Daldongnae Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Montreal

Let me be clear: 🟡 This review is not a reflection of the Daldongnae brand as a whole. 🟡 It’s about serious quality control and staff training issues at the St. Catherine location. 🟡 No customer should be made to feel belittled or humiliated for raising a genuine concern, nor should questionable food be dismissed as “normal.”

I’ve been a loyal customer of Daldongnae, dining at both Toronto and Montreal locations over 20 times. The food has always been good, and the service warm and respectful—until my visit to the St. Catherine branch on July 18th, 2025, which was deeply disappointing and frankly shocking.

We visited that evening and were served by the manager on duty. We ordered beef finger meat, but what was brought to our table appeared to be brownish, gluey, and overoxidized—completely unlike the fresh, bright-red beef we’ve received before at other Daldongnae locations. When we asked if we could get a fresher plate, the manager insisted this is how all there finger meat “always looks” and that the plate was fresh.

When we pointed out that we’ve never had meat like this at any other Daldongnae, the manager brushed it off and said, “If you want good quality meat, just order the most expensive beef on the menu.” He repeated this suggestion multiple times, even after we chose to switch to Chuck Flap Tail. Upon bringing the new meat, he asked us to “validate” if it met our standards before placing it on the table—a gesture that came across as patronizing, as if we were being unreasonably difficult.

Later in the meal, we noticed the tofu in the soybean stew was sour, which typically indicates spoilage. The sourness wasn’t from seasoning but the tofu itself. We understand that tofu can spoil more easily in summer, and we didn’t want to make a fuss. When another server came by to check on us, we decided to mention the issue. To our surprise, the same manager returned holding a partially eaten piece of tofu in his hand and insisted it was fine. Adding to our concern, another customer posted a review that same night, also reporting sour tofu and unfresh meat, which further confirming our concern.

After paying the bill, we shared our experience on RedNote, a Chinese lifestyle app similar to Instagram. Unfortunately, what followed to our shock: we were personally targeted by the same staff and his acquaintances, mocking our appearance and making comments about our income—simply because we shared our honest experience.

Again, this review is not written to disparage Daldongnae as a brand. I’ve had countless good experiences at other locations, which makes this experience even more disappointing. I still believe in the restaurant’s overall quality. But what happened at the St. Catherine branch speaks to a serious lapse in food safety and customer services.

I hope the management team takes this feedback seriously, improves training and the food quality oversight, re-evaluates the professionalism of this staff at this location and ensures all locations uphold the high standards that customers have...

2025 update: The quality is going downhill. Potato salad was dry as sand and tasteless. Mentioned it to the kitchen staff but they never came back with any update. Didn’t get served water until having to ask 15 mins in. Had to run after servers for orders/reminders, never received our soybean soup :-/ the soju pitcher we ordered for 20$+ contained no alcohol. No way to prove it unless they check their cameras for around 7:40pm on 03/03 but we couldn’t taste an ounce of alcohol and felt nothing the whole way through. I’ve brought and introduced countless friends here over the years but I’m no longer tempted to come back.

2023 review: I was excited about this new location but my first dining experience here wasn’t the best. I made a reservation beforehand and there were immediately some red flags as the waiter who answered my call very obviously did not understand English. The interaction itself wasn’t unpleasant or anything since we were both being very polite and lighthearted about the situation but I had to repeat my name and phone number a ridiculous amount of time, which worried me a little. After he confirmed my reservation, I even called back a few minutes after just to make sure he had it in the system. All seemed well until I arrived for my reservation to be told that there was no table for my group. The manager then called someone and started yelling at them in Korean (I don’t speak Korean but I can tell someone was getting scolded) which was a little weird since I was just standing there throughout that interaction. I showed him my call history and he made me call the number again to confirm that I didn’t call the wrong store (presumably), which I didn’t. He then apologized and said to wait outside (not ideal as it was freezing outside). I asked what the issue was and he admitted that he wasn’t sure, that their staff probably made a mistake. On the bright side, the wait was only about 10 mins. Once inside, the service was really hectic, as if the staffed weren’t trained properly: no explanations on the menu, different waiters coming over to take our order multiple times, forgetting orders, etc. Eg., Usually, they pour the steamed egg mixture on the pan as the grill is lit but we had to basically chase the waiters for it and they kept forgetting so we had ask a couple different people until it finally came. 3 stars bc I think the servers were genuinely trying but didn’t deliver. Hopefully this gets...

We reserved for 11 people at 11pm and we ended up getting a table that barely fits 8 people and we had to ask if it's possible to change tables. I have to admit half of the group were late but it's crazy how they decided to seat someone on a table next to us that we reserved without even asking our friends if we were on our way or not.

Service was very questionable. When we sat down, we had no settings, no water no grills for a solid 15mins until we had to call someone else to give us something. When we finally called him to order, he gave us mad attitude and forgot a lot of side dishes we asked for. ( at least he got our meat orders right so no complaints on that ). He even told us " can you just give me 3 minutes " as if we kept bugging him about it. I mean, we waited like 30 mins for the spoons, settings and the side dishes we asked for? He did come back but had to ask someone else for spoons, settings and water.

As a waiter myself, I would always ask my tables if they want to order anything before last call. He didn't even bother checking up on us so we did the job for him asking " can we order something before last call ". The way he reacted seemed like he didn't even realized it was almost 1am and time for last call. We finally got our last ordered in and when my friend asked for extra corns he gave us, once again. attitude and a good ol' disrespectful "tsk" or the "are you f---king kidding" attitude.

Last but not least, when we asked for the bill, we all ended splitting the bills and paid cash. Had to admit it was a bit messy and he had to stand there for a couple of minutes as we were splitting the bills. My friend gave him the money to double check if there was exactly 350$. After 5 mins of looking at the cash, he had the audacity to give us back the money and said " can YOU count if there's 350$ ? ". that's a "bruh..." moment right there.

On and all, seems to me that the staff only knew or taught how to bring food on the table but didn't learn basic manners and customer service. They weren't very attentive at all from what I can tell.

Anyways beside the bad service, the food was great and we had a good time. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and maybe he had a bad day or something, but that's no excuse to act with such lack of professionalism especially if you're working in...