Itaewon — Restaurant in Ixelles - Elsene

I've got a lot to say about this place. I'll start with the positives.

The menu is quite extensive and thus there's a lot to choose from, which is great. I think it contains most of dishes found in a typical Korean BBQ restaurant.

Secondly, I disagree that the general rate of €38 p.p. is too high. I consider it a pretty standard price in Belgium (Brussels), for an all-you-can-eat restaurant (AND especially since Korean cuisine is not yet that widely spread). I think it's especially worth it if you focus on the meat cuts.

Thirdly, the service was great. It was fast, efficient and friendly.

Lastly, the barbecued meat cuts were tasty. Bulgogi and daeji bulgogi had an authentic flavor, and the prawns were delicious.

Now, some less positive sides of our dining experience.

First of all, the rice... I don't know what to say. It's a sin to mess up rice in a place like this. It was dry and overall not what you would expect.

Second of all, the other (non-BBQ) dishes on the menu such as mandu (dumplings) or pajeon (pancake), for instance, were not that good. Unfortunately.

Thirdly, the drinks were extremely overpriced. Specifically, soju (€14) and water (€5,50). It is costly, even for Belgium.

Lastly, the tables for two people are small which can be pretty uncomfortable. The place also tends to get very loud but that's something that cannot be controlled.

Overall, I understand why the place is so popular (you definitely need to book a table beforehand in order to be able to dine there!) since there are not many Korean restaurants around yet but the Korean culture and cuisine have become quite well known recently. Despite some flaws, it certainly is not a bad place at all. It just could be better when it comes to...

I was at Itaewon with my girlfriend on 02/05/25 and it was a horrible experience. We were looking really forward to it as we never were in a restaurant like this one. We love Korean food and never expected this restaurant to be like it was. Food wasn't fresh, we waited a long time for the food to arrive. Couple problems we encountered:

There was a fly in the meat, which crawled out of it (we received ONE soju drink after that [we were two]). We got a feeling that the owner wasn't really surprised it happened, which is confusing and interesting. And we think this situation should be resolved differently.

We ordered a portion of fried squid at the beginning of the evening ~18:00 we received it AN HOUR AND HALF later after we asked the staff for it 3 times! Not only that but the squid was THE WORST I've ever tasted, it was hot on the outside, cold, hard and slimy on the inside. Disgusting.

We found 3 seperate hairs in the food in different dishes.

There was absolutely no instruction on how to properly use the grill, there is 9 levels of heat on it, and we were supposed to know to use it on the third level, even though there is no indication of it.

The table for two was minuscule and there was no place for any plates or anything like that, we had to resort to putting our plates on the windowsill for space.

The korean fried chicken was not korean fried chicken, it looked and tasted like it was just chicken from the market and fried without any spices or sauces.

tldr; Food not tasty, food not fresh, food not cooked properly, dirty with flies and hair. Price is astronomical for this kind of experience. If you're looking to have fun, drink and eat good,...

On the day on the booking, I was called to warn me that another service had been added at 10:30pm and that I had to be ready to eat in less than two hours. Weird when knowing I booked the 8:30pm service exactly because I wanted to take my time to eat, drink and chat with my friends until late. We were asked to arrive exactly on time and told that our reserved spot would be taken if we were more than 10min late.

I was sad to have to be in a hurry but as it turns out, the whole restaurant was. Everybody orders as fast as possible, the service doesn’t take time to explain to you how it works and our seats were stained by grease from the previous service. Skewers and dim sums arrived cold at the table and didn’t have much taste. Barbecue dishes were good and the meat was served in big amounts. The staff had no time to explain to us the working of the barbecue of the appropriate cooking technique for each dish. If the meat wasn’t cooked right, at least it was my own fault. Will have to study the different cooking techniques of Korean food before if I ever come back.

Calling drinks “overpriced” would be an euphemism (4,5 euros for a 25cl Pepsi when ordering a coke).

Dishes were forgotten, irregularly served and cutlery was often missing (had to wait 15 minutes to get a spoon in my soup, luckily I wasn’t charged for not eating a cold soup)

In the end, the service of 10:30pm was probably just a thing they say to get people out faster, because there was none.

I don’t plan on coming back, but I hope this restaurant becomes less money oriented and more client friendly, as it has the potential to...