Geonbae Korean BBQ & Buffet- Hastings — Restaurant in Melbourne

Unfortunately, our first time trying this style of restaurant was extremely disappointing. Right from the start and overall service felt unhelpful and confusing. One young staff member did try her best by bringing over a plate of salads to accompany our meat, but unfortunately the selection didn’t suit our tastes — we’re more traditional Aussie eaters. The plate remained mostly untouched at the end of our table, and another staff member then brought over a menu explaining the 100g food wastage surcharge but wasn’t 100% clear what was counted as wastage. While we completely understand this policy in principle, we were told we’d be charged for the uneaten food we neither asked for nor enjoyed. As first-timers to Korean BBQ, we felt overwhelmed and unsupported, with no clear guidance on what to expect or how the experience worked. Personally, I only had one small slice of meat and didn’t feel comfortable trying anything else in case I didn’t like it and was charged for it. Despite barely eating, we were still charged the buffet price of $59 per adult. I had hoped to try the desserts, but avoided doing so out of concern for portion sizes and potential wastage fees. We came in excited for an enjoyable all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ experience with our family, but we left just 37 minutes later — still hungry and very disappointed. Sadly, this was easily the worst dining experience we’ve had, and we won’t...

It's so great to have Geonbae in Hastings now and I will definitely be coming back again. The staff are super friendly, always helping if you are confused to what something is, one of them was nice to ask the chef what the cookies were made of that came with my dessert. They have a good selection of Korean drinks to try from sodas to alcohol. If you can't decide what to have ,they have to set menu's that you can try with a range of various Korean cuisine. The food was so yummy and fresh plus healthy aside from the fried chicken which is delicious. They also have really interesting sides as well. They meals are reasonably big since they are designed to share so careful what you order. You can take it home if you can't fit it in. They have take home menu's and they deliver just know that you can only get one side from that menu. The dessert was super yummy as well. Highly recommended for first timers, visitors in Hastings and Korean Cuisine lovers. It was expensive coming to around $116 dollars something but we spilt the bill and what you get, it's definitely...

The ambiance of this restaurant is beautiful and the staff are friendly but the food is mediocre. One of the highlights for me going into an authentic Korean restaurant is for the Banchan or side dishes. We were a group of 6 people and they brought out four tiny side dishes (not enough for 2 people), so I requested for more. The waiter kindly supplied another set for us. The kimchi was over fermented (which is one of the most important dishes in a Korean restaurant, how could they not get this right) but they had a radish side dish which was ok. The third side dish was a noodle cooked in cheese, not sure what that was, it tasted like macaroni and cheese. The banchan dishes are terribly small and not generous in size unlike the many Korean restaurants I have been to.

We ordered Pa Jeon - the korean pancake which was pretty ordinary, as they were starchy and soggy.

The meats were good, and probably their saving grace. I would not say that the food here is authentic - I would not...