Sooda Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Burnaby

My brother went to the restaurant in downtown and he really enjoyed the food there he said it was delicious. My family and I love Korean cuisine so we gave this restaurant a try to celebrate my parent’s anniversary for lunch. The food was alright (me and my sister really liked the fries!) the price was good for the amount of food we ordered, and the place was nice and clean (so many windows and natural lighting) but the only thing we disliked was that the table at our booth was too small and we kept spilling food as we tried to avoid too. (my dad got burned over spilled soup but it was only for a few seconds don’t worry he’s fine! :) ) We are a family of five so we just ordered a few things. The customer service was alright, I liked two of the waiters that served our table but there was this one waitress that ignored my mom when she asked for assistance and was silent the whole time while she was putting down the food like she didn’t enjoy being at work she didn’t even greet us or smiled like the other waiters did, I work at a fast food restaurant so I understand if she had a bad day or if she felt like not in the mood, I'm sometimes like that too, but I don’t let it get in the way, I save that for after my shift, to give out excellent and proper guest experience I try my best to smile and be polite to make sure the customer leaves happy and satisfied. When we rung the bell to order our food, we waited for a long time for a waiter to come by, we could see them just looking at us but not come our way. Those were the reasons why today turned out to be very disappointing because it was supposed to be a special day but we all got upset because of the lack of good guest experience in the restaurant. Next time, I will take my family to the downtown location to treat them to lunch/dinner, I feel bad that my dad spent money on lunch on me and my siblings that left him and my mom unsatisfied and very unhappy on their...

I dont do ratings until now. How BC's tipping culture ruins an experience of what could be a pleasant dinning out with friends & family. 1st, when I made a reservation over the phone I was told the there is a MANDATORY 18% tip [ i was like, ok - nothing unusual in my mind, id tip anyhow even if its not mandatory]. The day before the date they phoned me to confirm my reservation they reminded me about the 18% gratuity[2nd time]. But i got me when we arrived at door, i was told abt the 18% gratuitty[3rd time], then when we got seated someone came and reminded me abt the 18% gratuity[4th time], then when a guy server reminded me again about the gratuity for the 5th time before he took our orders. And of course when I ask for the bill, I was told again about it for the 6th time!

Its sad how people are so focus on gratuity instead of the quality of the service and food tha costumers pay for. Their services should have been paid by their employer. Gratuity should be for an exceptional service. BC's tipping culture is just getting insane.

The fact that service aint that exceptional, we are done eating when they served the our 2 orders of ribs&cheese[i just boxed half of it - and it wasnt that good, dry, tough, and taste is nah]. Also, after taking the main order, no one came back to go around for drinks order like other restaurants does [not a biggy i just notice when we are almost done eating that all of us just got glass of water on the table lol - it was easy to call the server].

The platter is good and some sushi and the fried chicken wings. Ribs, skip it.

I was fine with tipping but its gotten out of hand. Focus on providing better service and good food then receive a tip out of gratefulness...

I've been to Sooda quite a few times over the past several years as it's a really popular spot for my friends and I to get together and enjoy a fun night out with great food. I have also visited their new location since moving into Brentwood, which I also enjoyed.

Unfortunately, I've docked points on service and food because of a recent incident.

I've always told my mom about how much I enjoy this place, so she ended up taking her friends here for dinner. She was so excited for the Sooda Platter, although noticed that only half of the platter was heating up (the side with the cheese). After noticing this, she called the waiter over to notify him, and found that the other half (rice, eggs, scallions) was cold. The waiter responded that it's "supposed to be like this", and that "it's cooked". They also recommended not to mix anything (this has always been told to me as well), but my mom told the waiter that the rice itself was cold and needed to be heated. The group ended up mixing the platter just to heat it up after trying everything separately. This ended up ruining their entire experience, especially as it was many of their first times there.

I was really disappointed with what happened, and wished that the staff had offered to at least heat up the food so that it wasn't cold. We understand that the foods shouldn't be mixed, but serving cold rice and telling them it's just "supposed to be like that" while paying $40+ for this one dish doesn't sit well with me. It's unfortunate that this has to happen...