Cow Cow Korean BBQ Buffet — Restaurant in London

I have been a longstanding customer of this establishment and have, in the past, dined in with considerable satisfaction. Unfortunately, my recent experience with their delivery service was not only disappointing but deeply frustrating. The disparity between in-store quality and what was delivered to my home was so stark, it felt as though I had ordered from an entirely different restaurant altogether.

I ordered the seafood soup, black bean prawns with egg fried rice, and a wakame salad. The only element of the meal that was remotely acceptable was the wakame salad, though even that felt grossly overpriced at £5 for a portion so small it would barely qualify as a garnish. When dining in, I have received significantly larger servings for the same price, and with far better presentation.

The seafood soup, advertised as spicy, was completely devoid of flavour. It was thin, watery, and lacked any seasoning or depth whatsoever. There was one shrimp in the entire container, along with two clams and several pieces of shredded tofu that bore a deeply unpleasant appearance — as though they had already been chewed and reassembled. The texture was disconcerting, the taste nearly absent, and the overall impression was one of something hastily thrown together without care or pride.

The black bean prawn dish contained a mere three prawns — an insultingly small portion when I know from personal experience that in-store I am served no fewer than six. The accompanying egg fried rice was mediocre and offered no redeeming features beyond simply being edible. For over £30, I had expected not only quality but consistency with what the restaurant prides itself on when serving patrons in person. What I received was something akin to leftovers at best — both in quantity and in quality.

The delivery itself was an ordeal. I placed my order at approximately 9:00 PM, with an estimated arrival time of 10:30 PM. The food did not arrive until 11:26 PM. What’s worse, the order was marked as “delivered” on the app a full 30 minutes before it had even arrived — presumably to preserve favourable delivery metrics. This kind of manipulation is misleading and unacceptable. When the food did finally arrive, there was no apology, no acknowledgment of the delay — the driver simply handed me the bag and left. I did not ask for a code as the order had already been falsely marked as delivered long before he arrived.

In the time I spent waiting, I called the restaurant five times. Only on the fourth attempt did someone answer. The young woman who responded was polite and did her best to assist. I hold no frustration toward her personally — she was courteous and professional, and I recognise that the fault did not lie with her. Nonetheless, after nearly two hours of waiting for cold, substandard food, even the most patient customer would struggle to remain calm.

I write this not out of spite, but out of genuine disappointment. This restaurant is clearly capable of excellent food and service, as I’ve experienced first-hand in person. However, the standards for delivery are shockingly inferior. If the establishment cannot provide the same quality and portion size for delivery as it does in-store, then perhaps it should reconsider offering the service altogether. I will not be ordering from here again and can only hope this review serves as a wake-up call for meaningful improvement.

Nicholas Heinrich...

Second time here! Really enjoyable and consistent experience.

Went for the unlimited buffet for £33pp, which includes almost everything on the menu except drinks and some premium cuts.

They have a banchan/sauce station, naturally, where you can load up to your hearts desire - definitely try the seaweed salad, nice texture and sesame taste.

Even the non bbq stuff is great, ebi fry is super crispy, kimchi fried rice with the fried egg on top is actually very well made, the boneless Korean fried chicken is crispy and well sauced (not dry at all), sundubu jiggae had plenty of seafood. All of these dishes I would be happy to pay for separately! There were some dishes that we tried but could skip - the jeon was a bit too thick/doughy, jajangmyeon didn’t really taste or have the typical texture of typical jajangmyeon, japchae was also ok.

For actual bbq, I recommend LA galbi the most as it’s marinated nicely and gets good caramelisation on the grill. The meat is tender! Some of the other cuts are a bit leaner which we liked a bit less, like beef tongue and sirloin. For seafood, you can’t go wrong with any of the choices, the squid and salmon grills nicely (just don’t overcook the salmon since it’s quite thin). For vegetables, king oyster mushroom, especially when you grill it in the meat juices, is tasty. The sweet potato takes ages to cook on the grill so I would avoid as it occupies precious grill space.

Really good quality ice cream too, the strawberry has actual bits in it and the chocolate is very chocolatey and indulgent. Egg tarts are ok, mango sago is nice, and all the fruit is fresh and sweet.

Service is excellent, the staff are attentive and will continuously change the paper on the grill to avoid burning, topping up water etc. Orders come out quite quickly after ordering on the tablet so you aren’t waiting long at all.

Seating is comfortable and spacious, and they have strong air con!...

I had high hopes for this place after seeing so many positive reviews but unfortunately, it really didn’t live up to expectations. Much of the meat appeared to be frozen and was either bland, overly chewy, or just poor in quality, I actually had to spit some of it out. While the rice and a few of the appetisers were decent, the sauces at the self-serve counter tasted quite unpleasant.

Hygiene was a major issue. The entire place felt unclean. The ice cream counter was particularly dirty and even the ice cream itself wasn’t enjoyable. The custard tasted odd, more like scrambled egg than dessert. The toilets were in a shocking state, unclean, lacking soap and overflowing bins, with sanitary waste exposed.

I will say the staff were very kind and polite, which was a real positive. However, I did see one of them clearing grease-covered baking paper from the cooking station, with oil dripping all over the floor, which no one seemed to notice or clean up.

To top it off, there was a strong unpleasant smell as soon as I walked in, which didn’t help the overall experience.

Sadly, this just wasn’t a pleasant dining experience, and I...