We don’t venture outside of Convoy for AYCE Korean BBQ often. I was surprised and curious when a new Korean BBQ restaurant opened in Mission Valley. The restaurant was brand new, modern, and not AYCE. I should have written ‘but not AYCE’ because Cdj about fainted when he saw the prices here at 356 BBQ & Bar. We tried to visit some months ago but the service was non existent and they wouldn’t put on any of the Sunday football games on their tvs. So we didn’t give this restaurant much thought after that.
Fast forward to present time and 356 BBQ & Bar now offers a few AYCE options: 1) the 355 for $25.99; 2) the 356 for $29.99; and 3) the 357 for $36.99. The prices are further discounted Mon-Friday for lunch. For example, you can get the 355 for $21.99 during those days from 11:30a-3pm.
356 BBQ & Bar is unique from other Korean AYCE restaurants I’ve visited. The restaurant is modern, open, and bright.
I noticed the chopstick cover had two different logos on it. 356 BBQ & Bar seems to have the same owners as Onami?
AYCE options:
1) the 355 for $25.99
2) the 356 for $29.99
3) the 357 for $36.99
You can only order three items at a time.
The dipping sauces weren’t very good. The wet sauces were soy and some sort of smokey sriracha. The middle salt may have had a matcha in it. We barely used any of the sauces which is rare for all of us.
Friend took this photo as I didn’t pay too much attention to the banchan that came out after we placed our orders. The banchan had salad, potato salad, seaweed, broccoli, jalapenos, shaved onions, fermented cabbage and cucumber. The lettuce salad was the best banchan.
They changed our grill after the beef came out.
The brisket tasted dry after we grilled the meat.
The steak was delicious with the sweet marinade. It was a fatty cut of steak but quite flavorful.
I love the presentation of this matcha pork belly. The slab of pork belly had nice cross hatch knife work. The green tea powder was just beautiful on this raw pork.
The pork belly crisped up well on the grill. We couldn’t really taste the green tea powder. This is where a nice dipping sauce would have come in handy.
The staff was great about changing our grill after the first set of meats.
We were curious about this fondue and if it could compare to the cheese fondue we love so much at Gyu Kaku.
The boys tried the brisket in the cheese fondue. The cheese tasted like melted nacho cheese. We weren’t really fans of this cheese.
Ordering was tough as the staff wouldn’t write down our order. We requested spicy rib finger but were given regular. Cdj asked for thin sliced pork belly but they brought out the slab pork belly instead.
The rib finger was chewy and bland. We would have preferred to try the spicy or the soy sauce version.
The thin pork belly tasted dry and not very flavorful.
The presentation with the orchid, raw onions, and enoki mushrooms was so pretty.
The corn comes skewered and steamed.
The sweet bulgogi was nicely marinaded and grilled well.
This counts as an order (remember you can only order 3 items off the menu at a time). The custard came out bubbling hot. It was nicely done with green onions and was ‘soupy’ which I enjoyed.
There’s four shrimp to an order.
I liked grilling the shrimp. Can you see the bubbling shrimp juices in the shrimp head? The shrimp was fine but just, and I quote Cdj ‘too much damn work to eat’.
We had to order steak again as it was the best item so far.
This order of brisket was fattier than the first plate.
The steak grills so well because of that sweet marinade which caramelizes the char.
The brisket was ok. Maybe we were grilling the slices too long because they still tasted dry to me.
I was a super fan of their banchan salad. The dressing was sweet, spicy, and salty.
The stews come in these tiny pots.
There were four fried dumplings to an order. I doubt these are homemade but they seemed fried to order.
There is a two hour limit to their AYCE options. We were full by the 1.5 hour mark. The presentation of their meats is pretty. The quality of the meats seemed decent as well. The boys thought we easily ate $25.99 worth of food per person. We were happy to finally have tried out 356 BBQ & Bar but all wondered if we still preferred Jeong Won.
Service was tough as it was difficult to get water/banchan refills and place new bbq orders. I’d revisit Mon-Fri and try a different AYCE option as it’s cheaper mid week. I’d recommend 356 BBQ & Bar if you’re in the area and hungry enough to try their AYCE.
356 BBQ & BAR
1640 Camino Del Rio N
San Diego, CA 92108
(619) 720-6347
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