Ilsong Garden — Restaurant in Castle Hills

Deserves zero stars.

We were a party of four, visiting for dinner at 6:00 pm on Saturday 15 December. My Korean wife and I were hosting.

The dining room was sparsely populated, which immediately gave me pause, and remained so for the duration of our stay, some 90 minutes. This on a Saturday evening. Shortly after we were seated, we ordered drinks and I was pleased to learn they offer hot and cold barley water as well as regular ice water. Our male friend and I ordered a Kirin and a Hite beer, both bottled, and I guess it was the luck of the draw that when our server arrived with our glasses, I received the one with a chip on the rim, topping a full length crack from top to bottom. I pointed this out and with much apology she took it back and shortly afterward returned with another. No cracks, just ample deposits of sediment inside the glass. I could feel it. Once is possibly understandable. But twice is inexcusable. I pointed it out to the server, asking how she could possibly present this glass to a guest. She examined it in consternation, then took it to another lady, possibly the manager, and they consulted in the back of the room for some minutes before she disappeared and the other, more senior lady arrived with a clean glass and more apologies. In the meantime, I suggested that we leave, as I held little hope the meal would improve. But we were already here and the consensus was to see how it would play out. My wife was embarrassed and I was embarrassed for her.

As a shared appetizer we ordered the oyster vegetable pancake, and I was expecting it to be jijim, but it actually turned out to be a variety of haemulpajeon that I had never experienced. Thick and crusty, it was ample and quite tasty, and unfortunately, the high point of our meals. If anything would warrant a return visit to this restaurant, it would only be this dish.

Our male friend ordered Kalbi, which in most Korean restaurants is grilled at the table. Our table had a grill, but no vent, so although bulgogi and kalbi are on the menu, all grilled meats and accompaniments are prepared in the kitchen, out of sight, and delivered on a plate. This detracts from the authentic Korean dining experience. Nonetheless, his dish was tasty and satisfying.

Our female friend ordered sweet and sour pork, a staple menu item for Korean restaurants that also serve westernized Chinese fare. It's hard to go wrong, but wrong they did. It was bland in color and taste, coated with a soggy crust and drowned in some anonymous glutinous syrup that was neither sweet nor sour.

My wife and I both ordered bibimbap, hers in a standard bowl and mine in the stoneware sizzling hot pot. Both were very heavy on the white rice and very sparse in the other ingredients. I had ordered the beef bibimbap and one could count the small pieces of beef on one hand. This was simply wrong on all counts.

The ban chan, or traditional Korean side dishes, which in any self-respecting Korean restaurant would have occupied every remaining square inch of the table, were few and uninspired, mere commodities, a back-of-the-hand gesture at authenticity.

We declined dessert, which as it turns out, was only American ice cream.

Finally, it was presumptuous of the servers to insist on speaking Korean to my wife, who was speaking in fluent English in order for our guests to understand the conversation. What's more, his is not a modestly priced venue. More than $100 for four dishes, one appetizer and two beers. Given the service, I shouldn't have even tipped, since the onus is on the server to make the meal presentable and she failed from Minute One. Twice.

My wife and I have had marvelous Korean meals in restaurants humble and fancy in Korea, Hong Kong, Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, DC, Europe, and in San Antonio and the one thing we agreed on as we departed Ilsong Garden was this is the singularly worst Korean restaurant meal we've ever experienced. My wife was distraught, because she takes great pride in Korean cuisine and as the host, this was a profound disappointment and...

My elderly friend & I stood at the door for at least 10 minutes before being seated. He had to flag the young Korean male Waiter down to get his attention. It took him a while to seat us. He did apologize for the wait even though there weren't that many customers dining in at the time.

I initially highly recommended this restaurant to my friend, because 10-15 years ago my S. Korean friends treated me to a wonderful meal there. Boy have things changed. This time, it was not a pleasant dining experience, in spite of the quiet Asian ambiance.

For one, the 2 young Waiters needed supervision, guidance, & training in good Customer Service.

I did not see an older Manager, so we had no one to gently vent to. It was only the Cook(s), the young male Water, & a pretty young Korean Waitress in terms of visible staff. The Waiters both seemed totally oblivious to the needs of us as customers.

We arrived about 7 pm, but our food did not arrive at our table for 1 hour & 20 minutes, even though there were about only 4 other tables occupied by diners besides us. Unacceptable.

The marinated Cucumbers, Radishes, & Pickles were tasty, as was the Brocolli. The rest of the appetizers were spicy hot not suitable for elderly people.

As my main meal, I ordered Shrimp Pancakes, not Shrimp fried Pizza. I got 6 large, tasty grilled shrimp; however, the 'pancakes' were dripping with nasty grease. My joints (fingers & hands started freezing up on me) which meant the oil they fried the 'pancakes' in was probably Canola oil (a cheap, but unhealthy oil).

When I asked the young male Waiter what type of oil it was fried in he acted like he did not know or care, so I asked him to ask the Cook who told him it was "Vegetable oil".

Ok. So, that could be a GMO (Genetically Modified Organism made from Corn, Soy, or Canola). He refused to find out which vegetable it was.

My friend usually tips very well, but surprisingly this time he only left $4.00. On a bill of $40.00, he only tipped him 10%.

I personally would not have left a tip at all to send a clear, but silent message to the young male Waiter that his attitude was less than acceptable in terms of Customer Service. Very unprofessional environment. Very disappointed as I have many, many S. Kirean friends, love the S. Korean people in general, and their culture, & cuisine. I suspect it was the Waiters immaturity & lack of supervision.

The take out box was styrofoam. Shame on them. Everyone knows that heat melts styrofoam plastic into the food & eating plastic may cause cancer.

My friend surprisingly said he will never go there again. He never says that about a restaurant. Never. The bottom line is I...

I've seen this restaurant several times while visiting other nearby establishments. My wife and I were actually in the area to eat at a different place that turned out to be closed. Rather than try to figure out somewhere else to drive to we decided to try Ilsong Garden. My step-mother is Korean and I have had the opportunity to try several different dishes she made when I would visit, although, it's been several years since I've had the privilege to eat her food. Kimbob and a spicy pork bulgogi were something I simply could not pass up the opportunity to try them here since they were some of my favorites as a teenager. My wife had never had any sort of Korean food ever and was a little nervous but willing to be open minded to try something new. We balked at the price of the kimbob but were extremely glad we ordered it. The kimbob was amazing! As it was, we probably could have just shared this and been satisfied, however, we had also ordered pork bulgogi and tongkatsu (a flattened piece of marinated pork that's breaded and fried). My wife likes sweet things and her tonkatsu came with a bbq sauce. She loved the flavor so much she completely forgot to use any bbq sauce on her food. I had the pork bulgogi that came out on a sizzling platter like fajitas would in a Mexican restaurant. I hadn't had this dish in many years and was always one of my favorite dishes my stepmom made. The dish was fantastic, just as good as I remembered, although slightly more sauce was used than I remember. I love spicy food but not my wife. She tried it and thought the flavor was good but couldn't handle the spiciness. Personally, I couldn't get enough, it was delicious! The prices for dinner and lunch were pretty typical of most other restaurants, although there were two appetizers that were more expensive than I would have expected. The kimbob was one, however, after eating it I was thoroughly glad I got it. If you're interested in trying something new or out of your normal dining options, I highly recommend you try this place. My wife and I are very much looking forward to our next visit to see if it lives up to the experience...