Review Maru Korean Bbq - Brisbane

I've eaten here pretty much since they first opened in 2011 up till now. In between that, have tried many other Korean restaurants, but the food here is so hard to top. Haven't tried their BBQ actually, but other than that, I have not had a single bad experience, and food is consistently good. Some of my favourites: Cold noodles with spicy sauce and raw beef topping, black bean noodle, spicy seafood noodle soup, spicy baby octopus, any of the hot stone bibimbap and soft tofu soup. So basically everything classic on the menu.

I was there during Sunday lunch time. It was crowded as seen in the picture shown. I ordered the spicy pork ribs. While waiting for the meal to be serve, I asked for the water. The waitress gave me a tiny cup instead of the jug. I have to ask twice before the jug arrived, The side dishes are supposed to be serve in few dishes, instead I got 2 dishes! Finally, my pork ribs arrived without rice. It is supposed to be a meal! The meat was not soft and some of them were quite tough to chew. Overall, I think the service and meal quality still has room for improvement.

Very busy korean restaurant, always people lining up in front of the place. We've visited there twice, both have a great experience. the first time we tried their grilled intestines, the waiter is quite helpful, he helped us chose a small portion which fits 2 people perfectly. The cold noodle is a must try, especially the broth is so tasty. Fired chicken is very crunchy, and very large portion. The second time we tried their Korean BBQ, which is also very nice. highly recommand!

I’ve been here 3 times with friends and the both the food and service is always great. I’m vegetarian so the Vegetable Bibimbap is my favourite. I also tried their dumplings and the chive pancakes, would definitely order again! Can’t wait to go back again! The servers are also really nice and helpful!

We had Set menu A, which had a range of beef and pork Korean BBQ. Absolutely delicious! Loved all of the condiments, great Korean hospitality. You had to go upstairs to experience the bbq here, so it wasn't family friendly if you have a pram. However, in saying that, the staff helped me lift the pram up their stairs. Great service!

I kept coming back during my stay in Brisbane. It was the best korean bbq I ever tried! The price was affordable and the staff were amazing!

We ordered the cup rice lunch meals. They are really good portions!! Like, hungry teenage boy-portions 😂 Great value for money. Since I also ordered a full-price dish from the normal menu, we also got free side dishes. “Top-up” of side dish were also generous. If you want to try a refreshing alcoholic beverage with lunch, may I suggest the grapefruit soju? Taste really suited the spicy & rich dishes! Maru, we can see you love your customers. And staff looked cheerful too. We will be back again and again.

Great korean bbq restaurant place to catch up with friends. The meat is good but some of them tasted bland. The servers were really nice and helpful. I like the favt they are changing the grilling pan when its needed no need to call them. But overall good food!

Fast and efficient for lunch ! So well priced and food Was delicious ! Atmosphere was buzzing . They have a well thought out take away menu and the presentation for takeaway was beautiful. <br/>

Teriyaki chicken is delicious, service prompt, friendly staff

Maru Korean is the place to go if you want your quick fix of fried chicken☺️ We ordered Half Boneless Chicken ($19) to have as a side with our main dinner at home and it was totally worth it! The Maru chicken has the best texture and doesn’t have the oily aftertaste like others. ⁣<br/>⁣<br/>Dined on: 15th May 7pm⁣<br/>Taste / Uniqueness: 6/10⠀⠀⁣<br/>Value: 6/10

Very quick service, tasty food, lots of space to sit. Good choice for food lovers.

Staff was very friendly and attentive. Their ricecake is very nice, probably the bestie had so far in a Korean restaurant. We ordered Stone grill marinated beef, Ziggle spicy ricecake, black bean noodle, fried chicken. It was really nice flavor.

Came here the 2nd time in 2 weeks. Still loving it! My partner is vegetarian and I am not. We wanted to try their tofu stew but it all contains meat. I explained the situation to the staff and one of their head chefs,David, came to assist. <br/><br/>Tell you what, he is awesome. He came up with a fantastic tofu stew hotpot that was not even on the menu for us!<br/><br/>We came back again today and he actually remembers us and we ordered the same thing again! <br/><br/>Having a flexible kitchen staff is definitely one of the ways to have customers coming back! <br/><br/>Way to go Maru! And Chef David!

Came here for a team Lunch. Our team was very large but even though they were so busy they managed to serve us quickly. Our food also came pretty fast. Their lunch menu is very exciting. So reasonable in price and the portion size is huge. My bibimbap was full of flavour. Loved the presentation. We will definitely be back.

One of my favourite Korean restaurants in Brisbane. Love the stone hot bowls and soups. I also like that they have some menu items that are different from other Korean restaurants.

The first meal was in Brisbane. We were attracted by Zomato 4.2 rating, however the experience didn’t meet our expectations. The food only can be rated average, also they required to order minimum meat for BBQ. So we felt it is overpriced by considering service, restaurant ordering rules and food.

One of my favorite eateries in the city. I've been there many times and they have never failed me. Where do I begin! The chiken is great (pretty much all the variations), kimchi pancakes are very tasty, omu rice is lovely and their lunch deals are such a good value. You'll get a chiken rice cup for 9.90 (if dining in, if not it's even cheaper) and it always works as two meals for me. I well and truly enjoy the side dishes and they even refill it for you if you ask!

The hotpot was very disappointing and not worth the $45 price tag. The meat was clumped together in one big chunk and the soup was weirdly sweet. <br/><br/>The boneless fried chicken was not crispy and was mostly batter and very little chicken.

My absolute favourite is their creamy omurice. Their Korean bbq really differs depending on how busy they are and what time you dine. They have expanded their side dishes recently and they have bigger portions.

Fries chicken is very good

good

Love this Korean restaurant, we choose this place over all the others. Good prices also, great food and great staff. <br/>

Great authentic Korean food! <br/><br/>The seaweed ban-chan with mayo is abit weird. Otherwise please retain the soy sauce tofu and kimchi !! Probably can add soy sauce potatoes or beansprouts! <br/><br/>5 stars for the really friendly and meticulous wait staff. <br/><br/>5 stars for the superb tasting soup and black bean sauce noodles.<br/><br/>Butttttttt.....The fried chicken and spicy rice cake with cheese came out cold. So that was rather unimpressive. <br/><br/>5 stars for the venue. Its super central and next to a few bubble tea shops. <br/><br/>Will impress my visitors with Maru if they ever visit Brisbane.

Had an absolutely super dinner here last night. Small joint serving Korean food. <br/>I ordered a hot pot of spicy chicken and rice. It was super tasty and quite hot as well. They have a unique way of serving the food. Photograph attached.

I requested refill the kimchi. I found different particle (fish cake which was the second side dish) in the Kimchi plate after i ate half of refilled serving.<br/>I don't know why other particle in the Kimchi dish. How can they prove it is not the recycling the food?

Came to dine on a quiet Sunday night, Maru offered an upstairs dining area for BBQ and downstairs for Korean meals.<br/>We ordered platter C (wagyu platter $98), sweet chilli korean chicken ($6 if ordered with a main dish). Unfortunately we completely forgot to take photos of our dishes.. We received soy bean soup along with 2 bowls or rice and various sides with our platter. Once cooked, the meat was delicious and tender, and the chicken was crispy yet saucy, staff were also very friendly and attentive - and was more that happy to continually topped up any completed side dish at our request.<br/>

Good food, inconsistent service. Went here a couple of times already. First time was good, I enjoyed the food also the wait staff we’re friendly. My only problem was they put us in a small table even though there were heaps of tables available that would comfortably sit 5 adults. Second time around, one of the staff was very rude to us, but we just let it slip as it was a busy night. This weekend I decided to give Maru another go. This time the service just keeps getting worse, the lady that took our orders seems like she didn’t even bother listening to what we were saying. She left before we even had the chance to order our drinks, she also kept rolling her eyes as if we were pests. So we rang our bell to get their attention, none of them even bothered going to our table considering the place wasn’t even packed at all. My mum had to ask a few times for the soda she ordered, still nothing 🤷🏻‍♀️ They also forgot to serve us some of the side dishes that usually comes with the order. Me and my family felt like we were unwanted. I don’t think we’ll be coming back again. Such a shame since the food is really good.

Bibimbap for all!<br/>I ordered the vegetarian BBB with a fried egg rather than the yolk. Good flavours and veges though I believe my stone bowl was too hot as when I stirred, I found the rice had already burnt and I had charred rice throughout. Also ordered the kimchi pancakes (not photographed) but they were so small compared to other restaurants. Price was a bit higher, maybe due to CBD location.

Lovely customer service. Let them know you're eating bbq and they will direct you upstairs. Peak hour, they ask you to sit and wait until a table is free. Food is nice.

Awesome tasty food! Quick service, staff make it clean very fast and friendly staff, nice smiles. People who like Korean food or soup, you will like it. Thank you. Sadly, I have to go back to Melbourne.

Got here on a Sunday arvo and it was pretty busy. Been here several of times but first time writing something about it. I had the seafood tofu hotpot, which was a mistake. It had copious amount of tofu compared to seafood and I even had a pipi that was undercooked hence the shell wouldn’t open. I’ve been here in the past for KFC, bigger pork bone hotpots, and Korean bbq which is much more of a better choice. I would have given a 3/5 for lunch, but since I’ve been here in the past and was satisfied... maru got the benefit of the doubt.

Upstairs, where impolite meets unhelpful. The Korean BBQ. This was out first visit and experience in Korean BBQ. Once ordered the staff bring out some side dishes, don't bother to tell you what they are, thank you and flee the scene at hyper speed. Then they bring you some raw meet for you to cook with no instruction on how to do so. When we asked the staff they were unwilling to help and tried to push reponsibility to other staff, who didn't have an interest in helping out at all.

One of the Most crowded Korean cuisine places In CBD. Find yourself lucky if you spot no queue.<br/><br/>➡️Ambiance<br/>Large seating area on the ground floor and the first floor. Food is served on the table.<br/><br/>➡️Food<br/><br/>Honey Soy Chicken Bowl With Rice 🥢<br/>Comes for less than 10$ this dish is a good pick for lunch hour. However the chicken chunk were little hard and felt chewy which got the flavors a little low. Spices were perfect and the dish was not spicy.<br/><br/>Prawns Dimsum 🥢<br/>Slight fried as seen from the outer layer this filling was really juicy as expected. Served with soy this was decent on overall taste. Eat this quick before it turns cold.<br/><br/>

Maru is an interesting restaurant. With two levels for dining in a prime CBD location, I had expected the atmosphere to be the antithesis of what it was: bustling, brightly lit and full of customers.<br/><br/>Walking in, we were swiftly greeted and seated. I ordered the “Marinated Beef Dosirak” and was pleasantly surprised with its visual similarities to the pictures. The beef was piping hot and super tender. It had good flavour. I really liked the fried vegetable cake (similar to Japanese かきあげ), the salad, sliced egg and various assortments of banchan.<br/><br/>I think that the two types of fish cake was a bit excessive, this is probably because I mistakenly thought the the orange discs were sweet potato. In addition to the side dishes, I was so full by the end of the meal. I really enjoyed the pink pickled vegetable (seemed to be daikon) and the creamy salad. <br/><br/>I would recommend coming to Maru and would suggest that diners take advantage of their BBQ specials! I will definitely be returning. Enjoy 😊<br/><br/>

The lunch deal is really worth it . The portion of food is big too . My friend and I got too full and almost can’t finish it 😆😆 <br/><br/>But it was super delicious !!! <br/>I went twice and ordered fried chicken cup rice both times too . Spicy mayo cup rice and sweet chilli cup rice 😋🤤 <br/><br/>Kimchi stew was really good too . Maru’s customer service was really good , quick service and whenever we ask for extra side dishes , they gave us pretty quickly too with a smile . The water , tea n coffee are self service at no extra cost . If you wanna have some coffee or tea , you can just make it yourself since it’s provided there .<br/><br/>Will definitely go there again . Love Maru food!!! 😋😋💖

Their bbq specials are good value for your money. It comes with a variety of complimentary sides which you can always ask for more. Service is usually fast and friendly. Definitely recommended.

