In Hawaii, all you can eat Korean BBQ is actually a thing. The average price for dinner is around $25/person at each place, so why not eat at the best one?

I don't travel to Honolulu, I live here.

Gen Korean BBQ

Located on the 4th floor where Tsukiji Fish Market used to be, a new restaurant from the California chain "Gen" opened earlier this year. You can find it in the Ala Moana Shopping Center, which is the biggest open air mall in the world. I can still get lost here as it sports 3 different food courts/restaurant areas along with additional restaurants, cafes, and Patisseries spread throughout the entirety of the mall.

Garlic marinated pork belly, brisket, and small ox intestines are some of our favorite items!

If you've never had Korean BBQ (Gogi-Gui) or the by the Japanese name (Yakiniku), it's a restaurant where everything is brought out fresh, and you grill your own meats. Although there are many self grilling restaurants in the state, very few offer a flat price to dine. Even more so, the other places have lower quality meat! Be careful!

Atmosphere

Gen prides itself on a trendy atmosphere, as the inside glows a luminescent blue, and current/popular songs play in the background. When you walk inside, you feel like one of the cool kids!~

Vases in glass decorate the interior, lined in a row down the center of the restaurant

Menu

A very wide selection on dishes that you can choose from, and the fact that the day and night menus only have a difference of 6 items makes Gen an even more amazing lunch spot. During evenings, the wait for a table for 2-3 people can take upwards of 45 minutes, but lunch is wide open never a wait.

We came here for early dinner a couple nights ago (around 5pm) and got seated immediately. The host did not try to put us on a counter, and me and my boyfriend got ourselves a whole booth (can seat up to 8 people)to ourselves!

It's common to come here with friends, family, or as a "Pau Hana" (finished work, Hawaiian/slang) drinking spot. One of the many things that stand out for this restaurant is the fact that the soups and stews on the menu are included in the all-you-can-eat price. At many other places this is not the case. Gen is great, no ala-carte pricing, pay the flat fee, and buy drinks!

Soondubu (soft tofu soup) is a very popular Korean dish, almost every Korean restaurant you visit in Hawaii will have this item on their menu!

Small Ox Intestine, this item is under appreciated. It can look intimidating at first, but has amazing taste!

Cooking intestines! They taste like a semi-chewy, lightly sweet but mostly savory sausage! I literally order 3 or 4 orders of it every time I go! c:

Cooking Pork cheek! Very thin meat but rather tasty, still not as good as pork belly IMO!

Service

Which is just as good as their cleanliness and food quality, I was actually amazed this last visit. So many of the waitstaff came to help us, that we had no idea who our actual server was. This is an experience I've never had before. Our waters were constantly refilled, and our plates were pre-bussed often. What stood out for me was that I really like their mashed potato side.

Three different people had passed by and offered to bring me more if I wanted!

The service is amazing, and the mentality to help all customers is instilled in the staff. The price we paid to eat here, was far beyond worth it. If you ever find yourself in Ala Moana Shopping Center, this is definitely one of the places you need to try!

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If you missed any of my posts this week, be sure to get caught up here!

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