April 20, 2008

Oh Manna, that's a lot of food!


Manna Korean BBQ
3377 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 733-8516

If you want all-you-can-eat that's actually good, Manna Korean BBQ is the place to go. We went a couple of weeks ago for my friend Kim's birthday and feasted on meat, kimchi, and soju till the cows came home (no pun intended).

The place is very simple, mainly long picnic tables out on a tent-covered patio (perfect for ridiculously large parties like ours), each with a fire pit in the center. The tables are adorned with spicy and sweet sauces and kimchi so you can create your own unique flavors for your food. The servers bring out gigantic platters of sliced raw meat to your tableside, which you cook yourself on the firepits. This isn't the kind of place to have a light, quick meal; it's more of a place for marathon eaters, who enjoy eating and taking breaks over the course of 2 to 3 hours. They offer both rice and rice sheets (kind of like fat noodles) to eat with your meat. All of this is for a flat rate of $17 a person (drinks not included).

To be quiet honest, the service is horrible unless someone in your party speaks Korean. And even then it's still slow as hell. But since you cook the meat yourself, you are less reliant on their service. I also HIGHLY recommend paying with cash and avoid any cards. Manna is possibly the worst place for a peaceful or romantic date. But for birthday parties, Manna is
perfect. They serve soju and Korean beer by the bottle, and for birthdays they bring out a bottle of champagne, shake it, and pour it over the birthday celebrant's head. Since it is located in the heart of Koreatown, after dinner there are numerous karoake bars you can visit to sober up (or the opposite) and digest all that meat while singing old Celine Dion tunes.

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