We were greeted by friendly staff who got us a table straight away. We ordered stone bowl beef and spicy pork which didn’t take long and was served hot and fresh. <br/><br/>Good was fresh, warm and we enjoyed them with the side dishes. <br/><br/>

Authentic korean dishes. Love the chicken and cheese rice!! Narnacue was good too and the ventilation was excellent unlike most places which leaves you smelling like barbecue when you leave

Terrible service. Don’t come if you cannot speak Korean. They have no patience for you. They show you an impatient face if you dare to ask any questions.

Tried the sweet chilli fried chicken in stone bowl and wowzers it was spicy!!! I should probably note that I’m pretty weak with spicy stuff, but for sweet chilli it was pretty damn hot lol. Though I can imagine lots of people enjoying the slickness. The only thing that motivated me to continue eating it was that the chicken itself tasted nice (just extremely spicy). The portion was large—had enough left over to take home for another meal. Would go again, but would probably order something else...

In the past half a month,I went to this restaurant three times.First time my friend invited me.Taste their hot pot(I guess,forget the name)and rice .Delicious!

Maru is probably the busiest Korean restaurant in CBD. There’s nearly always a long waiting line in front of the restaurant. Thankfully, I got into the restaurant when it’s not a busy time and got to try their food.<br/>I got to try the pork cutlet, and since it was lunch time, they have promo for cheaper price. The portion was satisfying as the pork itself was real big. The chips’s also good and the salad was good complement to the dish. Overall it was a pretty satisfying dish for me. <br/><br/>I also got the chance to try raw beef dish on other occasion. I was scared at first to try it, and suddenly got hooked on it. There’s no raw meat smell or anything like that. <br/><br/>On a side note, the last time I went there, I went with a large number of groups, like around 20 people. We asked if we could get the tables together and in the end, we could not sit together. The server was quite annoyed at us as they kinda give us that unlikeable look everytime we ask for service, dunno why 😂. It would be good if they’re more friendly tho, just saying.

One of the best Korean resto in CBD! They serve one of the best fried chicken- personal favorite is honey soy flavoured. Dishes are made w good quality ingredients and freshly made.

I visited Maru on my last night in Brisbane. We arrived there around 7.45pm and it was not very busy. So we sat and we ordered, but the guy who took our order was not friendly and not with patience at all. I ordered sweet chili fried chicken and they delivered original fried chicken. So we straight away told the waiter that it’s not what we wanted then we had to wait for long time. Even other table who came after us had the sweet chili friend chicken before us!<br/>Also the bi bim bab was not good. And small amount.

Sep2020. Ordered UberEats from Maru for weeknight dinner with partner and a friend.<br/>We ordered the boneless fried chicken with sweet chilli and soy to share.<br/>The chicken was well-cooked and seasoned. It came with a tiny portion of pickled radish as a side.<br/>However, the portions and value for money was unfortunately dismal. For $50 (not including delivery), we were left unsatisfied.<br/>Overall, a poor takeaway experience for quantity and quality.<br/>_____<br/>Jan2019. Rated 3.5. Went here for weekend lunch with the partner. We were quickly seated and given menus.<br/>We ordered:<br/>- Spicy Pork Dosirak - a delicious and generously-portioned assortment of salads, fried vegetables, kimchi, rice and spicy slices of tender pork.<br/>- Fried Vegetable Rice Cup - lightly fried slices of vegetables with rice.<br/>And a side of Kimchi Gyoza - just as named, fried dumplings with the spice and sourness of kimchi filling.<br/>Service was a little slow - we noticed an indiscepancy between tables who arrived first and then served later. Collect your own water and tea at the counter. Plenty of indoors seating available - those favouring BBQ are seated upstairs. Reasonable prices.<br/>Overall, a reasonable Korean eatery in Brisbane CBD, however there's room for service improvement.

A great place to visit if you enjoy Korean food! Brought a few friends to this restaurant and they loved it. I always go for their bibimbap bowls and an occasional Korean BBQ. Will definitely visit more often.

We dined here for a late Saturday lunch ordering two noodle soups a kimchi fried rice (all of which were good) and a side of sweet chilli fried chicken, the chicken came out cold as did the rice.<br/><br/>Upon sending them back the rice returned promptly, however even after asking the wait staff about the fried chicken didn't return to the table, until after we had finished our meal, and was now a mixture of hot and cold pieces.<br/><br/>This mixture of hot and cold left me wondering about the sanitary practises of the kitchen, are we being served old food?<br/><br/>I will never eat here again after this show of utter incompetence.

Invited some friends because we hadn't been to Maru in a while. The last time was very good, no problems, food was fine, service was fine. The quality of the meat and side dishes are quite good as expected. But today the service was atrocious. The staff were very rude and condescending. I honestly thought they didn't want us to be there. It was such a shock to us how much this restaurant has declined. I remember they used to be nice and welcoming. There are better customer service at worse restaurants in Brisbane. The experience completely ruined our day, we left before we were full. I will not return to this restaurant again. Such a shame.

Very interesting experience where you cook your own meat on a grill on the table. A meat lover’s heaven. Also the choice to order a meal cooked for you.

A stop in the city for dinner means Korean food for us (well, most of the time). Korean food is fast, convenient and tasty, don't you agree? If you are looking for places that are quiet, then don't bother walking into a Korean restaurant. It is usually lively, and their food will fill you up. The chives pancake in Maru is a must if you are tossing between the chives or the seafood pancake (I have tried both). It comes out crispy with loads of chives, and you have to eat it with their dipping sauce.

Eh nothing special.... honestly the food was just okay... but the service was absolutely terrible there was one lady (I think the manager) who basically threw the menus at us! Told us “water is self serve” when I saw her getting some for some white boys... honestly disappointed please change your lady manager she has no idea how to deal with customers... maybe because I’m not Korean?

Always come here after uni! I love the buttered squid and the cheese tteokbokki here! It’s always so busy unfortunately! It’d be also good if the customer service was a little better, as in the workers were more attentive and kind to us.<br/>

Gigantic a day overwhelming menu. There's something here for everyone. Their bench are great and offer privacy, especially if you plan in getting drunk on their amazing soju.

Solid Korean food restaurant in Brisbane!<br/>Took out some colleagues here for dinner as they have never tried Korean food before. Ordered various bibimbaps and the boneless fried chicken. The Texan that was with us really enjoyed it; really enjoyed the fried chicken. I would definately recommend the spicy pork bibimbap. <br/><br/>I have went to this place far too many times, always enjoy the KFC (Korean Fried Chicken). Food was cheap and came out pretty quickly. This place has two levels but is always busy, from dinner to late. Gotta love the atmosphere, especially when they always play eye catching k-pop on TV.

Great Korean food<br/><br/>We had a really fantastic Friday night Korean dinner at this popular restaurant. We had to queue for a table but luckily we didn't have to wait too long. The food was delicious, the portions were generous and the prices were reasonable. Even though the restaurant was packed, our food came out very quickly. We were also able to bring our own bottle of wine which was a plus!

This is my first time been #Maru. I swear I will never be there again. Extreme bad service and terrible attitude that I never ever had before in my life. What I recommend to everyone is DON'T GO !

Love this place! Super efficient and excellent service by staff 😋 when my friend and I arrived it wasn't extremely busy but definitely full with a few seats left. We were seated and given enough time to choose our food, once the order was taken not even 10 minutes later and our food was delivered! It was cooked lovely and had all the right flavours 🤤 we finished as much as we could and left satisfied, would highly recommend 😊

Happy hour is great. Half price dishes with a beer purchase /or other alcoholic beverage. Friendly and bustling. Flavours rich and dishes prepared fresh.

Service was really quick and the service was great! The good was amazing and we ordered way too much for the 5 of us! The Korean BBQ meats were delicious and well marinated and came with some delicious and varied sides. Would definitely recommend going here and will definitely be going back!

I lived in Korea for 2 years, so when I discovered this place I was taken back straight away. Their food is to die for, the portions are huge and their prices are almost as cheap as Korea itself. You must try their Bibim-bup it is really authentic. The service is also great and super friendly. I think they know me by now cuase I always get my favorite side dishes topped up. Great work guys, love this place.

Been here many times, they have good value lunch specials and do pretty good korean dinners, either as BBQ or standard menus. My favourite things are the kimchi stew and grilled fish. Serving sizes are pretty generous and the side dishes are usually pretty nice. The service seems to be made up of youngsters on working holiday visas, so it can be hit and miss, but just be patient and keep trying!

Great Korean bbq in the city. Always always busy. Their chicken is amazing but my fave is the creamy chicken dish. It comes with a kimchi omelette and this ridiculous white, cheesy, sweet and salty creamy white sauce. Sooooo good.

Delicious Korean food in the city! Friendly prompt staff, short waiting time & the restaurant was full on a Tuesday night - that's how you know it's good!!<br/><br/>The butter fried squid entry was huge and probably my favourite dish due to its texture and subtle sweet buttery crisp taste, but it was very hard to decide that as a favourite because the bulgogi beef was also a very delicious, tender and flavoursome. <br/>The pork belly platter was great, perhaps a tad dry but I think I should have turned the gas sizzler off sooner. The pork belly platter is $40 but on Wednesday it's $25 with an alcoholic Bev - I have had better pork belly in sunny bank, but I would very happily pay the Wednesday deal cost again here. <br/>

I had been here before and wasn't impressed at the time, but because I couldn't be bothered walking up the street to Matongsan I decided to go here again. Mistake. I ordered sun tuh buh. A delicate spicy tofu soup with pork. Rice was cold, kimchi poor quality and the soup was served incorrectly. Normally this dish is served in a hot stone pot. The pork was of bad quality and the amount of raw chewy onion was appalling. I was hungry so I kept eating. Go to Matongsan up the road for an authentic Korean experience.

Had their BBQ Combo A, which was an awesome feed! Several different cuts of pork and beef (both marinated and non-marinated), two delicious sauces to go with it, a refreshing soybean soup, rice and side dishes. The meat was fresh and tender, waitresses came by twice to switch out our blackened grill paper for us - overall a very enjoyable experience. There is even complimentary tea and coffee (which we didn't realize until we went to the counter to pay). The place is clean and well-maintained, including the toilets.<br/><br/>My only gripe is that the side dishes were rather unappealing. The only one that we found edible was the kimchi - the others included some very wilted-looking leaves, onions in soy sauce(?), and cabbage that looked like it had been sitting around for a while.<br/><br/>Price-wise, at $70 for 2 people, it's on the higher side for Korean food, especially compared to the Korean BBQ buffets in Sunnybank. But given that it's centrally located and a slightly more upmarket experience (in service, ambience, and freshness of the food), that is quite understandable.

Laurence Smith <br/><br/>This was our first time at Maru and, wow, what a fantastic meal! We both had the kimchi soup then shared small bowls of beef, chicken and 3 different pickled vegetable accompaniments the soup was a meal in itself. Everything was delicious. No 2 things tasted the same, and the soup had many flavours in it, but all worked well. The place was packed, with mostly Koreans. We will definitely be coming back, and soon.

The food was delicious, the portions were perfect, and at a great price. As soon as you walk in you are enveloped in the smell of food that is sure to make your stomach rumble. The staff are very friendly, and are very quick in their response.

I have been here two times so far, both times I was greeting by happy waiters and seated straight away. They were very quick to hand me a menu and seemed to ask for my order at the perfect time. Both times the service was very quick with very generous portions and good pricing for the standard of food. It is also a very casual laid back restaurant and doesn't feel too fancy while at the same time having quite a pleasing decor. <br/><br/>The first visit I ordered the tofu salad which was extremely enjoyable, I am not sure how authentic it is to Korean cuisine (rocket and balsamic vinegar?) but it was really nice and the tofu was fantastic, crunchy outside and very silky inside. <br/><br/>The second visit I ordered the fried dumplings and the spicy fried chicken bibimbap, the dumplings where really good and came with a chili sauce (I think) which wasn't very hot but paired well with the dumplings. The chicken bibimbap was also really good but again, not very spicy :( as mentioned before though, the portions sizes where very big and I didn't finish the whole meal as I was too stuffed.<br/><br/>I would recommend Maru to anyone in the mood for Korean BBQ or just looking for an enjoyable meal.

