Anjin (Orange County)

We found ourselves one day at 11pm craving some Japanese BBQ. Japanese BBQ is like Korean BBQ but with less food but higher quality meat. They put a platter of meat in front of you and you grill it yourself.

One of the most popular places in the OC is Anjin in Costa Mesa. A small restaurant of only 15-16 tables the line is pretty atrocious. We had to wait 20 minutes at 11pm for a table of 4.

We ordered a variety of meats and appetizers.

First up is the mixed kimchi plate

Cucumbers stuffed with glass noodles, radish kimchi, and normal cabbage kimchi. All pretty tasty, nothing spectacular but definitely edible.

First meat was the Pork Belly

Sorry for the half photo, but it's essentially double the portion of this. Thick pieces of "bacon" with a large chunk of fat. My only concern with BBQ bacon is the fat gets cooked too quickly and it tends to dry up, so you really have to keep watch over it. I wasn't a huge fan of this, I prefer the Korean BBQ bacon which is a bit thicker and a less thick chunk of fat.

We were told by a friend NOT to get the KOBE beef but just stick with the USDA prime, and it was a good choice.

First we got the USDA PRIME Rib Eye.

Melt in your mouth delicious. The fat runs through the meat like a small connection of rivers. Tender and soft, the meat is top notch. They put a bit of BBQ sauce and it makes the dish.

The next meat was USDA PRIME short rib.


Not quite as good as the rib eye. It's a bit more chewy than the rib eye, but that's just the style of the meat. It's meater with less fat. If you like your meat with fine amounts of fat, then the Rib eye is a better choice, but if you like really MEATY meat then this is a better choice. The meat is also drizzled with BBQ sauce.

We also ordered Beef Tongue which was far too thin. It cooked too quickly and wasn't flavorful enough. If it was about 2x the thickness, it would have been able to handle the heat better.

We also ordered Intestines which were pretty standard.

If you were to come here, I highly suggest the USDA prime beef and just stick to that. Nothing else impressed me and the prices are all pretty similar ($6-9 a dish).

Expect to spend a nice chunk of money, as you can see from the pictures the portions are not large at all.

ANJIN
3033 Bristol St Ste N
Costa Mesa, CA 92626