CheeMc Soho — Restaurant in London

Today (wednesday) I visited CheeMc Soho for lunch, and I go for their burger, as they are currently doing 50% for the burger including set meal, which you get a soft drinks, fries and a burger at original price 13.9, now 50%. Firstly for the food itself, it is one of the worst burger. As you can see from the video, the bun is so hard! hard enough for me to squeeze it with force and it doesnt break or gone soft at all, it is like when u microwaved it, and let it rest, and re microwave it, the texture is exactly the same. the chicken itself is bland, tasteless, chicken batter is not crispy at all. The food itself is a completely disaster. I have waited the food for 30 minutes, i mean it is just a burger and fries, and it shouldnt take more than 15 minutes. I have waited patiently for 30 minutes before i told the waiter. The waiter then said he will follow it up and I only saw him whisper to the manager/ owner shortly after. And i have further waited around another 20 minutes the food finally came. I told the manager, i have been waiting for 50 minutes, I am not gonna pay or eat, I just told him i am going to leave. He then replied, the food is already here, i cannot leave.i should have said earlier if i want to leave . I mean i didnt eat any of the food, and how am i suppose to know the food will take so long? A burger for 50 minutes? Did you just feed the chicken to lay an egg, and grow another chicken for me to eat? With such service and timing I was expecting this to be free. I told the guy, I only got an hour lunch break, how am I supposed to continue eating at your restaurant while i sat for 50 minutes doing nothing? I requested this to be takeaway, and I have to mention 2 times, before my order is packed. Then i requested the bill. A total of 13.9 + 12.5% service charge + (so call 50%) off. I first requested to take away the service charge as this is by far the worst experience i have ever had. Then the bill shows 13.9, 20% off, then 30% off, and the total is 7.78. If you can do maths, you can instantly tell 7.78 is not 50% of 13.9. I pulled out the calculator and showed manager 50% of 13.9 is 6.95, he further responded my query by saying, this is because of the system setting. This is just absolutely ridiculous. On the menu, it stated 50% off, and on the bill it shows 20% then an additional 30% or opposite way, you are essentially charging your customer 5% more by doing so, this is a scam, a lie to your customer. Absolutely disgusting. If you care so much about these little things, then you shouldnt be able to offer 50% at first. Then i just insisted to pay exact 50% which is 6.95. The manager did offered a free can of soft drinks and apologize to me saying this is their fault and the staff is new so they didnt know. I mean even the girl next to me which came in 15 mins after i did, got her food as well, why didnt anyone check the food for me? If you want to apologize, you need to apologize at first but not to find hundreds of excuse first and apologize when im leaving. Additionally, when your staff whisper to you, and tell you my order wasnt accepted because their kitchen has no printing paper, why didnt any of you informed me, my ordered wasnt accepted, you might need additional time and ask me do i still want to wait? Instead you chose to keep the truth to yourself only, and try to blame me back when i want to leave when the food is ready? I visited CheeMc at least 4,5 times already, i cannot believe such experience could have happened to me. I review hundreds of restaurants a year, and this is by far one of the worst service I have ever been to. I cannot possibly believe you have spent such money for KOL for promoting your restaurant for the £15 unlimited wings, but you cant afford to offer a customer who have been waiting the food for an hour for free, for just 6.95. Such service, such food, is completely unacceptable and absolutely ridiculous. The manager offered me if I come back again, he will offer me good service from himself and offer me a discount. But this review will stay at...

Reviewed from solo dining experience on 25/07/2025

“Flavours of Seoul with a Side of Surprises”

Nestled in the heart of Soho, CheeMc has been dishing up Korean comfort food for around 3.5 to 4 years now, with a sister branch in Elephant & Castle that I’ve also visited. On this occasion, I dined solo at the Soho location — a compact, lively space that hums with the scent of sizzling oil and the warm buzz of K-pop energy.

🍽️ Dishes Ordered & Thoughts:

🙌⭐️ Bulgogi Spicy Chicken Fried Udon (Spicy): This dish sang like a perfectly tuned symphony. The depth of umami was tantalising, rich yet balanced — not overly salty, with heat that teased rather than torched. Each chewy strand of udon carried the notes of soy, spice, and sweetness like a perfectly played instrument.

🫤 Corn Cheese: A dish I always want to love, but this version felt incomplete. It arrived warm but not grilled, which dulled its full potential. Korean corn cheese traditionally uses sweet Korean yellow corn — smaller, more tender, and creamier than Western varieties. I’d suggest requesting it grilled extra with the blowtorch treatment to really unlock that smoky, caramelised edge.

🙌⭐️ Smashed Cucumber (Side): A delight! The peanut dressing provided an unexpected earthy contrast to the cool, crisp cucumber. The textures worked, and I found myself reaching back for more than I’d planned. A winner.

