leann's tea house

my favorite samgyup buffet at the moment. they have the leanest of meat amongst their competition and premium selection of beef including my favorite, meltique (which i buy a kilo in s&r for 1400/kilo) for the price of 699. they also have cheese, egg and corn on the side.
service is impecable too! they have alert and very attentive servers who would offer to cook your meet for you to make the eatingtimefaster.
minus points for limited parking and small roaches on the ground floor. dont worry, the buffet area is on the 2nd floor, and i didnt see any sign of roach there.

firsttimehere and will never go back!

planning to have a korean dinner with my cousin just to catch up, so i checked zomato and saw that this resto is the most reccomended..

arriving the resto..
❌ no proper parking area (you park on the street)

went inside and luckily we have a seat but sharing it with other customers because the place is too crowded and caters only about 10 tables (so the place is small)

ordering..
we ordered about 6 ala carte dishes since we choose not to eat the "unli pork/beef" then the waiter told us that we wont be grilling our own food since we ordered only ala carte (❌strike 1). then came the 4 side dish which korean resto gives as a starter. then we ask for a refill of the side dish then the waiter w/ an attitude said we can only have 1 refill since we didn't order the "unlimited." which for me and my cousin that's so unlikely for a korean resto since other restos are so genuine in giving side dishes as long as you order 2 or more dishes from their menu. (❌already turned off!! strike 2) then came our order of the korean beef barbeque, the waiter gave only 1 set of sauce for it, so we asked for 1 sauce per each, then the waiter with an attitude told us for every order of the bbq 1 sauce only. wth?! really? you want us a group of 4 to share 1 tiny sauce to dip into?! (❌strike 3) laway niya laway mo?! my cousin got pissed how the way of the waiter told us that she even offered to pay for every sauce, because the waiter keeps repeating that we should share 1 set of sauce. anyway, so we had our dinner the food was ok all basic except fo ethe kimchi rice which we enjoyed a lot. good thing the food is ok, but having good food is not enough if you have a bad service ❌❌❌

overall review:
✔️✔️food
✔️ value for money
❌❌❌ service
❌❌cleanliness

leann's tea house is not a chinese restaurant, rather the main attraction here is their unlimited meat and tea. aside from these, there are other notable dishes you may want to try.

true to their name and before i go into anything else, don't forget to avail of their refillable tea which is free-- flavors depending on the brew for the day ranging from oksusu cha (korean corn tea) to earl grey. these are good for the tummy especially after taking in a lot of meat or in between.

onto the must try list:

- cheese buldak (320php) yess! top one on the list for me! cheese buldak translates to cheesy fire chicken. the chicken is mildly spicy, but no worries, nothing you can't handle. mixed in with the creamy mozzarella cheese, tteok-bokki (rice cake) and the heat of the plate, you surely wouldn't go wrong with this order.

- unlimited pork and beef/samgyeopsal and woosamgyup (449php). you may also opt for just pork/samgyeopsal (349php), but you're already here and just for +100php, why not go for the best of both worlds? as for quality, their meat is both imported and locally shipped, depending on which is more fresh. who wouldn't want that? both packages come with unlimited side dishes,
 1. rice
 2. lettuce
 3. garlic and onion
 4. kimchi
 5. sweet mashed potatoes
 6. soy braised peanuts
 7. lettuce salad
 8. soybean sprouts (togue)
 9. soup (soybean? i have to clarify with this. the standard korean soup)
 10. sesame oil, salt and pepper
 11. ssamjang (thick sweet and spicy sauce for the meat)

if you're ordering just ala carte, classic favorites include:
- seafood pancake/hameul pajeon (300php) crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside good for sharing.

