OBAR Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Waitematā

Disappointing Experience – Unprofessional and Possibly Discriminatory Service

We had a very unpleasant dining experience at this restaurant, especially due to the attitude of one male waiter (wearing glasses) His behavior throughout was unprofessional, rude, and potentially discriminatory.

1️⃣ Safety Concern Ignored: At the beginning, we pointed out that the portable gas stove was placed in a risky position and asked if it could be adjusted. The male waiter immediately put on a sour face and said, “I don’t understand you,” then refused to serve us further. However, when we asked a friendly female staff member for help, she understood us clearly and kindly fixed it right away—so please don’t assume this was due to our English.

2️⃣ Gas Refill Mishandled: When the gas ran out, we asked him to replace it. During the replacement, he forgot to turn off the stove, which made it hard to install the new canister. He handled it carelessly, almost flipping our seafood hot pot in the process.

3️⃣ Billing Confusion: When we tried to split the bill among four people, he miscalculated and gave us the wrong receipt (it belonged to another table). When we pointed it out, he seemed indifferent and didn’t properly fix the mistake.

4️⃣ Low Food Quality: The seafood in the hot pot was extremely unfresh. We understand Korean BBQ places often use frozen meats, but the crab was clearly dead for a long time, the shrimp was mushy, and the shellfish were gritty with sand. All four of us had stomach discomfort afterward—bloating, nausea, or diarrhea.

Throughout the entire meal, this male waiter was cold, impatient, and even hostile toward us. Yet we observed him treating non-Chinese-speaking guests with warmth and enthusiasm. This kind of double standard made us feel very uncomfortable. Being Chinese should not mean we receive worse service.

Please be cautious if you’re considering dining here. We hope platforms stop giving this place glowing reviews in exchange for a 5% discount—it does not reflect the...

My husband and I wanted to grab a drink to hang out for a bit. We were sat down immediately but ended up waiting about 10 mins before grabbing some guy to ask to place an order. All staff members were just lounging around while we’re waiting to place an order. He looked confused and told someone else to take our order. We placed an order for 2 beers and THEY GAVE US HOT BEER. My husband stopped our “waiter” to get us some other cold beers to replace our hot beverages but he kept saying he needed to get his “manager”. He finally gave us a cold beer after waiting for some time. I asked for the check and he, again, said he needed to get his “manager”. We didn’t even finish our beers before wanting to leave. As we were paying for our bill, my husband told the guy that we were served hot beers so we shouldn’t be charged. Apparently this guy was the manager (the same guy I had to stop to put in our initial order) said that he was charging us because the beer bottles were opened. Needless to say, I have no idea how they operating with such horrible customer service. Save yourself some money and time by walking a little further to another bar...

the food was good and sufficient for the price but the thing that didnt make it 5 star for me was the customer service.

TLDR: the food is good but the staff are not nice/friendly unless youre korean.

the korean girl that was running the place alone had a bored expression most of the time she was there and was noticibly only friendly to the korean customers.

when we ordered food with the laminated sheet provided and put up our hand to signal that we were ready. she just came and took the sheet without saying anything.

then when the food arrived she dropped off the tray so fast and didnt make eye contact that i didnt even have time to register anything. let alone say thank you for bringing us the food. she wasnt in a rush or busy by the way, she just stood around afterwards.

when korean customers came in, she smiled and made small talk with them and asked them if they needed anything else (which is what youre supposed to do with everyone)

we saw a couple more groups of foreingers (non koreans) come to eat here while we were eating and the girl treated them the same way as us.

we felt unwanted as customers. probably wont...