Zip Korean BBQ

Thanks in part to inflation, new all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ restaurants haven’t been opening up as frequently as in the past, as operators have tried to figure out the “new normal” balance of pricing and quality to attract customers. Replacing a shabu-shabu restaurant called Shabu 2 in 2022, Zip Korean BBQ is one of the locally rare new options in this category, located within a minute’s walk of the AMC theaters at The District at Tustin Legacy. Originally priced at $35 per person for dinner, it’s now at $38, with a different menu structure from most rivals.

When we visited, customers could choose from 22 AYCE meat and seafood items, plus six kitchen-cooked items, and a handful of banchan (which weren’t all available on our first visit). Today, the menu has been pared down to unlimited portions of six plain meats and seven marinated options, plus “1 per customer” orders of four “prime” items: ribeye, boneless or marinated short ribs, and garlic sirloin, the single best protein we’ve had here. Notably, some of Zip’s items – especially the kalbi and pork bulgogi – were excessively fatty, and the beef bulgogi was predominantly, disgustingly fatty, thankfully exceptions to an otherwise delicious meal.