Seoul Country Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Banff

⭐ 1 Star – Subtle but Clear Discrimination Against Non-Korean Guests

I usually don’t leave negative reviews — even when I have a bad experience, I just move on. But what happened at this restaurant was different. It wasn’t just poor service. It felt like we were treated as less important — and the only real difference between us and other guests was that we aren’t Korean.

I went to this Korean restaurant with a group of five. I put my name on the waitlist and was told the wait would be 30 minutes. After 20 minutes, the hostess came back and said it would be another 30 minutes. I said OK and continued to wait patiently. Twenty minutes later, she came again and said they couldn’t seat five people together — that we’d need to split into two tables. I asked what would happen if we didn’t want to split, and she said the wait would be another 15 minutes. At that point, I figured I had already waited this long, and most places would also have a wait, so I stayed and agreed to split.

But what really rubbed me the wrong way was what I saw while waiting: there were two tables that could clearly seat five people — one was a five-top booth, and the other a four-top with an extra chair. It was strange that they insisted no such seating was available. It almost felt like the hostess wanted us to get frustrated and leave. I tried to ignore the feeling, assuming I was just overthinking it.

When our turn finally came, we were seated at two separate tables — even though those two five-person tables were still empty. I looked at one of them, and the hostess immediately said, “Oh, that one is reserved.” Which didn’t make sense, because I had called earlier that day and was told they don’t take reservations — only a waitlist.

Soon after, I saw that “reserved” table given to a Korean-speaking family of five. I didn’t get angry — I understand they had a kid and maybe needed space — but it still didn’t sit right. Then I noticed the second five-person setup was given to another group that also appeared to be Korean. That’s when it became clear: groups who spoke Korean and looked Korean were being prioritized.

It got worse after we were seated. We waited longer than tables that came in after us — I saw people who were seated at least 15–20 minutes after us get their food first. When I asked for a banchan refill, I was told they were “all out.” Yet just a few minutes later, another table — again, Korean-speaking — received more banchan.

To top it off, the hot plate they gave us was so scratched up that you could see the non-stick coating flaking into our food. It was unsanitary and careless.

This wasn’t just a bad night. It was repeated signals that we — as non-Korean customers — were not valued the same way. I don't say this lightly, but the pattern of behavior felt racially biased. From the waitlist games to the seating excuses to the delayed service and missing items, everything pointed to us being treated as second-class guests because of who we are.

I don’t usually waste time writing reviews like this — but this experience was different. It was disappointing, hurtful, and upsetting. If you’re not Korean, just be aware: you may be treated differently here.

I would absolutely not recommend...

2022-June-13th I was super disappointed today. I ordered a spicy seafood soft tofu hot pot and asked waitress to make sure the egg cook properly (well-done) as I don't eat the running egg. But she said, "It's impossible." I said, "It's possible. It was possible every time when I came here before." So she went to the kitchen and came back and said, "It's too busy now. It's impossible to cook well-done for the egg. You can choice other dishes." I even told her that I am ok to wait longer to cook the egg. I don't know how hard and how long to cook a well-done egg in the hot pot. You could just put the egg earlier when you cook for other food, right? Even when I asked for the extra side dishes as we have two orders. The waiter just ignored us. It was a really bad experience.

Updated 2022-June-24th I went there this evening. When we paid our bill. Waiter said, "Did you sit that table last time?" I said, "Yes," Waiter said, "You left a bad review, right? Why did you come here again?" I said, "Yes, because I was disappointed. How come you can't make the well-done egg?" Waiter said, "We were busy. I thought you were a good friend........." I said, "I know you were busy that day, but that's not a reason to refuse what customers ask." Waiter said, "You don't respect us how busy we were that day."

Waiter even said, "You didn't pay the tips every time." I said, "I did pay the tips every time. I can show you my credit card eStatements."

So this time I didn't pay the tips. Waiter said, "No tips again." I said, "Because you said I didn't pay the tips every time."

Waiter said, "You don't have to come here, again." I said, "You can not ask me to do anything."

After we left, we decided to talk to the manager or owner, so we went back to the restaurant. The old lady who is owner said, "You always complain when you go another restaurant, you go to again. 30 years for this business, I know people, many many people I know. Sometimes complaining people always complain." I said, "I don't always complain. I also left a good review, okay!?" Owner said, "Anyway, what do you want? Sorry. Okay?" I said, "You don't need to say sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. It's he. He even said "You don't have to come here." Is that the right way how you treat your customers?"

Horrible...

The place is spacious, quite pleasant but the food was awfully expensive and equally awfully tasteless! We understand cost of operating a business could be quite high in Banff but at least we should have got what we paid high price for. From what we paid for a relatively simple meal, there were no reason for such poor quality and quantity of food. Was there really a "chef" doing the cooking there, we were wondering? There was no freshness, the broth had no taste whatsoever, poor quality of meat, seafood. This was not really "Korean food" as we had experienced at Korean restaurant before. There would be more good smell of food in the air at the food court than at this restaurant. Also we ordered four dishes under the "BBQ" section of the menu. They brought out four stir-fried dishes, mumbling something like it's not enough for them to start the grill!!!

In addition, the young server was friendly and relatively efficient - but never came over to check on things or refilled water. The other one, the manager or owner (?) was just plainly grumpy and rude - did not even look at us when we were asking a question, mumbling something while walking away. Strange! By the way, he should have treated us more properly, for another reason besides the expected customer service. That, in addition to one couple, a group of ladies tourists who apparently didn't spend much as they were in and out quickly, fourteen of us were his only lunch "crowd" - we had thought to come a little earlier to "beat the crowd"! There was no crowd to beat! Except the dumplings, which were cheapest in our order and the only decent "things", the minute we had the first bite of the other dishes, we immediately understood the reason for the restaurant to be that deserted at lunch time - we were there from 11:30 am to 1:45 pm! After all, we were kind of embarrassed by our mistake choosing this restaurant at the first place -we couldn't even bring ourselves to ask each other what we thought about the food, silently looked at each other, dumbstruck by the beyond- words-experience - costing us four times as much had we decided to have lunch at the food...