- bibimbap (210php) beef, mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, spinach, togue and egg yolk on a piping hot white rice bowl, with an option to make it spicy with gochujang sauce. this will surely fill up your tummy.

coming soon!!!
for no additional charge, the resto will be adding their own meat marination in the unlimited pork and beef package namely: bulgogi beef (sweet and tastes like tapa yum), spicy pork and spicy woosamgyup.

leann's tea house has a small signage. you may miss it so better keep your eyes open! they have both charcoal and electric grills, depending on the availability and where you sit. service-wise, they have improved a lot compared to the lasttimei was here. they've become amiable and happy to serve. servers may forget some of your additional requests because of the influx of customers so don't hesitate to ask again. there is relatively a lot of space on the second and third floor so don't get disheartened at the first floor. parking can be done in front of the restaurant, but you can also park in the streets (be sure to check out if there are no parking signs). restroom is located on the second floor.

sponsored dining by leann's tea house

the firsttimei visited here, i was with my best friend and i really enjoyed it. so on my second time, i brought my mom and my brother to celebrate mom’s day. the food tasted the same as my first time. we ordered japchae, sea food pancake, samgyupsal, tonkatsu rice and mango shake. i really enjoyed the japchae and seafood pancake. nothing phenomenal in terms of taste but definitely good. the tonkatsu tasted bland and the pork was dry. sauce was not enough for it but i really like that it has side salad

the pork belly (samgyupsal) was alright. but my brother thought that it needed more frying.

servings were really generous. everything was good for two or three people but of course it depends on how much you guys eat.

side dishes was so-so and i really thought they would have different kinds of them.

i love the service of this place. staffs were really nice and friendly. you could tell that they’re exhausted from all the running (it’s a three floor building) but when they talk to you, they’re all smiles. even the owners, the pretty lady and her mom were very nice and accommodated everybody really well.

i guess they could really upped their space. we were fifth in line and had to wait for 30 minutes because there was not enough tables to accommodate everybody and it really feels a quite crowded. hopefully they get a bigger place soon.

is it worth to visit? definitely. price is really cheap compared to others but just expect to wait in line and maybe dont bring a car as they have limited parking space too.

finally, a good korean restaurant at tomas morato.

we've been scourging korean restaurants for quite sometimenow. our favorite areas: ortigas and makati. little did we know tomas morato has something to offer. we've tried some before but they're all just average or plainly not good enough. also, don't get confused. leann's tea house is not like david's tea house or le ching tea house as it offers korean food instead of chinese food.

the restaurant is a two-story establishment. first floor is perfect for those who are ordering a la carte dishes and would not want to smell. the second floor is a much bigger space and is full of grilling customers.

their second level is fully equipped with charcoal grill and vents per table. so all set for an unlimited grilling sesh!
unlimited samgyeopsal and woosamgyeop (p449 per person) – who doesn't love unlimited kor bbq? leann's tea house served 5 kinds of meats, pork and beef in different variants. we had spicy dwaeji galbi, beef bulgogi, spicy woosamgyeop, samgyeopsal and woosamgyeop.

they have limited choices for the ban chan, which was a downside for us. we love kor restos with lots of side dishes. hope they can add more in the near future.

the perfect drink to help digest all these meats was their tea. we love it! it was a bittersweet barley. also helpful in the cleansing our palate. other a la carte foods we've had were:

hameul pajeon (p300) – this humongous seafood pancake was the start of the night. it was loaded with lots of veggies and seafood meats, all combined together in this very filling pancake.

bibimbap (p210) – the classic korean favorite, this bibimbap didn't disappoint. plus, it's affordable and the serving was huge.

cheese buldak (p360) – spicy chicken with cheese, our personal favorite! we love how they blended in cheese and chili into a one tasty treat.
value for money: price can be a bit steep compared to other korean restos but considering there's a lot of choices of the meats, it's quite reasonable.
#datefortwo at leann's tea house

this is an example of a place, which you won’t notice until you know you’re looking for it. we’ve been through the same road a couple of times (even tried the old korean restaurant beside the korean mart - it has been replaced now) but the firsttimei actually noticed leann’s was when we first dined in. i’d say it’s kinda mysterious but really, it just closes around 10-11pm that’s why i don’t get to see it that much. 👀 

it has a narrow space with at least 2-3 parking spaces. three floors up with second floor being the main dining area (and where the toilets are). i’m not sure if it’s a normal sight but the tables need a bit more cleaning especially there were still drops of sauces around the griller. also, the place could use a “fly trap” - the bangaw gets really annoying especially when the food arrives. 

