Royal City Korean — Restaurant in The Municipal District of Clane — Maynooth

Extremely Disappointing Second Visit – Serious Food and Service Concerns

We’ve just come home from our second visit to Korean Royal City in Maynooth. Our first experience was great – the food was fresh, the service was warm, and everything ran smoothly, which is why we were happy to return. Unfortunately, tonight was the complete opposite and has left us deeply disappointed and genuinely concerned.

One of the main dishes – my partner’s chicken – was absolutely not fit for consumption. It was clearly not fresh, tasted off, and was extremely dry. When the waitress asked how everything was, I politely and quietly said one of the meals was not good — the chicken wasn’t fresh and tasted off. I made a point of saying this discreetly, as another diner had just arrived at the table beside us. Instead of reading the room and handling it professionally, she continued to dispute it openly, making the other diners visibly uncomfortable as they ate. It was embarrassing and entirely avoidable.

When it came time to pay, we explained again that we wouldn’t be paying for the inedible dish. She offered 10% off the item — about €1 — which felt dismissive given the seriousness of serving potentially spoiled chicken. I explained this wasn’t acceptable and that the dish needed to be removed from the bill entirely. She refused, would not call a manager, and said the chef refused to come out.

She then claimed her boss was away for a month having surgery and there was no manager on duty — effectively, no one in charge. In the end, she would only take half the dish off, and we were forced to pay €72.50. She insisted she didn’t have the authority to do more.

Other issues that added to the experience:

We had to ask for basic things like napkins and glasses.

There was no lighting in the bathrooms.

No music, no ambiance at all.

Card payment wasn’t available due to “no WiFi,” and we were told we had to pay cash — something we found highly suspicious.

The most worrying part is that we now sincerely hope we don’t become unwell after tasting that chicken.

We rarely complain and always try to be fair — our first visit here was lovely, and that’s why we came back. But this experience was unprofessional, uncomfortable, and potentially unsafe.

We’ll be contacting the Food Safety Authority and awaiting a call from the...

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