Nice Korean place. Food is quite good, and side dishes are tasty. <br/><br/>Highlights: Food is awesome. <br/><br/>Downsides: Staff are very busy, and you feel rushed when ordering. <br/><br/>Would recommend for meetings, or friend catch ups/new experiences.

Used to be able to ask for unlimited side dish, but the last time I went there you can only ask for side dish for three times. Staff sometimes looks disinterested

I've ordered the beef for BBQ here many times - tastes great but is quite hard to chew. The pancakes here are also burnt sometimes... Other than that, food is really flavourful.<br/>Service is alright but staff can't seem to speak English very fluently so occasionally it was difficult communicating with them but they're all really friendly.

I got the spicy fried chicken bibimbap in a stone bowl. I did think it was odd to have fried chicken with rice, but I wanted to try it because I thought that they would make it work in some way, especially since it was labelled as "popular".<br/><br/>Unfortunately to say, my initial misgivings were right. It was a very weird combination. The chicken and the rice did not go together at all. The chicken itself was too sweet and was not spicy in the least, contrary to their claims. Additionally, the rice tasteless with hardly any vegetables - calling it "bibimbap" is a stretch.<br/><br/>My mother ordered the braised rib and she thought that it was too sweet as well.<br/><br/>My sister got the teriyaki chicken bibimbap, and said that it wasn't bad but definitely not worth $16.<br/><br/>Overall, the food was bad at worst and mediocre at best. <br/><br/>If you are a small eater like me, then I would strongly recommend that you share with other people instead of getting one main each. I was full after eating half of my meal.

Dear Maru, my friend and I went to your place on Elizabeth st. at around 10 pm, last night, and ordered kimchi soup with soft tofu (I cannot remember a proper name of this dish as my friend ordered), stream dumpling, and corn cheese. The meal went through fine, but an only concern of us was your kimchi tasted strange and too sour (than usual). However, the problem happens after we finished a meal for around an hour. I received a message from my friend (who is a flight attendant, and flies for works around the world. I took her to you guys place because I like and I think it is a good chance to recommend to friends who come over to Brisbane. My friend has stayed here only for a night for work, and I preferred you guys restaurant) at around midnight that she was feeling uncomfortable and sick in her stomach. After, she vomited uncontrollably. She had never felt or had this problem before when she went overseas for works or came here other times. You guys should please check quality and cleanliness of your foods, so it will never happen to other customers again. For me, I would never recommend you guys place or even go back there again.

I understand that this resturant is busy and a lot of people like to eat here but that doesn't mean YOU, the staff, can try and push people out when they have barely finished eating. I was there with friends on Saturday night for my birthday and the place was busy, it wasn't completely crowded, there were empty tables here and there. We were enjoying our shared hot pot and it hasn't even been an hour from when we were seated when a waiter came to us and was trying to clean the table when we weren't even finished eating yet! He kept asking us if we were done and tried to clean everything up while asking us if he could. That is a rude thing to do! Again it hadn't even been an hour from when we sat down. What was even worst was the waitress who was setting tables for customers came up to us and gave us our bill rudely, She slammed the bill on the table and just walked away. You have a lot of people coming in, I understand, but that doesn't mean you can push people out like that. We usually get at least 2 hours to eat and drink in resturants if they are busy, and they tell us before hand to only stay up to 2 hours because they are so busy but it was even an hour before they were kicking us out. I wanted a nice dinner with friends for my birthday at a good resturant but the way you treated us last night was horrible and I will never be returning to this resturant!!! You should not treat customers like this. If customers are coming in and you have full tables then they will have to wait or at least ask kindly for us to leave if we had finished eating.. WHICH WE WEREN'T FINISHED!!! THANK YOU FOR RUINING MY NIGHT. DON'T COME HERE THEY WILL KICK YOU OUT WITHIN AN HOUR ON A BUSY NIGHT BECAUSE THEY WANT MORE CUSTOMERS IN A 2 LEVEL RESTURANT WITH HIGH PRICES FOR BBQ AND RUDE STAFF!!!!

Was a bit of a rough start as my sister in law is celiac and we arrive to find that absolutely nothing on their menu is gluten free. She had to go and order something and bring it back as it was her brothers birthday and didn't want to miss out, but the staff said yes she could as long as she was the only one that brought outside food in, so that was good at least.<br/><br/>I ordered the maru chicken salad which I liked a lot, the rest of the family ordered the big platters of meat and had fun cooking with that. No one was keen on the coleslaw, kimchi or cabbage. <br/><br/>Staff were alright. Their English isn't too great so it may be frustrating to try and talk to them, especially with us as they had never heard of 'gluten free' before. As well as that they really seemed disinterested in everyone. I never saw a smile that night.<br/><br/>Overall, I enjoyed my salad but it was the only thing that interested me on the menu, so won't return.

Oh so finger licking good. Lovely Korean cuisine. Great music playing and happy lively atmosphere. Good staff and service. One of my favourites. Good pricing.

definitely one of the better korean restaurants in the brisbane cbd. went here with 3 friends and we ordered:<br/>- spicy pork rib soup: vegetable rice that they gave had an ant crawling up the size of the bowl. didn't bother complaining about it since i removed the ant and because the ant wasn't actually in my rice (or at least i didn't see it there) and only on the plate so i didn't feel like it was a HUGE deal. anyway the pork rib soup was delicious and hella spicy just the way i like it. the pork fell off the bone easily and it was so tender and well seasoned. vegetable rice was eh whatever, not really a vegetable rice -- just kimchi and rice together with some spare veggies. there were some rice cakes and clear noodles that were great but would've liked more haha<br/>- spicy pork bone soup: pork was a bit tougher weirdly enough (vs the pork rib soup). less spicy, bean sprouts didn't really do much for the soup. overall kinda disappointing <br/>- spicy seafood noodle soup (jjambbong), which was a very generous portion size with lots of noodles and soup. friend wasn't given anything to break open the crab legs but apart from that, everything else seemed fine<br/>- curry prawn omurice: prawns were crunchy. good. nice. could've put more in. <br/>- cheesy rice cake sizzle (ddeokbokki): the rice cakes were hard to chew as though they were fresh out of the freezer (freshly made ddeokbokki is soft and chewy (but not that hard to chew)). i don't think the mozzarella cheese suits the dish (usually it's cheddar cheese sprinkled on top). it's a decent share dish if you don't have high expectations lol<br/>- side dishes: definitely better than others in the city. the kimchi is a staple. the pickled radish was delicious. the fish cakes were a good in between for the spicy dishes.<br/><br/>pricing was decent for food in the city. would i go here again? only if i were craving korean food and felt like treating myself to slightly pricier food~ (also hope i never find another bug in my food again yikes)

Was very pleasant experience dining there, had combo A between two was totally in my student budget and you get unlimited kimchi which is amazing.<br/>Staff could be more on point but were overall nice.

I am  a regular customer. We were there on Tuesday night on our regular girl's night hoping to have a nice dinner. Then we found a big live worm on the vegetables suppose to wrap the meat with. We called waiter and they came to exchange us another bowl of vegetables. They kept saying the vegetable is so fresh, directly from the farm.  I was furious about their respond. So fresh from the farm doesn't mean it is ok to have warms in your customer's dish. Later on we found another warm in our salad. Two warms in a go. We have to be very lucky. After that we totally lost our appetite. The waiter bring us one coke  and one fanta to compensate. We refused. It is a terrible experience and we hope someone is doing some investigation in their kitchen. We are definitely won't go back.

My favourite place to go for lunch whilst in Brisbane cbd such a fast paced restaurant service is excellent food is sooooooo yummy and lunch menu is so cheap one of my fav friend chicken too

Went here for lunch with two friends during the week.  The lunch specials are well priced and have generous portion sizes.  We sat upstairs and the décor was fine, although the table wasn't set properly (not enough cutlery) and the tables were so close together that it was hard to pull my seat out to sit down.  Service was very quick, but we asked for water that never came despite pressing the call button a few times.  Would recommend for price and speed of service.

They have a generous serving of spicy seafood noodle soup and the spicy rice cake is tasty as well. I had tried the bbq here with my colleague, we spent $100 which I think was kinda expensive for 2 people. Overall, it's a good place for Korean food.

Omg! Love Korean food - it was delis... Dined in this restaurant two weekends ago for the first time and enjoyed the food so much it was worth going... Not only was it a beautiful sunny day I had a great experience and customer service was really good... I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you are into nice Korean food...

Maru is a popular eatery on Elizabeth st. The Korean restaurant houses a large indoor dining area with the usual traditional Korean offerings and some specialty fusion cuisines. We had their BBQs and fried chickens in the past but want to explore their menu further. With that in mind we ordered: ziggle curry omu-rice, beef rib soup & an entrée serving of beef bulgogi. <br/><br/>Appetisers: kimchi, mayo crunchy glass noodle & seasoned Korean gluten. All dishes were well made with nothing outstanding. The kimchi tasted mass produced (factory made) with big sour and thin chilli flavours. Crunchy glass noodles were interesting in texture but lacked flavour punch. Korean gluten was over seasoned with sesame oil. As an overall package: 3/5<br/><br/>Beef bulgogi: was served room temperature as an entrée. The beef presents fragrant sweet soy and onion flavours but was let down by the dry and chewy texture. If only it was cooked to order. 3/5<br/><br/>Ziggle curry omu-rice: contains fried chicken bites, red sauce fried rice wrapped with egg sheet and Japanese style curry drizzled with mayo & sweet chilli sauce. The dish was served on a mildy warm hot plate thus the ziggle ziggle name. The fried chicken presents a crunchy outer coating with a dry and chewy centre. The fried rice was soggy, mildly warm with overpowering ketchup taste. Curry on the other hand was well cooked and flavourful. As an overall package it’s a below average 2.5/5<br/><br/>Beef rib soup: with radish, scallion, needle mushroom, shredded eggs and big hunk of beef rib. First impression: decent serving size. The meat itself was juicy, tender with big beefy flavours. The soup on the other hand was on the watery and salty side with overpowering sesame oil. As an overall package it’s a good 3.5/5<br/><br/>Service: Considering it was a busy weekday night, service was friendly with minor English communication issues. Several follow ups were made on requests. 3.5/5<br/><br/>Hint: their fried chicken and bibimbap selections sampled so far scored 4/5 on average.

Had a Sunday lunch at this restaurant while we were shopping at the city. Walked in and was surprised to see so many diners having their meals there. Were allocated to a table and wait-staff was robotically pass the menu to us without smile. We ordered the hot pot with marinated beef and octopus. Honestly, the hot-pot was not bad in terms of the quantity and it was the first time that I had such a tendered octopus in Korean BBQ restaurant. However, the vibe just lacks the passionate friendly atmosphere....just too robotic! The management probably need to reflect on the staff training...

