Bornga Korean BBQ Restaurant Rhodes Central — Restaurant in Sydney

Great food but lacklustre service and somewhat small serving portions.

➕ The food quality overall was at a very high level.

There was a good variety of banchan and they were well made. There was a self service bar for refilling banchan and ssam which was very nice as it allowed for people to get banchan without waiting and the portion size they wanted. One of the banchan was the spicy raw marinated crab which was a nice addition since it is uncommon to give out free crab nowadays, but it you couldn’t refill with crab which was understandable.

The meat quality was also great. Both plates of meat was fatty and as a result very tender and juicy.

The seafood pancake was fantastic. It was quite large and was savoury with seafood pieces and had a nice soft and slightly chewy texture.

The soup was also solid and had good flavour.

➖ However, I found that the service was lacklustre.

When we first arrived about 10 minutes earlier for our booking, we asked the waiter at the front of our booking, but he ignored us and ended up forgetting that we were there. We later saw other people enter with the same booking time as we had, and he allowed them in.

Once we had ordered, the waiters didn’t turn on the gas and put on a grill for us. Once we saw other tables which had ordered at the same time, have staff putting grills on, we had to prompt the staff the start up our grill, which normally doesn’t need to happen. The gas in our grill also ran out which meant that we had to wait for the gas to be replaced, which probably should have been checked beforehand considering the 90 minute time limit for seating. On the good side, the waiters were apologetic on both cases.

The portion size of most dishes were pretty small, especially the meats. However, this was somewhat justified with its great quality.

Overall, we experienced great food but had a mixed experience with...

Worse service ever from Sungwoc.

Nasty attitude, first we waited forever for the meat, got some pork ( not what we ordered) and they serve our wagyu meat lover set to a wrong table, all because when they serve , they DO NOT SAY WHAT THEY SERVE TO CONFIRM WITH THE CUSTOMER, they just put the stuff on the table and leave, not only that’s rude and causing confusion, but also means the training there is poor.

Funny thing is, the other table get to keep our premium set and still get what they ordered later. We had to wait even longer (they took the meat they served wrong to our table and possibly served to the others), another example that the procedure is completely ambiguous, treating customers with different standards.

BTW we asked Sungwoc why the other table get to keep the meat and ours got taken away, he just replied “ no problem “, it would have been fine if they treated us the same, but we were sitting there watching the other table enjoying our meat while we sit there frustrated, confused and not satisfied, not even an apology or anything.

Another thing is, when they clean the table next to us, they were making a lot of banging noise, never have I ever been to a restaurant where people still eating near by and stuff just clean the table like they were taking a piss, with the price they charge, I was shocked by the service standards.

*passive aggressive staff *not premium quality meat/service but charge premium price *gas grill and extremely slow *10% surcharge on weekends *no special service for birthday or any other occasions, no point to add to the special note, no one reads anyway ( booked for 3 but the table was set for 2)

Paid $200 for this to celebrate my...

first time trying this korean bbq place as it’s highly recommended by friends around🙂

Getting a table: It’s recommended to make a reservation in advance on weekends as it’s pretty crowded. We made a reservation, but no one is at the counter attending to us; even if we ring the bell for assistance. And it’s very confusing for reserved customers to wait as it will be mixed up with walk-ins.

Food: there are limited choices of food but the beef and seafood pancake are one of the MUST TRY. I love the flavoring of the marinated beef. Also, the self serve refilling side dishes also added extra point.

Service: by far, this is the most unpleasant experience. we were taken to the inner side of the restaurant, where our phone receptions were unable to get a signal. we asked one staff for the wifi, and she said there isn’t any and bring us their phone to order. After order, she asked rudely saying “are you done with that?” I’m so shocked about this kind of attitude.

After 30 minutes, we wanted to order more meats and asking the same staff for that. She questioned us and asked us to use our phone to order. I ended up showing her my phone indicating “SOS” and showing no signal. That is unbelievable. I wouldnt fake signal just to ask for wifi and food ordering. But questioning us why - is just insane.

When we are nearly done with food, we wanted help with refilling water and get a takeaway box, no one attend to us again where we have our hands up for 5 minutes.

In short, to whoever whos going to try this place, make sure you have reception on your phone, otherwise there is no way you can order dishes. The food is really nice but service is a big NO and i won’t be...