明洞 — Restaurant in Kawasaki

It’s our second time visiting this restaurant. The first time we visited the Korean lady who was serving the food to us was very friendly, but the second time we visited there was the (we assume Japanese?) middle-aged male serving, and we had the most unpleasant experience out of any restuarant we visited in Japan so far. When we visited the first time, there was no table fee (660 yen), rice was included in the meal (which suddenly wasn’t), so we were overcharged and the service was completely different on the second. We ordered 2 main dishes and 1 appetizer in this place, yet he was giving us attitude for not ordering any alchol beverages. He said there will be total of 660 yen, each 330 yen of table charge if we don’t order drinks. It was weekdays so we didn’t want to drink, so we ended up paying for it. After, he didn’t let us know that the rice wasn’t included with the Suntofu soup that we ordered, and we only realized this couple minutes after our food arrived. We requested to have the rice ordered when we realized, and he said ok, but didn’t serve the rice for the next 10 minutes so we ended up cancelling it. Overall, we will never visit this place again and it’s probably one of the worst restaurant we visited in Japan. Plus the smoking is allowded here so make sure you take this to account before you plan...

The food was delicious, great portion, and certainly authentic since the chef is a Korean mother who doesn't speak much(?) Japanese, and her daughter runs the floor. The service was friendly and I'm glad that I got to practice some Korean, too. I got jeon and makkeolli on a rainy day, and was praised for how in tune with Korean culture I was.

When the chit-chat stopped, however, the atmosphere felt quite awkward for me. It would have been nice to have something Korean on the TV or some Korean music playing. I will say that is my opinion as a solo diner; I'm sure the customers who came as a group created their own fun atmosphere. Nevertheless, this is definitely the most authentic Korean place that I've eaten at in...

Our first impression of this restaurant was very positive. The decor was quite colorful, but not overdone. We had dinner on a Saturday evening around 8pm, and we were seated immediately without needing to wait. We ordered the kimchi chijimi and budechige. The chijimi was phenomenal. Both dishes had a nice spiciness that wasn’t overpowering while still delivering a good amount of heat that we were looking for. We came here without much expectations but we’re thoroughly impressed. We will absolutely be coming back in the near future and fully recommend this restaurant to anyone craving Korean food. This was a truly exceptional...