Bowl'd Korean Rice Bar — Restaurant in Albany

This place is very good but for the first time I felt uncomfortable by one of the servers whom I never seen. I ordered for my boyfriend and I a seafood pancake, and 2 hot sizzling bowls, one with beef and the other short rib. The first thing I told the server was "We are going to have a seafood pancake and 2 sizzling hot bowls and both with mixed grain and different meats.I'll stick with water and he will have a coke" I felt like he heard me and repeated the order so quick and walked away. I looked at my boyfriend confused and I assumed he got the order for the both of us. Next thing you know We get the seafood pancake and my boyfriend shortly after received his hot bowl. He had said to enjoy, and I told my boyfriend what about mine? maybe they are bringing it right now. I waited and nothing. My boyfriend waited for me to, to eat and asked the server if my food was on its way. One of the females went to go check and had apologized and said it wasn't in order and they were putting the order right away. I was ok with waiting especially my boyfriend who says the bowls are too hot anyway to eat right away. As we are waiting the server comes to our table and confronts us and tell us I didn't order that and I looked at him and honestly didn't know what to say because obviously my boyfriend was the witness and my boyfriend looked at me, and my boyfriend said in other words what he is saying its our fault. Shortly after they gave my boyfriend the coca cola he had ordered (AFTER we got the seafood pancake and 1 of the hot bowls). And then I received my hot bowl. At this point I felt really bothered and couldn't even enjoy my food. We received the check and we thought "oh maybe they won't charge the soda or perhaps a small discount" but nothing. I love coming here but this isn't the first time. The other time I went with my friend and had also ordered the seafood pancake and never got it (but the table next to us did). We thought oh, maybe they didn't get the other or they forgot, no biggie. We were full of the bowls and we receive the bill and were charged for it yet after hearing the girls next to us say they didn't order this and once they got their bill they had said oh wow! they didn't even charged us and walked away so quick before us. We realized they gave them our plate and charged us. This situation was handled correctly because they actually gave us a card saying they owed us a seafood pancake but this experience with this new server was not the best. Please don't make us feel at fault, there is no professionalism in that especially working with people and being a server and especially because I didn't give any attitude but said it was okay. I love the food here and would give it 5 stars but that server needs to work on...

This was our second visit here and most definitely, our last. Our first experience was OK and though the food was pretty good, I could never get a refill of my water glass as the wait staff ignored us after serving our food.

Visit #2, however was horrible. My wife and I arrived when ONLY 5 tables had patrons. We ordered our food and patiently waited. They brought the assorted kimches, steamed white rice, and a broth and cabbage leaves which is part of the meal that I ordered. Those items were the ONLY items I received. Apparently, the kitchen staff forgot to make my entrée. My wife was halfway through her entrée when we finally asked where mine was. We got a curt apology and an "I'll check" from the server (not the young lady who actually took our order). Several minutes later, the girl who took our order came by to tell us that it takes a long time for the spicy chicken since it must be marinated, etc,, etc. This was the lamest excuse she could have conjured up.

Now, I have cooked Korean BBQ many times at home and I have to tell you that I could have slaughtered the chicken, plucked it and cooked it in half the time that it took for the kitchen staff to throw a pile of previously marinated chicken parts in a frying pan, or grill, and slather some hot paste on it prior to serving it. If you are going to give me an excuse as to why my entrée was completely forgotten, at least tell me the truth. Don't spin a BS story.

Anyway, I told the young lady to just have them pack it to go. My wife wanted to just get up and leave, but I told her to relax, it's Easter Sunday and she should at least enjoy her meal (BTW, she is Korean!).

I still had to wait for what seemed like an eternity for my "to go" order and my wife had them pack her remaining meal to go as well. She was fuming and had to suppress the K-Rage that she is quite famous for. We paid our bill and my wife refused to leave a tip. This was the right thing to do since it was the wait staff that spun the ludicrous story about how long it takes to cook BBQ'd spicy chicken.

If you plan on eating here, please do yourself the favor of staying on top of the wait staff and find out if the kitchen staff is actually cooking the meal you ordered, or if they have ignored you. We will never return to Bowl'd Korean Rice Bar, even though it is appropriately named since all I got was a bowl of steamed rice to eat. It is unfortunate that 50% of my experience here was terrible, since the food is quite good, that is,...

I have to say, I was Bowl'd away with the quality and selection here...LOL. From a So. Cal comparison, there are a lot on the menu here. (i.e. BBQ, Dotsot Bimbimbap, Soondobu, mondoo, noodle soups, pancakes).

We ordered a few things here: The spicy chicken wings- tangy and sweet, not spicy at all. Solid appetizer

Beef BBQ and Spicy Pork BBQ- At $14 each, I thought it was a little expensive. The spicy pork bbq is way better the the bbq beef. Again, not spicy enough for me but you can tell it had been premarinated and served over a bed of cabbage and onions. The bean sauce and the cabbage served on the side doesn't seem to go hand in hand in my opinion but the mixed grain rice was a nice touch as a choice.

Veggie Jhap Chae-At $6, this was a great side dish and the kids seem to love it. You don't taste the heavy vinegar or the sesame oil on this this like elsewhere. Oh, yes I would say this place is kid friendly. They will give smaller metal tumblers to the kids and the kids have their own utensils and bowls.

Seafood pancakes $8, this is a MUST GET. The kids loved it! What kid doesn't like pancakes? Shrimp, calamari, and mussels pancakes. I think there were about 8 wedges with a soy based dipping sauce. Solid dish, better than the ones here in So. Cal.

Rice Cake Stew - $10 and we added $2 for dumplings. The dumplings tasted like veggie dumplings while the rice cakes were soft and chewy, nice texture. Very simple dish and very homey..

Service here is very good. I did notice it was all guys serving and helping here but they were attentive enough to always refill the water and the barley tea. Price here compared to So. Cal is a little more expensive but there are more competition down here. I do think they changed the menu a bit to cater to the locals since there's no IN YOUR FACE spicyness in any of the dishes. If I go again, I would request extra spicy , that goes for all you...