Miga Waterloo Japanese and Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Waterloo

I seldom go outside besides work so I don't like to eat out or spend much money in general but I used to go here back when I had a boyfriend, the first time I ate here was the 1st time I kissed someone without a profit incentive and the 2nd time I did it with a profit incentive in addition to that.

After I fumbled the baddie I started going on walks and appreciating the little things y'know the world and all and to my surprise despite not having been to this place in awhile, and it being pitch black in the middle of the night around 2A.M. Lee (who I assume must be the owner, given the immense dedication he has to the business, he works long hours from open till' close every day just like my business owner does) recognized messing around with some shopping carts and chatted with me. I appreciated that a lot so now this is the one place I eat out at, I go here every month and have been for about 10 months now.

Sentiment aside, the food is consistently delightful. You can never go wrong with the dumplings, they're very reasonably priced so I get them every time and they never disappoint. I tried the Kimchi Fried Rice and the Japchae a couple times each and they were very different from what I've comfortable eating, but I still did enjoy and finish the whole meal. I also get the Spring Rolls very often as well and they get the job done too.

As mentioned earlier I quite like the service, if not for the owner's personality I would have continued to cook all of my own food at home.

The atmosphere is lovingly humble, there's a mayonnaise bucket that's been thoughtfully recycled as a pot for some pleasant flowers and there's lots of boxes about and I like looking at them and noticing their business is using many of the same suppliers and brands as the same place I work at just down the road. It's a little bit of a tight space and yet it gives me such a sense of openness, it's just all out there. I understand why that's abnormal for a business and it may be unprofessional to others but as someone else who works in a small business I find it very touching, and human, "down to earth" even.

If anyone read this far and was wondering what the hell I meant by "kissing with a profit incentive" I'll clarify, the first time I kissed someone was for 5$ when I was 7, I knew I wasn't getting the 5$ but I did it anyway and lied about it. The second time was when my boyfriend and I had made a bet that if the food I chose was good, I would give him 10$ which makes no sense as it's effectively punishing me for doing something that benefits him anyway so we settled on the compromise that I would administer his earnings of the prize money mouth to mouth. It was of course, horrible, but also horribly funny, then we kissed for real the first time right after.

It sucks being reminded of my ex-boyfriend every time I eat here but it's worth it, I think that's the best compliment I can...

ordered through uber eats to get the buy 1 get 1 free promos that everyone raves about on there... waited about 45 mins for the order to be done... 30 of that was spent in the parking lot outside of it seeing literally noone walk in or out... not sure why it took so long to make my food....

go in and they tell me i have to say i recieved my food on the app before they will even pass it to me... so i was put off by that but ok.

then i see that they only gave me 1 bowl of bulgogi and 1 order of dumplings.. i said to them "i did the bogo deal for both of these i think part of my orders missing" then all of a sudden i have 4 employees swarming me telling me that i messed up on the app and its not their problem and i need to pay them cash for another round of this order if i want all my food... i showed them the 42$ uber eats charged me and said to them theres no world that this tiny bowl of beef and 10 frozen dumplings would cost 42$... and they proceeded to tell me that i would be costing them money if they honoured the bogo deal even if it got messed up on the app.

then they told me that if i paid them cash for a other order uber eats would reimburse me.. i said to them this literally sounds like a scam.. you the restaurant wont even honour your own deal through uber eats so why would i trust that they would give me a refund? that makes no sense.

anyways, after almost an hour of waiting for food and having 4 men all shouting at me at once i told them i wasnt taking part in this anymore and just left with nothing... no refund and no food.

you would think that FOUR employees could figure out a way to try and meet me half way or like in good faith offer to fix the issue... if you know you offer bogo on uber eats and someones ordered a bogo deal and its only showing a quantity of 1... that doesnt make sense right? common sense just isnt common anymore i guess.

i would literally never reccomend this place to anyone ever after the way those 4 men yelled at me and tried to acuse me of trying to "cost them money" lmao...

i can only imagine that ownership has changed or something because the food in the waterloo region fb group raves about this place and its sweet owner... but what happened to me tonight was...

Good food, and great for people with allergies. The staff take allergies seriously and will accommodate you. My daughter has a severe soy allergy. She ordered the bibimbap and discovered that it came with a gochujang sauce on top. She was concerned that the gochujang sauce on the bibimbap would have fermented soy paste. However, the chef reassured us that he makes his own gochujang sauce, and that it contains no soy. We were dubious, so we ordered a second bibimbap with no sauce, for which they charged us only $10. They also gave us free soft drinks.

Since it was evening and we didn't want my daughter to try the gochujang sauce at night (because no one would be with her overnight to monitor her for a reaction), my daughter ate the bibimbap dish with NO sauce for dinner (and had no reaction). The next day at lunch, she tried the bibimbap WITH the gochujang sauce, and she had no reaction at all. So I feel like this restaurant is very safe to eat at if you have soy or nut allergies (we are also allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, and none of us had any reaction).

Notes on the food: The bibimbap has no bean sprouts or kimchii. The yaki noodles with chicken is spicy. The japchae is delicious but a little greasy. The vegetable japchae has lots of vegetables.

Notes on the restaurant: This is a take out place only. It is not part of the same chain as the Miga Korean BBQ restaurant in Mississauga off Dundas St. This Miga in Waterloo offers Korean and Japanese food.

Comparing Miga in Waterloo to Seoul Seoul: I find the prices at Miga are cheaper, but they don't come with the side potatoes and kimchii that Seoul Seoul always gives to accompany their dishes. The vegetable japchae at Miga has better vegetables than the one at Seoul Seoul. The one at Seoul Seoul has only onions, green onions, and some grated carrots, but is less greasy than Miga's.

In summary, if you want Korean food in Waterloo, I like both restaurants. Seoul Seoul has in person dining and is a bit more expensive but comes with more food and has prettier plating. Miga is less expensive, doesn't give you free side dishes, but does give you free pop, and is take out only. You can't go wrong with...