La Grillia Gwanghwamun — Restaurant in Seoul

On a Saturday night in the city it seemed quite hard to find a restaurant which wasn’t fully booked, so despite being a single diner I was relieved that this place managed to find a table, despite there being a wait of almost an hour. The wait was well worth it though and a great meal followed!The menu is populated fully with photos of each dish which makes for immediate reassurance for those unfamiliar with the city. The range of food was also great, clearly focussing mainly on steaks but there’s a good few other options available, although vegetarians may be less impressed. The atmosphere was decent and the kitchen is semi-open which was reassuring. The waiting staff were friendly and I felt at ease in the centre of the dining area.I settled on the mushroom soup starter and rib risotto main. One of the delights of the restaurant appeared to be the ‘cook yourself’ steak, with most of the other diners getting this brought to their tables. But I was impressed with my selection all the same. It was also nice for the wine list to offer half bottles of wine which were continually attended to during the meal by the waiting staff.The food dishes themselves were brought far too quickly. The starter arrived in less than ten minutes and the main dish was brought before even I’d set the fork down for the main. This did make the experience rather less relaxing but fortunately I still couldn’t complain about the quality. Everything was really tasty and well cooked, as well as the presentation being good.The waiting staff were friendly throughout and upon paying the bill, which is done back at the entrance desk, the staff were equally as pleasant and made my custom feel welcome and appreciated. The prices were great considering the quality and amount of food food, in a stylish setting. Overall I was impressed and would...

It was difficult deciding between a 3-star or 4-star rating. On one hand, the basics have been done right - pasta was perfectly al dente, and simple dishes like the aglio olio were cooked to perfection with a generous heap of garlic. On the other hand, some dishes very clearly had been altered to suit Korean tastebuds. Now, this is not bad in and of itself, but if you're looking for authentic italian food, this may not be the place. For instance, we ordered what appeared to be a Porchetta. If it was intended to be a Porchetta, it certainly didn't taste like Porchetta usually does, and neither did it have the usual herbs like rosemary, sage, or fennel. It is perhaps best described as an Asian pork roast in an italian restaurant - if it was described as such, it would have been a great dish because it was well-cooked, and juicy!I also ordered a Seafood Cioppino pasta. Whilst i do not mind spicy food, the Cioppino was more of a hybrid Korean-Italian Spicy Seafood stew that even had a whole green bird's eye chilli inside. There was none of the usual Seafood-y aroma or flavour associated with a Cioppino. Instead, the flavours were overpowered by a hit of heat and tomatoes. All in, we had a filling dinner, at a reasonable price. But I...

What a fantastic find this was! After a day of venturing around Seoul, seeing 'touristy' sites, and a lovely walk down by the stream, we were in the mood for some 'Western' food (after eating mainly Korean food, for 10 days). We found La Grillia randomly, and were both so pleasantly impressed! The food in fantastic! The portions are great, the prices are decent, the service is superb. We had such an amazingly delicious dinner, and both knew that this had just become a favorite place in Seoul, and that we will be going back to it, a lot. Every dish that went by from the kitchen looked incredible, and we can't wait to try some more of them. I highly recommend it if you're looking for incredible steak, pasta, roasted...