Co&Ko (Jeon's Kitchen) — Restaurant in London

Some of the dishes were great but what disappointed us was the service.

The three of us have already ordered 4 dishes and the server (a Korean-speaking lady in a pink blouse) said it won't be enough for us. We asked could we order more food later and the server has declined our request as the restaurant was fully booked. At last, we were "encouraged" to order 5 dishes in total.

The food arrived quite quickly. The first dish served was the kimchi and we already realized 5 dishes would definitely be too much for us after seeing the portion of the pancake.

The short ribs with potato and pumpkin and salmon with green chili were fine.

But the rice in kimbap and bimbimbap might be overcooked. The texture of the rice was way too soft for me, it was kind of like the texture of a congee. The kimchi pancake was doughy as well.

The stone bowl used for bibimbap was not hot and thus the beef tartare was still raw despite we have mixed all ingredients thoroughly. The bowl could not keep the bimbimbap warm.

We made a reservation on the Fork and arrived on time at 6:30pm. At around 7:30pm, we were being told to speed up in finishing our food and leave in 10 minutes.

We do understand the restaurant might be small and busy, but there is no time limit policy listed on the Fork. And we were not being told of the time limit when we were first sit at the table. We just spent a hour in the restaurant and finished half of the dishes (because we have been pursued to order too many dishes), and being asked to leave without any advance communication about the time limit.

Then, we had to rush all of the dishes. We requested for takeaway box and the male server looked contemptuously at us when he took the box to us.

In addition, there were 3 tables being vacant for more than 30 minutes throughout our meal, despite the server claiming the restaurant was fully booked and we were being chased to leave.

Although I was quite interested in some other dishes that haven't been ordered at first, it ended as a very disappointing and upset experience. Unfortunately, this would be my first and last time at this restaurant.

If you are looking for a nice and relaxed dinner without being kicked out in the middle of your meal, I beg you to avoid this place and look for better...

K-POP CHICKEN CONTROVERSY⛔️

I first came to this restaurant 6+ years ago. It’s my go-to for Korean fried chicken, which is my all time favourite dish.

I noticed an interesting change to the menu, however…

I went back to the restaurant last Saturday, of course for my korean fried chicken fix. Note that I am explicitly referring to their ‘K-pop chicken’, which has been the name of the dish on the menu for years now. When I looked at the menu on Saturday, the K-pop chicken was gone.

My initial thought was - crap. They’ve removed it. I went up to the waiter for clarification, and he informed me that they still had it, but that it was renamed to “dakgangjeong.”

“That is what fried chicken is in Korean,” the waiter said.

Now, I’m happy that they reverted the name back to the original Korean. I realise that “K-pop chicken” sounds a bit childish. But I couldn’t help but feel like the change was made, not for reasons of authenticity and language, but to trip customers up and confuse them from ordering what is one of their cheapest main dishes on the menu. There are 3 types of Korean fried chicken on the menu - and the 2 OBVIOUS ones, which are explicitly named “Korean Fried Chicken” are £14 and above. Who then would order “dakgangjeong” (which was a best seller) when they have no clue what it is?

Worse, there is no accompanying translation or description of “dakgangjeong” on the menu. So nobody could possibly know that it was chicken unless they understood Korean. Nobody can therefore order the K-pop / chicken / dakgangjeong unless they a) understand Korean or b) knew it from before as K-pop chicken and asked a waiter where it had gone.

It’s all a ploy to earn more money, it seems. “K-pop” chicken was far too identifiable to customers, so it had to be changed so that customers would be forced to spend money on the more expensive types of food. This trick of language and business is exclusionary,...

I’m really sad to be writing this review. Co&Ko has been our go-to restaurant for years, and the food has always been exceptional. The manager has been lovely to us in the past, and it truly was our favorite Korean restaurant - up until this week.

We visited on a weekday this time, which is unusual for us since we typically come on weekends. We ordered our usual favorites, including the Korean fried chicken, which has always been boneless. However, this time it was served with bones. While we were initially confused, we were happy to overlook it as long as it tasted good. Unfortunately, when we asked the waitress about this after our meal, she didn’t seem to listen properly. Instead, she was quite rude to my partner and responded very defensively. I understand that menu changes happen, but I don’t believe this justifies rude behavior toward customers. This is not the level of service I’ve come to expect from Co&Ko staff.

The service overall was quite slow, which I can appreciate might be due to the busy holiday season. However, our starters arrived late - halfway through our mains. The tteokbokki seemed different from usual; the sauce was darker and the taste less enjoyable. The bibimbap lacked its usual vibrant flavor. While the crispy squid was delicious, our request for extra sauce was ignored. I suspect there might be a different chef working during weekdays, as this was the first time we visited on a weekday, and the experience was noticeably different from weekends.

Overall, it was a disappointing experience, especially since I know what this restaurant is capable of. Please address these issues so I can update my review to reflect a more positive experience...