Sumi Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

I’ve given this restaurant five chances on five separate occasions. The last time I visited here, a person from my table informed the staff that they are allergic to egg. They still served the bibimbap with egg, and our table reminded them they cannot have egg. They ended up having an allergic reaction (visibly puffed up skin reaction) and had to go to LD Pharmacy to get medicine. The owner verified that they didn't remake the dish, they simply scooped out the egg and reserved it to us, hence her allergic reaction. He offered to pay for her medication but still charged us for the dish.

Another time, one person was late to our table and the owner angrily came to our table and relentlessly repeated that they cannot serve unless everyone is here. That is fair, however he kept repeating even as we were getting up to leave and go back to the waiting area. He just would not stop lecturing us. Others in the restaurant started looking. We were compliant to his request, there was no reason to treat us like primary school children. We did not know in advance that the person that was late would have trouble parking.

Every single time the owner in particular came to our table and made odd comments while we were eating. It’s uncomfortable and it’s almost like he’s purposely trying to embarrass customers in front of others. Last time I went to this restaurant the owner and two girls were on the floor. The taller girl was kind while the owner and the shorter girl were unpleasant/full of attitude. Owner made his comments at start of meal, then about 30 min in.

In reviews they are arguing with customers quite negatively trying to explain their side over every single trivial thing with the tone that they really don’t care about what the customers say, they really believe they are right every time. If multiple people are complaining about the attitude of the owner and staff then maybe look internally. I completely understand defending your livelihood and that customers are not always in the right but it seems to me that these customers are usually understanding. However many people are saying the same things about their unpleasant dining experience with the rude staff. It does not seem like they have made improvements to their customer service. Further, there is no need to shame customers or give them...

This is a sad story :(

I’ve been coming to Sumi for years and it used to be my absolute favorite Korean restaurant in Vancouver. The food was always amazing, and the service — especially from the older uncle — was warm, welcoming, and genuinely kind. I watched this place grow from an empty little spot to a packed house, and I couldn’t have been happier for them. I’ve recommended it to countless friends over the years.

But sadly, after my visit today, I feel like it’s no longer the same Sumi I used to love.

We ordered our usual — the potato bone soup and seafood pancake. The bone in the soup came out undercooked, with visible blood still in the meat. When I mentioned this to the uncle, he insisted it was already cooked and brushed it off, even after I showed him. It felt dismissive, but I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Then we were brought the wrong dish. When I politely pointed it out, the server insisted we had ordered something else, which felt a bit frustrating. She later apologized, and I appreciated that — mistakes happen.

But not long after, I overheard the table next to us reporting the same issue — their bone soup was also undercooked. I showed the uncle again, and only then did he finally take both our soups back to the kitchen to recook them.

When the dishes came back, the meat was still tough and didn’t seem properly prepared like it used to be (I remember it being much more tender before, maybe pressure cooked). At that point, we had been sitting for over an hour, and honestly, we had already lost our appetite. We decided to pack it up and leave.

To top it all off, when I asked for a bag to carry the food (which we packed because the dish was undercooked), I was asked to pay $1 for the bag. That really felt like adding insult to injury.

I’m honestly so disappointed. I never thought I’d have to write a review like this for Sumi, but I left feeling more sad than anything else. I really hope this is just a one-off bad day for them, but unfortunately, it feels like the place I used to love has changed.

Time to start looking for a new favorite...

Recently, I noticed a relatively new Korean restaurant open up on Victoria Drive called Sumi Korean Restaurant. The interior is a bit confusing because they appear to have two sides to the restaurant separated by a wall (assuming they took over an adjoining unit but never bothered to fully take down the wall).

The first thing that I noticed here was when they handed us the menus… these menus are uncomfortably heavy. I know it really doesn’t affect the enjoyment of dining here… just making an observation.

We decided to order the Combo A ($52) as it came with an assortment of dishes: House Salad, Goonmandu, Haemul Pajeon, Soontofudubu, Spicy Daeji Bulgogi, and the regular assortment of banchan.

First up was the house salad which was topped with some crispy sticks.

The goonmandu, or fried golden dumplings, were nice and crispy on the exterior but with a moist filling.

The haemul pajeon, or seafood pancake, needed a bit more crispness to the middle as I found it to be a bit soggy. However, it did have a nice amount of shrimp and octopus and we were able to crisp up the leftovers that we brought home.

We picked the spicy tofu soup as our soup option and this had a nice amount of tender tofu in a medium-spiced broth. When I say “medium-spiced” I mean “medium” for Korean standards as this was fairly spicy.

The banchan included seaweed, sprouts, pickled radish, kimchi and stewed potato chunks.

Last up was the daeji bulgogi which is made up of thinly sliced pork bulgogi. I found the pork wasn’t as tender as the chicken version that we normally order. I’ll have to remember to stick with chicken next time.

Overall, the food is pretty good. As expected with a Korean restaurant, the prices tend to be a bit high as the dishes are meant to be shared...