Taeyang Pocha Korean BBQ SOJU Restaurant — Restaurant in London

We went - Sunday 27th July 2025. There were good and not so good points.

We had the fried chicken - a Korean staple. The flavour was good but i think the chicken was refried, so the batter wasnt as good as it could have been. The texture was wrong. The meat however was fine and not dry - so credit there. Had the chicken been freshly fried to order it would have been a lot better than it was. 5/10

Seafood pancake. I'm afraid this was disappointing. Pancake was thick and just had the consistency of an american diner pancake. These Korean pancakes are meant to be thin and crispy, along with the filling. These were anything but . . . . 2/10

Beef bibimbap.

This was actually quite good. Assume most of it was fresh, hopefully - but the flavour at least was good and the beef was fine. Big portion in a nice sizzling bowl. A pity I didn't just have this rather than the other items as well . . . 6/10

Final thoughts.

I also don't get the reason why the chicken is halal but the restaurant still serves pork dishes. Surely that creates operational complications. There's enough halal offerings in the area surely? We are not in the Middle Esat . . .

Would we go again ?..... No. Its a pity- as if Id just been in and had the beef, along with the tasty Korean beer - it would have been a nice little local eatery. Unfortunately the 1st two offerings had marred our enthusiasm but the time the bibimbab arrived.

One minor detail - Indian music playing in a Korean restaurant. Not really a match is it ?

Also, don't believe all the 5 star reviews listed here. In the restaurant there is a little ticket saying if you give us a 5 star review and show it to us when you've posted it - we'll give you some rice wine or whatever it was. Might just be a shot probably. Who knows. Just sums up the mentality of a lot of people posting up inaccurate reports just to get a little freebee.

I'm just giving an honest review - like the you-tuber foodie critiques . I'm not here to blow smoke up peoples arses. If things are not good, I'll say so - equally if they are, then credit where its due.

My final score of 3 stars is only because the bibimbap was quite good considering. The girl serving was very sweet & polite.

The owner replied ‘don’t come again’ / Rest assured. I won’t. Then they said ‘I’m crazy’

Well, I’m not the ‘crazy’ person trying to bribe people in the restaurant to post a 5 star review there and then and show it to them to just get a free crappy drink.

So now I shall be honest to everyone. AVOID. Plenty of decent korean restaurants around cooked and run...

The staff are very, very friendly and welcoming. We visited on a quiet, rainy Sunday and, seeing as how we were wet, the waitress offered us a seat next to a plug-in heater. There are two choices of beer: Hite (Korean) and Asahi (Japnese). I took a Kite, which was nicely chilled and went down a treat. We started with some Kimchi. A portion of fresh Kimchi, and a portion of the finest reserve (the fresh kimchi was prepared just a few days prior, while the older variety had been fermenting for two months). Both were fantastic. My companions preferred the old stuff, which was much more sour, but I preferred the newer batch; the cabbage still had a nice crunch and a fresh flavour that offset the spicy, and sour sauce perfectly. Crispy chicken and veg' dumplings, a seafood and vegetable pancake, and an intriguingly unfamiliar dish - incredibly thick and chewy rice noodles with fishcake slices in a tangy sauce - made up our choice of starters. The dumplings are similar to Japanese gyoza and served with a salty and tangy soy based sipping sauce. Delicious. While I adored the chewy rice noodles and fishcake concoction (the thickness of the rice noodles has to bee seen to be believed), my companions were more enamoured with the pancake. Served again with a salty, tangy dipping sauce, the pancake was pocked with squid and shrimp and was just greasy enough to feel indulgent but not sickly. Mains were bibimbap, beef bulgogi and a spicy chicken with mozzarella bake. The tofu in the bibimbap was silky and the egg was fried just enough so that it partially poached in the bowl. The bulgogi was rich and packed with umami flavour while the spicy chicken was disappointingly mild and bland. There was no fire or spice for the mozzarella to act as a blanket for. That said, I did feel that the dish was perhaps included on the menu as a 'safe choice' for less adventurous eaters. The main reason I'm knocking off a star is that quite a few of the menu options were unavailable when we visited. As I mentioned earlier though, it was a Sunday, and when I walked past on the Saturday beforehand it was packed, so maybe the Saturday diners ate until the pantry was bare! If you've not tried Korean before then you could do a lot worse than start with Paranhodu, and if you have tried the staples, then this is a good place to go to expand your Korean...

A disappointing experience. Walked in with my friend and the young girl behind the till was on the phone. Stood around in her eyesight for 5 minutes hoping she might wave me onto one of the many free tables. I tried to get her line of vision but she ignored me. So I gave up and chose my own table. She came over after a while and just slumped the menus into our table. No greeting. Not even an hello. Then promptly walked away. She clearly looked like she didn't want to be there and treated customers with disdain as if they are adding to her agony held captive in the restaurant. After I gave her my order all she said was "anything else?". Felt not just cold and dismissive but quite rude. The food was ok. The steamed rice was lukewarm. The portion was tiny. About a tea cup full. I was left with a huge bowl of meat and a tiny dollop of rice. Completely disproportionate to each other. As with most (but not all ) Korean restaurants in Uk, there was no more free rice or banchan (side dishes like kimchi ). These are numerous and free in Korea. Very sadly, the server's complete lack of interaction, manners and general level of hospitality were sub zero. A robot would have done better. I also must point out that I have worked in Seoul twice a year for 5 years and can speak some basic Korean. I know that my accent is reasonable because I am always understood when I am there. I greeted the girl upon entry which is common in Korea. She just gave me a blank look. Not just rude but es especially rude for a Korean. Again after she took our orders , I thanked her in Korean only to be ignored again. And no, she wasn't Chinese or other Asian not able to understand. She was born in Korea because I asked her. I live nearby and this restaurant is always less than half full when I walk by. It can't be the food which is decent enough. Perhaps a better sense of customer service could be attained. And no. I don't expect a big American song and dance meet and greet. Just the same basic pleasantries as most decent restaurants. The furthest you could imagine from the friendly and happy service I've always experienced in...