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All you can eat Korean BBQ since 2009

1. This is Los Angeles, i.e. parking sucks. Rather than limiting the parking to the small space they’ve been spotted, Castle offers valet who can Tetris every car into that tiny parking lot. It’s $2 per vehicle, cheaper than meters safer than the streets.
2. You will wait up to ~1hr on a busy weekend night with a large party. ~30-45 with a small. No call ahead, no reservations. Parties smaller than 2 will not be seated.
3. Would you like more sides? Ask for more banchan (sp?). Any, all of them! The wait staff is happy to fill ’em up for ya. Rice, salads, miso, jalapeños, whatever.

Last but certainly not least,

4. Have you ever heard it said that to find the most delicious tacos, you should go to the most authentic spot you can find? Gotta be honest, this means go to some shitty looking spot (with good Yelp reviews;). Castle BBQ is dingy af. And their food is on f*ck*ng point. Pick any menu, you can’t go wrong.

Castle is dingy, it’s crowded, it’s dirty. But, try the rice or plum wine, that’ll help ya ease up because it is the #1KBBQ spot in LA for value, quality, and service.

-Alma

Absolutely love this place!  What a great deal for $11.99/person option A, all you can eat brisket and all the appetizers/side dishes and miso soup! It has such an upbeat and fast pace environment.  There is valet parking for $2. They served quickly and they keep the refills going until you say no more.  For more money you can get more variety.  Option B for $14.99 or Option C $18.99.  The only thing is that the music might be a little loud and get annoying at times when you are trying to have a conversation with the people your with. The grill is great every-t we go we never have to get a replacement unlike the other Korean bbq places.

Henry and Diego are always super awesome!! . Always great service from this 2 guys!!

-Abigail

Great spot for cheap AYCE KBBQ.  Our group chose the tier B menu at $14.99, but I would’ve easily been satisfied with the $11.99 tier A option.  We ordered a variety of meats including brisket, short rib, herbal pork belly and squid.  All of the meats were well marinated and delicious.  There were also several yummy banchan dishes of salad, mac salad, rice paper, kimichi, and other pickled veggies.  We also ordered the steamed egg and corn cheese; I would skip the corn cheese- not much cheese or flavor in this overall.

We came on a holiday and the restaurant was pretty empty, so service was pretty on point.  From refilling our meat orders and banchan, to changing the grill, service was pretty fast and efficient.  And while this place might not have the ambiance of ChoSun Galbee, it’s definitely a great option for AYCE KBBQ on a budget.

-Joan

How is it that there’s about 101 KBBQ places in the area, and I always make it back to this one…?

Here’s the breakdown:

1. PRICE: $11.99/person.. used to be $9.99…but with inflation and all…lol! Anyway..not too bad of a price regardless. Meats are just right and flavored so well.. i believe they do and upgrade charge if you want other special things..but for the basics, its $11.99. Comes with plenty of side dishes, and always depends on the day. Their mac salad is still the house fave! They also serve steamed egg for $2.99 addition.

2. SERVICE: this is honestly why I keep coming back to be honest. There’s this sweet lady who is like the Castle Bbq momma! You will know exactly who I am referring to once you get there.. there’s also this gentleman there who is just so quick and always smiling. Everyone here is always on the move, so don’t hold a stank face when they are helping you. I don’t think I’ve ever been here where there isn’t a wait.

3. DRINKS: yes, there’s beer. Pitchers area available to those who prefer it.

4. PARKING: can be pretty tough. Theres a small spot for them, but its VALET. Theres like $1.50 charge. If you are lucky, you can find a nice spot on the streets.

Happy eating!

-Anne Marie

My Korean “girlfriend” will probably smite me for giving this place five stars, but damn it I love Castle! Is it because of the low price? Yes. Is that the only reason? Kind of.

First things first, parking sucks. I happened to find street parking miraculously. Otherwise, valet is the only option.

Second, the wait can be painfully long if you go at the peak times. We went at like 10 PM on a Sunday and the place was still packed. No line, thankfully. (I bought a lottery ticket because I felt lucky.)

Third, this is not a place for the KBBQ beginner unless you tell them “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing plz cook my food for me.” They don’t really assist you with that like some other KBBQ places do, but if all else fails, just overcook the hell out of it.