I have really given this place a chance. I’ve eaten here 3 times in the past (because I do enjoy the cuts of meat) and it’s always been the same, however, this time was worse than normal. The service at this restaurant is abysmal and we are always treated like second class citizens. To begin, my girlfriend and I had a few friends in town so we decided to take them out to Korean Barbeque as they had never tried it before. The waitress placed the 5 of us at a table in the back corner of the restaurant (which was completely empty). The table was for 4 and she grabbed a chair and stuck it at the end. Fair enough, as there may have been reservations at the other larger tables. We later realized there weren’t, as the restaurant was empty throughout our meal and even when we left. The restaurant is BYO, so we brought a bottle of wine and asked for some wine glasses. The waitress looked confused and came back several minutes later asking us how many glasses we would like. She came back with the glasses (costing $3 each), which were dirty and had lipstick prints on them (a steep price for some dirty glasses). We then asked for some water and she pointed to the bar area and said that we can go get it. She came back 30 seconds later asking us if we were ready to order. After ordering, another woman came out and asked if we were sure of our order as “it’s a lot of food.” My friends and I are indeed adults who understand the amount of food it requires for us to be satiated. Moving forward, the food was brought out and there was clearly not enough room on the table to place the trays of meat. The waitress careless handed us the plates to figure it out on our own, without any assistance or offers to move to a larger table for comfort. In addition, we were not given the normal sides of garlic, jalapenos, chili sauce that have been given to us in the past, nor did we receive all the sides that we had paid for. After dropping of the plate of meat, the waitress never came back to ask if we had anything we needed or remove any of the empty plates to make room for us. Due to the lack of space, we essentially were all eating out of our lap, and the waitress had no regard for our comfort and gave absolutely no effort towards moving empty plates and providing assistance to make our experience more enjoyable. After leaving, I felt embarrassed in front of my friends who came so far to visit me.<br/><br/>I do hesitate to use the word “racism” given the political climate of today, however, after all the opportunities I have given the restaurant, I do consider this as a possibility. We all work hard and when we do go out to eat and pay with the money we worked hard for, I had assumed there was a certain level of respect that should be expected. This is not the case at Maru, and for this reason I will never return. I suggest you don’t either. There are plenty of other fine Korean Barbeque restaurants around and I truly hope they will provide you with a better experience. <br/><br/>Note: If you chose to eat here, bring cash or debit because there is a 2% surcharge for credit cards (even if you’re spending over $100 to eat here).

Found myself in the city looking for something a little different for lunch and decided to give Maru Korean BBQ a try. I went with the Marinated Beef Bibimbap in Stone Bowl ($15.80), which consisted of marinated beef, wombok, mushrooms, cucumber, carrots, spinach and bean sprouts.<br/><br/>The stone bowl was served blistering hot and I enjoyed mixing the raw egg throughout the dish. Everything was delightful with the exception of the beef, which was very bland and disappointing. The dish rated a 3.5, but could have been much higher if the beef had been flavourful.<br/><br/>Lots of seating and quick service.

Food was average, service can be quite slow especially when it is a full house. Seems to be a local favourite but I haven't taken to the taste of most dishes here.

This place is fine, but considering the quantity of people and prices you'd expect better.<br/><br/>I think for some people this place will be great because it will be their first Korean BBQ experience purely out of the popularity it has. (It's crowded so it must be good, right?), and honestly the first time you have Korean BBQ you realise how great it is to have with friends or your couple and that Korean food has great flavours, but don't let that necessarily seep into the restaurant's review itself.<br/><br/>At what they do, they're fine. But in the CBD there are a LOT other places that are 'fine' or better than fine, and which cost the same, less, or even a whole lot less. That is the reason I'd rate this 3/5, because you have options, and you have MANY options. Just look around a little and honestly try other places out, they usually have their own great things and you don't have to be in the busiest Korean food place in the CBD, letting you have better service too.<br/><br/>Madtongsan, The Journey, Korilla BBQ (Meats aren't as great but it's charcoal, more than makes up for it), are just three of our regular options and there's a whole lot more. Heck even the All you can eat BBQ near CBD is just fine considering the value (Hanwoori).

Good place for share meals between friends and or couples.. usually quite nice food, however the last time I went there and ordered bossam set menu, the pork meat was not tasted very fresh.. might still give it another try, but maybe not for a near future~

Been here a few times and always impressed with the food. The rice in the Spicy Chicken Bibambap was crispy and the chicken is delicious, even if it's not as spicy as I would like. We order the BBQ Combo A and this was a lot for the 3 of us. Very good value. We also order the fried chicken and there were heaps. Definitely recommend.

Excellent service, well priced and food was delicious. <br/>We went with our little boy who is 4 and he enjoyed it very much too. The staff are very attentive. Not as many side dishes as other Korean BBQ places I have been would be the only downfall.

Once a frequently visited destination by me, it is now a place I will avoid. <br/><br/>Service 1.5/5<br/>Service was really disapointing. I understand dinner can get busy but one of the Korean waitresses were super rude. I had a table of aussie friends with me but the waitress no patience even though my friend was being super sweet about asking questions about the food. I caught onto what was going on and switched on my Korean and the service became much better. What a joke. <br/><br/>Food 1/5 <br/>Food would have been awesome.... if the hygiene was better. I found a hair in my kimchi pancake half way through. Yuck. <br/><br/>Decor 3/5<br/>Average decor. Nothing special. <br/><br/><br/>You would think that being smack bang in the middle of Brisbane CBD they would be the pillar of the Korean restaurant community in Brisbane but nah. Word of advice to the managers/ owners: hire Koreans who can take understand a bit of English to help the communication between customers and staff. If you can't then atleast train them on service. <br/><br/>Skip this place. <br/>

time to update the review. Came here on 7 dec to have a quick lunch. They were so busy at that time. I had dosirak with spicy pork and also ordered creamy friedn chicken. The dosirak came in a big portion that I was quite struggle to finish it by myself. The spicy pork was flavoursome yet quite disappointed with the fritters. Chicken was ok without anything exceptional. Food came fast despite beig so busy at that monent<br/><br/><br/>🍱🍱🍱🍱🍱🍱🍱🍱🍱🍱🍱<br/>It was so busy when I came here on weekend, yet they didnt take too long to serve the food. The food was tasty and delicious. I really like the tteokbokki, it was so tasty.

Absolutely love Maru. I love the variety of items on the menu and how there are many dishes that you would not be able to get at some other Korean restaurants. <br/>The service is very fast and food is very affordable. It has always been good to come back here for a meal 😍

"My heart's in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel"<br/><br/>A solid operation. In The Darkness of a lukewarm Brisbane night, The Dear Luncher opted for some takeaway fried chicken and was suitably impressed. The boneless fried chicken with spring onion was the selection. Said chicken was delightfully fried and scrumptious. Crispy and sweet on the outside, still moist on the inside. Just how The Dear Luncher enjoys it. <br/><br/>This was the final Korean Fried Chicken venue in the Brisbane CBD left on The Dear Luncher's list. The Dear Luncher believes in a thing called love, and that love is fried chicken, and Mrs Luncher, of course. <br/><br/>xoxo.

Maru, everyone recommended me to go there. I've tried Korean food so many times before and i think Maru is not as good as I expected. I called for a black bean noodles and in my opinion, it tasted very normal. I didn't impress, like, i didn't feel anything. It was fine, udon was good and the soyce too. However i think there was too much onion in there and I want to have more meat inside. <br/>I know this is just my first time here so i can't judge base on just one food. I hope that i would have the chance to try the hotpot and BBQ next time.

Nice Korean place in the middle of brisbane city. It's always busy and has a good vibe. I come here for lunch or for a late night dinner. My favourite is the Korean chicken - either fried chicken wings or in a hot stone bowl with rice. Yum yum

This place is my go-to Korean restaurant. Maru consistently delivers enjoyable and delicious food. Their main dishes and complementary sides are very generous in size.<br/><br/>One of my absolute favourites here is the Marinated Fried Chicken Bibimbap. The crispy chicken, crunchy vegetables and fluffy rice pairs beautifully with their chilli sauce.<br/><br/>Their hotspots and rice cakes are also delicious, and are quite a treat to share with your friends (but I personally prefers to devour them by my self).<br/><br/>It's not hard to see why this critically acclaimed restaurant is full most nights.<br/><br/>

I ordered the chicken dosirak which seemed to look incredible when it came. However after a few bites I suddenly had the worst stomach pains. I didn't think it was the food at the time but after a while it soon became clear that it was. I ended up apologising to my date that I wasn't well and had to leave to find the closest toilet soon after. It was a disappointing experience and perhaps a one off but unfortunately this was what had happened. I never had this problem with any other Korean restaurants so I can't say I will be back. The service was quite good however, and the atmosphere was very lively so there'll be some brownie points for that.

One of the better Korean restaurants in Brisbane, good prices for great food that are perfect portions. Highly suggest their soybean soup, fried chicken and share pots! Though I have had nicer bimbimbap and bulgolgi from other eats around Brisbane and the Gold Coast area.

Portion sizes are good and the food is really nice. Usually they have lunch specials which is good for broke students like me. Generally my to go korean restaurant.

I have tried both Maru's a la carte and the bbq which are equally fantastic. <br/><br/>For 2 people, I strongly recommend you to order the Korean BBQ Combo A. The meat seems unending which is worth the price. <br/><br/>For the a la carte, I tried the black bean noodles or jjajangmyeon. The sauce was great as it is not too thick. An adequate amount of meat and onion was served as well. <br/>Tried kimchi fried rice; it is labeled as spicy but actually, it is not that spicy. Served with fried egg.<br/>Tried soybean soup with pork. It was good if eaten with rice.<br/>Also tried the bibimbap (R2). A lot of meat was served. The portion is perfect for 1 meal.<br/><br/>Good service although you may wait a bit long if you come during dinner.

Nice!!!!<br/>Food is delicious!!!!<br/>Price very reasonable!!!!!<br/>Very traditional Korean favors!!!!<br/>Definitely coming back next time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was always happy with the food in this place! The staff are friendly and the service is good.<br/>My favourite dishes on the menu are Chives Pancake, Ziggle Bulgogi and the Marinated Beef Bibimbap in stone bowl.

Very busy during lunch time. We have waited for a couple of minutes to get a seat. Fried chicken is good there and the flavor is nice. Cold noodle is my fav :) Wish there are more side dished that they could provide :)

Below average service with premium pricing for average meals. Not overly impressed with anything here. There's better Korean places to go to that don't cost as much. Sizes are good though. If you want that much average tasting food....

We went here for dinner. We ordered a cold soup, Kim chi pancake and dumplings for entree. The soup and pancake was delicious. We had a BBQ set for mains. The soup side was amazing as we're the unlimited sides. I was a little disappointed with the meat as it was a bit too thick for my liking and a little fatty. Great place though and very delicious.

Favorite Korean BBQ spot on brissy.<br/><br/>The meat was marinated to perfection and every bite was definitely full of flavour. Service staff were attentive and efficiently refilled the appetizers. Cooking the meat by yourself is full of fun and I will recommend it.

Wow, not really a place for people that know what Korean food should taste like.. ok the side dishes were the best thing... We went for lunch on Boxing Day and were sorely disappointed at the quality. The beef Bulgogi sizzle plate sorely lacked any flavour and there was more cabbage than beef. The raw beef cold noodle dish was also totally lacking any flavour apart from the old tasting meat.. didn't finish meals.. will not be giving it a second go. Wait staff were friendly and the two side dishes give the 1.5 it deserves. Sad face

Had the bbq combo for 2 people for $69. Enough portion for 2 ppl. However If you have big apettite I would sugguest other all you can eat korean bbq for better value. Also they have 10% surcharge on public holiday. They didnt put a sign outside to say they have a surcharge. only to find out at the time recieving the bill. The service is also average with the staff speaking minimal english. Have difficulty explaining the manual and mixed up with our order and had to cancel one of the order. Overall the food is good.

Very lovely restaurant located in the hearts of Brisbane. I had a few experiences here. But the last time I visited this place, the food was out quick, we ordered the spicy chicken and asked for 2 glasses of water from the beginning of the dining experience, the restaurant was a bit busy but they had a lot of staff working that night, although asking for water shouldn't of been an issue. Overall, i had to ask three times for water l, second time I went up to the counter with 2 people standing there and the last time we asked the same waitress and she said she would be back with water, 30 minutes later we gave up on getting water and just left.

I have been a regular customer but it is disappointing to see that the service has deteriorated over time. In my most recent two visits, I have seen waiter/waitress serving the food to the wrong customers and taking the food from the wrong table to another table 5-10 minutes later. The first time when it happened, I have seen the food being eaten but the waitress didn't care and just took it to another table. I personally found it quite disgusting and to see it twice in a row, I am seriously concerned about the food hygiene in the restaurant. The food is not bad but I don't think  I will return to Maru unless Madtongsan and Bull Bar down the road are close.

