Linus BBQ — Restaurant in Seoul

As a southerner, I'm always giving the "raised eyebrow" when a business in a foreign country cooks my food.

But I was intrigued and went in. The place is rustic, meant to look like a shack on a farm (minus the multicolored wood and farm memorabilia).

The staff are friendly and some are western. So far so good. I ordered a beer and waited for my macaroni and cheese and spare rib plate. The macaroni comes out first, then the spare rib plate. Texas style serving.

Oo.

Now if you're southern, you know the cheese is supposed to curdle and look somewhat like gold cottage cheese or gold colby jack cottage cheese. This look like a thicker version of Kraft mac and cheese.

Then it had onion chips on it.

Oo.

I'm not disappointed yet. I taste this mac and cheese and surprisingly it isn't bland but it isn't flavorful though which makes me think they don't keep the fat and juice drippings from the hog to flavor the mac and cheese. Darn.

So now I dig into these ribs, served Texas style. It's odd to me because I'm used to messy pork, hash and rice, with cornbread or a roll on the side.

The no sauce taste is alright. Not flavorful but not bland either. So I try their sauces. They have a Tennessee mesquite and what I think could be an attempt at a blend between a Carolina mustard base and Kentucky red sweet and spicy sauce.

I try the Tennessee first, and I taste Tennessee but too sweet for the ribs. So I try the blend, and it's better. It even has a bit of Carolina vinegar base sauce in there. Perfect because I'm from South Carolina.

But even with the sauces, the meat was too too dry, because Texas style and because barbecue has to be both dry and wet at the same time. The sauce should be everywhere where you have to wash your hands afterwards (remember I like the messy hash and rice). The bread has to capture the juice and BE EATEN.

I couldn't eat the bread. Saw it was buttered though. So A. The slaw was good, so that's also an A too.

Minus on sauces being in condiment bottles. The meat has to be dipped (also gives the patron the option to smother the food.....which we southern folk do). And in these coronavirus times, the constant picking up of a bottle touched by everybody and their momma is a no-no. Wiping those off with the same rag is also a big NO-NO.

So if I were to come back here, the plates should be mix and match and smaller. I know the Korean custom is to eat with 2, 3, or 4 but still that produces a lot of food waste. Oh and those sauce condiment bottles got to go!

I had bread, fries, mac and cheese, coleslaw, and ribs. They really just need ribs, slaw, 1 small roll of bread, and 1 spoon of mac and cheese and a bowl of sauce. Without changing any cooking technique, it would be a better presentation and less food waste.

Now for flavor oh man..their sides must be flavored with the meat juice and their meat should be sauced more times post smoke. You can taste it's just not quite there. My local backwoods BBQ pit does waaaayyy better (like your eyes roll in the back of your head), but for South Korea yeah it's pretty good.

Beats all the fried food.

PS: I added a pictures of my native Columbia SC smoke shacks so you can see a comparison. The meat is juicy and the sides are comparable to the dish. It's not a...

My boyfriend(who is ethnically Korean) and I (an american) travelled nearly two hours to have a cute date night at what was once my favorite American BBQ place in Korea. When I arrived, the check in iPad wasn't working and we had a rather long wait, which is alright. We placed our order (2 person platter, mac n cheese and a coke, about $45), and about 10 mins later we were told that there were no mashed potatoes. No big deal, but when i was trying to speak with her, she had her back towards me and would only address my boyfriend in Korean (who very clearly speaks English-- The entire staff IS ENGLISH SPEAKING). She substituted the Mashed Potatoes for koleslaw, without allowing us to confirm, which i am not the biggest fan of and was just trying to get another side of their beans instead. The food arrived before I had a chance to request the change, (as the lady who took my order would only communicate with my boyfriend) the food came, and the staff was unwilling to work with me. The lady who took my order literally put her hand in my face and dramatically turned around and left, muttering her frustrations in Korean (한국어 말할수있어요...ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 그래서 더 알았어요....) When i asked to get a manager, the girl who took my order back and claimed to be the manager. She did not apologize, instead she continued to address my boyfriend and at this point he was incredibly uncomfortable. She was incredibly rude and disrespectful. The staff would only acknowledge my boyfriend and completely left me by the wayside... Although I was the one paying. I have lived in Korea for almost two years and I never expected such a racist experience in ITAEWON, the city of foreigners.

I was so upset and had barely touched my food, so I cancelled my order and left. The staff was incredibly incompetent and did not represent the customer service values i have been so accustomed to.

For the price of the food, I would expect a much better service from the staff. I am more than aware of Korean customs, but I have never felt so blatantly disregarded and disrespected in my life.

I have been a relatively frequent customer, but I will never make a...

Nested in the hidden street of Itaewon, this place was oozing a traditional-BBQ-joint vibe inside and out. The temperature inside was pleasantly warm despite the cold weather outside. The food was prepared and served pretty quickly, and the portion wasn't as bad as I expected. However, if you are accustomed to American portion sizes, I suggest go ahead and order some more in advance.

They initially sat us down at a 2-seater table which was pretty small to begin with. I ended up ordering 2 platters including a side dish and 2 glasses of beer. Well, the table was just too small no matter how the trays were arranged. I requested for a larger table at that point (around 8:20 P.M.) because the restaurant was half empty. The response was that we weren't allowed to switch tables for reasons so inexplicable I don't even feel like elaborating them here. I stared at the waiter in disbelief.

Long story short, they finally moved us to another table that sat at the end of the restaurant. It took another 10 minutes after our food came out because of the 'rearrangement,' and I wasn't happy at all.

The food was delicious. But be warned; if you are going to order a generous amount of portion for the two of you, ask to be seated at a larger table...