Shik Do Rak

When speaking with UCI graduates, the words “Shik Do Rak” tend to provoke emotional responses, including stories of enjoying inexpensive, late-night Korean BBQ after studying or hanging out elsewhere with friends. The three-restaurant chain has locations in Irvine, Garden Grove, and Los Angeles, but the Irvine one tends to generate those reactions due both to proximity and the historic lack of other nearby options – the other cities have long overflowed with KBBQ restaurants, so Shik Do Rak stands out less from their packs. Competition in Irvine has increased, though, even within a fairly short distance of this restaurant.

Though prices have gone up (everywhere), Shik Do Rak still strikes us as one of Irvine’s best Korean BBQ options. Guests can choose from three different all-you-can-eat menus labeled “3-1,” “3-2,” and “3-3,” but the middle option is the best value: for $34, you get 30 choices, including prime brisket, NY steak, kalbi short ribs, baby octopus, squid, multiple types of pork belly (including a particularly great curry version), and bulgogi. For the top menu, with 35 items (adding shrimp and four prime/choice beef items), the price is (unjustifiably) $55.

Menu 3-3 is the smallest, and only available during weekday lunch hours or from 10pm to closing time, which once made it an affordable late-night students’ special (“happy hour”) at $16 per person. Today, it’s $26, with only a dozen choices spanning brisket, several types of pork belly, bulgogi, intestines, chicken, vegetables, soup, and rice. Depending on when you’re thinking of visiting, and whether you’re willing to drive a little further, you may well get better value and a wider range of choices from the $22 lunch at Gen Korean BBQ.