Ample choice of dishes between BBQ and usual Korean fare. Opted for the BBQ upstairs and got a set menu consisting of beef, pork and marinated chicken with a load of sides. Perfect for sharing (or not!).<br/><br/>Everything was superb however the pork jowl was the only miss on an otherwise awesome set at a modest price. <br/><br/>Great space for a get together with loads of daily menu specials and cheap drinks that make for fun times indeed.<br/><br/>This is how Korean BBQ is done.. <br/>

Maru is a great Korean restaurant that is diverse in its menu as well as soju. Food is generally consistent and quite good. Korean fried chicken here is very popular whilst the other dishes such as the cheesy tteokbokki is something different if you're after something spicy, yummy and different.

Highly recommend!!!! The food is really delicious, it is my favourite Korean restaurant in Brisbane so far. The service here is good too, the waiter and waitress are friendly and always serve you with a smile. Keep it up maru! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Always like Maru's food. It's the best Korean restaurant I have been. The rice cake is really nice, people who loved cheese should try it💗. No really like deep fried things but Maru make it nice and delicious. <br/>

You can enjoy many kinds of real Korean food. Side menu was good (like kimchi) Bulkogi is one of my favorite. Also you're able to have Korean BBQ.

Service here is quick and always with a smile. I find their food good but there's not as much selection and variety as other Korean restaurants in town. My boyfriend and I recently got the self cooking marinated beef hotpot which was delicious and came with all the trimmings and sauces; we had so much left over, I almost think it could feed three! The dish itself was really enjoyable. The beef was tender and came with lots of vegetables and a mild broth which cut through the fat of the meat. The meat and the broth both had a really mild flavour, making it quite a light dish but that went nicely with all the sauces and sides which are quite strong flavours. Definitely will be going back and getting that again!

Absolutely terrible. This is my third experience here. Twice they have forgotten to find any booking I've made so don't come here for celebrations! The final time I went was last saturday - the waitresses were incredibly rude. I think it's the poorest customer service I have experienced in Brisbane. The food quality was not even acceptable. I ordered combo B for BBQ and the pork served was 3/4 fat. I forgot to take the photo to upload!!<br/>For the price you pay, seek other Korean BBQs in the city!

Spontaneous hunger for Korean food led us here. The service was lovely - the workers there were always pleasant and happy to assist us in any possible way and made me not uncomfortable when I asked for refills on the kimchi. <br/><br/>The food I ordered was very spicy - the sauce was... too concentrated. The chicken:rice ratio was too imbalanced so I was left with half of the chicken and insufficient rice. It also came with a cold side of pumpkin mash (?) However because it was very spicy, the coolness of the pumpkin made it a fantastic combo of cooling the mouth down with a tinge of sweetness. Absolutely loved it. <br/><br/>Service 4/5<br/>Food 4/5<br/>Venue 3.5/5

Come here for late night meals and happened to see the half price menu(after 9pm) and ordered the spicy pork stew with rice balls and spicy and soy fried chicken. The order come fast and the dishes were cooked just right, except the pork stew were spicier than we expected. Overall a great experience.

Went here with my friends over the holidays. We had the BBQ and a side of chive pancake. BBQ was wonderful as always. But the chive pancake was surprisingly indeed. It was 90% chives and 10% some kind of seasoned batter. And let tell you, it was sooooo good! Packed with flavour with the right amount of seasoning. Can't wait to come back again!

Full of my memory cuz my friends and I went here many times since I first came to Brisbane. Very famous Korean restaurant in city. Good food and BBQ.

Have been to Maru more than 20 times and I think most of you did! Always go there when you can't think of anything to eat....I love all the food there except barbecue coz I think they are expensive comparing to other Korean restaurant:( I still love the normal menu as they are delicious! Staff are friendly and food arrive quickly even its super busy:) *sometimes have to wait for a table for 20mins on Friday and Saturday!

Been here quite a few times, the spicy pork bone soup was what I liked the most. Loved Maru for the fast service, reasonable prices and good portions. What I think Maru could do better is keeping their dishes authentic; recently most of dishes on the menu are deep-fried, oily and cheesy.

It's the best Korean restaurant in Brisbane City. It has reasonable price and tasty foods. I like eating seafood pancake , it is really delicious!!

A nice Korean restaurant in Brisbane.  First, this restaurant not only serves authentic Korean food, it also serves some Korean-Australian combination food.  While first step into the restaurant, you can feel the Korean atmosphere strongly and they were playing most recent Korean song.  For the tastiness of the food, I would like to mention that their food is nice especially their fried chicken and hotpot.  I would like to recommend you guys to try their combination fried chicken so that you can taste all three flavours (Original, Soy and Spicy) in a time.  Also, this shop serves half price food during weekday from 9-10pm with any purchase of alcoholic drink.  It's very worth and you could take a chance to experience how Korean spend their time after working.  Excellent restaurant to recommend!!

Had a really amazing meal here! The seafood pancake was delicious! The fish cake soup was so delicious! The beef and mushroom hotpot was really delicious too! The seafood pancake is a must try too! The boiled pork belly with rolls is delicious as well. Service was pretty good! I'll definitely be back!

My favorite Korean BBQ in Brisbane! The bbq sauces are the key to its deliciousness and I always can't get enough. Apart from the bbq, the main dishes are also nice.

Great BBQ , Great service, Great atmosphere , easily the best Korean BBQ in Brisbane, the BBQ is upstairs and was originally up there and then they also expanded to downstairs which is a regular Korean Restaurant (which is also pretty great)

I have been to Maru multiple times and enjoyed the food there. The portion sizes are incredibly generous and the quality of the food is consistent. Unfortunately, that can't be said about the service. On a good day, you will find very attentive staff and quick service, but on a bad day, you may be faced with the task of literally waving your hands in the air to get the attention of a waiter (rude, but necessary if you want to get served). Overall, a decent place for a Korean meal in the CBD!

I have been here countless times over the years. Still remember my first visit when the place hadn't been discovered by most people. Their food has always been consistently good. They definitely raised the bar for Korean food in Brisbane. Located in such a great spot, Maru quickly becomes one of the most popular Korean restaurants in Brisbane if not the most.<br/><br/>Ala cartes are great. BBQ is also terrific. Very good quality meats they use here. They are very generous with portion size. I can't finish them most of the time. They also consistently introduce new items to keep their regulars happy.<br/><br/>The only let down could be atmosphere since they are always super crowded with Korean food lovers. It could get a little noisy. The service could get a bit slow. Be a little patient and understanding, bring some friends, and you will definitely enjoy your experience here.

Absolutely packed for happy hour.<br/><br/>Lovely fresh food with amazing sizing and cheap beers how can you go wrong?<br/><br/>The crispy seaweed salad is to die for

Have been to Maru multiple times with workmates for staff events. Food is always fantastic, if you are with a large group of people Maru have amazing meat platters and great alcohol. The blueberry soju is our favourite. Always have a really great time here.

Coming to Brisbane for a visit and had recommendation at this korean restaurant. Amazing food and well priced as well! They have very authentic Korean BBQ, very nice for big groups. We just come by to grab some quick lunch. Ordered cheese spicky rice cake ( all time favorite!) Bugolgi bibimbob, and my friend ordered a spicky pork curry which an enormous size for one person! Definitely a must-have experience in Brisbane CBD

Omg! Delicious!! I have previously been to other korean grill in Brisbane, at other restaurants, and never really enjoyed korean bbq experience, until now. Maru are impressive!!! So many great things to choose from. We decided on the combo grill selection, which came with salad, kimchi, condiments, and delicious soup.. we also got the oxtail soup, which was yummy, but we were way too full from the large servings of bbq grill meats. We sat in the upstairs section, which was cozy and nice. And drank soju!! Very good! Looking forward to going back and trying other tasty things Maru has to offer 😀<br/>

Maru has now expanded to 2 floors for those who haven't been there yet after their renovation. Came through lunchtime as we wanted something quick but simple, yet we all realised the easiest would be Korean food. As we waited in line and gosh, there were so many people waiting in line so we thought that if we don't get our table in 15 minutes, then we would just go elsewhere. It was rather noisy too I might add. Luckily, we were called after about 10 minutes and received our table on the lower floor of the restaurant.

Been there a few times, I always go their for Korean BBQ. The food is great and not too pricy. Despite they're always packed with customers the service is still good. Overall, I would give Maru Korean BBQ a thumbs up.

Meat was tender, sides were delicious, and chicken wings were awesome. Service was friendly and the set we got had the perfect balance of lean and fatty meats. Highly recommended.

We were seated in the bottom floor and it was extremely hard to get the attention of the waiters without physically standing up and there weren't any call buttons like there are on the top floor. The waiters could use more training in customer service but when we finally got our food it was great. Pricey but it's probably standard for the cbd.

Probably my favourite Korean in the city. Always get the minced beef bibimbap, very flavourful and tasty, lots of garlic and oil so not the healthiest but yum! Sometimes gets really hot in this place though

I'm not a huge fan of Korean food but I really enjoyed Maru. Our food arrived very quickly and was delicious. Large portion in a hot stone bowl. Probably the best Korean I have had in a very long time.

today i been Maru Korean restaurant i order i hot sup but i took so long time..<br/>and the when staff bring food they not using any tray just clamping with ther are fingers....and testy too salty...<br/>and they not greeting just simple give some food with some nice greeting it much batter but they are just serve like something throughout on to table ant that's it... <br/>no say and one more thing they have something strange payment if you want pay wit any card(credit card) what ever you need spand minimum $20..what the Fxxxx~~~)<br/>they are not kind and not good food

Nice place in the city! Affordable Korean meals, from $15 and good range of hot pots that can be shared. It is great for groups, and side dishes also taste great. :)<br/><br/>-5/3/16

Food was good, but service terrible. Staff are unorganised and we needed to make multiple requests for basic items (chopsticks, a bowl, water, napkins, etc). Unfortunately this kind of poor service detracts from the good quality of food on offer.

Delicious Food! <br/>Well priced <br/>Friendly Staff <br/>Spicy rice cakes + seafood pancake were the highlight! <br/>definitely a place that I will be visiting again!

Been here for several times. I like their hotpot and also topoki. There so many dicount you can get. For example when you are eating here in lunch time. Never try their bbq, but I have to someday!

"Absolutely delightful" - these words kept repeating themselves on my hushed lips as I shook my head, eyes closed, in gustatory pleasure while dining at this establishment. <br/><br/>Middle of the week and this place was packed! Tables chockablock full of authentic Korean side dishes, sizzling black pots full of tender meats, steaming brews and delicious marinades. <br/><br/>The table next to me opted for a more Summer'y selection of cold black noodle beef stacks with chilled broth which looked incredibly refreshing but I had my heart set on hot bulgolgi and ended up changing my mind to the best bimbimbap I've ever tried. Caramelized rice on the bottom giving that perfect crunch, yellow egg yolk coating tangy spiced thin shaggy slivers of beefy goodness. <br/><br/>Fresh, exhilarating flavours enhanced by a crisp and punchy Kim chi (also the best I've had - and I've had lots of Korean food in my life). <br/><br/>If you like beer, try the $6 Korean 'hite' beer - goes down very easily. <br/><br/>This place cannot be missed by anyone visiting Brisbane craving something really special. My fav.

Great place to do a long drawn out meal with a good friend. We usually do a BBQ with a selection of meat both marinated and fresh. Their platter of fried chilli chicken is also hard to pass up....

There is this half price special for 9pm supper, so we have decided to try. We ordered the fried chicken and mayo pork bone, there were both really good, especially with the complimentary grilled cheese. Next time I will probably go with just the soy sauce for fried chicken though, the other two flavors aren't as good. They give us a small table for a group of 5 and the waiters put hot soup and bibimbap on the table edge, so I was a bit disappointed with the service.

