Samgyupsalamat Korean Restaurant review
Philippines

Why we love Samgyupsalamat: Unli Korean BBQ restaurant review

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During the recent months, we’d already been to Samgyupsalamat about 4-5 times. As of this writing, it remains my favorite unlimited Korean BBQ restaurant. Let me tell you why in this Samgyupsalamat review.

Samgyupsalamat review

Samgyupsalamat is one of the most popular unlimited Korean BBQ restaurants, with over 30 branches all over the metro.

Samgyupsalamat Korean Restaurant review

Our first visit to Samgyupsalamat actually wasn’t good. We went to Samgyupsalamat in Alabang Town Center on a weekday. We waited for a full hour and, by the time we were seated, we were already grumpy and hungry. I wasn’t happy with the limited banchans (side dishes) and the service was poor – not every item was provided. We forgot to ask for cheese and gravy tips and the servers don’t provide for them unless asked.

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A lot of my friends & acquaintances vouch for Samgyupsalamat and are usually willing to wait for even 2-3 hours, so I decided to give it another chance.

I learned about Samgyupsalamat’s branch in BF Homes and Hali and I went there on another weekday. This visit finally convinced me why Samgyupsalamat is one of the best unli Korean BBQ restaurants in Metro Manila.

What we like

1. Wide meat selection

Some samgyupsal houses offers only plain pork and beef slices, but Samgyupsalamat has 5 types of pork and 6 types of beef slices.

Options for pork:

  • Daepae (sliced fresh pork belly)
  • Buljib (herbed pork belly)
  • Yangnyum daepae (sliced pork belly with seasoning sauce)
  • Gochujang (sliced pork belly with sweet & spicy sauce)
  • Yangnyum moksal (pork neck bone steak with sweet seasoning sauce)

Options for beef:

  • Beef samgyup (sliced beef short plate)
  • Yangnyum beef (sliced beef short plate with seasoning sauce)
  • Bulgogi (Korean BBQ beef in sweet soy sauce)
  • Gochujang beef (sliced beef short plate with sweet & spicy sauce)
  • Sarsa beef (beef with sweet-style Filipino sauce)

Last November 2019, they have also added beef steak in the selection.

Samgyupsalamat menu - yangnyum beef samgyupsal
Yangnyum beef samgyupsal.
Samgyupsalamat menu - yangnyum moksal
Yangnyum moksal.
Samgyupsalamat menu - gochujang samgyupsal
Gochujang samgyupsal.

Aside from the wide meat selection, we also appreciate the fact that Samgyupsalamat doesn’t compromise on the quality of their meat so it’s always fresh and good tasting.

Among this list, our favorite would be yangnyum beef. We can do one seating and eat just this one order. We also like sarsa beef and buljib, which is thick-cut pork. Whenever I’m in samgyupsal restaurants, I always order buljib and the one in Samgyupsalamat passes the mark. If you have sweet taste, you may also want to order bulgogi beef.

2. More dips to choose from

Aside from the usual samgyupsal dips, Samgyupsalamat also offers unlimited cheese fondue and gravy. The cheese is sooo good, in our last visit I almost ignored the lettuce in favor of this one.

I like their cheese better than Romantic Baboy because it’s light and doesn’t overwhelm the taste of the meat.

Samgyupsalamat menu - banchan and dips
Dips and banchan.
Samgyupsalamat menu - cheese fondue and gravy dips
Grilled meat with cheese fondue and gravy.
Samgyupsalamat - cheese fondue
Cheese fondue.

3. Good side dishes

Samgyupsalamat doesn’t have that many side dishes compared to other Korean samgyupsal restaurants, but I like the choices and taste of their spread.

There’s lettuce, rice, steamed egg, soup (called sundubu jjige or spicy tofu stew) and side dishes including kimchi, marbled potatoes, pickled radish and more.

Samgyupsalamat menu - steamed egg
Steamed egg.

Side dishes are important to me because they let me refresh my palate. I can’t eat lots of meat without having other items to munch on. I like the steamed egg and the spicy tofu stew in particular.

