair share of different kbbq places! ones with cheaper prices, ones with fancier meats — and this one still beats them all. have had a few nights where i can honestly say i could’ve had a better experience service wise, but i still love this place simply for the accessibility.
i like the buffet style of you getting your own meats, your own amount of rice, your own vegetables (huge plus!), your own sides, your own sauce, and your own utensils. sure i mean it sounds like a chore when someone can just bring it to you, but i already have to wait for my food to cook — don’t like to wait to flag down a waiter so often to be quite honest. and i like being able to control my portions and not feel so pressured to finish whatever amount is automatically set for me.
every day, they also offer ½ off alcohol so i love this place. been coming here consistently for the past 3 years and for some reason barely got around to writing this review.

Small tight shack, parking is terrible. Why is it the customers never wanna leave and create space for newcomers

This is it, the holy grail of Korean BBQ in San Diego.
The staff is very prompt and friendly. There was a bit of a wait our first time here (Friday night, expected), but once we were inside, we were given a quick brief of some of the items available, and off we went!
A HUGE selection of meats, seafood, vegetables, sides, you name it, they have it! You simply grab a plate, place what you want on it, and bring it back to your table and get cooking!
The grills have larger slots, so the flame cooks the meats evenly, and quickly. The flavor of their marinades is out of this world!
The only reason I take a star away is the DECOR. It is awful! It’s just word and clip art garbage, plastered up everywhere, and DIRTY. Several signs and décor pieces were covered in dust, making eating near them a little unnerving.
Honestly, the décor adds nothing to the place, and I wouldn’t cry if it was taken down.
Until then, I will cross my fingers that dust doesn’t fall in my food, and keep munching away!

A different kind of BBQ. Ingredients placed for self setvice, and you cook at your own table to taste. A friendly atmosphere and welcoming wait staff round out an great experience. The venue is small, so there isn’t much rooom, but besides that we found nothing to reproach.

I wasn’t expecting for everything to be self serve when I got there, but it was pretty bad ass, we got our own little grill and there were tons of options to choose from [meat wise]. Since I’ve never been to a place like this before I really have nothing to compare it to, so if I had to give a suggestion I’d say there could have been more veggie options to cook on the grill. The other thing that I really liked a lot about this place is all the positive affirmations on the walls, it really made for a calming environment! Our waitress was so kind and helpful and told us how it all worked, there was a good variety of sauces and a nice beer selection.

Mmmmm. Did I say «Mmmmm»? I meant «UGH SO FULL, SO GOOD, BUT… I WANT… more???»
C’mon. All you can eat kbbq, affordable price. Like, what, $ 20? Splurge a few bucks more and order pancakes (everything else is self serve!).
I’ve been here twice with friends. Never disappointed. I like the marinades, the sauces, the rice, the staff, and OK, wow, them mashed potatoes. Always runs out, always refilled. Popular. Also popular? This place. Get here early. It’s busy by 5:30pm, packed by 6:30pm. Great for groups… I’d guess it seats around…60? Oh, I don’t know. Just get here early and get grillin’!

Can’t go wrong with all you can eat Korean bbq. The meat marination is pretty good and the price isn’t bad ($ 25) especially when other places cost an arm and a leg. I do enjoy the fruity beef and the ribs. The grill itself may be too small for 5 people. I’m not a patient person so waiting can be painful. But all in all, I would come here if I don’t feel like making line to get in for the decent selection of meat they offer.

This Korean BBQ buffet is interesting. I’ve never been to this type of buffet place; it is self serve. Awesome for me and my significant other because we mostly eat beef tongue. Woot woot! There are a ton of other marinated meats to choose from and veggies. The place itself is small, so you might have to wait depending on the time.

Are you a competitive eater? Is your body going through ketosis? Do you enjoy your gains?
Then you’re in for the best $ 20 of your life.
All types of meat and body parts you can imagine.
And a random icecream machine.

The Great — The Self Service — get your own meat and not wait for anyone!
The Good — The restrooms are clean! (This is important)
The Bad — Just a little cramped
This place has a great selection of meat and veggies. Their prices are reasonable, and they have free soda refills!

I used to like this place but it’s different now. You come inside and get seated and basically get everything yourself. You get free Korean pancakes which are always good.
I usually would get a bunch of bulgogi and smoky sauce. Literally, I would fill up the sauce container with only smoky sauce. They have the steamed egg but it’s cold when it should be boiling. They also got rid of the soft serve ice cream and the servers are all different now. Service isn’t as good anymore. It is really slow service especially if you need your grill to be changed.
The parking lot is usually packed with tiny parking spaces.

I love this place because it is a casual Korean BBQ spot. I like that I don’t have to be fussed over or have to choose what I want right away. I have the freedom to choose the amount and type of meat that I want and I get to try a bit of everything.
I also love that there is a variety of vegetables. I love the selection at Jeong Won. On this evening, I went with a group of 4. Usually this is fun if everyone takes care of the table when cooking. This particular group wanted to do individual style which made me wish we had a bigger grill. When you only have 2 people or a group that shares, it’s easy to do veggies on one side and meat on the other. My friend and I tried to do it all on one side and it was a tiny struggle, but not impossible.
My favorite meat is the short ribs. I also love the seafood options. I try to eat all of the mussels, but I usually can only fit 6 in my belly. I definitely will be back when I’m looking for a casual KBBQ experience with a date or some friends who want to chat over a long meal.

