Breakers Korean BBQ

Reviews 3

CO

colbby78921

I went to Breakers with my girlfriend, her brother and another friend, in which 3/4 of us are korean. We know Korean BBQ pretty well and have basically tried every BBQ place in Atlanta. 678 has long been our favorite, but perhaps Breakers could have changed that? Nope. We arrived at about 8pm, and the restaurant was about half full (and half empty). There were a good amount of tables open, but still had to wait about 10-15 minutes for a table (perhaps a lack of servers). We waited, which was no problem, and were seated in a good size booth. The booths are a bit of a pain because you cannot adjust the big gap between the seat and the table, so you kind of have to hunch over. Oh well. The interior is modern, clean, and has a nice feel to it. The atmosphere is more upscale compared to other Korean BBQ places with loud music and a bit darker inside. This is definitely a place to take a date or special occasion. Our waiter arrived and explained how they operate their all you can eat BBQ. He was friendly, but very very slow. It feels like they treat korean people differently than the non-asians that go there. I definitely noticed a few tables with non-asians that had better service than us. It seems like the korean waiters think "oh, these guests are korean, they know what they are doing and can basically cook the stuff themselves." This is fine, but at least check up on us, refill our waters, and ask how we are doing. I ordered a bottled beer. The waiter brought me the actual bottle, not even a glass. I asked for a glass and he thought I was crazy. Really Breakers... you are trying to be an upscale korean bbq restaurant and you do not give beer glasses with a bottle of beer? You expect me to drink out of a glass bottle while paying over 30$/person for my meal? He finally brought a glass over, which was about an 8 ounce water glass. I didnt complain, but thought it was weird/funny. We did the level 2 all you can eat which was well worth the upgrade over the first meat selection. The samgyupsal was everyones favorite, as you can definitely tell the quality of the meet is superior to most other korean BBQ restaurants. The other favorite of ours was the chadolbaki. It was delicious. Other than that, the other meats/squid were okay. The ginger salad was pretty good, and the miso soup was standard. The food is pretty good, I think worth 30$, but the service needs to pick up the slack for this price. The server once dropped a piece of raw beef into a banchan bowl with the noodles and he just took it out of that bowl and onto the grill. Really, you just contaminated the cooked noodles and you didnt even say anything or take that dish out? He just chuckled a little and said oops sorry, then he left. Wow, this could have gotten someone sick! Seriously, not cool. When he came back we told him he dropped a piece of raw meat into the banchan and he asked if we wanted a new one- of course we do! The service is definitely slow paced. Overall, we can definitely tell that our server seemed new/untrained or just oblivious. I dont feel like Breakers is worth the price, solely on the service. There are some parts of Breakers that are a bit more upscale, and some that are not. For example, they use plastic plates (the hard type). Really? You cant use some sort of non-plastic dinnerware? It just gives it a cheap feeling. My suggestion- use real plates, cloth napkins, have waiters be on top of waters/drink refills (at the end of our meal all of our water cups were empty, no one asked us or came around for a refill), and also a better beer/wine menu. If I were looking for a nice date place or if it is your first time having Korean BBQ I would suggest Breakers over a few other BBQ places, but I still prefer 678 or honey pig for all you can eat Korean BBQ (better/fast service, and you get extras such as rice at the end, soup, etc.). The only reason why I didnt give breakers 1 star is because of the samgyupsal and chadolbaki.

MA

Matthew Fugel

I went to Breakers for Valentines Day (on a Saturday) for an early dinner around 3pm. There was a wait to be seated, as expected -- both due to the holiday, and having read ahead of time to expect a wait of around 30 minutes. There is limited seating at the bar where the line for seating forms, but at least its accessible while waiting, so we had a few drinks. -The one bartender was very busy, one of us had a much longer wait to get our drink -There was a big collection of about 20 dirty used bar glasses on the bar in front of us +Drinks menu helps offer a few suggestions, and drinks are well made. Most cocktails around $10. Once seated, the waiter took a minute to review the options with us after I mentioned it was my first visit. We opted for the AYCE BBQ option, which includes: beef brisket; pork ribs (thin sliced, no bones, marinated); pork belly; squid; chicken; beef bulgogi. Soup and salad are included (I had the pumpkin soup, which was earthy and simple but delicious, a nice break from obvious miso; the sesame dressing salad was AWESOME -- do try this, much better than the vinegarette salad). Several banchan (Korean side dishes, among which includes kimchi, marinated bean sprouts, spicy pickled cucumbers, and a glass noodle which was really delicious) arrived to the table immediately, shortly after which followed the first rounds of meat. The waiter gave a choice of having each meat brought individually (in pairs), or all at once -- a nice way to control the pace of your meal. We opted to have things brought out in smaller batches. All of the meats were great; only disappointment was the squid becomes quickly overcooked if the waiter is busy with another table -- so take control to save your food from overcooking if needed. When wed tried some of each meat, since we were taking our time and enjoying more drinks, we opted to have second rounds of a few choices --- the waiter didnt rush us, and surprisingly the portions of meat that followed did NOT start getting skimpy -- plentiful servings continued. Banchan can also be re-ordered at will. The decor of the restaurant was comfortable yet cool, theres good separation between the tables, but lots of glas incorporated into the design so the dining area still feels open. Each table appears to have its own air filtration system, drawing smoke and smells back down into the table through a series of holes around the rim of the cooking plate. This was great - I dont love leaving a restaurant and later discovering my clothing stinks like smoke and old food. Since much of the food is spicy and flavors are complex, and seating is booths-only, I would not bring small children. Bathrooms were clean and nicely appointed. To summarize, I would consider Breakers to be a great restaurant choice for a special occassion dinner, I enjoyed Breakers MORE than similar Korean BBQ restaurant Honey Pig, and DO plan to return.

CO

Colleen Schwarz

Dont go. Dont go. Dont go, unless you like being sick. I took my boyfriend here for his birthday last night. I was super excited because I had read a review saying it was one of the best Korean BBQs in Georgia! We both love korean bbq we have been to a couple other places around the Atlanta area. We got there around 8 on a Monday, they seemed like it was slightly busy but we were sat right away. I was not to thrilled about being sat right next to the door but not that big of a deal. The display case of vases next us was really neat, except for all the dead bugs in it. We waited about 10 to 15 mins before anyone greeted us at the table. I had read reviews before on google about the service being on the lack luster side but I was willing to ignore that for something that said it was the best. When the server came up she did seem very very nice and knowledgeable. We both did the AYCE 2. The soup and salad course took another 20 minutes to come out. They werent anything too special but we were not there for that we were there for the bbq! We ate quite a bit it was pretty tasty and were very full by the end of it, but I will tell you there are much better korean bbq places in the area, especially for the price. We left to drive home and my boyfriend mentioned his stomach felt very uncomfortable. When we got home he went straight to the bathroom. He was violently ill for the rest of the night, neither one of us slept last night because of it. I think he threw up about 14 times at least. Thankfully it didnt happen to me as well but my stomach didnt feel the greatest either. So save your stomachs and your money and go else where because this is definitely not the best.