Centrally located between San Mateo and San Francisco, the city of San Bruno is a neighborhood of modestly priced Bay Area homes that attract people from different ethnicities and backgrounds to raise a family. However, it is not renowned for destination eats—Korean BBQ House and Buffet is the tantalizing exception.

“My wife works wonders making the sauces and my chef has 20 years experience in Korean cooking and is top notch—using fresh meat, ingredients [and] vegetables,” said restaurant owner Yong Kim.

Inconspicuously located on El Camino Real, the generic red neon sign blazes the words, “Korean BBQ” but it is easy to miss if you are not looking for it.

As you walk through the door you are greeted with the humming sound of exhaust fans and the crackle and sizzle of food being cooked on a hot charcoal pit.  Each table has a pit built in the middle.  Customers holding metal tongs cook their own food selected from the refrigerated buffet table placed in the center of the restaurant.

If you and your guests are not in the grilling mood, the menu offers the same items already cooked, along with other Korean classics.

On the right side of the buffet table there are different kinds of raw, marinated proteins; chicken, center cut pork, marinated beef ribs, thin sliced beef brisket, calamari, mussels and shrimp.

If you feel like channeling TV food personality Andrew Zimmern and dare to tackle on more authentic meats, there are chicken gizzards and squid with long tentacles marinated in a sweet and spicy sauce.

Korean side dishes called banchans, colorfully canvas the left side of the buffet table.  The row is decorated with bright red kimchi, a spicy fermented Napa cabbage, spicy radishes, seaweed, bright green broccoli crowns and orange carrots, tofu and an array of pickled vegetables.

Kim and his wife have operated the family run restaurant for more than 10 years.  In 1997, after a trip to the U.S. to visit his sister, Kim and his family left South Korea to make America their home.

“There were so many fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Yong. “Terrific food and cheap [compared] to my home in Korea.”

The access to great local produce in the Bay Area and the motivation to serve it has made the Korean BBQ Buffet House a staple in San Bruno.