Gen KBBQ House
My absolute favorite discovery since moving to Southern California has to be my introduction to Korean BBQ. Coming from my small town a little further north, we only had the basics- a whole lot of Italian and Mexican restaurants with a few Mediterranean. But in the Asian food category, we pretty much had Chinese food and sushi.
Korean BBQ restaurants feature a grill it yourself style, where there is a grill in the middle of the table, and they give you a menu with different types of meats. When you order the meats, the waiter will bring them to you raw, and you cook them to your liking on the grill at the table.
There are so many different KBBQ chains, but here in Fullerton, there are two that are extremely popular, one of them being Gen KBBQ House. Gen is a chain restaurant with more than 20 locations throughout the continental US and with a few locations in Hawaii.
With the COVID-19 pandemic going on and the whole state of California going back into the purple tier, restaurants are required to only seat guests outside, which Gen also has adapted to by moving their tables with grills outside.
Normally at Gen, the atmosphere inside is fun and youthful with loud pop music typically playing and cool lighting inside to give it a lounge type of feel.
Personally, I enjoyed eating KBBQ outside because the smoke that rises from your cooking food doesn't get trapped above you. They also are only supplying the side dishes and the upon customer request. I’m glad my boyfriend asked though because I was scared to and I wanted both. They did give us only about half of the dishes which they said was a result of the pandemic and not being able to get some of the ingredients they
I really enjoy going to KBBQ especially with my boyfriend because I feel like it is a really interesting way to bond. It’s like cooking together but not having to clean up anything yourself, which makes it that much better.
My favorite item on the menu is the Spicy Pork Bulgogi, which is literally “fire meat” made of thin, marinated slices of beef or pork, and this particular one is marinated in a spicy sauce that it cooks in when it is grilled to give it a little extra flavor.
At the end of your meal at Gen, typically your waiter will bring out an ice cream sandwich desert for each person, but due to COVID they weren’t doing those either, which I was a little disappointed about because last time I bought extra to take home because I liked them so much.
I really enjoyed going out to get KBBQ before the pandemic hit, and I’m glad Gen and other KBBQ resturaunts have been able to adapt to the restrictions that have came with COVID-19 so that we can still enjoy it safely!