😃 Seaweed Salad (Side): Beautifully refreshing and light, with a unique oceanic note that danced between citrus and sesame. Clean and bright.

😵❌🚨 Kimchi Pancake: Here lies the disappointment. The batter was far too thick, the centre undercooked, and the signature kimchi tang? Entirely MIA. Oddly, their Elephant & Castle location executes this far better — crisped to golden perfection, where each bite hits your tongue like a satellite landing on an undiscovered flavour planet.

😒😐 Honey Butter Fried Chicken (Small – Yellow Snowing Seasoning): This is marked as a star item on their menu, but sadly underdelivered. The flavour leaned heavily into sweetness, lacking the buttery complexity you’d expect from a true honey butter sauce. The batter was also a bit soft — not the crunch that sings when you bite. A proper honey butter glaze would elevate this.

😑😑 Garlic (Mad Garlic) Fried Chicken (Small): Starts strong, then flattens. As a garlic lover, I expected more punch and depth. It felt like it needed a partner — perhaps soy or gochujang — to round out the sharpness and give the flavour more staying power.

⸻

🍺 Service & Hospitality:

The service was genuinely warm. The floor manager noticed my hesitation about their draft beer, kindly offered a small taster (which turned out to be quite pleasant), and even gave me a complimentary one — which I tried to decline, but found it generously missing from the bill regardless. This level of attentiveness was appreciated. The pancake issue was also handled professionally and without fuss, which speaks to solid customer care.

⸻

🔁 Overall Verdict:

CheeMc Soho is a solid spot for Korean food in Central London — with bold hits and a few quiet misses. It’s the kind of place where you’ll find dishes to return for, even if not everything lands perfectly each time.

✅ Recommendation: • Request the corn cheese grilled extra with a blowtorch. • Skip the Asahi. Hite beer would be a more authentic and complementary choice. • The udon and smashed cucumber are musts. Pancake — better at the Elephant & Castle branch.

Still worth the visit for a satisfying Korean food fix — just come with a little curiosity and a flexible palate.

🍗🔥 BOTTOMLESS CHICKEN OFFER:

If you’re really hungry, CheeMc offers a Bottomless Fried Chicken deal, check their T&C on website. For just £19.90 per person. **Note on Fridays, it’s only available at lunch time. Great value — just...

My review is based solely on what I experienced. I visited this restaurant as a table of 8. The restaurant atmosphere and decor was very clean, modern and hip, excellent for attracting the younger generation who like korean hip hop which they played. Their toilets however were not very clean. The male toilet seemed to be locked so only the female toilet was useable, the floor was sticky and the flush didn't function very well.

The staff was friendly, although some seemed very quick to stress out (arguably as it was busy) and they made a number of mistakes such as missing parts of our order, adding additional items to the reciept when it was time to pay, and having a little trouble communicating (though this was because english wasn't their first language for some of their staff). With any issue, the staff was quick to resolve and apologise for the mistake..

The biggest letdown was the food and drink, especially when taking into consideration the price. To drink, we had a soju, yuzu and yakult cocktail which majority of the table had to water down with water as the taste was very strong (and unfortunately didn't taste like it had any alcohol although this is personal preference). There was also a cherry in it, which wasn't mentioned on the menu, and a friend had an allergic reaction to it. Please remember to put everything used in a drink on the menu, please. The food was below average, with the beef bulgogi being quite rubbery and dry. There was no sauce with this dish, which would've helped (though there was shiracha and soya sauce on the table). The pork belly was served with lettuce, raw garlic, and chilli, a thick paste that was difficult to dip, and the pork was also dry. One portion was found to be cold when served. The chicken was a hit or miss. All the chicken was heavily battered, which made it very heavy (lots of flour) and difficult to finish. We ordered sweet chilli, garlic, sweet soya, and buttermilk KFC (korean fried chicken). The sweet chilli was okay, although it just tasted sweet. The sweet soya was the best portion we ordered. The garlic chicken was literally just had a heavy garlic taste (heavy amount of garlic and no salt?). The buttermilk chicken was heavily seasoned with a powder? Personally, I'm not a big fan. The tteokbokki sauce was sweet, and those that ordered barely touched it. None of the food that was meant to be spicy was spicy. The beef bulgogi loaded chips, and the beef was the same as above. In my portion, there was also plastic found in it (although the issue was resolved with a removal or replacement of the order). The shiracha sauce used was sweet and sour, which is unlike the usual spicy sweet shiracha I'm used to.

When wanting to take food away with us, we were also charged for the boxes, so we only took 2 boxes.

Overall, I would not recommend going to this place. For the price, it doesn't feel worth the quality of the food, which lets down the restaurant. The table was overall unsatisfied with their food...