The California-based Gen Korean BBQ House restaurant chain is expanding to Hawaii with a location at Ala Moana Center.
The restaurant will open in the space vacated by Tsukiji Fish Market and Restaurant, which closed Feb. 6 because it could not reach new lease terms with center management.
Gen Korean BBQ set up the Facebook page for its Ala Moana location Feb. 4.
Gen’s announcement and subsequent posts have not mentioned an opening date.
“Wait for us, Hawaii. We can’t wait to quench your thirst,” says one Facebook post from the restaurant with a picture of diners toasting with shot glasses over a table’s built-in grill.
Representatives of California-based Gen were not immediately available, and Ala Moana Center management declined comment.
Gen Korean BBQ has 12 locations, mostly in California; an outpost in Henderson, Nev., opened in August. It offers all-you-can-eat, grill-your-own options for $14.99 at lunch and $19.99 at dinner.
A newspaper review posted on the Gen website describes a two-hour limit for dining, as well as a two-hour wait for seating at one of the California locations.
The Korean character for Gen means “the beginning,” according to the restaurant’s website, which explains that Gen’s intention is to go beyond the normal Korean barbecue experience by fusing other global flavors.
Gen Korean BBQ offers traditional Korean dishes such as gopchang and daechang, or marinated small and large beef intestine, respectively; and bulgogi in beef, chicken, pork, spicy pork or squid iterations.
It also will be among the restaurants in Honolulu whose menu lists K.F.C., or Korean Fried Chicken.
Showing other American influences, one of the dishes, called Hawaiian Steak, is marinated beef brought for tabletop cooking with pineapple slices; the restaurant also offers Cajun calamari and Cajun shrimp.
The restaurant will join a crowded field of all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurants in Honolulu, particularly in the area around Ala Moana Center, but this is the first Los Angeles-based player, noted publicist Toby Tamaye, who has no affiliation with the company, but is an avid restaurantgoer.
“Sik Do Rak is small, and they’re in a whole different demographic,” he said.
The one most likely to lose business to the Americanized Korean-barbecue concept, Tamaye said, is Korean-based 678 Hawaii, at 1725 Kapiolani Blvd. It is nearer the Hawai‘i Convention Center than to Ala Moana Center, as is Seoul Garden Yakiniku at 1679 Kapiolani Blvd., but neither has the critical mass of potential diners that Ala Moana offers.
Gen is “super-famous” and “all over” the Los Angeles area, Tamaye said, adding that there might well be demand for more all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurants.
“Look at all the sushi restaurants and ramen shops that have opened, and they’re all doing well,” he said.
