Baekjeong Korean Barbecue

Driving through plazas anywhere in Orange County can be overwhelming, given the variety of businesses, languages, and crowds one may encounter at any given location – the latest trendy boba shop could easily be hidden behind a door with little English signage and zero street frontage, with a line of 10 or 20 people waiting to get in. Our first encounter with Baekjeong was like that: huge sign reading “Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong,” bunch of people standing outside the door, us with no idea what it was.

These days, the signs have been simplified: Now it’s just Baekjeong Korean Barbecue, dropping the name of South Korean founder Kang Ho Dong, a wrestler, comedian, and television host, to focus on the Baekjeong (“butcher”) brand. We haven’t seen lines at the nearest location in a while, but it maintains its reputation as a different type of KBBQ restaurant – one with premium meats and a la carte pricing, focusing on a clean, bright atmosphere rather than a dark, greasy, and smoky one. Each table has its own prominent ventilation system to keep the air clean, arguably the most noticeable element of the interior design.