Korean BBQ, in all its meaty glory, is never a bad decision. Nonetheless, some is clearly better than other at certain things. For example, Ham Ji Park (surprisingly in Koreatown) specializes in pork. This should be obvious considering the word “ham” is in the name, but sometimes things are just too obvious, ya know?
We ordered up a bunch of their Pork Bacon, which really means pork belly because it’s not cured like actual bacon. Plus, we got some Pork Spare Ribs to keep the belly company. The belly was for cooking at the table, while the ribs came out pre-cooked.
But before I get into the foodstuffs, it should be noted that the service here was damn near terrible. RELAXINFO. Especially considering that the restaurant was not full. Many things had to be asked for twice, and that was assuming a waiter could be flagged down.
Now, with that said, the food was pretty tasty. I ended up liking the ribs better than the belly simply based on their awesome sauced up semi-spicy flavor (they were also pretty tender). The belly did have good flavor compared to other Korean BBQ pork belly I’ve had, and this was due in no small part to the dipping sauce.
Overall, Ham Ji Park was not my favorite Korean BBQ experience. This is partially due to the service, but also because their “specialty” didn’t seem overly special to me. Alas, there is plenty of Korean BBQ in the Koreatown sea.