Secret Garden Korean Buffet — Restaurant in Burnaby

Worst experience overall. came for 2pm last seating, I didn’t expect FRESH food, but was expected there to BE food still given that they close lunch at 3:30pm. Most of the dishes were empty and closed, and the rest looked like leftovers… like some stir fry dishes had the onions left over (garnishes), noodles were all stuck together and everything was cold and old. I had maybe like three strands of the pasta… barely made myself one plate to eat, and couldn’t even get a second plate. The first plate wasn’t even full. I understand that after 2pm, it’s a lot slower and they make food based on the volume, but if they are taking my money… there needs to be food…at least whip up a small portion for each for the remainjng hour and a half, or cut adjust the price for those late hours. When I asked the server, the server said that if we ask for certain dishes at that hour, they will bring out a one person portion, but we were not told that until I asked after our meal…the manager came and apologized, and she was very nice. She said that we could worry about the bill later but wanted to make sure we had enough to eat at the moment. We said that is okay and just that it doesn’t make sense to pay $26 per person when all there was to eat were basically food scraps… the manager said she understands and apologized again.

The problem was when we went to pay (expected a reduced bill due to the situation), the owner gave us a receipt of $55 with no ther words. I mentioned that I had spoken to the manager already and then he said he can give us a $10 gift card…then started ti say that he saw the cctv and we came in late at 2:04pm and thay I just went ahead inside. I corrected him that my brother had been seated and helped by a waitress at around 1:45-1:50 and then I came in at 2:04 when had eye contact with the owner telling him that I already had a table inside and he said okay. Now he is saying as if it is our fault for coming in late and that is why there is no new food(?) They close at 3:30… so of course we would have thought there would be food(?) at a restaurant? If not, then why let us stay and why expect us to pay? THEN, the owner’s wife(?) came out of nowhere and started blaming us in the most nastiest way… In the end I only paid for one person price (the amount of food and choices available were not even one person’s worth), but was completely appalled with the service. No apologies whatsoever and made us look like we were robbing them; If I could I would tell them they are robbing US. I had to tell them to look at the cctv again and check their food quality first before they take in people. Customers coming in for the last table are paying for the same price… at least have all the chlices available for the remainjng 1.5 hours.. 정말 대응 최 악. 손님 도둑질 하는 수준… 마지막 라스트콜에 들어오면 음식/서비스 안주고 돈만 가져가려하면서 손님 진상취급. 점심 마감 한시간반이나 남았는데 음식 안나오는게 실화입니까? 그러면 돈은 왜 받으며 뭐하러...

Had an amazing lunch here on a Monday! The price is currently $25.99 for Monday-Thursday brunch and the servers are wonderful. We got there before the start time but they still seated everyone and got us tea while we waited. Once ready, they let us know we could eat.

Highlights: -Tteokbokki was very spicy, chewy and had large yummy fish cakes mixed throughout. -Their Tofu with Kimchi was very well marinated while not being too spicy. Went well with hard tofu. -They had Sweet roasted Potato pieces which were very good. -There was this tempura -like vegetable which was super crispy and flavourful. It had many thinly sliced vegetables lightly battered then fried. -The Tonkatsu pieces were lightly battered, crispy, very thick and meaty/juicy. It had a light semi-sweet savoury sauce that was amazing! It reminded me of the gravy you get on cutlets at Dae Ji Cutlet House. -Both the sweet and spicy and regular fried chicken were amazing! They were lightly battered, super meaty and juicy. The glaze for the spicy one was more sweet so I preferred the regular one. -Teriyaki salmon was very thick cut, juicy and tasty. -Fried flounder was definitely the star. It was lightly battered and salted but it was so crispy and juicy. Although there were bones, they just fell right out from the thick chunks of meat when pulled. -The jellyfish salad was nice and crunchy, sour, and had a hint of horseradish. -The cold kimchi and spicy squid salad were stars. The kimchi was crunchy, well marinated and surprisingly not too spicy while still being flavourful. The squid was very tender. -Didn't try California roll, but the Kim Bap was tightly wrapped, had tasty rice and crunchy marinated filling. -Dumplings were crispy and juicy with lots of filling. -Squash soup was very creamy and sweet. -Soft tofu soup was amazing! It was very hearty, had lots of tofu and melon and was super savoury.

Passable: -Steamed Pork was tender but came with a very salty sauce. -Sweet and sour pork was tender but the glaze was more sweet than anything. -Kimchi and seafood pancake were a bit doughy. -Jajiangmeon and Jap Chae were both very chewy but a bit too sweet for my liking. -Tuna mayo tofu rice ball was okay. It was a small scoop of tuna and mayo on top of inari.

For dessert, they had slices of oranges, chocolate cake/cheesecake/Nanaimo bars, and chocolate/vanilla ice cream in tubs from Foremost.

Other than the tea at your table, they also had this interesting Korean Cinnamon Ginger drink. It was a bit sweet but it reminded me of autumn.

They also had a limited non-Kimchi salad bar with steamed broccoli, an ambrosia fruit salad, and green salad, but didn't try any of that.

The servers were so attentive in clearing dishes frequently, refilling tea, and the food items were consistently refilled when empty.

I would recommend coming early to try the food when it's...

We had our baby's first birthday party planned in the room which we booked. We were told we might use the room with other guests since we did not have minumum number of guests for booking the room. Totally understand that point. However, they were pointing out this and that whenever we were trying to decorate our table (like don't use other chairs to put our personal stuff, leave the door open even when there was nobody in the room except us, be cautious to take out the tapes on the wall so the paint won't peel). We were understandable with all of the ladies concerns, since we were informed that we might share the room with someone else, but also felt a bit umcomfortable at the same time. After a while, there were other guests (around ppl of 8) that came in, and they seemed like they were hesitating to come in, because our room looked like a private event. After a while again, we were told to clean the birthday decoration table because there will be another guest. We cleaned the whole table for him, but the guest who entered the room didn't want to sit. He left because it was a table in the corner right next to us and he could clearly see we were having a birthday party for our little one. At that point, it seemed like the restuarant did not respect us and just wanted to earn money. They should have asked the guest first whether he wanted to use table before we had to clean the whole table for him. Also, they didn't inform us that we would have to share our table with an additional guest because we were told to use the table during our event.

It was so embarrasing for many reasons and we had to feel sorry for even having a family event there which we aleady booked&informed to the restaurant several weeks ago and all of our family members felt uncomfortable and unwelcomed during our stay. Popular food trays were also empty most of the time so we didn't have the chance to try all dishes when we were there.

I remember the previous time we went there the same lady kept asking that our daughter doesn't look like a three year old. Mentioning this multiple times led us to show her care card to prove her age. She didnt even eat a whole plate while she was there.

The restuarant doesn't seem to have servers that are respectful to us both time, and we are not planning to...