nonetheless, we’ve found a few good choices for starter, which i will keep coming back for more! and what makes leann’s more appealing on our usual sunday schedule? well aside from better food choices, there’s a laundromat just beside the building! waiting for the laundry has just become more fun with a choice of meat-all-you-can, yay!

so about the food, refreshers first!

1. catalina sunrise - even though i asked the waiter to describe to us what this drink is, the name still got me. it is your usual mango shake but w/ strawberry syrup. it looks new, great for photos but it’s taste is not as “new” as the red ginseng frozen tea.

2. red ginseng frozen tea - what i meant with “new” in terms of taste is something we don’t usually find in any restaurant. prior to this, i’ve already tasted a korean ginseng - the ones you can sip through a sachet - and it taste like soil. this frozen tea still has that strong taste albeit sweeter and colder, which i think, made it taste better.

on to the main course! for our first time, we tried most of the recommended choices, and here’s what we can say about them:

3. kimcheese rice - if there isn’t a hype yet, then i’ll help fuel the hype! i love how the melted cheese tones down the spiciness of the usual kimchi fried rice. this, especially, is spicier than the usual but the cheese made it bearable to dig more into it! what’s more is that it can serve up to 3 persons!👌 aside from our pending meat-all-you-can, i am coming back for this! 😋

4. jjajangmyeon - hmm... i honestly don’t remember much about this but well, it looked more legit than the packaged ones you can buy at a grocery. thicker noodles, moreover, there are real ingredients in its sauce!
 
5. cheese buldak - it honestly didn’t meet the hype i was expecting. but it’s cheesy, and it has rice cakes! the content gets harder to identify when the melted cheese cools down. it probably would go better with choices that aren’t too much red and spicy - unfortunately, we’ve had more than enough serving of that on our table.😅

6. meltique - really tasty for thick slices of beef! and when i say tasty, that means no-to-lesser need for dips or sauces. it’s worth the recognition and recommendation! best when it’s hot so don’t let it get cold on its plate because it gets greasy with it’s natural fat!

this visit was worth the extratimewe allotted to come early for our reservation! although we really didn’t need one since there weren’t much people at thattimeyet.

this is probably one of the best k-bbq places i’ve been to. twice na akong kumain dito and both experiences were 👌💯

pros:
- great quality and quantity of meat. the meltique beef and the bulgogi stood out the most for me. hindi rin tipid ang serving per order.
- sauces made the already tasty meat more delicious. hindi watered down ang ssamjang nila unlike some that i’ve tried.
- side dishes are also of great quality, hindi na baleng hindi ganun karami, basta masarap. the ones i really liked were the lettuce salad, kimchi, and kimchi fried rice.
- servers were attentive to our requests :)
- they also take reservations to ensure that the place wouldn’t get too crowded.

cons:
- interior - my firsttimeeating there, ang dulas ng sahig sa baba for some reason..
- grill - not really a huge con, but because they use charcoal, medyo mahirap i-control yung heat. had to request grill change a lot of times.
-timelimit - not really a huge con for me as well, but they have a 2 hourtimelimit.

overall, i recommend this if you’re looking for a delightful k-bbq experience. nexttimei’ll try their other ala carte dishes.

after sometime i was finally able to go back here. im glad they opened for dining during gcq, i leave a few blocks away from the place so i decided to give it another try. due to gcq they have reservation protocols. i find their reservation system efficient and responsive. july 25 10:30 am was out slot.

we were 2 pax and the 1st dine in customers for that day. we were greeted cheerfully and accomodated after a few minutes of waiting in their receiving area. we had to write on their logbook as another sop during gcq period. i wish we dont have to personally write on the logbook though, im thinking a lot of peapole will have to to touch the pen and logbook and it may be risky.

