Monk's Butcher Itaewon — Restaurant in Seoul

I loved this place. I was in Seoul for 11 nights and came 3 times because the food and atmosphere was so great. Clearly also because it is vegetarian. BUT! Enough is enough. Today was the 4th and final time. Why??? Lack of customer service. Wine. We were served 2-3 fingers which is a joke for the price. We would have gotten a bottle. We also would have ordered dessert if someone actually came and asked us. I understand it is Korean culture to not clear tables, but to wait 25 minutes with all plates empty is simply not acceptable. Easy solution. Take the 2 skimpy glasses off of the bill or pour 2 new glasses. Alas....neither the manager or owner who apparently was sitting next to us drinking 2 bottles of wine cared. Shame on them. They clearly DO NOT work for tips, or care about loyal customers. 나는 이곳을 좋아했다. 나는 11 밤 동안 서울에 있었고 음식과 분위기가 너무 커서 3 번 왔습니다. 채식주의 자이기 때문에 분명합니다. 그러나! 충분합니다. 오늘은 네 번째이자 마지막 시간이었습니다. 왜??? 고객 서비스 부족. 포도주. 우리는 가격에 대한 농담 인 2-3 손가락을 받았습니다. 우리는 병을 얻었을 것입니다. 누군가가 실제로 와서 물어 보면 디저트를 주문했을 것입니다. 나는 테이블을 지우지 않는 것이 한국 문화라는 것을 이해하지만, 모든 접시를 비운 상태에서 25 분 동안 기다리는 것은 용납 될 수 없습니다. 쉬운 솔루션. 빌에서 2 개의 빈약 한 안경을 꺼내거나 2 개의 새 안경을 따르십시오. 아아 .... 명백하게 우리 옆에 앉아있는 2 명의 와인을 마시는 관리자 또는 소유자는 아닙니다. 부끄러운 줄 아세요. 그들은 팁을 위해 일하거나 충성도가 높은...

January 2024: My second visit six months later was completely different. The menu has been completely revised and both the prices and portions are smaller than I remember. I am pleased to be able to upgrade my food rating from 4 stars to 5 stars.... everything was sensational, flavourful and interesting. The Tofu Chicken Burger (pictured below) is very nearly the best vegan burger I've had anywhere in the world. The Orange Tofu Chicken Nuggets and Black Lemon Pasta are also awesome.

The service remained sorta middling, and while the wine menu is very good, there are very few drink options otherwise. Those remain my only complaints about this place.

July 2023: Very good vegan food. Very good wine menu. It's not too far from Itaewon Station and open respectably late for dinner. Hard to give this place more than a middling score for service, though, since I was basically invisible. Prices will seem high but portions for full meals are large and suitable for sharing.

Have you ever been to Toronto? This place reminds me a lot of a terrific restaurant there called 7 West. Each floor has its own ambiance, which is pretty cool. You feel like you're eating at a smaller restaurant than it...

I went here with 2 of my friends who are also vegetarian and I can honestly say that we were very disappointed. We tried 4 dishes and each one of them were well presented, but if they can't match the presentation with the flavor, then there's no point.

Both curries were off, the fake meat that they put in it was soggy which is not what I like from something that is supposed to be crispy.

The sweet and sour chicken with fried rice was drowned in sauce which was too sweet and made us all a bit nauseous. It tasted like a poorly executed general Tao.

The Tom yum fried rice was probably the only dish that was edible, but then there wasn't anything very special about it. The veggie chicken skewers were hard as rock and the tofu was very soft and flavorless so I basically just ate the rice.

Overall, it is not worth the price. Very expensive for the quality. We did not try the desserts because we expected it to just be a waste of money.

Ps: it's a very very small restaurant (3 tables) so if you do want to try it out (though I highly suggest you not waste your money here) you need to make a...