Korea House — Restaurant in Seoul

I took my partner here on a Friday night. I got the hotel we were staying at to make a reservation over the phone, and asked quite a few times to book dinner and a seat at the performance for the night. They agreed and charged us 200,000 won for a reservation fee, with the final price for both of us coming to 400,000 won. I wanted the 80,000 won pax meal instead but they insisted on the 200,000 won pax. I doubted my own research and believed this was the minimum price to get both a meal and a performance. When we arrived for our reservation there wasn't a single other guest around and immediately I began to worry about what we were in for. Only two other guests came in right at the end of our meal, and as a reminder, we came in on a Friday night.

Going back to the strange inflexibility of the reservation over the phone (the 50% deposit, insisting we needed to pay 200,000 won) all of this would have been somewhat understandable if the menu had been exceptionally fresh and artisanal. Perhaps they'd need to put in an extraordinary amount of labour and time into picking the ingredients and they couldn't afford for any guests to ghost them. But the food was not like that. Everything was bland bland bland. Most of the meat was minced and packed together. Everything else was dried or canned. If a dish was salty, there was never a kick of sweetness or tartness to it. I was especially disappointed in the sirloin steak which had been covered in gritty flour. The kimchi was even worse. And the bibimbap didn't even have any meat. Just rice and a few perilla leaves. In short, there was nothing bold or exciting about any of the dishes, not even the tea which was lukewarm the entire time even though, again, we were the only two people at the restaurant. The music, which would have felt invisible and transportative under the low hum of a crowded room was loud, repetitive and cacaphonic. At the end of the meal we were still hungry.

Anyway none of this would have compelled me to write a review if we could have enjoyed a spectacular performance at the end. However when we asked the staff what time it was starting, they told us they weren't holding one. They blamed the hotel worker for not communicating clearly with them and sent us on our way.

The only thing positive I can say for the establishment is that when we got to the register they had applied a 20% discount to our total price as they had an ongoing promotion for every customer that month. So at the very least I can say they weren't deliberately trying to hoodwink us out of every cent they could. But the food is definitely not worth the price. Do...

I don't really give reviews online, but I believe visitors should stay away from this restaurant, as my experience was totally disappointing.

I would give zero star if I could.

My wife and I went to Seoul in October 2015 for our honeymoon. Although we haven't been to South Korea before, we do enjoy plenty of authentic Korean food in Sydney.

We picked this restaurant as we saw the good reviews on the internet. However, we were extremely disappointed after having the Royal Cuisine.

Before visiting the restaurant, I made a booking via email and to make sure we could have the "Royal Meal". Although I've got a response saying food did not need to be ordered in advance, I was told at the restaurant that "Royal Meal" need to be ordered in advance...

I admit that the service was good, and good service is common in Seoul, but the food was extremely bad. The meat was rough and the food was cold. We were expecting authentic traditional Korean food, but we ended up having some westernised/fusion dishes...

The meal was a disaster not only because of the low quality of the food, but also the environment. We were lead into a room where all foreigners dinning together, while I saw Koreans were allowed to dined in spacious traditional rooms.

For all the unpleasant hours I spent in this restaurant, I was charged $350 AUD for a 4-person meal. That is very unreasonable for the quality of food provided, as a good Korean Bulgogi (BBQ) dinner for 2-person would cost less than $100 AUD in Seoul...

That said, Seoul is a great modern city and I really enjoyed staying there. This was a bad experience, but other local restaurants I've been to were extremely good. I believe this place was setup to rip off tourists...

For visitors who's travelling to South Korea and looking for a Royal Cuisine, please look somewhere else and stay away from...

We ordered the 신선로 정식 B Rotal Hot Pot Jeongsik B Price wise is fine since we are from Los Angeles where everything is 20% service charge + fees. I came here before their big remodeling. Food was great with traditional touch.

This time food was outrageously disgusting. First appetizer the chips drenched in used oil with strong cow grease. A dried shrimp that was hard to chew off paired with stale pastry.

That had set the tone. Although plate settings, backdrop ambience and staffs were spectacular.

The abalone was greasy ( speaking from someone that loves fried food); I almost gagged on the burger patty which had an unpleasant taste of the chips I had earlier in the appetizer.

The tiny hotpot was soggy. Then came later the dessert set which was great. The only good thing of the meal. When I digging into it, the server added an item onto the set. (I didn't know why this item came in later....when another person already had it)

Overall, I really miss the menus before the great remodel or pre lock down. I did see a very respectable actress that day and a few tables of Japanese ladies went there having lunch.

I probably come back just for their dessert set.

To make reservations, I had had about 20+ email back and forth due to seasonal menu changes. I was looking at Naver reservation menu while they updated the English new menu only weeks before I flying out on...