Jong Ga House

Reviews

• Ngoc My H.

  star star star star star 11 June 2026

  Came for the KBBQ, stayed for the soju! I love love love this place because the ladies working here are so great, accommodating, and kind! While it isn't a hole in the wall restaurants, it really feels like you are family here and appears to be family owned.
  
  Parking: Nonexistent during dinner time. You'll find a place if you are lucky. There are metered parking in front and around the restaurants and also residential parking. Don't bother with the residential parking, it's all filled because people are home from work. I had to make five rounds before I found parking by Lake Merrit and walked a few blocks over.
  
  Service: Awesome!!! The ladies are great. You get a discount for your birthday ($16.99 AYCE) and free ice cream. They will check IDs.
  
  Soju: STRONG! The waitress told us to only order two small sojus. We got strawberry and yogurt. It is very strong and I recommend the large one to only people who can handle their liquor.
  
  Food: Fantastic! My favorites are the brisket, boneless galbi, and garlic pork belly.

• Michelle T.

  star star star star star_border 28 May 2026

  It is so difficult to find good (and cheap) AYCE KBBQ in the bay but the growing ktown of Oakland has been impressing me with high quality korean cuisine. I came to Jong Ga House for the first time because of its $26 all you can eat dinner. I've been to Ohgane and Gogi Time, both of which are slightly more expensive for AYCE.
  
  I thought the meat and side items were okay quality, nothing amazing. The menu was comparable to the other KBBQ spots in Oakland; 18 types of meat/seafood to choose from and very limited small plates (Ohgane has 12 types of meat, Gogi Time has 19). I wish Jong Ga House had more classic KBBQ items such as radish wraps, salad, or steamed egg. However, I did see a lot of tables with lettuce wraps which make up for the lack of raw greens. The rice wraps are also an option if you don't want to eat regular rice.
  
  Below are the food items I ordered from personal favorite to least favorite:
  - LA Beef Short Ribs: I love Galbi no matter what and I'm glad Jonga Ga offers it as part of their AYCE. It's a bit fattier than I would've liked but the marinade is really good.
  - Kimchi Pancake: perfectly crispy on the outside and not too complicated
  - Bugolgi
  - Beef Brisket: nothing special and a bit tough sometimes
  - Pork Belly: nothing special
  - Corn Cheese
  - Soybean Paste Soup
  - Caramelized Fried Potatoes: this is more of a banchan though
  - Pot Stickers: they came to my table cold and the skin a little stale
  
  I felt really bad for the frantic servers because this place is very understaffed. We sat down and it took 20min for a server to take our order and it was difficult to get their attention afterwards. This is not the type of KBBQ house where the servers will cook for you because they barely have time to even get dishes to your table. The dumplings we ordered at the beginning of the meal didn't get to us until 90min later when we were finished eating. The meat came out pretty fast but one of our grills was very slow and it was difficult to cook quickly. I honestly don't think any of this was the servers' faults, they were definitely just overwhelmed with the amount of tables they had to take care of. In fact, the servers were really nice and polite. The wait to get into this place can get really long but if you have a party of 7+ you can make reservations in advance by calling.
  
  In summary, I did like a lot of what I tried and I think this is a pretty solid AYCE KBBQ for the area. I would typically rate Jong Ga House a 3 but for Bay Area this is more like a 4.

• Christian B.

  star star star star star 28 May 2026

  I really don't have anything negative to say about this place. Came here on a Saturday night for some AYCE Korean bbq.
  
  I like that you can add yourself to the waitlist on Yelp. Do this before you leave or as you are driving there.
  
  Service is spot on. They give you generous servings so you don't have to call them back as often as other places. They give you 12 of those little side dishes and they're all pretty good.
  
  Finding parking can be a pain in the butt, but that's at no fault of the restaurant.

• Ann Marie M.

  star star star star star_border 27 May 2026

  I'm not sure what Jong Ga stands for, but this is an All-You-Can Eat (AYCE) Korean bbq house... Literally. You're eating in a restaurant-like house. The restaurant feels homey with a little hustle and bustle feel - especially during rush hour/dinner time. People are consistently walking back and forth with water, trays of food, yelling out for more sides, etc. It's a neat experience if you've never been to an AYCE Korean restaurant. There have been some experiences when our table gets forgotten about, since it's usually busy, but don't worry.. there's enough time and food to go around! I usually leave feeling stuffed!
  
  If you get claustrophobic, the main dining area downstairs is probably the best area to eat. There is an upstairs and I've only been there when the downstairs was packed and/or I was with a small group. The upstairs gets hot and feels attic-like. Although the whole restaurant gets pretty hot due to the grills (especially during the summer), the downstairs is preferred.
  
  Food-wise, this place is great! Lots of meat choices and endless sides! They don't provide meat sauces, but they do provide some salt/pepper dip. *Drooling as I type.
  
  Price-wise, they aren't too shabby for what you get. You can even order al la carte/to-go during lunch.
  
  I'm a fan of their food and I continue to come back.
  
  Enjoy :)

• Tiffany W.

  star star star star star_border 22 May 2026

  Usually not in this area, but made the trip to grab lunch with friends. It's located by the beautiful Lake Merritt, and the parking here is street parking.
  
  The lunch deal is great here. Cheaper than most places with more options. Tteobokki and cold noodles are​ part of the ayce menu too! The meat selection during lunch is smaller, but it's not bad. The quality of the meat is good, and fair with the price. It is better than some ayce places!
  
  They have a large selection of banchan here, and it is probably the biggest selection I have ever seen of it. Fishcakes, caramelized potatoes, broccoli​, etc.
  
  The best​ thing about this place is that there is no time limit here. Service is a bit slow when it gets busy though, but service here is very friendly. You just gotta call them over a bit more than usual.
  
  I would totally come here again!