Back at the end of January, my husband and I went to a new Korean BBQ place. One of the “cook at the table” style restaurants. Like a Melting Pot (fondue) or Hibachi (showy) we consider Korean BBQ “experience dining” – you take your time, you enjoy each others’ company. Dinner is more than just gulping down your food. We were expecting something like this:
In case you can’t guess, this is nothing like what we experienced. Which is sad, Korean BBQ (done right) is a lot of fun (and if you’ve never done it or fondue – save up and take the opportunity). This particular experience was disappointing and here is my review that I put on Google:
I almost didn’t write a review, but I think it would help others. My husband and I ate here last weekend on Sunday night. It wasn’t very busy and if anything that makes my primary issue more of an issue: Assumptions.
The menu ASSUMES you know how they operate. It says “must order for 2 people” which could mean each option (pretty pricey) is SCALED for 2 people. But Nope. Apparently not. They ASSUME you know what sides will come with the meal. We had to ask with EVERY dish “could you tell us about these dishes.” This might seem nitpicky, but it was very frustrating.
For the cost of the meal it was small(ish) portions – my husband and I were both hungry just a few hours later.
Part of that hunger was how little of the sides we WANTED to eat. Everything had so much pepper/spice in it you couldn’t taste anything else. The SALAD had red-pepper flakes as the only “flavor” – it was lettuce, oil & vinegar, and red-pepper flakes. Now, on this I will admit I AM a snob – I think the overuse of pepper in food is sign of a lazy chef. And ALL of these sides had way too much pepper. It removed any/all sense of variety in them being on the table.
I think the managers of this restaurant would do well to go to some other “experience dining” (Melting Pot, Medieval Times, other Korean BBQ restaurants) and look closely at the customer service levels. Just starting by asking, “have you dined with us before” and then going from there would have improved this drastically! But instead the waiters throw down menus, assume you know to press the button for service (fortunately, i noticed it!), assume you know what sides you’ll get with your meal, assume you understand their portions, assume you understand the cooking process…..
If you are ok with all those assumptions and a lack of service for the high price – go for it. The meat WAS delicious.
Dream by Day 