Seoul Ria Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

I would give this restaurant one star if I can.

If you're craving:

"Wagyu" that’s so bad it should be called "why-gyu" Pork belly that’s 99% fat (the remaining 1% is regret) A masterclass in being ignored by a male server who serves side-eyes instead of food The privilege of sitting in the corner while paying $170 AUD for a side of rage Then welcome to Seoul Ria, the Korean BBQ joint in CT that redefines "bad service"!

Here’s the tea: 1️⃣ Ordered the Wagyu & Pork Belly Set (which clearly includes lettuce), but Mr. Side-Eye insisted it didn’t. After "ordering" it separately, we waited 20 minutes for lettuce that never came. Turns out, he never even placed the order! A kind waitress finally saved the day and got it to us in 5 minutes.

2️⃣ The dipping sauce for the meat? Not BBQ sauce, not even ssamjang – just straight-up Korean chili paste so salty it could march you straight to Seoul’s Blue House.

3️⃣ The only edible items: kimchi stew and steamed egg (which were legitimately good). The rest? Inedible. The "wagyu" was a crime against cows, the pork belly was a fat bomb, and the fried chicken was drier than the Sahara. For $170, you could get 10/10 BBQ + royal treatment elsewhere.

4️⃣ When we complained to the manager about Mr. Side-Eye’s ignoring us + epic eye rolls, we got the classic gaslighting:

"He’s not in charge of your section~" "He must’ve been tired~" (But somehow, he had the energy to roll his eyes across multiple sections? Make it make sense!) 5️⃣ The manager’s smug smirk said it all， and act without saying: "You’re overreacting, and your complaints are imaginary." Spoiler: They’re not.

Final verdict: A dumpster fire of a dining experience. Save your money, your sanity, and your taste buds – this place isn’t worth it. Never. Coming. Back. ( we did takeaway some dishes because we don’t wanna waste OUR MONEY, or...

I used to like Seoul Ria and even recommended it to my friends for its good food. However, after today’s experience, I’ll never come back again.

When we arrived, there was a line, so we politely asked the front desk staff (a chubby man with glasses) how long the wait would be. He told us 20 minutes and we left our name and phone number on the waiting list.

After waiting for about 7–8 minutes, we noticed that some tables were becoming available, so we kindly asked for an update. To our surprise, the same staff member was extremely rude—he didn’t even want to respond the first time. When I asked again, he impatiently snapped: “20 minutes. I already said 20 minutes.” His tone was completely unnecessary and disrespectful. We were asking nicely, not demanding anything.

Honestly, I wasn’t begging to eat here. I brought friends because I had a good impression last time, but being treated like this at the door was humiliating. It was very uncomfortable and upsetting.

Also, there were at least 15 people crowding at the entrance in no clear order. I saw several groups leave after witnessing that staff’s attitude. The restaurant seriously needs to improve staff training and customer service. No matter how good the food is, I won’t support a place where customers are treated...

Overall: 5/7 All the food here was really top quality and tasted good while at a reasonable price. For a table of 8 we were super super full spending about 45pp. Didn’t get a photo of everything we ordered. However the service was quite poor if you didn’t speak Korean… definitely a large language barrier where even asking for a spoon was a bit of a challenge. The we weren’t going to order the tartare if it was frozen and when we asked the waiter if it was frozen he told us it was fresh. Came out frozen. When questioned about it he was confused, went to talk to the kitchen then just never came back.

Spicy braised pork: 5/7 huge portion, tastes quite good, very well cooked and tender. Way spicier than expected. Comes with a whole platter of lettuce and greens to go with it.

Fried chicken: 6/7 Both the snow cheese and honey soy were very good. Chicken super tender and juicy. Definitely better value to order the large portion.

Beef tartare: 5/7 The beef is frozen. However, it tastes pretty good once it’s defrosted.

Beef hotpot: 5/7 Massive in size. Their soup was really good. Felt like there wasn’t too much meat but potentially everyone else on the table got to it first. A lot of veggies in it though.

Raw beef bibimbap: 5/7 Flavours were good. Rice is a bit on the...