Seoul Ssamm — Restaurant in Brisbane City

If I was to rate Seoul Ssam before COVID-19, I would have rated it 6 out of 5. They were superb. Now I rate them 5 out of 5 and I still believe that Seoul Ssam is the most authentic and taste Korean BBQ you can find in Brisbane.

Rather than putting the onus of cooking the meat to customers like other Korean BBQ restaurants, they actually cook the meat for you perfectly. Although their pricing seems higher than other Korean BBQ restaurants like Maru, they make it up by having generous portion size for plated dishes and their service. They are also very tasty.

When Stage 3 of the lockdown began, where most restaurants were able to operate normally with the full capacity, I was not able to make a booking and I enquired them why it was hard to make a booking. Their response was that they are short of staff members and they did not wish to overbook people as that will affect the customer service. I have the highest respect for businesses that stick to their guns and not compromise to earn short-term revenue.

The reason why I think it was better pre-covid is that their staff members were much more well trained and their menu was better. They also had more side dishes and were generous with vegetables that come with Ssam (assorted vegetables to make wraps). Now they charge extra for requesting side dishes, which was a slight put off considering their pricing. If they are going to charge extra side dishes, I'd wish side dishes were portioned according to how many people are on the table (you get the same portion of kimchi, radish pickle and soy potato whether you are in pairs or in a group of 4).

However, this still holds out to be my favourite Korean restaurant and I highly...

The food was not too bad but the service was terrible! I will never go back there. So first we ordered 7 min after our friends, the food arrived on our table 45min after them! Secondly when the food came, a lot of items were missing. We had to ask 4 times each items because they brought one per one. Thirdly we had to take care of the bbq ourself (turn the meat, cut it and everything else) but the high price of it means we gonna have a great expérience and service. The vegetables arrived after we finished the meat and because we asked for it, otherwise they did not realize we were still waiting. And when we asked for a discount and explained what happened during our so expensive dinner. They did like they do not understand. And furthermore, they asked our friends if they agreed, like we are liars !!!! Bad expérience ever, really and people there. I will never put a foot again in this place! Really if you read it that is shame on you. For a place so expensive you did a really bad job and how you act when we just told you that the service was bad because we are just honest, you réaction was not professionnal at all. I work in restaurant so I can tell, treat people like that is not good for business and for your image ! Should really ask yourself what is wrong sometimes, you could improve. At least when something is bad recognize it and apologize in a sincerely way. And offer more than 5% for a bill...

We ordered a hot pot and ordered additional rice. They ran out so we were advised a 20 minute wait. Once we received it, the rice was undercooked and was told to wait another 20 minutes for freshly cooked rice. Whilst waiting for the second time, we could see that they were still serving rice with individual dishes to other tables. I doubt that they were serving 'good' rice but serving undercooked rice assuming other customers will not notice. The rice that we waited 45 minutes for wasn't even cooked properly. No apology was given for this inconvenience. Unlike other Korean restaurants, you need to order every little side dish individually. The beef and pork both didn't taste fresh - tasted like Buffet bbq meat. Upon leaving, when we mentioned that they forgot to refill the kimchi, they snarkily asked if we wanted it takeaway. Seriously? Such a disappointing experience and service. I feel so ashamed to have brought my parents that are visiting from NZ here. Note: the soju glasses are...