Zanchi Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Ding-Dong-Disappointed: A Letdown at Zanchi Korean Restaurant

My taste buds were doing a jig at the thought of authentic Korean fare at Zanchi Korean Restaurant in Paddington. Unfortunately, the food itself ended up being a bit of a one-note performance.

Lost in the Kimchi Shuffle:

The Kimchi pancake, a classic Korean starter, was the first misstep. It lacked the vibrant punch of kimchi I was craving. The filling was sparse, leaving me searching for that signature sour and spicy kick.

A Chicken Disappointment:

The Korean Fried Chicken, another crowd-pleaser, also fell flat. The sweet and spicy sauce, which should be the star of the show, was barely there. The batter itself was a letdown. Just crispy and no sort of spices on it.

Gyoza Deja Vu:

The pan-fried chicken dumplings were another uninspired offering. They were reminiscent of frozen supermarket fare, like Bibigo chicken and vegetable gyoza dumplings.

Finding Your Way There:

If you're still curious (and braver than me!), Zanchi Korean is conveniently located near Paddington Station. You can hop on buses Paddington Station (Stop F), Edgware Road / Praed Street (Stop ED), Paddington Stn Eastbourne Terrace (Stops D & E) to get there.

A Touch of Ambiance (But Not Much):

The restaurant itself is decorated in a dark and somewhat dreary grey color scheme, which didn't exactly add to the dining experience.

A Saving Grace:

The one bright spot of my visit was the service. Each table has a bell you can ring to summon the waitstaff, and they were attentive and friendly.

Overall:

I went to Zanchi Korean Restaurant with high hopes, but left feeling a bit deflated. While the service was friendly, the food was underwhelming. If you're looking for a truly flavorful Korean dining experience, you might want to...

Place looked really nice from the outside, but how big of a dissapointment we all had when we decided to come in.

So like all of the other places: they sat us down, gave all of us the menus and continued to do their job like a normal waiter would do anyway, but what a disappointment when we had to wait for about 20 minutes for anybody to even give us a glance - mind you, it wasn't busy at all, especially with 5 FOH stuff on the floor. They have a button to call them over so you can order and everything, we pressed it 4 times and even we could hear it from our table, so it was definitely working - still no reaction, they only walked back and forth trying to make themselves look busy as possible without doing anything or hiding behind the wall without sparing a single glance at what's going on, which is quite unbelievable because people that came way later than us got served much much quicker than us that waited for ages, but maybe that's just the privilege of knowing the members of stuff in the place.

When we finally ordered everything after waiting for a long while to order, we had another massive disappointment with the food, one plate at the time, before all of us even got the mains the first main already started to get cold.

Even when we wanted to get the bill we practically had to beg them to even come to the table, not even a question if the food or service was alright or anything, the waiters were practically ignorant and behaved like they were there as sort of a punishment while serving.

It's also quite dissapointing that for a service this bad they want everybody to pay them extra 12% of the whole amount as...

I really struggle to understand some of the reviews I found about how good the BBQ is. I've been to others Korean BBQ where the amount of food given is MUCH more. When I booked the table I asked for the BBQ in advance, they indeed put us on a table with the BBQ in the middle, unfortunately we were the only table that didn't have the vent on top and we've been asked to don't put all the meat at once because of the smoke issue... On the menu was written that for the BBQ there is minimum 2 portions to be requested, so I asked for the BBQ to have 2 portions pork belly (that arrived frozen, not sure why) and 1 portion tongue. So I received no feedback from the waiter, as I was expecting a "for the BBQ you need 2" So they brought the Tongue pre-cooked from the kitchen...

We ordered Soju, I asked to be recommended for one that wasn't too sweet and I've been answered "I haven't tried any of them..." So I received no recommendations. At the end we spent £ 30+ per person without eating much.

Overall, lack of communication, transparency, and small portions for the BBQ are the main issues of this place.

The quality of the sides and other types of food were good and tasty. That's why I'm not...