Manna BBQ (San Diego, CA)

4428 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 278-3300
www.mannakoreanbbq.com

Now, I try to be healthy. I try to exercise everyday, and eat healthy. But occasionally, I allow myself to gorge out on buffets and fatty foods. OH WAIT WHO AM I KIDDING. I LOVE eating.

My family asked me where I wanted to go as a graduation dinner, and I suggested all you can eat korean BBQ. (I originally wanted sushi but it was closed). There was this korean bbq place I always pass by, "GRAND OPENING" sign adorning its canopy. I also heard from friends this place was pretty good.

We waited 30 minutes to be seated as it was prime dinner time on a Sunday. Luckily the NBA finals game was on (Go Mavs, woo hoo!) to keep us entertained while we ate.

We all ordered the $19.99/person option. Side dishes magically came out, and we stuffed ourselves with that while waiting for our meats. I wish I could tell you exactly what the side dishes were, but it has been a while so I do not recall...there were, however, fishcakes, seaweed, kimchee, and the mashed potato things I love.

Service was not bad in the beginning -- the waitresses promptly brought out our meats, which were well marinated and juicy. Compared to other all-you-can-eat korean bbq places I have been, this place takes the cake. Very good quality meats, and an excellent array of choices even with the $19.99/person option. The short ribs were especially tasty. The meat kept flowing and flowing---until it was a-flowing-no-more.

If the service at Manna was illustrated on a chart, it would have been steadily increasing until an immediate drop.

For some reason, the waitresses simply stopped bringing out our food. We requested many times for our dishes, but the meat never came...we would remind them again and again, and STILL it would not come. We pressed the buzzer multiple times, and told them, "we ordered this, how come it hasn't come yet?" to no heed. What?? How can you just suddenly stop bringing us our orders?? (Or sometimes, we asked for one order and they would bring us four orders. Or something entirely different.)

It was obvious they wanted us to leave, and this was the most passive-aggressive way they could think of. But oh no, we were still hungry! So on our war waged, us, the customers who kept ordering and the waitresses who kept pretending to take our orders but never actually filling them. Eventually they caved and brought out maybe a quarter of what we ordered, to which were satisfied with.

Verdict: while the food is good, service is certainly something to be cautionary about. If you want a lot of meat, this is the place in SD to go to!