When I came to this place, there was no waiting. The waitress came quick and ask for our drink order.
And then you will just go on your own to pick whatever meat, sides, vegetables you want.
I like this part because it easy and fast.
But…The grill is not good. The meat got stuck so much even we change it to a new grill.
The thing I didn’t like about was the waitress.
They will not come to change your grill or refill your drinks.
They will be sitting in the chair and chatting the entire time. They do not move!
I liked the food and the variety, but I don’t think I will come back because of the «bad» service. Sorry.

I used to come quite often a few years ago and there have been a few changes. All the servers used be male and now they are mostly females. It was a noticeable difference, also the service was lacking.
What I enjoy about this place is the variety, I like the mussels and shrimp and onions and mushrooms I can also cook for myself. I don’t always only eat meat. The options of sauces are nice however I usually stick to the sesame sauce.
My boyfriend and I waited quite a while just to be seated and it wasn’t busy at all. When the girl sat us she asked if this was ok, when I asked for a different table she said it was reserved for four or more… then why ask at all? Also that table was never sat the whole time we were there.
What hasn’t changed was the tacky décor of a million quotes plastered all over the walls, whose idea was that?! Also a lot of the plates had burn marks on them, really? My boyfriend couldn’t find the bulgogi and I find it to be labeled under «fruity beef»…interesting.
I do like this place because it is self serve and the options they carry, however everything else such as the establishment itself and in particular the service needs great improvement. Also the next day both my boyfriend and I had really bad tummy aches… also no more soft serve…

Just as good as Manna! It’s all you can eat for $ 22 dinner. Came here on a Saturday night and the wait was half an hour.
The big difference in this place from other KBBQ is its self serving buffet bar of all kinds of meats like marinated short rib, lamb, brisket, chicken, pork, bacon, pork belly and seafood like shrimp, squid and vegetables and various sides. LOVED the brisket — so fatty and good with the sesame sauce. It’s nice that you’re not judged for how much you end up eating. Also really liked the Korean pancakes they serve to the table!
The servers were so busy the entire time and seemed understaffed but were very friendly. Ambiance was just like any other KBBQ. Would definitely come back here again!

This was my goto place for AYCE KBBQ. Mainly cause me and my dining partner are very big eaters so I feel less obese when I’m able to get my own food instead of having to always ask for it. I mean between the two of us we could probably take down a very small cow. Sorry, cows. I enjoy the short ribs. They’re always so delicious. Once cooked theyre very tender, juicy and flavorful. The BF enjoys the briskit and sirloin cuts. Another reason I used to always come here is because I enjoyed the korean pancakes very much.
Why I only give them 3 stars is because the service… it used to pretty much be a hit or miss. It seemed better maybe a year ago. Recently it seems like they have way more misses. I always have to ask for refills of korean pancakes, change of grill, refills of drinks… Now when I wanna eat kbbq I consider going to Manna instead. But I still consider this place too. So they havent totally ran me off yet.

Spicy chicken son… The food is great. A large variety of meats and some seafood to grill from. Customer service was great. They have a new team and they will change out your grill very quick.
Something i did notice that i did not like. The steamed egg was cold this time and they attempted to do «fifo» first in first out. But the old eggs on top were green? What is this? Why? It was a turn off for that option. The potato salad is great.
Price on sake bomb and or bottle is stupid ridiculously over priced for the small cramped over packed parking lot resturant. But better then mañana
«Roadway to Unilocal elite»

Can’t say I’m very picky about my meat — if there’s a lot of it my ultimate goal is to shove as much of it down my throat as possible. The meat here is fresh enough to enjoy after its cooked even if they’re served cold buffet style. So long as they serve lamb leg (which definitely sets them aside from other AYCE places), I am very content piling on as much of it on my plate as possible.
My biggest complaint would be for their brisket. While they always makes sure to have plenty well stocked in the metal containers, the slices are too big and easily get stuck together making it very difficult to deal with when trying to cook them. Also, it’s buffet style so everything is self-​served. The buffet area isn’t the biggest so if the place is packed, you’ll find yourself queuing up to grab your meat. Vegetables and side dishes are easy enough to get to.
TIPS: Servers are pretty good about bringing around the miso soup (which is mediocre and bland) and korean pancakes. Make sure to ask for the pancakes! They are fresh. Also, rice paper seems nonexistent here, but they’re actually within a random stainless steel container near the sauces. Don’t miss it! Otherwise, grab your utensils, choose from their vast selection of sauces (at least 10 different kinds) and you’ll be in a meat lovers paradise. Lots of happy endings to be had here! (And plenty of acid reflux as well, I’m sure hah).