Walk out of PNU station #28 through exit number 1. Walk across the street and towards PNU. Walk to the main street with the traffic light, across the street on the left you will see their sign. The restaurant is down some stairs. You will find a "menu board" outside the restaurant.

This place had rave reviews before it moved and enlarged. Would people who know please give us an update? What do they sell now? How much does it cost? When are they open? Do you recommend the food?

I heard that they have a "real" restaurant now, with plenty of tables, a waitress, and an enlarged menu. It formerly had three tables and was fast-food.

busanfoodguy

USED TO BE:
Kepab (kebabs) lamb 3,500 chicken 2,500
Lah Macun (Turkish pizza) 4,500
Pide (open faced Calzone) 5,500
Doner Kebap ( Meat in sauce, yellow rice, veggies) Chicken 4,000 Lamb 4,500
Musakka (dip of veggies/meat/cream sauce/cheese with Turkish bread) 5,500
Chicken Sotte (chicken stew with rice and salad) 5,000

Real Turkish cooks/owners who speak English
phone: 581-4050

Went last night for the first time. Very good. All Turks in the kitchen, which was good to see.

The falafel are excellent. You get 3 good size falafel for about 3500 (If if remember correctly). It comes on a bed of white cabbage covered with a spicy red sauce (actually tasty) and the regular white sauce that usually comes with falafel(sorry I don't know the name). Next time I will ask for the sauce on the side. Its good, but i like to decide how much to use. It kind of freaked me out when it got to the table, I thought they had covered it with ketchup and thousand island. Thank god I was wrong!

Hummus and bread are also good. The hummus ocmes with a little bit of bread, but you'll want to order an extra.

I got the chicken sandwich. Shredded chicken in a pita type bread (but different from the greek style pita) with shreded cucumber, peppers, and sauce. REally good, but spicy.

We ordered a beer, 2 falafel orders, bread, hummus, chicken sandwich all for 18,000. We will definly be back.

My set of directions (since i don't know PNU at all the otehrs were a bit confusing):
Go out of Exit 1 from the PNU subway station. You will see a street right across from the exit going straight up a slight incline. Go up this street until yo uget to the traffic light (about 5 minutes). When you get to the traffic light, cross the street. Kebabistan is on the left, just across the street.

If you like this food their is another retaurant in Dushil next to the mosque. Get of at the front right exit walk about 50m when you see the mosque turn right. The owners know the Kebabistan guy so don't feel like you are being a traitor. The food is just as good. No Kebabs but some other lamb stir fry's and such. Really good bread too.

Kebapistan rocks. I get up there every chance I get.

What Re-Named User said...

Are these the current directions? I am planning on cheking out Kebapistan on the weekend, and dont wanna wander aimlessly, as I have yet to even goto the PNU area (only been in Busan a month...) TIA.

Yup. Those directions are good.

The menu has changed twice in the last 4 months.
There is a MUCH larger array of main dishes, dinner and entrees.
Nice to see that.
Do NOT skip the falafel if you go there.....it's actually my favorite food in the world...the WORLD Jerry...the world!

Kebabistan is great. Also another great place in Dushil. It is next to the Mosque. A little pricier but also has great food esp. the bread...

I noticed a new Turkish restaurant has opened up in the SeaCloud hotel, in Haeundae, across from the Novetel/Marriot. Was wondering if anyone has had a chance to check the place out yet. Probably worth starting a new post if so.

I tried to go last night, but it doesn't open until May. I'll try it out soon though and start a thread unless someone beats me to it.

Has anyone noticed if the Turkish restaurant is open yet? I didn't see a date on the sign the last time I was down that way.

The wife and I are going to go try this place tonight. We might have already been to that restaurant- we ate Turkish food some months ago in that area that was really delicious...

Heard from friends that the ownership of the Kebapistan PNU restaurant had recently changed, and the food had gotten worse. Checked it out last night and my friends were right, everything has changed for the worse. The food is blander and not as well prepared as before. Saying that, can anyone give me directions to the Ulsan Kebapistan restaurant that is still owned by the original owner. Thanks.

Oh, thats a real shame to hear... I dont make it out to PNU that often, but I really did(?) enjoy going to Kebapistan. Now, I may not bother to head out that way, except for the cool dong-dong ju place in the summer.

I had to see it myself to believe it. Their fries are now crap and they changed some sauces and started using low quality chicken in the kebaps. The chicken in the new Kebap I had there tasted just like the chicken I had in a Korean "Kebap". Is it sad that I am deeply depressed about this??

Who's going here for the 'fries'?

I was there less than two weeks ago and it was fine, although I had the lamb, not the chicken (which you can get anywhere). The place is still under the same management, only the owner just opened another franchise on Jeju-do and is probably spending a lot of time there in the interim.

