Namsan Cutlet House 남산 돈까스 — Restaurant in Surrey

Maybe I was expecting too much. Since the restaurant had just opened, it seemed unprepared, and the servers made a lot of mistakes.

First of all, this is not a family-friendly restaurant. I don’t recommend it for families with young children. There were no high chairs, and all the cups were glass, so we had to ask for a takeout bowl because we didn’t want our child to accidentally break anything.

We ordered there because they said the cheese pork cutlet wasn’t available, so we ended up ordering the regular pork cutlet and the spicy pork cutlet instead. Before the main dish, they served corn soup, but it was more like watery corn broth. Is this how people in Seoul eat corn soup, like a bland, watered-down version? Honestly, it wasn’t good. Even though we didn’t finish it, with more than half of the soup still left, a server came and asked if they could take it away.

When the pork cutlets arrived, the regular one was so tough that we couldn’t even chew it properly. My family and I had to spit out the meat. It was either undercooked or just poor-quality meat. As for the spicy pork cutlet, the sauce was just spicy without any enjoyable flavor.

My husband, who almost never leaves food behind at restaurants, said this was the worst pork cutlet he’s ever had. He also mentioned that the meat had a weird smell. The spicy one didn’t have the smell, maybe because of the sauce, but it was still disappointing.

The lack of a high chair made it hard to manage our child, who kept getting down from the seat. My husband eventually took the baby outside because it was too stressful. We couldn’t finish the food, and although I packed the leftovers to take home because I hate wasting food, I don’t even know if my husband will eat it later, given the smell issue.

This restaurant is supposedly one of the famous ones in Seoul, known as "Namsan Pork Cutlet," so I had high expectations, but it was a huge letdown.

I overheard that the table next to us experienced a mistake with their order. We placed our order right after them, but even as we were eating, their food hadn’t arrived. They had a child at their table as well, and the child kept complaining about being hungry, asking when the pork cutlet would come because the wait was so long.

Later, a server came over and admitted that there was a mistake—they had forgotten to put their order through. Only then did they finally submit the order. It was frustrating to watch them struggle with such a long wait, especially with a hungry child.

To make things worse, I noticed the table next to us got mini ice creams as a complimentary service after their meal. It wasn’t on the menu, so I couldn’t help but feel they were selective about who they gave it to.

On the way home, I ended up with an upset stomach. This just made the whole experience even worse and confirmed how disappointing the food was.

This was the most disappointing dining experience I’ve had this year, and I regret...

Pork cutlet(Donkasu) is one of the soul foods for many Koreans and Namsan, the name of the restaurant, is actually popular area for King size pork cutlet cuisines. So with the name, I was expecting what I used to have in Korea. The cream soup was nice touch to start the meal. Black pepper goes well with the soup and you might want to ask more black pepper. The main pork cutlet with the sauce on the side was okay as well. The side macaroni salad and cabbage salad, corns were okay when I combined to eat with the cutlet. The cutlet sauce was well balanced for me. It was not too sweet and not too heavy. I could taste gravy as well. Rice was a plain rice, but it felt fresh. The portion could be a bit more if the restaurant wants to put the "King" pork cutlet as a slogan. The meat pasta was also okay with fresh noodles and fresh tasted grounded meat and tomato. Everything seemed to be prepared from scratch. The cheese on top was okay, too, if they used Fresh cheese grounded in the kitchen.(I am not sure about this part.) Again, the portion was not big for the pasta dish, unfortunately. It is more like the big kid's meal size. :) However, what I like the best about the place was cleanness. Tables and chairs and utensil and plates were all nicely cleaned and even washroom was just like one in a clean home. They used Good quality napkin and knife as well. With that being said, I am sure the Kitchen preparation is also in the same level of cleanness. They served a scoop of soft ice cream in the end and that was fresh milk taste. I liked it! ===============Maybe not the most cost effective restaurant, but I would rather dine in here in the cleanest place. It's a small place and one server was doing her job promptly and sincere. Parking is manageable and free. Oh, the hot tea served was also taste fresh made ones. (** one small favour I would like to ask to the server. 테이블 닦을때 찌익 뿌리는 세정제는 테이블 간격이 좁으므로, 카운터에서 수건에 미리 뿌려서 가져와 닦는것이 정말 좋을 것 같아요...지금 상태로는 간격상 식사하는 옆 테이블로 세정제가 뿌려질 가능성이 ...

Do not believe the 5 star reviews, especially the ones without anything written. I am certain they are friends and family members of the owner trying to mask themselves.

The good: the service and interior were great.

The bad:

Pork Cutlet - way too thin and greasy. Tastes like chewing batter and oils. The meat is not seasoned at all and the sauce on top is so sweet that there is no umami nor flavour. No seasoning and no salt. Literally seems like chewing a ball of tempura batter with cinnamon sauce.

Fish cutlet - smells way too fishy. As if it was thawed from frozen but maybe past expiry. Also the batter and the fish did not amalgamate properly so when we cut into it, it crumbled into small pieces. Again, the fish was very bland, and the breading was greasy. No flavour or seasoning at all.

Pasta: the fresh pasta was cooked well into al dente but I would prefer it was cooked a little bit more. The pasta itself also had no seasoning, and the sauce was sweet and the tomato tasted fake. As if it was a pre-mixture of some sort. The seafood in the pasta was clearly frozen as there was a fishy smell to it and was also not seasoned at all.

Some tips to win people back:

-make the cutlet a bit thicker than now -preseason the meat, the protein, and the batter to ensure better flavour -utilize a better batter to protein ratio to ensure they amalgamate when it is ready to be served. Ensure as time passes the deep fried cutlets stay in one piece instead of crumbling. -change the sauce to the original Korean style with more pepper and salt. It tastes like sugar now and the combination of it with your grease...