DNA 818

Chinese Style BBQ is very different from rest of the world. It is the seasoning making the taste magic. I traveled around China for years and got chance to taste various local BBQs from different regions. The BBQ they had in this restaurant was not close to any of them. Well, let's take a step back. I guess there were many disappointments during my last visit made the food taste not so good:
1) Restaurant Settings: This place has dining area, Kareoke rooms, and a dance club lounge all in one. Sure - it is good to have all kinds of entertainments in one place. But it is good when the place is big enough. The Karaoke noise constantly bothered dinners. Smell of the BBQ constantly bothered dance floor people. It was a mess.
2) Drink on job policy: Many dinners witnessed their waitress drink on job. A waitress took a glass of beer and drink with people at the table and in the Karaoke room. This is a deal breaker move. I don't care if there is a law on this. If I were the owner, I wouldn't be willing to take the risk.
3) Staff training: dressing less will attract customers eyeballs but it didnt mean quality customer service. The waitresses will need more training on how to manage the customer better, smile more, and learn how to earn high tips by doing better job.
4) Taste of the food: as I mentioned in the beginning, the taste was not as good I expected. But the concept was good. Most of the items are pricy - can't blame too much due to the hot spot location. There is a lot of room for the taste to get better. It is achievable. However, the other three areas need immediate attention from the management.

I will not return to this restaurant for its status quo. I hope there will be a real Chinese BBQ place soon that can put this restaurant in competition mode, and eventually grow better.

Food is good and consistant.
I always get the grilled chicken bone and
The house spicy crab is DELICIOUS!

service is nice too!

other then that parking structure and always have space.

Over priced but i think worth it.

This place used to be "Fisherman's Wharf" and it's the front of Area DNA (terrible "club").  We were trying out a couple of lamb kebab places and I had read about 818's move/opening in Life Plaza.  OMG, I should've walked out the second I walked in. The smell was horrendous.

We ended up ordering 4 lamb kebabs for $6.99, which is a rip-off. The kebabs were almost inedible.  My bf had to spit out a part that he couldn't chew through.  These were the worst lamb kebabs ever. The free water we got had a bunch of weird floaters in it. I would totally avoid this place at all cost.