Arisu Restaurant - extensive menu but go for the premium Korean BBQ

For some korean barbecue, I paid a visit to a restaurant called Arisu on Bloor, just east of Christie station.  There used to be a McDonalds at this location years ago but after it moved out, this real estate location has been going downhill.  I remember  there were so many different restaurants that took its place but all of them went out of business before their 2-year mark.  That's until Arisu came in.  It's still going strong and when we went, it was busy - which is a good sign!

 

 The interior provides booths, tables, and in the basement, an area for a 90-people event.  It's very neat and decorated nicely, offering good eating environment.  All the tables offer the grill in the middle for tabletop bbq and hotpot.

Even though it seemed busy, the hostess and the servers were very efficient.  They were friendly and checked up on us to make sure the tabletop grill had the right amount of heat, etc.  They even offered to change the grilling plate halfway through our meal to make sure the meats are cooking perfectly.

They have quite an extensive menu with so many offerings: sushi, sashimi, table top bbq, table top hot pot, ssam combos, you name it!  

In this post, we're including 2 different visits.  On the first visit, we ordered the Table Arisu Combo B and on the second visit, we went for the premium boneless short ribs.

Review of the Table Arisu Combo - $54.99 for 2

The Tabletop Arisu Combo came with 5 different kinds of meats, veggie platter (to wrap the meat in), sauces, 2 bowls of rice and dwen-jang-jjigae (Korean bean stew). Of course all the traditional side dishes came along with the order.

We found we would have liked more of the beef Short Ribs Galbi and the L.A. Bee Short Ribs instead of just 5 pieces each - it was such a tease.  Instead of the marinated bulgogi and chicken. more of that ribs would have been a better choice.  It made us think that the combo was overpriced!

 The meats that came in the combo:

Beef Short Ribs Galbi - 5 pieces

L.A. Beef Short Ribs - 5 pieces

Marinated Beef Bulgogi - bowl

Sliced Pork Belly - 5 pieces

Marinated Chicken - bowl

  

The Soybean Stew came as well.  It doesn't look that good but it tasted very good.  It wasn't too soybean potent, which a lot of stews can be.  It was the perfect accompaniment to all the meats.

The beef short ribs impressed us but the other meats in the combo and portions were disappointing to the price we paid.

Review of Premium Boneless Short Ribs (주물럭) - $29.99 per person

 The Boneless Short Ribs is part of the Premium Korean BBQ Meats menu.  I'm a fan of this cut so that's what we went for - we didn't want to get the Arisu Combo from the first visit this time.

Along with the fresh cuts of beef presented beautifully, the side dishes and lettuce wrap and the typical dips are included.  We cook ourselves at the table but they check on your frequently to make sure you're doing ok with the cooking.

Make sure you leave the shredded green onions to eat with your cooked meat.  Don't cook the green onion with the meat!

I love that they're already bite size so I didn't have to bother cutting them!



Overall, we had a good experience here.   The servers are helpful and check up on the table regularly. They also offer to change the BBQ pan periodically to make sure our meat is being cooked to its fullest potential.  The first visit's Arisu combo with 5 different meat wasn't too satisfying but I will definitely revisit for their premium Korean BBQ menu.