we ordered the same 499 unli pork and beef. the staff assigned to us was very attentive and courteous. all dishes were complete and refills were done in a timely manner. the food of course were delicious. loved their lettuce salad and dressing. we didnt touch the lettuce and just consumed the salad with continous refill. overall experience was great. the only issue i had was their grill /stove’s heat
cannot be lowered- it was just on or off, making it really inconvenient if you want to rest on cooking a bit.

im curious about their meltique beef- i’ll try that out next time.

———————————————-
availed of their 499 unli pork and beef. the taste and quality of meat is just the same as other samgeup place within the area. true that their beef cut is thicker - i didnt like it because it gets tough to chew when cooked well done. i have no complains on their service crews- they are all polite, all smiles and very accomodating. what i have a problem with was their attentiveness in refilling orders. took us 4 follow ups for them to give our order of 1 bulgogi refill and the soup that should have been served first along with the side dishes. literally we have no meat on our table and grill for a good amount oftimeand they were just passing by. the table beside us just ordered once after our 3rd followup and yet they were given refills first- we ordered the same meat. we also had to followup 3 times for our bill.

my alltimefavorite korean restaurant since 2016. i think ive already brought my different group of friends here, and i’m glad everybody gave a very positive view about this. my favorite is woomsamgyup but i highly recommenf meltique too and omurice.

i can also commend on the staff and their service. they’re attentive and accomodating, sometimes even if you avail the unli beef/pork meals, they have the initiative to ask if you’d like them to cook for you :d

we always come here and order the cpb unli. we've tried so many kbbq places but leann's will always be the most sulit in terms of price, time, and service. kuya chris remembers us everytimewe visit even if we come only once every 2 months.

the buchaesal is so tender, so is their meltique (unli). they offer to put salt and pepper on your plain meat if you like. their potato salad is the bomb!!

goos food and good service everytimei visit leann’s. i love the cut of the meat, the cheese is good too. the sauces are amazing, especially the samjang which is just the right combination of spicy and sweet.

one of my luxury treat is eating samgyupsal, i know its surprising since i have eaten at several for quite sometimebut trust me when i say that i rarely eat samgyupsal i really do. another thing i would like to say is i am also quite picky with places to eat samgyupsal because not a lot of samgyupsal places really serve great quality meat or their service is not at par to my liking.

and i think i have found a place i can say i am comfortable because of the variety of meat selections and also its near my place so if i want to splurge for a bit i think this will be the place i can go to. i am talking about leann's teahouse.

located at mother ignacia, quezon city this restaurant actually started out as the typical korean restaurant that serves ala carte korean dishes and since samgyupsal has risen into popularity, they also included unlimited samgyupsal in their menu!

they have three sets which are the unli pork (399.00 pesos) unli pork & beef (499.00 pesos) cpb premium (599.00 pesos) i would suggest getting the cpb premium because you get the best of everything plus meltique beef. i will tell you guys more about meltique beef in a while.

to be honest the selection of meat they have are similar to other restaurants but their secret weapon is their meltique meat. meltique is actually top graded meat from australia which is similar to the japanese wagyu beef. its soft, melt in your mouth goodness is what i actually love. another one of my favorite is their thinly sliced pork belly and beef cuts because they are so amazing to eat i think i ate about 3 servings each of those alone. napakamasiba mode lanangpake ganun!

aside from the meat, they have one of the best tasting kimchi in town because its not that spicy and doesn't have that pungent smell. i was able to take home some and made kimchi pancake with it and its the best thing to eat late at night while writing reviews if you ask me haha!

aside from samgyupsal i was able to try also their ala carte servings of pajeon or korean pancake which is fit to feed about 3 people (large eaters) or about 6 people if they are not large eaters. the pajeon is actually great and full of the toppings into it which makes the taste better than other places.