I went there last weekend and had the hummus as an appetizer and had to say it was very poor. It was very gritty (like the consistency of cream of wheat) and was very bland. The bread was also was hard to chew and not warm. I also ordered a lamb dish and found that it lacked seasoning and was very bland. I recently ate a chicken sote dish as the Kebab House in Kyungsung De and this was delicious. I'm a bread kind of guy as well and theirs was warm, soft and delicious. I had heard a lot about Kebabistan in PNU and was looking forward to it, but left disappointed.

Was there at the weekend, but first time in over a year, so difficult to compare. I had the lamb shish kebab, and thought it was delicious! We had hummus for starters and like the previous poster, didn't really find it anything special. The bread was always like that!

I've been to this place twice and wasn't impressed either times. It tastes very much like Koreanized Turkish food. The last time I went with friend we had hummus, and it was terrible. I felt like I was eating bland Korean dwenjang (beanpaste).

my friends went about two weekends ago, got rock hard, ROCK HARD bread with their dips, and the standard had just dropped by major standards according to them. We used to frequent ALL the time.......now we just don't go any more.

Sad to have to say this:

but we ate their last night and it was pretty much terrible. I'd read everyone's comments on here, so was expecting a decrease in quality, but I figured the lamb kebab sandwich would be a pretty safe choice - how could they mess that up?

Well.......

- bread was much smaller, almost half the size, and harder - not really delicious
- there was a lack of vegetables in the sandwich, and the lamb pieces were very tiny
- sauces weren't copious like usual, so it tasted pretty much like a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich without the cheese (that's not a good thing)
- the "apple tea" which used to be awesome is now just some reddish fruity tea-bag
- as mentioned above, the fries are now different, and you only get a few
- ketchup wasn't as tasty

AND

they wrote in their menu that prices are increasing today, so everyone will get one complimentary soda with any purchase.
So the portions get smaller, the quality of food and preparation decreases, and the prices are going up?
WTF??!!!!

This might be the worst business plan the restaurant world has ever seen.

Dude, the won is at 1500 to the dollar, most of their main ingredients are imported, do the math.

According to a co-worker of mine, the ownership has changed hands mysteriously, and quality control has gone out the window somewhat. I'm not so sure about this, I usually order things that aren't on the menu and they got it right (as recently as 3 weeks ago), so I'll have to give it another visit.

Got the adana kebab the very last time I went, and presentation was different, but not the taste or the portions.

As for the prices, well... the place has been underpriced for years, and if they bump it up another 500w or so, it's only normal.

Dude, the won has been at 1400 to the dollar for a good while now, and nothing changed. I guess it depends how drastic the price increase is whether it's truly worth complaining about, but to me that was just the icing on the proverbial cake. Which in this case, for me at least, is a pretty crappy kebab "cake."

The real problem is, as Greekfreak said:

"quality control has gone out the window"

Maybe ordering more specialty items is now the way to go, but I always enjoyed going there for the kebab sandwiches and a pitcher of MGD...

You think they would change prices on the spot? I would guess they like many other folks have tried to hold the line and hope for the best but have finally reached a limit. Duh.

I've been a couple of times since getting back from vacation. I'm not sure if the owners have chnaged but the chefs are definitely new (apparently they changed about 3 months ago). I had the lamb shish Kebab and it was fantastic, as good as it's always been, perhaps the best on I've had their. They seem to have changed the sauce in the roll/sandwich kebabs a little which is to their slight detriment (the sauce tastes sweeter) also the lamb doner meat that goes in the rolls/sandwiches is a bit chewier and tastes like they're using a different cut which I don't like as much but of course this comes down to personal preference. Oh yeah, the prices have only gone up a 1000 won which seems pretty consistent with many other things in Korea. I went to Outback about a year ago for the first time in about a year and their prices had increased far more dramatically.

Kebabistan Busan changed hands in late 2008 although some of the original staff stayed on. The original owner still has the one in Ulsan located across the road from the Hyundai department store and has opened another one in Koje-do. There is a map of the Ulsan location here .
http://ulsanonline.com/restaurant_guide/
You can get there in about 30 minutes from Haeundae by taking the new expressway to Ulsan or take a train from Busan Station.

I've noticed the downward spiral of Kebapistan as well over the past two months or so, but the time I went there this past week takes the cake.

My criticisms:

1) Why did they change the dressing for the salad to mayonnaise? Is this to appeal more to the Korean crowd? The sauce they used to use was great; whenever I would go there, at least one person at my table would comment on how good it was. Now, it's a glop of mayo... evolution?

2) I don't go to Kebapistan for the fries either, but you would think they could warm them up at least. Mine were barely lukewarm. Can't they use a microwave?

3) They seem to have cut down on the sides they give for each dish; the Chicken Kebab used to come with butter potatoes, but now it comes with 4-5 fries. Something else was missing, too, but I forget what. For no reason at all, they put a cross-stream of ketchup and mayo on the bottom of my plate-- why?

4) The kebab used to come with onions and green peppers between the pieces of meat; this past time there were two small slices of gokju. Great! Does that make it fusion or something?

I would usually order the hummus along with my main dish, but I've learned better recently. It's terrible now.

Has anyone approached them to discuss these criticisms?