SAEMAEUL KOREAN BBQ BY PAIK JONG WON — Restaurant in Carrollton

As a Director of F&B I give wide latitude for many issues. Upon arriving we was greeted by an amazing aroma of fresh grilled food. The atmosphere was upbeat and modern industrial. That’s the good. We quickly placed our names on a sign up sheet for a table for 2. After waiting for 45 minutes and seeing 2 groups that arrived after me seated I thought I had somehow signed the wrong sheet. There was 2 My inquiry with the hostess, manager “owner” Led her to tell me that one group was her people. Meaning, as she stated her boss. At this time I believed her to be the hostess So on a crowded Saturday night I find it in poor taste and spirit to disregard the paying customer so lightly. The second party she stated had a reservation. Upon asking how I can make a reservation for the next time she explained “ we don’t take reservations “. Ummmm ok. 15 additional minutes we arrived at our table. Apparently they are pet friendly as the table beside us had a toy poodle enjoying dinner with the family. We did enjoy playing with the poodle. Just odd a non service dog inside a dining establishment. We ordered enough food for 4 Let’s feast and enjoy. Combo platter. $116. And of course a beer to split. Servers are unorganized and under managed all while being overwhelmed and over worked. After enjoying multiple side dishes and a second beer the meat had still not arrived. Stopping a random server. “Male” great attitude and helpful. I explained that after 2 beers multiple sides and salad at a certain point there will be no need for the meat as I will be full. We had already been sitting 30 minutes. He apologized and came right back saying the are prepping my order now. Unbelievable. We ordered a combo. That should of been pre preped and waiting in the cooler. Pretty basic. Prep and success will happen. After receiving mid grade meat. No it’s not the top as others have stated We begin to cook. Then about 5 minutes in our grill decided to give up the ghost. Yep died. 1 server 2 server Host all attempted life saving matters for 20 minutes as we continued to eat sides and wish the dinner would just end so we could exit. Eventually they asked if we could move. Ummm really should have made that choice 5 minutes into the 911 on the grill. Multiple open tables because no stools. Some tables took others to add more to particular tables leaving table’s empty. At this point I felt I was on Gilligans Island. A 3 hour tour. We was full of salad, side dishes, kimchi soup, beer, and cokes. Driving so 2 beers are the limit. We simply grilled the meat and requested to go boxes. So much for the environment Hello Styrofoam. One of the 3 servers brought us the check and because we had so many issues they wanted to take an $8.00 beer of the check. Really. ? I was passed twice during my wait for a table 30 minutes just to receive meat after the order 20 minutes of life saving measures on the grill Moving tables And having to cook to go 3 hours and a check of $138.54 I now believe I may have double tipped after reading a previous review because just like the other patron I was not informed as well. I left $40 cash as I do not believe any issue was the server Servers are all friendly and great attitude The responsibility is with management and ownership. At one point I asked a server about the men who who was allowed to bump me in front of me for seating. The statement was I do not know them. The host is owner. So I had a most horrific experience with mediocre meat that was taken home as leftovers. RedTable has a great app for reservations. This place definitely needs to do reservations to control the environment. And better prep planing. I believe that it could definitely improve and possibly I would give it another try but with so many amazing Korean Restaurants in the area this place was definitely a let down and missed all the way around It shall be noted that the ranking for service is a result of the servers. Not...

Meat – 10/10, The best thing about Saemaeul is the meat. It is the best K BBQ meat I have ever had. It is even better than Koryo and Joa. We had the sm mix combo as well as the yeoltan bulgogi. The yeoltan bulgogi was amazing, highly recommend. They cook the meats for you which I appreciate.

반찬 – 8/10, All the sides were good with a wide selection for the price point. I enjoyed the oi muchim the best. Some of the more expensive places have been to have slightly more variety, potentially better taste. Would have liked to see gaji namul as a selection.

Atmosphere – 7/10 – Busy bustling atmosphere with tables close together but not so close can hear your neighbors’ conversations. Dining room is pretty loud but not so much that you cannot hear others at your table. My only real disappointment in the place was the small round seats with no back on them, seats are straight from a pocha spot. Would say because of this may not want to come here if looking for a K BBQ spot to linger at. Also, it is quit busy so they are looking to turn tables over quickly, though they did not rush us. Crowd was primarily a mix of Korean and Vietnamese families when we visited on Saturday evening. Lot’s of little kids, though because of the festive atmosphere and busyness to the restaurant, they only added to the atmosphere. It is a good place to take little ones, they will not disturb anyone because of ambient noise level inside.

Overall – 8/10 -Will definitely be back again if for no other reason than to order the yeoltan bulgogi. I would give them closer to 9/10 if the seating accommodations were better. However, they are uncomfortable and comfort has some effect on your enjoyment of dinner. Overall a great place for...

I've been here once before in the beginning when they first opened with an amazing experience, but today's (10/19) was awful. We were seated pretty quickly after coming in, but it all went downhill after.

It was a Saturday, and they were steady, but not so busy that they couldn't serve us. We waited quite a while before being acknowledged or given any water, but all 3 tables sat after us received all their water, side dishes and got their order taken before us. We waited patiently because it looked like they were short-staffed for a Saturday, but we were ignored the whole time we were there. Another table that sat after us left because they were also ignored for a long period of time.

All the servers seemed to be taking care of everyone else instead of our table, regardless of how many times they saw our empty table and made eye contact with us. For a kbbq spot that is supposedly to be cooking for you, they didn't do that a single time for us. We spent a large portion of our time just waiting for someone to either start cooking or turn on our grill. At this point, I was happy to just cook my own food so I could eat. I don't mind cooking at kbbq, but when I'm at a place that is supposed to be doing it for you, I shouldn't have to be. I glanced around as we were waiting and it seemed like there were other tables feeling the same way. Had we not ordered already, I would've left and gone somewhere else.

The lack of service honestly ruined my meal.

This is so upsetting because the food and the quality are great, but service was terrible, and this is coming from someone who never complains at restaurants.

Hopefully the next time will be...