Smith Hanok — Restaurant in Seoul

An old house building turned into an Italian Restaurant with exceptional dining atmosphere. The food was in fact just above average with nothing really overwhelming. The pasta was just okay. The pizza baked in a wood fired oven was a bit better – the flavor was a bit lacking, but the toppings were generous. The wait staff were not too friendly, but professional and unassuming. Nonetheless, the best part of this restaurant was the dining atmosphere. The restaurant was housed in an old building with a traditional exterior. The restaurant interior and furniture were of a chic combination of both the traditional and modern touches, and were super cozy as well. Furthermore, the atmosphere on a weekday evening was very...

Romagna Pizza was extremely bland and boring. I did have the bacon taken out but the remaining ingredients, crust, tomato sauce, mozzarella, ricotta cheese, even herbs, were almost completely devoid of taste. The thin crust is not pizza dough but a kind of pita bread, as is very common in Korea. The pasta amattriciana was extremely spicy. Also, broccoli and mushrooms seem inappropriate ingredients for that dish. The salmon salad was good but the dressing is sweet, again a common feature in Korea. The setting is nice, in a redesigned traditional Korean house. In fact, the name of the restaurant in Korean translates to « the house that Smith likes ». I now understand why it’s not « the food that...

For what it’s worth, we had a set five course meal as it was after a wedding and I would not normally go to an Italian restaurant while in Korea.

But the steak was severely undercooked - we had to send it back to make sure it was medium rare.

The staff, despite being there all day while the wedding was being prepped and happening, was very unorganized. My Korean mother in law asked for more bread and they told her no (kind of rudely).

The pasta dish has little flavor.

The salad was far too drenched in dressing.

Beautiful venue and close to a main Korean palace hence the 5 star atmosphere. But it’s not cheap and the food was...