KAYA BBQ & Tofu, San Carlos CA

I ordered the Bum Bap because it’s the easiest to do and every Korean Restuarant should have this basic food!

It’s really bad! Bim Bap is too cold - got to ask for warm white rice to go with this.
For $25 you can do so much better!

Like these side dishes should be room temperature not fridge cold.
All the side dishes are soft- you could add fried anchovies to give more texture! Or grilled tofu

Why don’t you give some sauce to add for the main dish? It’s is dry and just a bunch of boiled vege! Why is the main dish cold? Are you saving in electricity? The side chili orange bottle dear not count!

Please improve!

Minimum service. LA Kalbi combo has very little kalbi for the price. Ordered pork bibimpap, reconfirmed it was pork and got… chicken. Side dishes are little and uninteresting.

It was really bad experience and I would never go back again.
I am absolutely disgusted with the service here. Firstly, although you can pay for an "all you can eat" option, you are limited to only being able to order four menu items. On top of this, we would frequently have to wait more than 10 minutes to be able to order more menu items. Additionally, the corkage fee was an outrageous $20 per bottle, which is far more expensive than even the most high-end restaurants. Besides, even if you pay for the corkage fee, you cannot get enough wine glasses for more than 6 people. I don't think they can understand the meaning or the corkage fee. Furthermore, if you attempt to order more food after one minute of your service time ending, then you are unable to do so. Lastly, they continuously blamed the lack of staffing within the kitchen, leading to numerous delays in fulfilling customer orders even though the restaurant was empty. All in all, this was an extremely poor experience and I will not be returning here.

The worst tofu soup I’ve ever had. Don’t know how I ordered spicy and the broth comes out tasting like water

Lack of customer service is hilarious…. If you’re poc that is. 5: 40 pm on 12.22.2022 Smh nobody inside and takes 7 minutes to get a seat. Two older people come in right behind us and they’re greeted like family. Yeah we’ll stick to what we know. Thanks: (

Such good food and so much variety!
Must try️
Tofu Soup combo

The service was so good. Perfect for lunches.

I only go to this place because it’s close by where I live otherwise it would have been a hassle driving all the way to Santa Clara. They use to have lunch deals in the weekdays but now not anymore. They open only for dinner hours this days. I only wish they would still employ waitstaff from before because they provided top notch, friendly, best services unlike the ones they currently have (rude and arrogant). Dirty/dusty edges seems like they do not clean the restaurant. Food is OK tasty soup. Won’t be back for quite sometimes.

I love this place, the food was so good, and I went eat often my brunch, the flavor was just right, is fast service and friendly too. Definitely recommend to everyone who like spicy dishes or mild. If you visit San Carlos you need stop on this amazing place.

UPDATE AFTER 3 YEARS:
The food here is still good and we are glad this place survived the pandemic, but the prices have really gone off the deep end, rising about 50% in 3 years. I just paid $28 for a single seafood pancake for take out. In comparison, I pay $6 for a tostada at el Maguey of the same size and quality. Generally, expect to pay $20 - $55 per dish before tax&tip. We recently ordered catering for 20 people for a baek-il celebration and it was well north of $500 for basics. On other occasions, portions were disappointing as other reviewers have noted. For example, we ordered a side of rice that only filled up 50% of a standard small take out container. Who half-fills rice servings?

A potential comparison here is the new Georgian place on San Carlos Ave, but that has elements of fine dining that Kaya does not, e.g. Live music on peak evenings, and is more of a rarity with premium cuts of meet. We also had an issue recently where our order was forgotten by the owner/chef and we ended up waiting outside for more than 75 minutes. For the small volume of business they are doing this kind of mistake is surprising. If you have time, there are better places in San Jose or San Bruno. We will still come here from time to time so our kids can get the cultural experience, but for this price we just can't justify making it our go-to when our family needs a taste of home.

Original review:
Nice local Korean place. Serves the whole array of the traditional Korean food. The service was great, the food was quite good, and the prices were very reasonable. The atmosphere is nice and relaxed with comfortable seating and nice interior setting. The staff were extra nice and friendly. Overall a great meal, especially given the location. We will be back for sure.

Food is good, but way over priced. Some simple items are $25 which is outlandish. E.g. 6 hot wings are $25. Worse part, the wings aren't made of gold.

8 pieces of short ribs for $45 hhhhha. This restaurant is crazy! We ordered short ribs for dinner. There's only 8 pieces of short ribs and it's $45 dollar! How hilarious? ! I guess the owner is trying to survive so badly so they need to rob all their customers!

Must be kidding me about the portion, for $65+, only with 5 ribs. Can’t even fill 2 ppl. The inflation is that bad now? Will NEVER visit again.

Place is understaffed but the one waiting us is friendly and helpful.
Seafood set is limited, but most of their food on their menu are delicious.
I haven't seen any beverage in their menu. Complimentary tea and water is served upon seating.
Parking is easy.
Must try: Bulgogi

The cut of the meat was good but extremely overpriced. Spent $120+ and that was for two sodas, an order of potstickers, a cup of rice, and two cuts of meat which is the minimum required.

Extremely overpriced for the size of those plates. They do taste good tho. So if you are someone with big pockets then go for it

A great local place to get Korean BBQ, had been a staple in the neighborhood for 20 plus years ago you know they're doing it right. Prices are a little higher than you'd expect but the food is delicious.

Food here is always incredible- 11/10 always. We love our main server we always get. We frequently come for date night (:

I came to this place recently and ordered to go.pretty good food! I must say though that it is slightly pricey.

I had the bi bim bop, tje food was freash and was good quality but tje pertions were sad. There was micro tofu in tje miso soup. Also the "beef" was more like tendons or plastic no way that's digestible.