4. Affordable rates

For P499 per person, we can eat samgyupsal to our heart’s desire. This rate is very affordable and cheaper compared to ordering ala carte in other Korean restaurants. Samgyupsalamat has moved Korean samgyupsal closer to the hearts of the Filipinos with their reasonable rates.

Couple shot at Samgyupsalamat

What we don’t like

1. Inconsistent service

We notice that service is inconsistent among their branches. We’d been to ATC and BF Homes, and I can say that BF Homes is definitely better. The service in ATC is subpar and, on both occasions that we’d been there, the servers failed to give us all items without prompting. We have to ask for utensils, cheese and gravy dips, soup, egg, etc.

I hope this is something that this restaurant brand improves on.

About Samgyupsalamat

Samgyupsalamat is an Korean BBQ restaurant with an affordable & delicious menu. With its many branches in Metro Manila, you’ll likely find one near you!

Rates

Samgyupsalamat offers unlimited options (5 types of pork, 5 types of beef) and also ala carte menu.

  • Unli pork: P399 (11AM to 3PM) / P449 (3PM to 2AM)
  • Unli pork and beef: P449 (11AM to 2PM) / P499 (3PM to 2AM)

Samgyupsalamat also has ala carte items.

Things you have to know

Here are other things you need to know about Samgyupsalamat:

  • A minimum of 2 people is required per table. If you’re alone, you’ll still need to pay for 2 people.
  • Only 2 plates of meat at a time.
  • Most branches have a long queue. Expect to wait for at least 45 minutes to get seated.

To avoid waiting times, I suggest looking for a branch outside of malls and, if possible, go on weekdays.

Contact

Website: Samgyupsalamat – Facebook

Have you been to Samgyupsalamat? What are your thoughts about it?

Samgyupsalamat Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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9 Comments

  • macfacers

    A korean youtuber tried eating there and didn’t like it because of its little semblance to a real samgyeopsal place in Korea. He goes out to eat and drink at samgyeopsal restaurants at least 2 times a week and he’s korean so I think he’s a good judge for it.

    • Katherine Cortes

      I haven’t watched the vid but I hardly think that Samgyupsalamat is authentic. Most if not all Asian restaurants need to cater to Filipino taste, unless their target market is composed of expats/tourists from where the cuisine originated. Samgyupsalamat is good enough for me. 🙂

    • Moly

      My Korean friend doesn’t like unli KBBQs here also. Too hot daw yung place and i guess di fit for their palate. Iba rin kasi talaga cuts and freshness nung meat sa kanila. Pero for Pinoys, sarap!

      Meron in Ortigas na resto pero ala carte items lang na near sa intersection sa may Julia Vargas. Been there more than 8x and nirecommend nung Korean friends ko and their friends rin na nakakain doon. I also see Koreans dining there. Forgot the new name of the resto tho. Pinalitan kasi around 2 years ago.

  • Vanessa

    I totally agree. I so Loove samgyupsalamat because of their meat quality and the sides especially kimchi. Their side differ on other branch like in makati san Antonio they serve fish cakes but no potato marbles in ayala south park no fishcakes and no potato marbles. But the impt. For me is they serve kimchi and pamoochim

  • Erwin Bautista

    Samgyupsalamat is the worst korean restaurant in Manila. amoy basahan ang lettuce nila sa lucky chinatown branch. Di na fresh at maraming bulok! di worth and binayad namin though the manager gave us discount pero feeling ko walang quality control.

  • theresa

    We have Samgyupsalamat here in Pampanga but haven’t tried it yet because of the long queue. I hope we can be seated earlier next time. Most of the time, we are number 20+++ so I don’t want to waste that long time just to be seated.

    • Katherine Cortes

      Ikr! Some of my friends told me they waited 2-3 hours to get seated. Bf and I are both impatient so probably aalis na lang kami if we’re told we’re in queue 20+.

  • May

    My husband has been raving about samgyeopsal for a while now, pero hindi kami makatiyempo ng time.
    Will take note of the BF branch over ATC (although mas madaling puntahan ang ATC, hehe)

  • Carl

    Haha. Sino ba naman ang hindi maiinlove sa Samgyeopsal 🙂 At the rate I am going, I think I might be able to try all Samgyupsalamat branches in Manila haha!

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