HANKANG POCHA 한강포차 (Serangoon Rd) — Restaurant in Singapore

Was looking forward to nice dinner, yet was utterly disappointed with everything. I am doing my best to give a balanced review and not review bomb due to my negative experience.

1st: Non-existent Queue System There were 2 different types of tables - BBQ table and non-BBQ table. That was the only question that the staff would ask when people gathered outside. Yet there was no effort to put in a workable queue be it digital or physical. The tanjong pagar outlet appeared to have similar issues yet there was nothing done by the owner even though he acknowledged the customer's review. Complete lip-service.

2nd: Reservation vs No Reservation As it was in the neighbourhood, my parents came by to ask if reservations sere allowed. Yet while we were queuing, there was a group that came by who claimed that reservation was made. Staff led the group in and tried to explain to us queuing that reservation was made directly to the boss and they brought them in to prevent complaints. They even said that they are asking the boss to take down the reservation system as it was making their work very difficult. This is utterly absurd service policy. Management may wish to relook into how reservations and queue systems could at least make the entire service decent. Staff promised us extra ice cream as compensation but they ran out and we did not get any in the end either.

3rd: Long Waiting Time for Food The food had taken MORE THAN 45 MINS to come which is ridiculous by any kind of service standard. While I understand that this may be true if the restaurant is understaffed for cooked food. Does raw food that need to be BBQ-ed, especially being one of their staple menu items, take such a long time to prepare?

4th: "Trial Operations" I've seen many other responses by the owner saying that they were doing trial operations and sought our understanding for any lapse in service. Not sure what this means but even for trial operations, this poor level of service just screams poor management decisions and inability to ensure that adequate processes/ training are in place. I am not sorry for being this "harsh" because these are basic restaurant operational issues that would have been foreseen by any decent owner.

I for sure will not be returning to this place anytime soon or until I see things picking up. For those looking for a quick dinner with friends or family, you're better off trying someplace else. Cater at least 3 hours from start of queue to payment for dinner for...

It was a very disappointing experience dining at this place.

From the get go, the queue could have been better managed by having a simple Q-pole or signs to indicate where the start/end of the line is. But currently everyone just stands everywhere and the poor staff have to manage both the food and the line, and often they don’t even know how the line works.

The food was okay, nothing fantastic - we had bbq and the uncooked meat itself took around 40 minutes to arrive. Not sure why we had to wait so long for something that doesn’t require cooking. The cooked food was average. The soft tofu stew was quite watery and could have been thicker. The cold noodles were a tad too sweet but was pleasant, though it was served with only vinegar and without mustard.

Service by the staff is absolutely abysmal. Understand from management’s past replies on other reviews that the restaurant just opened and the staff are still getting the hang of operations, but the least the boss could do is to have some more experienced staff support from other branches support the new ones in this branch, at least until the staff get more comfortable with their roles. Currently, you will have to request for every single thing that you’d like - bowls, plates, cutlery, drinks, banchan (not sure why they only served us 5/6 sides at first, and then the last side only after we asked what it was and if we could have it). Service is also extremely slow. I don’t blame the staff - clearly all signs of poor rostering and management.

There was also a sign that said free ice cream at the storefront but it was disappointing that the store was out of ice cream by 8+pm. You might want to consider putting “while stocks last” or asking your staff to remove the sign or put a “fully redeemed” sign. What was supposed to be a perk just resulted in more disappointment for the customers on top of an already very disappointing experience.

Overall, I give the management of this place 0 stars. I don’t believe they are inexperienced based on the fact that there are other branches around, but there are many issues that they’ve clearly chosen to ignore instead of fix/address. If you’re not ready for service, don’t throw your staff under the bus by opening and then leaving them to deal with throngs of unhappy customers. Train them in the other branch first and open only when they’re ready.

I won’t be coming back anytime soon, but I hope this feedback will help...

Came here cause I heard of a new Korean restaurant in the hood. Had very high expectations as the decorations were on point. I felt like that’s probably one of the few saving graces.

the appetisers were nice. A good selection the free drink was really cold so that’s nice seafood was fresh

Now the minuses…

I shall gloss over the queueing system as that is a teething problem we waited over an hour for our food. And it was only after an hour were we informed that the jajangmyeon was out of stock… I mean does it really have to take that long from time of order to tell me that? we ordered pork collar for bbq and guess what, the pork collar came frozen. I am more amused than upset as it’s my first time seeing frozen pork collar. It was really rock hard and because of that, we couldn’t cook it well. The outside were charred already but inside is still raw. They couldn’t have thawed the meat first? I mean we waited an hour… no free ice cream despite the big sign saying so at the door. Really lack of effort cause there is a 7-11 just next door and the bosses could have just swung over and bought some ice cream. That would have been a nice gesture at least there is some service recovery. Or take down the damn sign at the door please. Don’t raise anymore expectation when you know you cannot deliver. A lot of items were out of stock. Like the steamed egg??? I don’t understand as the ingredients are basic and could easily be solved by a quick trip to the grocery store.

Eventually the boss gave us 20% discount. We appreciate the gesture but not super wow too cause at this point we were like what…

We also ordered beer and soju and the staff who served us remarked that we gonna get drunk very fast cause we mix the alcohol… It just shows how little you have trained your staff to work in a Korean restaurant.

They keep saying this is the trial period then please don’t take us as guinea pigs. Make sure you are ready to operate properly before opening. It’s a shame to the...