Kongbul Hongdae — Restaurant in Seoul

The middle-aged male waiter at this establishment is probably one of THE RUDEST WAITERS I have ever experienced in my life. I don’t think I have ever felt as anxious and panicked in a public setting as I was at this restaurant.

My friend sat down at one one the empty tables and opened the menu. I had already been to this restaurant about a month before and I had a wonderful experience so I already knew what I was going to order. Not30 seconds had gone by before a middle-age male waiter begrudgingly walked up to our table and asked in a very agitated tone “Aren’t you ready to order yet??” (I am translating the general meanings of what he said from Korean to English as best as I can). I was a little flustered at the way he asked the question and since I can speak some Korean but not quickly or at a very high level I stuttered my words a little bit but managed to order the signature dish and ask for two sides of rice. He looked at me with a sour face and said “What spice level?” in a very aggressive tone while accusingly pointing at me. I didn’t understand him at first since he spoke very quickly so I politely asked him to repeat himself. Instead of asking the question again, he banged his finger on the menu and angrily said, in English, “THIS THIS THIS”. I then pointed at our preferred spice level and he asked, again very AGGRESSIVELY, “Is that it???” and stomped away to place our order.

He returns about 5 minutes later with our pan of food to be cooked on the table stove and he slams it on the table. I asked him to turn on the stove since I didn’t know which setting to put it on and he asked angrily, “WHAT?! CAN’T YOU EVEN READ KOREAN??? WE HAVE INSTRUCTIONS RIGHT THERE!” I told him that I was sorry but that I still wasn’t very good at reading Korean yet. He then mutters to himself “D@mn foreigners. Aishhh” and some other insults that I couldn't pick up on. He turns on the stove for us and then leaves again.

I translated the Korean instructions using my phone and I proceeded to follow them as best as I could, mixing the food as it cooked. It felt like not even 3 minutes had gone by before he came back again, very upset, and scolded me saying “Why can’t you do anything right? It’s not even that hard!” He mixed our meal himself in the exact same way that I had been mixing it, just at a faster pace. After mixing it he them slams the tongs into the tongue holder, let’s out another “AISSSHHH” before walking away to let us eat.

At this point I was so scared and nervous that my stomach was nauseous and my hands were shaking. I didn’t know what I had done to upset him so badly. Even as I ate I looked behind me to see if he was coming our way and he glared at us occasionally which made me very uncomfortable and I was unable to even taste the food because I was so nervous and afraid.

To make things worse, I know that he was only treating us this way because he hates foreigners. I know this because not very long after he left our table for the last time, the large table of Korean customers asked to place their order. I watched as he walked over with a smile and served them food happily and told jokes to make them laugh. I was disgusted, disappointed, and anxious.

We ate the food as quickly as we could, I paid the bill, and we left in a hurry.

I AM ALSO ETHNICALLY KOREAN: I know for a fact that this was not a race thing but a general hatred of all foreigners because I am 100% Korean by blood but was raised in the USA. So, I feel the need to say that this man is a disgrace to the Korean people. He brings shame to South Korea as a country and will give outsiders a poor impression of the Korean people. If you ever see someone treating a foreigner like this in public, please say or do something about it.

LAST MESSAGE: All of the FEMALE WORKERS at this restaurant have always been extremely NICE and have always given good service. Please do not blame them. It is the older man at the restaurant who is the problem. Please do not harass the employees because of this...

We were hungry and this place had a lot of people in it, so I thought it has to be good. And I was right!! Great place. The dish was packed with thin slices of meat (frozen), vegetables and sprouts. We really enjoyed the experience of cooking it ourselves on the hot plate, and it was very delicious. Of course it came with many side dishes and some soup, which were also great. We also got a mix fried plate. There were shrimps, and nuggets, as well as some other things that were not clear to us, but everything was fresh, fried perfectly, crunchy, and delicious. I definitely recommend this place if you're in the area and you're hungry. Also, they have aprons so you don't mess yourself....

If I could give zero stars, I would.

This place cheats people who speak or read Korean poorly. I ordered my food in Korean, and was given a single portion of budae jiggae (army stew) even though there were two of us sharing the food. But we were charged double. When I confronted the waitress in Korean that our food was only for one person's portion, she got defensive and said we were wrong and insisted we pay up.

Based on other reviews, this place seems intentional in cheating tourists who don't know the Korean language, or in my case, someone who knows Korean but not a native speaker. I would not recommend anyone...