i feel seoul full at road to seoul

i'm not one to break rules. nope. i don't inhale, i don't exhale, i don't do anything that will ever make a donut eating cop stop me other than running a stop sign or two (heavy gas pedal feet is to blame for that one). so when i'm given a rule or two, i try not to break them. yes, i'm a square peg like that... so imagine my anxiety level when i went to road to seoul for all you can eat korean bbq and saw these signs posted EVERYWHERE. another rule?! darn!

"please order what you can eat. if you leave any meat, there will be an additional charge of adult price."

and they had these cameras too. to spy on you? to see if you left any meat? oh no!

even with these warnings, my friend and i both commenced to order the all you can eat menu at $16.99 per person. ack, what happens if i can't eat all that i'm suppose to eat?

the banchan rolled out and we quickly began to test our stomachs. it was standard fare with all kinds of pickled veggies, kimchee, a small bowl of steamed eggs, and a korean style veggie pancake to accompany our meal. i thought the spread was sufficient to whet our appetites for the real bulk of the feast....

and feast we did. we tried almost everything off the bbq menu, but the stand out items were definitely the beef tongue, galbi, and their namesake "road to seoul beef." wow, i was pretty impressed by the quality of their meat. for that price point, you ate a lot better than what you would find at manna and THAT in itself is worth rejoicing over. hallelujah!

they also had whole baby octopus and intestines for the adventurous folks.

so we stuffed face and my belly went strong until it arrived at the inevitable all you can eat fork in the road when one's body decides whether it's REALLY full, or if it's going to barf. UNFORTUNATELY, my friend decided to order another round without consulting me. holy crap i can't eat anymore!

as the pile of raw meat came out and they were gently placed on the grill, i nervously looked at my friend and said, "i hope you can eat this by yourself because i am stuffed." then i looked at the aforementioned sign warning us to finish all our meat and i could have sworn i saw a drop of sweat rolling down his right temple. "your done?" he asks. oh hell yes i'm DONE. i'm so done i can barf!

so HE commenced to eat HIS pile of meat slowly.

though delicious, too much is just TOO MUCH. so the moral of story you might wonder? carry a larger purse and put a tupperware container in it for all you can eat "just in case" moments like these. i know that's breaking another rule right there, but better to break that rule than break my belly again. other than the anxiety inducing signs, road to seoul is a great little all you can eat korean bbq joint with good quality meat. i would totally come back again!

Road to Seoul
1230 S. Western Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90006
(323) 731-9292

price: $$
verdict: tasty, try it!