Fourth, the service is incredible in terms of taking orders. We sat down and I could barely take off my damn jacket before I was staring at side dishes and steamed rice. They swoop in unsuspectedly and supply the meats at the snap of your fingers. Don’t snap though. That’s rude af and they deserve more respect.

Fifth, go with option B. It’s $15 and contains everything you could want.

Sixth, no it’s not the greatest quality meat. Yes it’s kind of gross to see them restocking buckets of raw meat out in the open. But it’s nearly half the price of competition and it’s still incredibly satisfying and delicious.

-Cordero

Reading through a couple of these reviews and I had to stop because I’m so annoyed. This is a all you can eat spot for less than $12 a person. For all the people who complain about it, go pay way more expensive prices somewhere else and leave this place for people who can appreciate it for what it is! The food is good and the staff is always so nice. People who complain clearly can’t see how hard the waiters work trying to take care of all these people because that place is always full! Stop expecting to be treated like a king when you’re paying peasant prices – ( I come here once a month for the past 2 years and have never had a problem. They are great ) Bottom line, you get a bang for your buck here and it’s perfect for satisfying cravings. There’s a reason why this place has long lines! It’s worth it! Btw, I love the sides here! Way better than any fancier spot I even been to..  (Only was able to attach these two photos before phone died. But as you can see it’s good quality)

Pros:
– affordable
– valet option for only $1.50
– all you can eat
– good food

Cons:
– parking
– almost always a line
– basic decor

-Salina

Amazing service. Best Kbarb for the best price in Ktown. Bang for your buck, great brisket and bulgogi, and all you can eat for just $12.99! Always feeling respected and looked after at this establishment. My personal favorite.

-Zach

I believe my first Korean BBQ experience was at Castle many years ago. It was a relatively good experience, and since I wasn’t aware of how KBBQ worked, all I remember was being so amazed that we could order as many side dishes and dishes of meat as we wanted. Fast forward to present time, my friend and I were spending the afternoon at Grand Park when we decided on a spur of the moment KBBQ trip. Korean BBQ is good once in awhile, but if you’ve had it recently, you usually don’t crave it for awhile. I had had it maybe a week or so earlier with this same friend, but his persistence paid off and we found ourselves waiting in the hour or so line at Castle for a table.

There are a ton of KBBQ places in Koreatown. From decently priced ones to super expensive ones, you’ll find several on one single block. And the wait can get pretty crazy if you arrive on a weekend or Friday night. Castle itself isn’t a very big restaurant, but because of its really low prices, there’s always a good crowd of people waiting outside. Parking isn’t the easiest to find (several spots are reserved for 7/11), so street parking is probably your best bet. The restaurant isn’t the cleanest either, but you’re paying for cheap KBBQ so … you can’t really expect too much.

They have several AYCE options, but we opted for the cheapest – $10.99 per person and you can order from a variety of 7 or so dishes (as well as have banchan, rice, salad, etc.). Usually when eating KBBQ, the popular dishes are bulgogi, brisket, and pork belly, so that’s pretty much all the dishes that we kept ordering. There’s also steak, chicken, and intestine if you’re interested in other options.

Not a big fan of bulgogi, but my friend thought Castle’s wasn’t too bad. The marinade was good and gave the meat a sweet flavor that he enjoyed. Comparing this bulgogi to the one we had in New Mexico … this was 100 times better, so I wouldn’t mind eating this from time to time.

Brisket – solid and pretty much the staple of our dinner that night. Eat it with rice, eat it with rice paper, eat it with radish, eat it with salad – flavor was good, the meat was sliced relatively thinly so we really got our fill of brisket.

Sliced beef was also another favorite. This is more fatty, but the flavor really comes out when cooking it with some extra oil. Pork belly was decent, but I don’t think we ordered it too many times.

Even though the workers were running around and trying to serve everybody all at once, I feel like the service we received was so much better than service we’d get at Alhambra’s Gen. These workers are really on top of their game. Before we finished eating, a worker would come by and ask if we wanted to order additional meat. They were quick with replenishing any side dishes, and we were constantly given refills of water.

tl;dr – For the price (and the surprising service that we received), I would say that the 45-1 hour wait was worth it. Food was solid, the side dishes were good – no complaints at all, and at the end of the night, the bill was way cheaper than what we’d normally pay at other KBBQ restaurants. It’s a hit and miss for coming at a slower time, but I do think it’s worth it to try out if you want to get a lower priced KBBQ meal and all you want are the standard dishes.

-Tiffany