MeatUp Korean BBQ & Bar

ALL YOU CAN EAT FOR 2 HOURS!!

This place was just great!!! I loved the vibe, the decor is just on point and the quality of their food is top tier!! The whole experience was great I would say this is a must go restaurant!!

We had AYCE dinner and it was fantastic! Very nice atmosphere, friendly staff and high quality meat! We had beef bulgogi, spicy pork belly, pineapple steak, spicy squid, and pork cheek. The first four were super delicious (so delicious that I forgot to take pictures…) and the pork cheek was also not bad. I really like the piba colada too. There are many other stuff on the menu that we were too full to try. Will come another time!

Fantastic dining experience! The freshness and quality of the meat were outstanding, definitely not your average cheap cuts. The flavor was superb, enhanced by their unique sauces and seasonings. The pineapple steak is my favorite. The attention to detail was evident as they even took Polaroid photos for us to cherish the moment. Can’t believe they have a full bar here! Because most of Korea BBQ place only have half bar. Definitely a good place to hangout with friends or family.

I have to give really a mixed review of this place. As far as the customer service and the food is concerned, it was great. People were nice and the food was flavorful.

The biggest negative point? Seemed like half of the items on the menu were not available. “We don’t have that” was a catch phrase for a bunch of items we tried to order from the menu. I am not kidding but at one point I had to ask the server “tell me what is available from the menu rather than us ordering and you keep saying you don’t have it”. This place has two sections. One all you can eat Korean BBQ and the other A la carte. We sat on the A la carte side. If there are so many items not available on the menu, I would not want to pay high price for AYCE and not have what I want to eat. They did not even have Bibimpap. That is something very unusual to not have available at a Korean restaurant.

I will give 4/5 for customer service, 4/5 for food taste and quality and definitely 2.5/5 for their “we don’t have that” phrase for the menu items. For that reason I am not sure I would want to go back and limit my options of what I can get to order.

Finally decided to try out MeatUp Korean BBQ & Bar this past weekend, and the experience did not disappoint!

To start off, the all-you-can-eat pricing is beyond reasonable, especially for the DC area. As of the writing of this review (2024-02-18), the weekend / dinner price is $30.99 and the weekday lunch price is $19.99. Add $5.00 for access to the amazing ramen bar options. Be advised that, like all restaurants, pricing may be adjusted per the current market conditions. This is completely reasonable, especially in the current period of global economic uncertainty.

We went for lunch on a Saturday. The place was pretty full, but the service staff was quick to help us. They also didn’t hesitate to take the time to explain the menu items and even make recommendations (all of which were excellent choices). They helped point us to the area with the sauce options. My favorite was the ssamjang sauce, but I made sure to try a few other ones with our meal. None of them disappointed.

For appetizers, we had some standard potato fries, sweet potato fries, and some fried mandu dumplings. The dumplings had a distinct crunchy texture along with soft, savory filling that made us almost forget that these were just the appetizers. The meats were arriving soon!

The beef brisket, pork bulgogi, and honey chicken - all standard Korean bbq meats - were very nicely marinated. The meats maintained their juiciness after the grilling, which made them taste all the more delicious, especially with our chosen sauces. Next we had some garlic butter shrimp. To say that they were an unexpected, pleasant surprise would be an understatement. The mild garlic essence was deeply impeded into the shrimps in a way that brought out the best of the natural shrimp flavors.

The wait staff recommended some of the restaurant’s most popular items – the pineapple steak and beef tongue. The marinated steak was neatly tucked inside a hollowed-out pineapple half and topped with a slice of breaded pineapple and a piece of butter. It was so nicely presented that we almost felt guilty for breaking it apart to grill it. Of course, once we tasted the grilled pineapple along with the tender piece of steak, our feelings of guilt subsided. The beef tongue was also a nice surprise for us. It was thinly sliced and seasoned to perfection. After grilling, it had a bit of bounce to the texture, but it was by no means chewy – this goes to show how much care and time went into the preparation.

We also had some of the ramen. While MeatUp is not technically a ramen restaurant, the quality of the ramen dishes shows that they were absolutely not an afterthought. The noodles were soft and had just the right amount of resistance. The pork included in the ramen was so tender and savory that I had to stop myself from eating all of it as soon as the ramen dish arrived. The rest of the dish appeared to be made with a good amount of care – from the soup base to the extras (egg, vegetables, etc). If you choose to order the ramen, please be sure to adjust the spiciness to your liking.

Of course, no Korean bbq meal is complete without some drinks. MeatUp had thought of this and had come up with some of the most unique drink options I’ve ever seen. We ordered the Piña Colada that was served in a hollowed-out pineapple! It included a decorative umbrella and a slice of pineapple to add to the presentation. The drink tasted as good as it appeared on first sight – delicious and refreshing, and with just the right amount of alcohol! My photography skills are lackluster on a good day, so my photos don’t do the drink justice. My apologies to the owners and the staff of MeatUp. I’ll do better next time! Seriously though – the pictures don’t do this drink justice. Get one for yourself, and prepare to be amazed.

Overall it was a great experience. I will definitely be visiting again in the future. I’ve already recommended the restaurant to multiple friends who like Korean bbq. If you’re like them, you should give MeatUp a try as well.