ING Korean BBQ & Seafood Buffet Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

We went on a Friday night with my husband and two children. We booked beforehand knowing that it would be busy and we also opted for an early time-slot too.

In the additional information for our booking, I included that it was a birthday celebration, the need for a high chair and space for a pram as I have younger children. The requests were not fulfilled and we were not really cared for as the table we were sat at was tight with the aisle narrow, making it tricky for other diners and workers to move around. There were definitely other tables where we could have sat at to help with our situation. I don’t know how other reviewers got their special birthday treatment either as we didn’t receive anything aside from their free birthday meal promotion at the end of the session. I was quite annoyed because they provide a booking system to include these details but not take into account of it at all…

The food was quite standard. Nothing stood out and there were limited banchan dishes if you’re wanting a Korean experience. The cooked dishes were a mix of Chinese/korean which were ok. A concerning issue would be the misuse of tongs at almost every section of the buffet. I was so shocked to see tongs that were used for raw marinated prawns side dish with the cooked fish cake. Serious contamination issues and would recommend separate tongs for every single item you have. Even with the sushi…. Mixing the tongs that were used for salmon avo with the vegetarian could cause issues with those who don’t want raw food touching cooked food… Sauce station really needs small plates to carry the sauces. People ended up using drinking cups to dip their bbq meat in. There was always a race to grab the sashimi. Groups of people formed a queue to get some (which was nice). BUT you would have other rude people jumping it and grabbing more than they should or people in the queue grabbing a lot too. It didn’t come out often during the 90 min period, with maybe 2 reloads of a tray of tuna and salmon.

Service wasn’t outstanding. Since it was a Friday night, you would expect more workers as it’ll be a busy night. It was hard to flag a worker down to help with the bbq or with the gas. So that needs looking at as well.

Didn’t feel great dining there that night. I’ve been to many bbq buffets and have experience much better in terms of food, service and atmosphere. I’d call this restaurant an Asian bbq buffet as majority of the food didn’t really show that it was Korean.

It is probably worth trying only once to see what was on offer. Wouldn’t really...

They have a birthday promo where the birthday person gets their BBQ buffet meal for Free - which is lovely & one of the reasons why we (my family) came here. BUT what they don't tell you at the start & middle of the session AND the birthday promo advert (see attached), is that at the time you pay (where you flash your ID to confirm birthday is today) you're also FORCED to do a Google Review, they WATCH you do it & ONLY THEN do they apply the free meal promo to your bill.

This Review Condition isn't disclosed anywhere on their website, on any advert signs on premises, during their online booking system or process & no info from staff prior to payment.

Future customers beware! What this practice is "misleading or deceptive conduct" under Section 18 of the ACL. (Australian Consumer Law).

I only review when I WANT to, but to feel pressured to do it in order (and there was a queue behind me, so I was feeling forced & the counter person wouldn't give any reason why) to receive a promo, left a very bad taste in my mouth. 😡😡😡😡

ING BBQ buffet - I suggest you read up on the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. What you are doing is called

"Unfair practices" – If the business withholds a discount unless a positive review is given, this may also be considered an unfair practice under the ACL.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued guidance stating that:

"Businesses must not post or publish misleading reviews, and must not offer incentives for reviews unless the incentive is clearly disclosed, and it is offered regardless of whether the review is positive or negative."

Boycotting this place, which is extremely disappointed, as the meat choices were good (noodle dishes were cold), desserts are okay, staff were prompt changing the baking paper sheets & free soft drinks . Very noisy here, would suit people who don't mind crowds rushing to get food & bumping into each other & loud music blaring which requires you to shout to your party. There's also no sashimi even though they claim on their website that there is (if none, they should say it's only...

(Edit: restaurant responded really well so changed from 3 star to 4 stars. Will see how it's like next time I go if I can change it to 5 starts 🙂)

This place is okay - I mean for a buffet it's a good deal! But for a Korean BBQ experience this just isn't quite all there... (진짜 한식 Kbbq 원하고 싶은 사람들이 조심하세요)

Pros: Nice layout and interior design 1 free can of drink per person Birthday goer eats free A lot of seafood and sashimi if you're into that Foods well-replenished Fun desserts Sufficient variety of non-BBQ dishes Friendly staff :)

Cons: Way too smokey- their hood vents aren't powerful enough Meat cuts were not great at all, which is to be expected of a buffet, except the 불고기 (Bulgogi) was good Kimchi & 반찬 sides were put right in the middle of the RAW SEAFOOD section without its own designated tongs, so whichever tongs you use to pick up the kimchi probably has been used by others to grab raw prawns, etc. (WHY?!) I also disliked the 김치 (kimchi) There's no 깻잎 (sorry I don't know the English) There's also no leaf lettuce, only iceberg lettuce and that never tastes right for making 쌈 (ssam) They line the BBQ plate with baking paper before you can grill, and everything just ends up sticking to the paper. Very inconvenient The advantage of using plate instead of grill (with holes) is you can make 볶음밥 (mix rice) to end your session, plus maybe a 냉면 (cold noodle) to cut through all the fattiness and cleanse your palette. Neither one was available if I'm not mistaken My friends and I were tucked away into a corner table which made service very hard to access but I trust the service is normally good if it wasn't for that corner! Though I would've appreciated a bell button table service system like many other larger Korean restaurants normally have Stoves are gas powered and not the typical 숯불 (charcoal). I suppose it's not good or bad The sauces looked a bit off... The 고추장 + 쌈장 (spicy sauces) were too runny and they were missing the 파 (green onion) for the 파절이 소스 (onion sauce) lol

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