This place was a total letdown. There is much better Korean food elsewhere. The bimbibap with raw wagyu beef didn't have much to flavour it. The one with beef bulgogi also wasn't tasty, despite sauce on the side, and those bits of minced beef just disappeared when mixed with the rice and vegetables. The seafood in the seafood pancake was all overcooked, so tough and chewy.<br/>The service was also terrible. We were shown to a table, then ignored. We had to take menus from beside the main counter ourselves. When we eventually managed to catch someone's attention to order, they walked to us, then walked away to talk to other would-be customers at the entrance. Despite ordering dishes to share, when the dishes were brought to our table, they didn't give us our own plates to eat from, and we couldn't get anyone's attention to get dishes. Again, we had to go up to near the counter to get our own. Same with the water. It wasn't even a busy dining time.<br/>No saving graces here. Won't be back.

Bad service! The waitress with pink pony tail pays no attention to customers...and the korean bbq set comparing to the price, not worth it...very small portion...especially the side dishes...and we ordered Kimchi soup buy didn't get it

It's standard Korean food that I would expect. The seafood pancake is good, you can have the ingredients in each bite. I like the clear broth of the oxtail soup, it's not too heavy. <br/><br/>The fried chicken looks nice but we don't have room for more food. The proportion is big. Would love to try it within happy special hour next time

Sorry, I was hoping that this would change my overall impression on Korean cuisine. It didn't. Service gave me someone else's food. Never a good start.

Really popular at any time of the day, near all of the offices and workplaces on Eagle Street Pier, Maru is another one of the unlikely gems that are scattered around the inner parts of the city. I had attempted to go once before to be told of a half-hour wait. Now, was a second bite at the cherry - which turned out to be successful. After a success of meeting up for a cross-over, I went again to have another. Having my second meeting with IHo to meet for lunch, this was the chosen place. <br/><br/>Maru is giant, especially for the inner-city. There is so much in it that it needed two stories to contain it all. Beforehand, it was merely just the top level but recently they have acquired the restaurant space on the ground floor from the previous owners. You can still tell of the remnants from its bland food-court presence, here is not really got character. Go upstairs and that is where it begins. The area is quite spacious, both in floor area and the height of the ceiling. Admittedly, it is minimalist in some respects - overall though, I quite liked the feel of it. <br/><br/>There are two levels of service. It is well thought out, and it might confuse you at first - I was certainly first time around. Going into the first level, they ask you if you want to go up or downstairs. Let's assume upstairs, because that's where the two of us were. Next, you are asked if you want a table with a grill or not (or if you plan on getting anything barbecued). Not today, but maybe another time. Next you are left to your devices until you know what to order. <br/><br/>Whenever you are ready, just press the button and a bell will sound, then a waitress will be at your table in a matter of minutes, maybe even sooner. So you can definitely get more food later if you have the room. I have been impressed with this idea of service before, probably every time I have seen it. This is something that I would definitely like to see adopted more and more into restaurants, as a way to streamline the service. <br/><br/>Then we come to the menu, which is fantastic and extensive. Maru boasts a 100-item menu - which is modest compared to some Chinese places in Market Square, but in defense there is something round and distinct about that number "100". It is a combination of traditional staples, modern classics, twists on well-known dishes and quite a bit of fusion goes on. Just try to shortlist from all the items, much less choose one out of the selections - I dare you. This is one reason why it is best for groups. <br/><br/>Starting off, it has a number of cuts of meat available for barbecuing. Combos of these can be ordered for different sized groups. I am not yet an expert on Korean cooking, but I can assume it has a bit of everything. There are several kinds of starting snacks, especially with the pancakes, noodles aplenty, lots of "ziggle" dishes (this word comes from a homonym of onomatopoeia in Korean of a sizzling pan), plenty of rice dishes - think bim bim bap and deopbap, a few kinds of soup, hot pots (both individual and ones made for sharing), and their special menu which is all kinds of fried chicken and some specialty spicy options. This is just an overview, since in many parts of the menu there are some inventive dishes utilising Korean and Western influences creating something truly tantalising. <br/><br/>To make it better, at certain times of day and days of the week - plus the two combined, either the barbecue meats or the pocha section can be purchased in conjunction with alcohol to ring in happy hour. At lunch time, reduced prices of selected items are available in the guise of a lunch special. <br/><br/>Holy mackerel, just describing and perusing the menu again has made me want to visit - that is how good it was, folks, that is how much I can recommend Maru. The turnout does not lie this time around. No matter what you get, you will definitely have something that is well-presented. <br/><br/>IHo ordered the Ziggle Spicy Chicken. This was fried chicken, marinated in a spicy sauce with a mixture of vegetables - lettuce, carrot, onion, bean sprouts, mixed in an egg yolk and butter mixture. Words are definitely hard to find in order to describe how delicious this was. It's fried chicken - I feel that ought to be enough right there, but there was something more to it. What it came down to was the texture of the chicken, and the whole concept of the ziggle. The pan is really hot, akin to most Korean meals being served, and it keeps the food warm while giving it a light cook in the meantime - hot, black stone. How about instead, just go on a word and order it? Because this is definitely recommended. <br/><br/>What I went for was their "Korean Style-Sausage Soup". It is soup in a different sense of the word, and is more structured like a stew. It was flavoured with beef bone, and had pork intestine, Korean sausage, sesame, and chives. This is an unusual dish, and it is too different to compare to what IHo ordered. The soup had a smooth, slightly thick texture. There was not that much meat in it, but the taste of the meat was definitely noticeable. As a meat, intestine really doesn't have that much flavour and really is just a chewy texture. What is stranger is the sausage, which seemed more gelatin in texture than meaty. It was thick, cut into bits and tasty nonetheless. Pour this on your rice, and season with the given spices. <br/><br/>You get the usual assortment of sides with your meals, which always means kimchi. Additionally, crunchy noodles (or some form of root vegetable that escapes my mind) and pickled onions were alongside. For the soup, an arrangement of seasonings was brought out as well. All of them are asides to themselves, however adding them to the meal creates an even more complex flavour - it is always interesting to see what it brought out. <br/><br/>For some snacks on the side, an order of fried calamari was gotten. As usual, the fried calamari turned out to be reliable, as it often is - soft, tender seafood. It was in a good crumb, and was well presented - again. Three compartments, a dipping bowl, a salad bowl and a calamari bowl. Props will definitely be given to this place to paying attention towards presentation. <br/><br/>As one last bit of food before leaving, just something small to fill us up, who could leave without having a classical pancake? We went with the seafood pancake. This was filled with pips, prawns and squid, and flavoured with soy sauce and onion powder. It was a big pancake, and a bit hard to eat with the chopsticks - the texture is really soft that might fall apart really easily. They do not skimp on the seafood either, and it is all fresh and juicy along with the chives, and a well done batter. <br/><br/>This is another one of those places in which the popularity of it is very apparent, and well deserved. For the kind of restaurant it has made itself out to be, it has everything that could possibly be needed to make sure that it is a memorable and exciting experience: the service system works perfectly and like clockwork, the atmosphere is social and relaxed (even when it gets super busy), the food is some of the tastiest that is around - plus the servings are substantial, and it just rocks as a place to either meet up for a meal during the working week, or to organise post-work catch ups. It really rocks, and reeks of cool. <br/><br/>This is probably the best Korean that I have had. It was very tasty. The menu is extensive enough that it well and truly demands a number of return visits. With all the different modes, and specials around to entice more clientele in, I just might give it some more goes. No doubt, this is certainly one of Brisbane City's highlights for dining - Korean or just in general.

I love this Korean stop in the city! One of my favorite Korean restaurants around. I love their soups there, especially the spicy seafood with soft tofu. The serving sizes are large, so keep that in mind. The soups that are to share are massive and would recommend to eat with at least 4 people. Personally I find that Maru gives you a generous portion of seafood/beef/chicken etc. The hot bowls are also great as well. They used to have the steamed egg on the menu (favorite!!!) But they've taken it off their new menu. I would highly recommend putting it back as it was such a beautiful, light appetizer. Also one of the best korean pancakes that I've had in Brisbane, as they are super generous with the chives, seafood or kimchi which makes it packed with flavour. <br/><br/>Update: I've been back to Maru since their 2 story renovation. Unfortunately, I somehow always get placed by the tables behind the bar (super difficult to get anyone's attention for ordering). However the vibe feels a lot more rushed and slightly hectic, which makes eating here feel slightly stressful. Largely, due to front staff (I'm really hoping maybe it's just been a bad day or two!). I really would love to see this place prevail, I love the food here - generous quantity and delicious food. Hoping things pick up :)

Just awesome every time, food, service and the drink specials. Open late every night so its a usual spot for me and the crew after a night on the town

I decided to revisit this store after a while. It was definitely a better experience than my first visit a year ago. Service was reasonably quick. Food quality and value was good. Tried the new sizzle range and it was unique, however it is not authentic Korean taste. The fried chicken was a bit disappointing as well. The bibimbab is not bad. My favourite has to be the Chive Pancake. Although I still prefer bullbar for more authentic taste.

ok, so i was drunk when i came here.  i do, however, distinctly remember the great value and deliciousness from this awesome end to my evening.  I have since recommended it to friends who have visited (sober) and also love it.  possible downside: can be slow or unattentive service at peak times.  <br/><br/>would definitely return, and will definitely be getting the deep fried chicken and pork belly.

Last Saturday I visited Maru with a Korean friend who was visiting. I think if you are not a drunk Korean under 25 this place might not suit you. Initial service was poor and being the host I was not impressed by my guest being spoken to in Korean (who was standing behind me) while ignoring me. We were then seated and had to make several attempts to be noticed to get the order taken. The food was fast in coming but was obviously all pre-prepared as the glass noodles were over swollen and had absorbed the colour of the seasonings. Beef was beaten into submission and poor quality and the dishes came at different intervals rather than as one order. Drinks on the Menu were not available. The sides or Banchan (which are complementary) were ok but when I asked for a top up I got about half a spoonful which is being cheap. Everything seemed cheap, rushed and low quality. The meals in their Facebook and website photos are obviously not taken on sight and are not representative of the quality I expected. We were constantly disturbed by Loud Drunk people. What’s more half way through our meal they asked us to pay for Dinner as they wanted to leave on time. This place is best avoided! Why do it to yourself!

A very popular Korean BBQ restaurant in the heart of the CBD. Was expecting the food to be pre-prepared 'fast food'. <br/><br/>Instead the food was made fresh and the noodles with beef was one of the best things I had eaten while visiting Brisbane.

My fav Korean food in town! Service was attentive and quick. Do try their supper 9-10pm menus. However get in early to get a seat! My favorite dish here is the soft tofu spicy soup with rice.

I've been here quite a few times now.<br/><br/>So far I've tried their spicy seafood noodle soup, spicy cold noodles with raw wagyu, some of their sizzling range and also their seafood pancake.<br/><br/>My favourite is hands down the seafood pancake. If you want the best Korean Seafood Pancake, this place is the place to go. It's crispy on the outside and they're very generous with their ingredients.<br/><br/>Spicy seafood noodle soup also has a lot of seafood in it!<br/><br/>Service is great and the staff are always very helpful.<br/><br/>The only downside is it's a bit stuffy in there and the smell is very strong - don't wear your favourite glamorous clothes! The smell will stay for a long time!

I really enjoy coming here any time I get the chance to. The food servings are great, worth your money. Everything is full of flavour I just love coming to eat here.

Food: A rather wholesome spread with mountains of beef and pork. Certainly it didn't tested the chef's capability since we bbq on our own. The sides were great especially the kimchi. <br/><br/>Drink: regular soft drinks. Nothing special.<br/><br/>Service: the friendly lady was attentive and offered us a free soju to celebrate my friend's birthday. Although there are times we couldn't get any staff.

Have been here several times - once just for a rice dish and the other for Korean Barbeque. The servings are large (at least for me they are) and taste great. There's a button you can use to call staff which is convenient.

Went with a bunch of mates last night.  We got the BBQ combo A twice and a mix of fried chicken.  The food was great although it was relatively expensive. The service was alright, although the one of the waitress was quite rude.  <br/><br/>The sad part was the food service was not consistent, the first combo A we 2x bowl of salad and a bowl of soup. But, the second combo A we ordered, we only received 1 bowl of salad, although they charged the same price as the first combo A.<br/><br/>Overall, the was good and the service was average.

