Koba

We went to Koba today as we wanted to eat really great meal. We go to korean restaurant at least once a week. I have never had something so poor. Meet was chewy , and portions were really small and not tasty at all. From this tiny portion I had to leave half as it was a chewy part. I never was so unhappy in a restaurant. Wine was low quality and one of the letuce salad was not even fresh but defrosted. If I could recognise that , than everyone could. Im not a fussy eater but this was just so bad. The biggest surprice was, when I asked my beef to be spicy they said that thay dont do that. Korean and they dont make spicy food ?!?!?!?!?!?! very very dissapointing and quite expensive.

The food is very good quality, especially the kimchi, the veggies and the spring onions were excellent service is helpful and attentive (especially if you've never done korean bbq before). The interior design is nice.
Portions are small: 6 small slices of duck, 5 strips of beef .. each for 9 £ is very steep. then the lettuce to roll your bbq up another 5 £, the sauces couldn't be smaller... good that we were not starving ! at the end, 75 £ for the meal including shoju (no beers or wine) is not too bad, but if you are really hungry, you wil leave disappointed.

I haven't had dinner here for over a year so can't comment on quality or prices on that side, but even though all items on the special lunch menu have been increased in price by around £1 per dish (approx. £7-8 each rather than £6-7 each), I still find them to be delicious and good value. My favourite is the Yookwhei Dolsot Bibimbap which comes with side dishes (usually sesame braised greens, beansprouts and kimchi) and Miso soup. Warming and filling. These days you usually need to book for lunch as it's become a lot busier, but you can also order for collection. Service is always polite, but sometimes slow.

Been to Koba last Sunday. I felt almost insulted when I was there.
The food is okay. There are some dishes that are very tasty but mostly they are mediocre. The atmosphere is good and the staff were attentive.

However, there are few things that need to be pointed out
1. PORTION - the portion is very very small for its price. We had to order a lot of food to feel sufficiently full.
2. YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR LETTUCE - which is fair enough. We are not in Korea so I understand that they might charge for kimchi and lettuce which are considered to be complimentary dishes by any Koreans. BUT it was the portion of those dishes that actually made me quite angry. Paid 5 pounds for tiny bit of kimchi and they gave us 5 lettuce leaves, 2 carrot sticks, 2 cucumbers and tiny portion of spring onion salad. It's extortionate that they charge 5 pounds for such a small quantity.

Anyway, Koba needs to do serious re-evaluation of their business. Non-koreans may think its okay but all koreans I have spoken to were very unhappy about this.

Food was pretty good, but pretty pricey - definitely should not be the '£' rating. Was rather bemused at the prices for extras that normally come for free. And the drinks ain't cheap either!

I went there for dinner with friends and it was great. The food was amazing, I can particularly recommend the marinated beef with flour. The portions are quite small so I don't think this restaurant deserves the "£" rating, I spent £30 for dinner with some beer and I didn't eat too much.

My friend and I went there for lunch today, the taste was good and their set lunch meal price was reasonable. I'll definitely go there again.

I wonder who wrote this review on Time Out and did he/she actually go to Koba?! I took my boyfriend there to celebrate his 30th birthday after seeing this 5 star review rated by Time Out. It is NOT cheap at all compared to other Korean restaurants. The food is NOT that good either. When we ordered the Korean BBQ I was expecting all the usual sauces that come with the BBQ (you usually get 2 or 3 dips per person when you order BBQ). But no, there was only ONE little plate of dip for both of us and a VERY small portion of spring onions to go with the BBQ. The side dishes such as Kimchi and cucumber were not on the house unlike other Korean restaurants where they would come complimentary when you order BBQ. The quality of the food wasn't that great either. Not much taste to the glass noodle and again a portion for 1 person. Quality of the beef for BBQ was rather chewy. There are MUCH MUCH better Korean restaurants in London that are cheaper and better! I've never been to a korean place like this in my life. In conclusion, most of the dishes come at smaller portions compared to other korean restaurants but more expensive. Well, I think it's popular coz it's packed with tourists who probably don't know much about korean food.

it was not nice at all, food was only fairly good at high prices.

Really unexpectedly lovely!! A nice treat to share with someone you're close to or someone special. Can be messy but it's good fun- would recommend to a friend

I took my friends here for lunch yesterday, having read the Timeout review. The food was nice, but super small portions for the price. We were also charged for around £8 for items such as lettuce and dips for the bbq meat which we hadn't asked for but just appeared on our table, so we assumed that they were part of the dish. They didn't offer us a lunchtime menu when we arrived (which I only found out they supposedly offered when I checked their website later) and so the bill was nearly £100 for 4 people who each had 1 main course, shared 2 portions of rice between us, and a bottled beer each. This restaurant is a rip-off unfortunately. And Timeout: I've given up on your reviews, half the time they're totally inaccurate.

I just had to leave a comment to reflect on the lovely visits I've always had at Koba.
Being Korean, I can honestly say that the food at Koba is of excellent quality. The barbeque, what Koba is famous for, is really enjoyable. I have taken many friends who know nothing about Korean food, and they have always enjoyed having the barbeque cooked in front of us, even trying it for themselves! The staff are really friendly and helpful too. I should comment that Koba seems to be popular amongst foreign customers too, I don't just see Korean people dining there!
As for the food, I have never been disappointed. I've tasted most of the barbeque dishes now and there's none that I would decline, even the ox tongue! If barbeque is not your ideal choice, they also have a range of rice and noodle dishes. I would definitely recommend the dolsot bibimbap, mixed rice in a hot stone pot, for people new to Korean food. The range of starters are good for sharing between friends, the seafood pancake is my personal favourite. I never forget to order Mixed Kimchi as a side dish, and Koba serves a good assorment. Koba is one of my favourite restaurants, I would definitely recommend it!

We were sitting at the bar area and were not treated correctly. It is normally a Korean tradition to serve some kimchi with your food. We are eating Korean food for many many years and were very surprised that we were not given anything while were waiting for our food (order over £60). Starters and mains came at the same time. I can't remember the name of the one of the starters but the 'chicken-balls' were rock hard and partly not even biteable. When we discovered that there was not a single vegetable garnish to see anywhere we ordered assorted kimchi. The bar lady looked at our food and could see the urgency of our order she still took over ten minutes time until she passed on our order. She had a smiling face, but did not do her job well at all. Well the kimchi arrived towards the end of our food.
Time out should not give 4 stars to this place. What we witnessed last night was amateurish one of the most terrible services I have seen, specially in asian places were there is a tradition for these things...