Cho Sun Ok Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Markham

It’s a memorable experience with Cho Sun Ok! The first time, i had to go to another restaurant for dinner because there was long waiting list, plus people kept coming in. It’s mega busy. It’s so awesome they attract large amount of customers daily. Good for them! They should do something right, that’s for sure.

This restaurant is not too small but it creates this claustrophobia in me because the constant stream of people 24/7. It makes this place energized & fun. But again because of it, it doesn’t necessarily a place you go to chill with friends or family. It’s too noisy, fast paced and closed sitting with others. At first, I thought maybe the food in Cho Sun Ok is out of this world, or cheap or they have some unique special Korean dishes.

Today I went for the second time but dining as my first. The same situation happened. And i could see while waiting that the portion was moderate. After 45’ waiting, I can finally led to my table. I was pretty hungry then 😋 when I looked at the menu, it was when my jaws were on the floor. The price was surprisingly high. Omg, the vibe of this restaurant doesnt match the price tag. Thus, I thought the food should be bomb. When the dishes came out on the table, I was skeptical. I mean it looked okay. The side dishes are not bad, but not good either. Tbh it’s on a mediocre side for my taste bud. The one thing stood out was the saltiness of the dishes. I ordered pig organs soup, pork belly on sizzling hot plate and cold noodle. My friend said Cho Sun Ok is well known for their cold noodles. Somehow I just had this sense (bc I went to a lot of restaurants in general).

Nothing about the dishes is outstanding to me. My friend commented he had better cold noodles somewhere else. I didn’t love the food but I didn’t hate it. Despite of how small a plate or bowl looks, I found it was plentiful with the toppings. Thats me but I saw people criticizing how little the meat in their food or how bland it tasted. I think bland as in ordinary tasting it is. They used quite a bit of MSG though. I think this restaurant is serving authentic Korean cuisine. The taste is specific and customized to fit a certain standard. That’s okay. I just have different references when it comes to Korean food.

Their customer service is great. Servers came pretty often to check and ask if the food was okay. I think everyone tried their best here, which is unbelievably nice. Customers were patient enough to be in line for more than 40’ to be seated and staff always had a smile on their face regardless of how busy they were (trust me, they didn’t take break). So in this circumstance it’s not you, it’s me 😁 I’m saying it with a smile too. When it comes to packing, they are not cheap with the boxes & container & bag. Some restaurants are not generous with their bagging no matter how much you tip. Therefore I value & appreciate their hospitality greatly. I wouldn’t say I’ll come back. It’s more like a “checkout a restaurant moment” but I guess it won’t make a dent in their sales. This restaurant knows what they are doing and being great at this. They already have a large loyal customer base who love the food & will keep...

Cho Son NOT Ok. this review is not about the food. what we ate was good. this is about the service. we took my parents out for lunch on Sunday. we were promptly seated. ordered. food came in reasonable time. as we're eating my mom points out that her Duk Mandoo Guuk (rice cake & dumpling soup) did not have many rice cakes. she stirred up her soup to show us. and yes, looked skimpy. so when our waitress came around, my mom nicely mentioned this in Korean. our waitress immediately gets defensive (yet polite, as is the Korean way) and contradicts my mom and says that can't be, bc the cook makes a huge pot of it & cooks equal proportions of dumpling to rice cake. she curtly says sorry & walks away from table. although she was polite in conveying what she said, i wasn't impressed with her attitude. immediately defensive. making excuses. and walking away. we don't kick up a fuss. we just finish our meal. and ignore it. at end of meal i go up to pay while everyone is finishing up. and i tap but add zero tip. to send a message. i come back to table. less than 5 mins later this young mgr comes to our table leans over me & says that i added no tip. and is there a reason for that. i answer him bluntly. yes i did not tip. so he says "okay so you had a reason. can you tell me?". i get up & tell him to come to the hallway and we'll hash this out. i blast him. i say who are you to question whether a customer tips or not. and embarrass me in front of my parents. speaking loudly enough for other tables to hear. what're you trying to publicly shame me? obviously it is a reflection of the dissatisfaction with the service provided. you already charge $20+ for each dish. which is not cheap. esp for a family to go out for a meal. it's become a luxury now. so you want to enjoy the experience. but my mom asks for a few more rice cakes in her meal, and all she got was argument. you can't make a elderly lady happy by adding a handful of rice cakes? what does that cost you? like 25 cents? is it that too much trouble. i tell him this is not the first time experiencing something like this. the attitude of staff here sucks. most (good) businesses adhere to "the customer is always right", but this place has a "customer is always wrong" policy. waitresses are always talking back, unaccommodating, and kinda rude. maybe they feel like they can pop off on customers bc it's such a popular place. so i should just automatically tip when receiving service like that? no way. the mgr got flustered. he said he did not handle that correctly. he scurried off. we got up & left. we...

I came here on a Monday evening with my family for dinner. It was super busy when we had arrived but we were super lucky that there was a spot for us. There were a lot of booth seating in the restaurant which makes it a more private dining experience. It has free parking in front of the restaurant.

We ordered the Mandoo Jeongol and Dolsot Bibimbap.

Mandoo Jeongol (39) This hot pot contains pork dumplings, napa cabbage, carrots, zucchini, beef, rice cakes and clear glass noodles in beef broth. The portion size is good for two people and it includes two bowls of rice.

The dumplings was very filling and filled with deliciousness. There were no spiciness added to this jungol which are perfect for those individuals who are non-spicy lovers.

It comes with side dishes (banchan) that include kimchi, bean sprouts, braised black beans, chili pepper pickles and cubed radish kimchi. These 5 side dishes can be refillable so feel free to eat as much as your heart's content.

Dolsot Bibimbap (29) This bibimbap contains paper thin slices of seasoned carrots, zucchini, daikon, spinach, shitake mushrooms, cucumbers, soybean sprouts and bulgogi beef on a bed of white rice served in a hot stone bowl. This famous Korean dish is garnished with an egg yolk, sesame seeds and dried seaweed flakes.

This bibimbap was super flavourful when all the ingredients were mixed together. It was one of the better bibimbaps I have tasted in a while and had generous amount of toppings in a hot stone bowl.

Our family loved the dumpling hot pot more because it was easier on our weight (after the fact) and tasted healthier. We all agreed that the beef broth was amazing. Both of these dishes were worth it and a fire 🔥.

Overall, the service was fast and friendly. Cho Sun Ok serves home-cooked quality meals with unsurpassed flavours that will bring you back for more. I definitely would come again to try out their cold noodles as that is their star...