I love coming here for a quick lunch when I'm out in the city. Service is quick but pretty average. The soups hit the spot every time and the rice dishes are pretty big. Gotta try the kbbq next time!!

My friend and i always go here when we crave korean!!! I always get the cold noodles because the waggu beef is always so fresh and delicious :) our favourite is their chicken salad!!!

yuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmm!!!!!! I had bibimbap in Melbourne and had been trying to find a place in Brisbane with just as good ones and this was it!!!!!

- half price menu is not clear. IT IS ONLY HALF PRICE IF YOU ORDER AN ALCOHOLIC DRINK. There wasn't anywhere that stated this very clearly only a suggested to "enjoy" with these drinks . This should be clearly stated.<br/>- waiting staff had to inform us of this unwritten rule.<br/>- food was average considering price since we ordered from the regular menu<br/>- service was so so<br/>- no water offered to table. <br/>I think I will look for different place to go in future. Truly disappointed as a returning customer for 3 years .<br/><br/>

I have been to Maru for so many times and also had their BBQ. Their price range when compared with other korean restaurant is a bit high. If u want a cheap eat of korean goods then I'd go to madtongsan just cos u get the same taste but cheaper price. I'd probably would go to Maru for BBQ. Good BBQ at Maru. And especially good for a small group of friends when sharing.

BBQ is overpriced for the quality of meat you get. Plus I don't understand why we had to grill it on a piece of baking paper half the size of the grill. <br/><br/>The seafood pancake was amazing though! Pretty much the only positive about the place. It didn't help that they lost our reservation either...<br/><br/>And like most Korean BBQ restaurants, expect to get the odours into your clothes.

Was really looking forward to this but after experiencing the real thing in Korea this was a BIG let down.<br/>Gave us scissors to cut meat but they were blunt, were given 2 pairs, neither of which worked. They make you cook the food on baking paper which just makes it stew it it's own juices and then you pretty much get told off if you move in onto the grill which is cooks it much better. In Korea you always cook straight on the grill, why wouldn't you!?<br/>Were served meat with bones in it, not sure why they would do this when you have to try and cut around the bones and makes everything even more difficult. Were given quite a bit of fatty meat too.<br/>Very very average.

I'm a jajangmyeon lover, But this place has no jajangmyeon tastes the way I want, a bit disappointing. However, dumplings are delicious, I like it.

Been here on Friday lunch, ordered the raw beef stone pot rice, waited for 40 mins asked for it, still got to wait and the waitress said they don't have enough stone pots ?!? What????? Should have told me right? So I can change my order!!!!!!

As for my Creamy Omu Rice, it was delicious. I liked how they used medium grain rice, it had a really good texture. The fried rice was done really well and the toppings really finely chopped so that it could be wrapped nicely in the egg. I found the addition of the sauce gave it a lot of needed moisture to the dish. The chicken was also nicely fried and seasone

The spicy beef soup, yummy. Total satisfaction .

Maru in Elizabeth St has just recently became the largest Korean restaurant in Brisbane, having now not only the upper floor but also ground floor. Having went there before renovations began, we wanted a simple light lunch that wasn't too heavy for the both of us and I thought it's been awhile since I visited Maru..'Jap Chae' ($14.8) which is Stir Fried potato noodles with vegetables and beef. It usually is considered an entree, but we don't mind it being a main to eat. The texture of the potato noodles may remind you of glass noodles or rice noodles aka. vermicelli.

Great Food and Service. My partner and myself moved from Sydney to Brissy 6 months ago and were happy to find a good Korean BBQ to replace the on we in Sydney. The food is great and I find the service even better (the floor manager that's been on when we go there is always helpful). Great to see the down stairs section open up :-) and for those that eat there regularly sign up to the rewards card then in the long run you can save money.

Great food, lovely staff, good atmosphere. My partner and I both had different types of the bibimbap which seems quite a signature Korean dish (we've had it a few other places) and this place didn't disappoint the entree and drinks were out super quick, and the main not long after, and portion sizes were huge, as someone who can put away his share of food I was struggling towards the end. Definitely worth a try! If you want to try a nice drink too the lovely staff recommended the raspberry wine which was nice.

Food is good, but service..... Maybe best Korean food in town but service definitely needs improvement

Always go there, never disappoints me, until my latest visit (I only don't like this experience but I LOVE MARU). My friends and I always go to Maru for lunch and sometimes even dinner most of the time when we go to the city. We love the food and the service, everything was really good, that's why first place that we always think to have lunch in the city is maru maru maru. We've been going to Maru since 2013 and the the atmosphere was just good, I mean everything was perfect. I never had bad experience from maru until the last visit. Lastr week, a group of my friends and I went to Maru for BBQ, one of my friend turned the BBQ thing on, please note that he didn't know that he wasn't suppose to turn it on, he thought he could turn it on now so we could just start cooking the meat as soon as it arrives. When a young korean lady came and served us our meals, he kindly asked her to remove the top of the BBQ thing with a cloth or tong since it was too hot, the lady gave him a death stare and asked who did this and he said he did and apologized so many times, and she got pissed and said you don't do this, who told you to do this? Even some of us apologized to her too, but she didn't say anything and just kept looking pissed, she placed down all the stuff by slamming it so hard, she even spilled the sauce but she didn't even apologize. We were really scared of her, I saw her going to a lady, I'm not sure if she's a manager or what, with short hair, the other lady she talked to came over and checked our table and walked off to the back and I saw both of them talking but I wasn't sure what they were talking about. My friend and I were soo disappointed about that experience and I currently still am. Another issue was this young korean guy, I kindly asked him for water, and he said yeh okay, and he never came to us with the water, it wasn't busy at that time, I can tell, he even served other customers water and just doesn't seem like he wants to serve us?? I don't get this, but luckily there was at least one nice waitress who served us water, btw from what I remember, there were only three waitor/waitress up at the second floor working. I hope this doesn't happen anymore because we really do still wanna go back to maru and we sure will because it's our favourite korean restaurant in Brisbane. I hope to have something good to review about for our next visit.

Always go there, never disappoints me, until my latest visit. My friends and I always go to Maru for lunch and sometimes even dinner most of the time when we go to the city. We love the food and the service, everything was really good, that's why first place that we always think to have lunch in the city is maru maru maru. We've been going to Maru since 2013 and the the atmosphere was just good, I mean everything was perfect. I never had bad experience from maru until the last visit. Lastr week, a group of my friends and I went to Maru for BBQ, one of my friend turned the BBQ thing on, please note that he didn't know that he wasn't suppose to turn it on, he thought he could turn it on now so we could just start cooking the meat as soon as it arrives. When a young korean lady came and served us our meals, he kindly asked her to remove the top of the BBQ thing with a cloth or tong since it was too hot, the lady gave him a death stare and asked who did this and he said he did and apologized so many times, and she got pissed and said you don't do this, who told you to do this? Even some of us apologized to her too, but she didn't say anything and just kept looking pissed, she placed down all the stuff by slamming it so hard, she even spilled the sauce but she didn't even apologize. We were really scared of her, I saw her going to a lady, I'm not sure if she's a manager or what, with short hair, the other lady she talked to came over and checked our table and walked off to the back and I saw both of them talking but I wasn't sure what they were talking about. My friend and I were soo disappointed about that experience and I currently still am. Another issue was this young korean guy, I kindly asked him for water, and he said yeh okay, and he never came to us with the water, it wasn't busy at that time, I can tell, he even served other customers water and just doesn't seem like he wants to serve us?? I don't get this, but luckily there was at least one nice waitress who served us water, btw from what I remember, there were only three waitor/waitress up at the second floor working. I hope this doesn't happen anymore because we really do still wanna go back to maru and we sure will because it's our favourite korean restaurant in Brisbane.

Great value - Never disappointed!. Maru is amazing in that two people can dine there and be completely full for under $10 each - all in a central city location. The Monday-Friday Ziggle Lunch specials are amazing, and in Korean style you still get all the side dishes as well, which are a lovely accompaniment. The upstairs half is lovely for a dining experience that feels a little fancier than the price you're paying, and for a uni student that's music to my ears.

Service was nice! Atmosphere was nice! Food was so so so disapppointing! :/ ordered chicken black bean bibimbap and the chicken was bland, the sauce was super diluted and bland :( went before and got omurice, its also bland. Other menu items seem nice so its just what i ordered

Best BBQ in Bris yet. This is the second time we've been here, it's amazing. I've seen a few people complain about the service on here. We've had no issues, maybe they expect too much? Lovely staff, fresh food, great beer. Can't wait to go back!

Best of the korean places in the cbd. Lets face it, no korean restaurants in brisbane can compare to the standard in Korea, or even Sydney for that matter. With that out of the way, this is the best of the pick in the CBD. Most dishes are quite nice however they do fail on things like seafood pancake. It has a large variety of choices and is always clean and busy with a nice atmosphere. drinks are a bit expensive.

I wish I could dine here everyday lol. Fantastic atmosphere, extensive menu, fast friendly staff and food to kill for! Highly recommend the BBQ! Do yourself a favour and dine here with your favourite people!

Getting worse. We went ther.... Getting worse.<br/>We went there last week and one of the dishes ordered was cheese ddukbokki. This was 15 dollars and for this type of dish it is quite expensive. We therefore thought would be a big serving and the photo did look ok. But when we got it, it was tiny with 15 pieces of rice cake with melted cheese and sauce. No other ingredients. This is worth about 2-3 dollars in ingredients and the way they prepared it, takes no special cooking either. What a rip off. I suggest you review your pricing on some items. Also some other dishes we had got smaller in portions. I hope that was one off incident.<br/><br/><br/>-----29 Apr, 2015-----<br/><br/>Getting worse<br/><br/><br/>-----18 Jul, 2014-----<br/><br/>Good food at reasonable prices. Big enough menu to choose from and satisfy most taste buds. Good service as usually the case in Korean restaurants

Location 7/10 food 6/10 se.... Location 7/10<br/>food 6/10<br/>service 6/10<br/>beer and wine 6/10<br/>price 6/10<br/>toilets 6/10<br/>overall: 6/10

God forbid I'm not Korean.... Went there for a quick dinner last night. Been a few times before but not for a while. Service was terrible... The place was barely a third full, there was about 6-8 staff on and we couldn't get any decent service. We pressed the button 3 times to place our order and was ignored - ended up having to call a waitress over who was quite disinterested and unimpressed. We were taking her away from chatting with her friends that were dining there. Was quite obvious that if you weren't from the mother country you were pretty much an inconvinience. Won't be too fussed on going back there again in a hurry

Korean food should taste better than this. I was there with my partner and one his friend last week sometime. The seafood pancake can be a cretira to see whether the Korean food is good or not. I have to say Maru completely failed. The pancake wasn't pancake, it more like egg omelette. Never had Korean food like this, would not come again. And staff were ok but can see they don't have much passionate attitude to work. need to get improved a lot

Maru. I tried the bi bim bop buffet,<br/>and i found that the food from the buffet seemed quite cold :(<br/><br/>will never eat the buffet again

Unfriendly staffs, no knifes provided with steak, 500mL beer sold in 400mL glass, too much sweetened food and dirty and unwashed cutlet.

8/10. Service is quick and meals are well priced. I love the bbq but last time we got it there was a lot of bone and not much meat. hopefully that won't happen again as it was always good and plentiful in the past.

Always good. Been there several times, the food is always good and makes my friends and I happy! But I have to say the services from waitresses are always bette than waiters in Maru!!

Best bibimbap ever. I am utterly obsessed with Korean food and this place really delivers. It’s always a good sign when 80% of patrons are Korean themselves, so it’s pretty reassuring from the moment you walk in. I really like the fit out too, it seems really earthy and spacious and it has really nice lighting which makes for a great atmosphere, this is what sets Maru apart from a few other Korean restaurants around. I’ve been twice, the first time I had the BBQ using a Scoopon voucher. This was awesome and one of the best value for money meals I’ve ever had. The second time I had steamed dumplings and bibimbap in a dolsot. I could eat bibimbap for the rest of my life and die happy, and I think Maru has the best one in Brisbane so you know I’ll be back again and again.

