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| - I've been in Cali long enough to appreciate good Korean BBQ, and Scottsdale hasn't been a great place to get it. So I was more than intrigued when a heralded place opened in Desert Ridge of all places.
Walking in, everything smells and looks right - sizzling meat and grills at every table. For a party of 2 on a weekday night, we had about a 30 minute wait. Luckily the buzzer gave us half off beers at Nori while we wait!
So we sit down, spread of side dishes ready for us. We opt for sharing the beef course for 2 - you have multiple options, but galbi and bulgogi are a must! We also had the kimchi fried rice and seafood pancake too.
Kimchi fried rice was great with the egg, and seafood pancake did have protein inside - though it felt a little too uniform for me.
This place is very newbie friendly, because they cook everything for you. EVERYTHING. On the one hand, it's convenient, but if you know what you're doing you enjoy cooking it yourself. Also weird having long conversations with your server right there. Kind of felt like discount Benihana.
Overall the meat was phenomenal - as you'd expect when they source specific cuts from around 10 different butchers. But compared to everywhere else I been, I felt it was way too expensive. Probably due to the service - paying steakhouse prices for a third to half of the food for that same cost at even a la carte joints in Bay Area. And we have markup to deal with.
I was definitely happy with my meal but my wallet was not. The bigger meat packages 4-5 are at a slightly better value, so I would probably only go back to try that.
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