Gastronome

Meal Option B ($26.95) includes all-you-can-eat sliced pork belly, beef brisket, bulgogi, spicy pork and chicken to cook yakiniku-style, as well as panchan (sides). PHOTOS BY LAWRENCE TABUDLO

In many ways, Metro social media manger Nicole Kato and I are very similar. We both watch too many TV shows about serial killers, share a mutual disdain for Ben Affleck, don’t know when to put down a bottle of wine and cannot stop eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

The real kicker, though, is that I’m Korean and she’s an honorary Korean by marriage, so we also get to obsess over Korean pop culture and food together. But I cannot bring myself to love Shillawon Korean Restaurant as much as she does.

Let me start at the beginning.

Last week, Metro photographer Bodie Collins celebrated a birthday. Our gift to him was a night at Shillawon, a place he had wanted to eat at for a while.

I had been there a few times before, and it’s not that I hate it. It just isn’t the first place that comes to mind when I want to eat yakiniku (678 Hawaii, I’m looking at you).

Still, Shillawon is all-you-can-eat yakiniku. Nicole will argue that Shillawon has the best deal, and on this point, we are not at odds — $26.95 gets you an unlimited supply of sliced pork belly, beef brisket, bulgogi, spicy pork and chicken.

The quality of the meat, however, I find slightly questionable. It has never made me sick or anything like that, but last week, for instance, the pork belly had cartilage. There is no greater disturbance to eating than having to fish out cartilage or accidentally biting down on it. The beef brisket, usually my favorite because it’s so thin and succulent, was dry. And the panchan (sides) were just OK.

Now, this might be the part where I caution you against going to Shillawon, but that wouldn’t be true. Because as much as I am on the fence about its food, Shillawon really excels in the ambiance it offers. Know this: Shillawon is best enjoyed in large groups. The restaurant is BYOB and doesn’t charge a corkage fee. It also has two private rooms where you can make as much as noise as you want (within reason, of course) and fumble through grilling your food without anyone nearby silently judging you.

So yes, I would return to Shillawon at some point — probably because Nicole will make me. But as long as we go with the right group of people, I wouldn’t mind at all.