Gangnam — Restaurant in Florence

Breakdown of my rating.. Food - 1 star: simply put, the food was not good on any level.. it was bland and the banchans had no flavour other than spice. Service - 3 star: waitress was nice, but you could tell that they were a little overwhelmed with it being busier and as a result either had us waiting too long or actually forgot to come back to us after we called for her (she acknowledged us, went to help another table, and then left until we called her again) Atmosphere - 4 star: we sat outside but I could appreciate the strong AC fan they have out back, made it very comfortable. The chairs and tables however are a little lackluster and aren't very comfy.

Coming from Canada, our expectations for Korean food is a bit higher (due to the big community in Ontario) but we knew we were just looking to get our fix of some Asian food after having eaten Italian food since arriving. This standard however was still not met :/

Banchans Spicy Cucumber: decent with a slight sour but mainly just spicy 3/5 Kimchi: bland and just tasted spice (also didn't seem to be fermented long enough or store bought) 1/5 Beansprouts: bland and just tasted of sesame oil 1.5/5 Fishcakes: tastes as if they just rubbed spice on it out of the packaging 1/5

Mains Jajangmyun: the sauce was decent but the noodles were practically baby food level mushy. Also lacked meat but had lots of potatoes. 2/5 Naengmyeon (cold noodles): came WARM. This was probably the most frustrating part as I expected to eat a refreshing bowl of cold noodles (didn't need the classic ice in there but at least just have it cold). Soup was way too bland to even bother drinking (did I mention it was warm?) And they don't provide vinegar or hot mustard. Noodles were slightly chewy which is good and they top with egg, beef, carrots, and apple (normally Asian pear but I imagine sourcing in Italy isn't easy so they get a pass here) 2/5 Bibim Naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles): came WARM (notice a pattern). Basically copy the Naengmyeon review but add spicy sauce to it. 2/5 Bulgogi Kimbap: the cost is what doesn't justify this dish as its so basic and costed about 10euros (which to CAD is about $14ish dollars which we get back home for about 5euros) so this was a turn off right off the bat (but when you're craving Asian food, the stomach overrides the brain). Meat was limited, but was overall fine as its just a Korean sushi roll. Will say they missed by not brushing over with sesame oil and sesame seeds. 2.5/5

For anyone planning to visit, this place is Chinese run which is not typically an issue as the cuisine and culture does mingle. But opening a Korean resto with that type of quality just goes against everything Korean I've learned to expect back home so I imagine there is something lacking (either their tastebuds aren't used to true Korean foods or they just don't care).

The reason we went here was because they do not require a x2 order of meat (which HALLASAN required) and their prices were better than Hallasan. (Hallasan for 2 orders of meat and possibly other dishes would easily put the bill over 150euros which is about $220 cad. Ours at the end was 55 euros for the food above and a bottle of water.

In short, if you're Asian and visiting Italy and NEED a quick fix Asian meal without blowing up your wallet, this place will suffice. If money is not an issue, just head over...

Do not eat here. My husband and I dined here and while the food was ok, the service was very poor and unfriendly. We were repeatedly chastised and harassed by staff for heating kimchi on the bbq grill. This included staff coming over and not only using our personal tongs to move our food involuntarily, but their entire wait staff would keep staring at and spying on us when we just wanted to be left alone to enjoy our meal. We were at a loss to understand why we were being instructed not to do what is a very normal activity in any Korean bbq restaurant anywhere, especially inside South Korea. We were very upset and the treatment kept getting worse.

Eventually one of the staff came over with a phone displaying a google translate message from Chinese that said ‘the smell of the kimchi will make the neighbors upstairs complain’ or something to that effect. Absolutely ludicrous. This restaurant features numerous dishes containing cooked kimchi on their menu, so I don’t know why we were being picked on. If the restaurant cared so much about both keeping the neighbors happy and giving diners a great experience, they would invest in a dining room hood system with filters as is normal in Korean bbq restaurants anywhere. This restaurant has no business operating at all if the staff think that the responsibility for containing smells lies with the customer and not you know, the business. Nobody ever bothered to apologize for the inconvenience and we were made to feel like criminals. In fact, the only time we saw the waitress smile was when she was receiving payment for the meal. For people reading this, be wary of this place because you may very well receive the same treatment for a trivial matter so inconsequential, it’s laughable. At a bare minimum, the wait staff and management need retraining in basic customer service. I cannot currently recommend this restaurant to anyone...

One star only for the terrible service we received. The older woman working there kept rolling her eyes at us and the servers were all very short. They didn’t explain to us that we needed to write down our order and we waited around for 10 mins until we had to ask.

They didn’t bring us any banchan until we asked for it. I asked to move to a larger table because we ordered a lot of food and was told no because the tables were reserved but when a Korean family walked in they were sat at the “reserved tables”.

I think because it was obvious we were American that they treated us poorly and like we don’t know what we’re doing but being Korean American, it seems like they focused on the American part more.

Galbi, I wouldn’t waste any time order. The meat is tough to eat and not worth the price. Stick to the pork belly. We also ordered Raboki and the seafood pancake, both just ok dishes.

Was missing home and wanted korean food only for my appetite to be ruined by the...