808 Yong’s BBQ: Local and Homemade-Style Favorites

At 808 Yong’s BBQ, one can expect great customer service, a friendly atmosphere and homemade dishes. The eatery — under the new management of Yong and Bennett Tom — opened last December and has been serving up Korean local favorites ever since, ranging from meat jun and fried mandoo to kalbi and barbecue beef. The eatery, located in Waipahu, has already attracted a mixture of local customers, many of which frequent the restaurant.

“Everything is homemade and I try to be friends with our customers,” says owner and cook Yong Tom, when asked what makes her restaurant different from others. “(Our) prices are cheaper than other places; the average price per customer is $7.95.”

808 Yong’s BBQ serves a variety of regular plate lunches (comes with two scoops of rice and four side dishes), mini plates (comes with one scoop of rice and two side dishes) and combination plates (comes with two scoops of rice and four side dishes), as well as noodles and soup. Regular plate lunches feature a variety of entrees — such as Shrimp Tempura Plate ($8.95), Spicy Chicken Wings ($7.95) and Korean Fried Chicken ($8.25) — while the mini plates offer customers a smaller portion of local favorites, including Kalbi ($7.95), Meat Jun ($6.55) and BBQ Chicken ($6.55). For combination plates ($8.75 each), customers can choose any two from a selection of meats, including barbecue chicken, barbecue beef, garlic chicken and meat jun. The restaurant also features unique dishes under its “new items” section, such as Kimchee Fried Rice ($7.50) and Miso Butterfish ($8.25).

The eatery’s signature item, 808 Special ($10.99), is frequently ordered because of the variety of meats that come with it — kalbi, barbecue beef, barbecue chicken and meat jun. Another popular dish is Kalbi Boneless ($9.95).

“The Kalbi Chicken is popular ($9.95), but the Boneless Kalbi ($9.95) is also (popular),” Yong says.

Many customers order Mini Family Pack ($22.99, feeds two-three people) or the Regular Family Pack ($40.99, feeds four-six people) at the eatery, according to Yong, who states that the meals are a good deal. Mini Family Pack comes with three pieces of kalbi, barbecue chicken and barbecue beef; five pieces of fried mandoo and meat jun; four vegetable sides and rice. Regular Family Pack comes with six pieces of kalbi, barbecue chicken and barbecue beef; 10 pieces of fried mandoo; 12 pieces of meat jun; four vegetable sides and 10 scoops of rice.

“The Regular Family Pack is very popular; you can see it includes a lot of portions,” says Yong.

808 Yong’s BBQ offers takeout and catering menus as well. Catering is done for parties of 10 people or more, and the catering menu offers customer favorites such as chicken katsu and barbecue beef. Catering menus are available for $9.50 per person — featuring dishes such as Jap Chae (long rice), fried mandoo and barbecue chicken — and $12 per person, including squash jun, fish jun and more.

Different daily specials are featured at 808 Yong’s BBQ, each of which has homemade flavors. For example, Homemade Hamburger Steak ($7 for daily special) is already a customer favorite. Other daily specials include New York Steak ($9.50) and the Veggie Plate ($6) — four choices of vegetables with rice.

In addition to its daily specials, 808 Yong’s BBQ is currently offering customers one free regular drink with the purchase of one regular plate lunch or combination (coupon must be present to receive drink; offer is valid until March 25).

808 Yong’s BBQ