BUKCHON — Restaurant in North Vancouver

The Food here is 4 stars. The Service is why it got 3 instead.

The menu offers many fresh takes on familiar korean dishes. I loved the seafood udon stirfry I had, although I would say it's MUCH hotter than advertised. As in: I was sweating my way through it by the end. My gf had a Bibimbap which looked great. We split the crispy wontons as a starter. They were also well done. The drink list featured many unique items and I felt they were all reasonably priced. I felt as though individual portion sizes were perfect.

Unfortunately this is where my praise ends. I know these guys are newer on the block, but service wise: there's plenty to improve on. For starters, we came with 2 other guests. 2 of the people at our table of four were almost finished their main dishes by the time the items for the other two people finally arrived. Food for a table should be brought all at once, not halfway through half the guests being done theirs. I'm also less than impressed when I am given a menu that's stained with food from previous guests.

When one of us asked for a side of kimchi with the Bibimbap, we were told they don't usually serve it on the side. This must be the first Korean place we'd been to where Kimchi just wasn't served on the side with a Bibimbap. Imagine ordering french fries at a pub and being told malt vinegar wasn't something freely given as a side if you asked.

Lastly, our servers never checked on us to see if the food was good, or if we needed anything. We had to make a point to ask for water. Another thing usually just given freely when you sit down. At the end we sat and waited and waited for our bill when it was pretty abundantly clear the four of us were finished. If there were also daily specials, none of them were told to us.

Service left a lot to be desired. Especially if a bill comes to nearly a hundred bucks at the end for 2 people. Overall, I was satisfied with the food itself which was expertly prepared. However, front of house service could've been better.

I will gladly return as it's in the neighborhood, hopefully service will get better with time.

Turn your ambient lights...

What was Jordan sushi has come back as a Korean bar + restaurant and it is excellent (the sushi is around the corner on 15th, so you won't miss out). But this Korean bar is a place you want to go to spend time in - to eat, to drink, and to socialize.

The staff is friendly and they are there for you. The menu had a good range of popular Korean dishes, created beautifully. The photos of the dishes do not lie - they are served looking and tasting as good as the pictures.

There are many seafood choices, and also Korean chicken and burgers, and many other things, too (but that's what caught my eye). The two of us who went to dinner tested the chicken and the Monster burger and were extremely impressed.

The chicken came in a large portion (enough to share) with a beautiful crisp light crust. It was just the chicken, so you might want to share your meal to get more, but there really is a lot on is own.

The burger impressed with the size and the taste - the meat was soft and flavour-packed the sauces were delicious, the bun excelled and the huge onion rings and lettuce added way more to the meal than I expected.

The salad was a small lettuce blend with sliced grape tomatoes and a tasty dressing with Asian influences that paired very nicely with the different types of greens, specially the slightly bitter ones. I'm kind of interested in seeing the fries, but I don't know if I could finish them all, so I might just stick with the salad next time.

The drinks came in cans and bottles, which works well with the feel of the room. The glasses matched the beers, in brand and shape, and considering the cans had more than 1 glass in them I was very happy. I'm very used to seeing tap beer in restaurants, but I have to say I'm happier with the cans and bottles here. There were a lot more drinks in the menu than just beer, too, so you could stay a long time and not be bored.

The prices are good; they make the printed menu more appealing and the portions make them excel. The happiness I got from that burger will be on my mind for a while - and I really want to try more things, too - so I will be looking at...

UPDATE OCT 2024:

The menu completed changed since I visited last year, so I was a bit disappointed for not being able to get the dish I liked, so me and my 3 other friends ordered fried chicken, 비빔냉면, 뚝불 & 돼지고기 김치찌개.

fried chicken & 뚝불 was alright, but 김치찌개 was subpar, and 비빔냉면 was shockingly bad. No taste at all on the noodles, and only thing you could taste is the spicy flavour. I am a believer of no-food waste and I usually dont leave any leftovers, but the 냉면 was so bad that I couldn't finish it. It was the worst one I had in my life pretty much.

I have told the server after paying for everything, that the 냉면 needs to improve to be able to sell. Hope it gets better in the future, and I will give one more try ordering other dishes, and I really hope they are good, because this used to be my favourite restaurant before the menu change.

Question to the restaurant: did the chef change along with the menu?

2022 REVIEW:

A great place for a Korean dinner over a wide selection of drinks on Lonsdale.

Could feel a bit pricey, but the food definitely makes up for it. Some menus are not as common as the ones you see at a typical Korean restaurant, and it was exciting to see a few creative dishes. The staff was friendly, and they had variety of dishes for us to use for different type of food we ordered.

If you order the spicy stir fried squid, make sure to ask for the fried rice with a remainder sauce!

Strongly...