i was able to try this cheese kimchi rice and i am in love. its creamy and salty from the cheese with a kick of spice from the kimchi. another one is the korean fried chicken. its sweet with a bit of spice into it which i can suggest great to pair up with beer.

i wasn't able to try the soups since i was quite full at this point but those are seafood soup which smelled amazing, i will have to go back for sure to try those.

one thing i can say i love about leann's tea house is its not just your regular samgyupsal place because it also offers authentic korean food if you don't want to stuff yourself too much. the place might be small but its not stuffy or hot. its very cozy and perfect to spendtimewith your friends and family.

we came here at around ~6pm last thursday, and there were only two servers with about 4-5 tables occupied. yet, the service was quick! props to these early birds who were very courteous and quick on their feet.

the food was okay, we loved their samgyupsal, woosamgyup was just okay, bulgogi not so much. generally, ban chan offered tasted good. however, the kimchi was waaaaay too sour. :( i don’t remember it tasting this way the firsttimei ate here. nonetheless, we enjoyed the experience.

we ate here today, it will be the first and the lasttimewe will visit the place because of the following reasons:
1. upon arrival it took them almost 30min to put our charcoal in the grill. the kimchi was too sour and the selection of ban chan was limited
2. speaking of ban chan, the egg was so watered down to the point na hindi siya nasusunog ( ibig sabijin mashado maraming tubig ang linagay) extender? at sobrang walang lasa

3. upon reading reviews sa zomato, walang negative reviews. so we were excited to try pero nabigo kami.
4. the meat was okay. i liked the meltique beef and yangyum pork. but that was it.

expectation vs reality ang nakuha ko dito. sad to say.
i hope you improve your service and food quality. even the cheese was watered down..

i think i just found the samgyupsal that ticked off the others from my favorites list. thus, becoming my ultimate korean barbecue  dining place, leann’s tea house!

i’ve always wanted to go to leann’s tea house due to the fact that many have left good reviews on zomato. if you are familiar with the national bookstore located at quezon avenue, you can drop by there and navigate with waze or google maps for a short walk to reach your destination.

the place / ambiance

from the outside, the restaurant looks simple, small, and old. it honestly doesn’t look dashing or something that could immediately snatch your attention. the ground floor has only two tables, so we decided to dine in on the first floor which was more spacious and can occupy more guests. the set-up of each table was neat, tidy, and well-organized. plus, it was well-ventilated.

food

the unlimited samgyupsal consists of three sets of menu:

unli pork which includes samgyeopsal, yangnyum pork, and spicy pork for p399.00

unli pork and beef which includes unli pork, woosamgyup, spicy woosamgyup, and bulgogi for p499.00

cpb premium which includes unli pork & beef, dak galbi, spicy woosamgyup, meltique beef, buchaesal (1 plate), and kimchi rice for 599.00

the 2nd and 3rd set of menu come with unlimited cheese, corn, and egg. all sets come with rice, soup, lettuce, and side dishes.

we tried the 2nd set of menu because we were on a budget! all i can say is that every meat is tender, fresh, and absolutely delicious! i honestly think it is the firsttimethat i personally liked every meat! my favorites are the woosamgyup and the bulgogi! i also loooove their cheese by how tasty it was!

service

the award for the best customer service award goes to this restaurant! and i’m not even kidding! the waiters were very friendly, accommodating, and are really fast in serving our needs! they were responsive to our concerns and were good at entertaining their guests. they always ask their customers if they need something, if they have missed something, and ask for our feedback for their improvement!

overall review:

i always take account the place, food, and service in reviewing restaurants and so far, leann’s tea house has the 5/5 ratings for all the categories. they may not have a big place, or have a wide variety of meat choices, but my experience has definitely made me gain my respect and favor to this resto! it has become my top k-bbq, and i can’t wait to come back and try their other dishes!

all photos are mine. #samgyupsal #samgyupsalqc #leannsteahouse #samgyupsalquezoncity