Yet another Korean restaurant in the city... Didn't really stand out to me and it's more expensive than Madtongsan I. Being another one of those upstairs places it can be quite noisy on Friday nights and Saturday nights.

Went there for BBQ for 2, Average food, they don't have traditional korean potato noddle,poor service, never change a burned BBQ plate unless you told them so.worest experience ever.don't recommend at all.

Love this place. Not surprise this place got a rating of 91%! I keep going here 1-2x every coupla weeks, if not once a week. The stone bowls and stone soups hit the spot, in great serving sizes. Best of all for me though, is the raw wagyu cold noodle, with or without soup. <br/><br/>My Korean friends swear by this place, many dishes are on par with Korean places back home, just much more expensive. Price wise, it's reasonable or a tad high considering we're in Aus. It's slightly cheaper to eat down the street at Madtongsan, but the food is better here. The place is always busy, mostly filled with Koreans, which is a good sign! I've had only one bad experience with service and had to wait 1 hr for food as they lost the order. Sucks, but usually 9/10 times service is friendly and fast, although it does actually help to have Korean speaking friends ordering for you.

Fantastic experience - best value for money in a Brisbane restaurant I've experienced in years. Beautiful flavours and great service. Highly recommend this place!!

Great food & Service. Used a Gropuon voucher & went with 4 friends to Maru Sunnybank restaurant.<br/>Could not fault the food or service. The meals were all explained by the staff who gave faultless service, even turning the food on the tabletop BBQ when they passed.<br/>Couldn't finish the meal the serves were so generous (I am not a small eater either).<br/>We dine out on average 3 times a week and cannot recommend this restaurant highly enough. Only problem is it is hard to find tucked away at the back of the shopping centre, but it is worth searching out.

Awesome. Delicious food, fast and friendly service.... what more can I say? It's great.

New to Korean BBQ. I am so glad that I found this place last year. After passing this reasturant a number of times it was time to visit. I'd never had Korean BBQ before.<br/><br/>The moment we walked in we were greated and taken to a BBQ table. The staff that served us were great and helped us decide on our meal. We went for the 2 person BBQ grill and it was fantastic! The meat was so tender that I asked who their supplier was. It was completely fresh and tasted excellent. It came with 2 different types of dipping sauce, vege, salad and red bean soup/paste which I'd never had before also. This was great and I can finally say I enjoy tofu (at least in this dish!). <br/><br/>Perhaps a little pricey but it was worth every cent. I'm happy to pay if the food is of high quality and this was! Service was fast. I will say their english needs a bit of work, but after many other restaurants in town with the same problem, the staff here would at least try and help and explain to you what was in their dishes. <br/><br/>I've been back many times now and took my family in the New Year. They absolutely loved it (10 of us went and had the BBQ again).

Disappointed. The food was fantastic, some of the best I have experienced of the many Korean restaurants in Brisbane, however the experience for me was ruined by the shocking quality in service.<br/><br/>As friendly and nice as the Korean staff were, making an order was very difficult when doing anything other than pointing to the menu and nodding your head. Their English is too insufficient to ask a simple question about a menu item. This would make it difficult for people that are new to Korean food to ask for food recommendations or make inquiries about what a food item is.<br/>Luckily they had an English speaking host on hand (who I expect was the manager), however his service lacked the friendliness and warmth his non speaking Korean staff were at least imparting, especially when we picked up the bill at the end.<br/><br/>At the end he really did give us every impression that he didn't care about our business, meal or experience. We actually felt unwelcome.<br/><br/>So I am sorry to say I will not return on the off chance that they learn some basic hospitality professionalism, as a fantastic meal was ruined by very poor and cold service.

AMAZING SERVICE AND STAFF. I had a surprise birthday here for a friend and the staff were SO HELPFUL, POLITE AND ACCOMMODATING! <br/><br/>Food is also very yummy and at pretty good price.

One of the best korean restaurant in Brisbane. Food is on top taste, good value, fast serving, kind staffs. <br/>I have been there eating at Maru over a year, they always add more menu to give customer more options and they all tasty. If you are going to eat single dish, want to taste korean food, try Maru.

Great place for Korean food. Been there twice and the food has always been good. Prices are reasonable and servings are just right.

Maru was recommended on Brisbane Reddit and we weren't disappointed. After much discussion over the BBQ options in the menu, we ended up extremely happy with the BBQ and Jinro Fresh soju special for $69. It was perfect for the two of us on a rare childless night out. The food was both entertaining and delicious, the staff were helpful and friendly, and the atmosphere was a lively, full Friday night but the noise level wasn't overwhelming our conversation.

Excellent! The BBQ experience was one I will never forget. I took my girlfriend there not really knowing what to expect. When initially taking your seat, ones first impression may not be 100% positive, however the food and overall experience MORE than makes up for the lack of romantic atmosphere. Mary Korean BBQ is an adventure and if you are always looking to do something new then Maru Korean BBQ is almost certainly place for you. Enjoy

Very poor service, my wife's meal came out before my first drink 35mins got the glass didn't get the beer. I don't think I will ever see my meal. We love Korean food a real let down. Looks good just bring a cut lunch.

All you can eat bibimbap!. Went for lunch at Maru for the first time was was quite impressed. The restaurant itself is well presented, modern and clean. Went in on a Sunday afternoon and the place was filled with people, but we were attended to very promptly and shown to our table. We decided to try the $9.90 all you can eat lunch special which included the obligatory korean side dishes, a soybean paste soup, sauteed beef mince, sweet and salty mackerel and a variety of vegetarian side dishes for you to assemble your own bibimbap. I really enjoyed this as I could control the ratio of side dishes to rice! Overall, everything was quite tasty and definitely value for money, especially if you're hungry! Will definitely come again and try some of their other yummy looking dishes!

Yum

BBQ deal for two.. Went to Maru with a voucher. Korean bbq for 2 with a drink each. Service was lacking in the beginning. Got seated and waited at least 10 minutes before staff realised we were there. After that, the service got better. Food came out and there was plenty of it. We had pan fired dumplings with salad to start and a chive pancake. Followed by a soup each and another small bowl of salad each. The bbq mix consisted of pork belly, chicken, beef! Also vegies to cook as well. It would have been better if we had one extra person with us because we couldn't finish it all! Overall, the meal was good, though the beef had a funny taste which I wasn't too fond, and I have had better korean bbq's. 3 out of 5 stars.

Bad service let it down. Many of us in our party were Korean BBQ virgins- hence lots of questions for the staff- which they were unable to answer. Lead us down a bit of a dud path in ordering- me and my friend ended up sharing two of the hottest noodles soups i have ever tried and got a different meat to what we'd ordered.<br/><br/>On a plus the meats did taste delicious when cooked on the coals, the environment was modern and cosy at the same time. As a large group we weren't pestered too much- however, left to our own devices we run out of water, drinks and the plates stacked up around us...<br/><br/>Another lesson in poor service letting a good restaurant down!

Enjoyed the scoupon $60 for 6 meal, entitling us to gyozas, hot pot and soft drink. All in all an experience that will have me returning .. Good service (even tho grasp on English is a little loose), got our preferred booking time, very nice venue and delicious food. Do it!!

Special lunch. Tried the $9.90 lunch specials today. <br/><br/>The chilli chicken is in reality a very mild flavoured satay sauce with chilli added to it, though I'm not sure what my friend and I were expecting...<br/><br/>The buffet consists of different salad choices (veges that you might find going into a bibimbap) and minced beef, with a chilli miso soup and a side dish of stirfried tinned makerel.<br/><br/>Verdict: Not a bad place to go if you're pressed for a lunch destination in the city.

Average Korean Food. Majority of Korean Restaurants are just out there for the money and DO NOT show case the taste of REAL Korean dood. <br/><br/>Maru (city) is just the same.<br/> some food is ok but would not say great. On NYE husband and I went and ordered Korean Army stew (Budae jjigae) it was the WORST we both have tasted. Yet we said oh because it was busy so they were rush and we tried again and ordered Soondae gookbab and Buldak and it was flavorless <br/><br/>ugggh big disappointment

Went with in a group of three to try the lunch special. It was a little underwhelming TBH. Although the meals came out in record time, but it was before 12pm. The place very quickly filled up with lots of Korean and a few non-Korean diners. <br/>We had two bulgolgi bibimbap and a pork cutlet. The cutlet was the biggest schnitzel I have seen in my life. However it was served with a weird sweet curry sauce which was actually not pleasant. The schnitzel itself was soft in a nice crispy crumb. But it was under seasoned and a bit dull. <br/>The bulgolgi bibimbap was served in a nice hot stone bowl but it was missing some veg and flavour. I did enjoy the entire bottle of gochujang on the table. <br/>And I did like that there were bathrooms in the restaurant. <br/><br/><br/>------------<br/>Review from 21 April 2012 'Positive'<br/>I would go as far as to say it is the best Korean BBQ I have yet tried in Brisbane! - I have tried a lot :-) We opted for the $49 BBQ set between two and we added lettuce and pepper (by pepper they mean green chillis) as I felt there needed to be more veges. And we substituted the short ribs for marinated chicken because there was so much beef with the BBQ set and I wanted to reduce my beef coma. The staff were happy to let us make the change and we generally very polite and friendly. The meat was all really good quality and marinated beautifully. The set also came with a lovely soy bean soup, rice and a few BBQ-able veges. The banchan (side dishes for the non-Korean folk) were quite good but the Kimchi was not very fresh which was a little disappointing. But overall, excellent! I left very full, satisfied and smelling like a BBQ. It was very reasonably priced too. Oh and the Hite (Korean beer was literally icy cold and only $4!

Normally when you order beef anything, there would still be quite a bit of meat in there, but this one only had a few strips of beef. This was fine with me, since, as explained previously, I'm not a bit meat-eater; however, the carnivores out there might be disappointed. It didn't occur to me to take a photo, but the dish looked pretty bland, because there wasn't much else in the bowl of noodles except for the milky-coloured broth.

Fast and friendly service with generous servings of delicious food and tasty side dishes at extremely reasonable prices – I think I’ve found a new favourite Korean restaurant. Will definitely be back!

Located upstairs on Elizabeth St, a couple of buildings away from the Irish, Maru joins the plethora of Bibimbap and Kimchi serving Korean restaurants that have popped up all over Brisbane CBD in recent times. And with a workmate who appears to have a slight addiction to Korean food, I can tell you I’ve had a lot of ‘spicy beef with egg and rice in a stone bowl, with side servings of random pickled vegetables’ in the past 6 months or so. Alas, one Korean restaurant pretty much blurs into another Korean restaurant these days.

My first impression was that Maru's interior is a bit dark, but is sleek and very 'modern Korean,' and nicely tucked away on the second floor on Elizabeth street. Wowie, it was packed on a Thursday night! Well, to be fair, it was "shopping night." I was greeted by a friendly waitress who quickly led me and Boris to our table, which I had just reserved that same night. (I don't know many places that reserve on the same night) The service was incredibly speedy, as they brought out our first dish (dumplings) and sides. I'm not sure if it was the fact that we didn't look experienced at Korean bbq, but the throughout the night, waiters and waitresses kept coming around to help us grill the meat

It's been awhile since I've eaten at Maru and one afternoon, decided to come here to have some random catch up with friends.. Weren't that hungry so we just ordered two dishes... I still remember the times where I used to go to Maru frequently but not much now anymore...

Maru, a Korean Restaurant on Elizabeth Street in the Brisbane CBD... One of the new ones in the city but at the same time, there seems to be more new Korean restaurants opening up in the CBD.. This post is going to focus on their Lunch special, though I have been here a few times for dinner.. Lunch special offer for them is $9.90 and it's basically somewhat a buffet.. It is similar to Bi-Bim-Bap, but here, you choose what you want from the different varieties of vegetables and side dishes they have on offer..

I noticed Maru’s appearance a few weeks prior to its actual opening. It’s located where David’s, a Chinese restaurant, was; just up from the Irish club. An addition to the already good downtown Korean scene, my anticipation for this BBQ place was palpable.