South Bay: YakiniQ

Even though I know it's going to hurt afterwards, every once in a while, I get a craving for Korean BBQ.  AYCE Korean BBQ, to be more exact.

Abby and UK had gone to YakiniQ with their friends and came back with raving reviews.  Which of course meant that I had to go check it out myself.  We rallied our usual group (plus my mother) and arrived at YakiniQ at around 6:00pm on a Sunday.  The line was no joke:

   

We waited a good 40 minutes before we made it inside.  The interior was dark and decorated with the concept of form following function:

Even before we could place our meat order, the table was loaded with banchan: 

You have two choices for AYCE at YakiniQ.  There's regular ($29.99 per person) and then there's premium ($34.99 per person).  The premium menu includes four additional options: king prawns, beef flat flap meat, American Wagyu beef belly, and American Wagyu beef brisket.  Once you've selected your menu, you order your meats online by scanning a QR code with your phone.  

Anyone who's been to a Korean AYCE BBQ can attest to this: it's not an environment conducive to photo taking.  Not only is the lighting dim, but the pacing is hectic.  The orders arrive all at once and you barely get a chance to snap a photo before the meat is slapped onto the grill.

All that's just to say that I don't have great photos of the food.  And that I missed a lot of it.  Sorry.  Everything was such a meat coma blur that I also don't remember which cuts are which.  Double sorry.  

Let's just enjoy some photos of beautiful red meat, shall we?  I believe these are the fresh short ribs:

If I'm right, they're on the regular menu, however you're limited to one order per person.  Also restricted to one order per person is the beef prime boneless short rib.

I think this it the beef flat flap meat, which is from the premium menu:

This looks like beef tongue to me:

This might be the premium Wagyu beef brisket:

While this might be regular beef brisket: 

This for sure is the rib eye steak:

And you can't mistake this for anything but large intestine:

This looks like sliced flat iron, Wagyu brisket, and pork jowl:

But I could be wrong.  

I'm not wrong about these shrimp though:

Besides meats, you can also order other sides like steamed egg:

You can also get tofu stew, kimchi jjigae, and doenjang jjigae.

At the end of the meal (if you're still conscious), you can get a complimentary ice cream with fried bananas:

Even though we walked out of YakiniQ complaining about how much pain we were in from eating too much, we went back a few months later.  This time I sat next to one of the meat trays, so I was able to get a few more photos.

This order contained bulgogi, rib fingers, rib eye steak, and a flat iron steak:

Here's the beef prime boneless short rib that you can only get order one per person:

And the small intestine:

My mom really likes marinated meat, so we got her the marinated kalbi:

The pork steak was much bigger and tastier than we expected: 

There's also a section of the menu that you can order for a small additional fee.  It includes ramen ($0.99), kimchi fried rice ($3.99), and cold noodles ($0.99).  Apparently UK now wants to end all Korean BBQ buffets with cold noodles:

I couldn't.  A scoop of ice cream is one thing, a whole bowl of noodles is entirely impossible for me.

Yes, YakiniQ is a bit pricier than Gen, but honestly, the meat is fresher and the options better.  There's also more banchan.  Unless you're obsessed with Wagyu, I think going with the regular menu is perfectly fine.  You don't really miss the premium items.  

The only downside to YakiniQ is that they aren't open for lunch.  I supposed if I really wanted Korean BBQ in the middle of the day, I could see myself dropping by Gen for a weekday lunch since it's walking distance from my house and only costs $19.95.  But other than that, I would much rather spend a bit more and have YakiniQ.

YakiniQ
1783 W San Carlos St
San Jose, CA 95128
(408) 293-2668
http://www.yakiniq-sanjose.com/