LOCOS BBQ — Restaurant in Seoul

I visited Loco BBQ around 2pm as a solo diner. The restaurant was half empty, but I was asked to sit at the bar—even though a large table stayed unoccupied the entire time I was there (I left around 3:30pm).

Meanwhile, other guests who came in later, and appeared to be Korean, were seated at regular tables without reservations.

Service felt inattentive—I wasn’t given napkins with my meal and had to ask for them. The BBQ itself was fine, but nothing special if you’ve had proper Texas-style barbecue.

In my experience, it’s unfortunately quite common in Korea for service to be more accommodating toward locals than foreigners. If you don’t speak Korean, just be prepared that you might not receive the same level of attention.

I wouldn’t return to this restaurant. The experience didn’t make me...

What I liked was the atmosphere. I went on a freezing winter evening, but once I went inside, I was greeted by the smell of smoke and fire. You can see the meat that's being barbecued, the wait staff is friendly, everything that'll warm you right up. The real disappointment was with the meat, sadly. The reason we go to barbecue is for the meat that's juicy and cleanly separate from the bones. Ribs, brisket, everything on the sampler was chewy with overwhelming smoke flavor (to the point where I wonder whether it was artificial), the sauces were too sweet with no depth, and everything was served sort of cold. It proved to be a disappointment especially since there are really tasty, authentic barbecue...

Staff photographed was very rude. We are tourists from Singapore without a Korean number. I asked him if we have to take a number to queue and if there’s a long waiting time (IN ENGLISH). He said something in Korean to which I said IN ENGLISH “we don’t speak Korean”. He gave me a look and replied “I don’t speak Chinese”. Confused, I said “sorry?” so he repeated “I don’t speak Chinese” with a grin. Left because of the rude staff. If you are a tourist maybe you should think twice in case you are greeted with mild racist comments. Hope the restaurant teaches their staff to handle tourists respectfully especially in a big mall where tourists are...