Ewha Won 이화원 — Restaurant in Closter

Bottom Line: Be careful and check your receipt! They will try to rip you off. The food here isn't bad if you are familiar with the this type of Korean-Chinese food with the noodles and rice being better than the main entree's. The problem here is that if you aren't careful, they will try to overcharge you. Both times this happened, it was before 5, so being busy couldn't be the reason why. The first time this happened, I ordered takeout and went in to pay. It seemed expensive so I was going to check the receipt, but they never gave one. When I asked, they realized they had charged me for an extra item. I figured it was a misunderstanding and ordered again today. Same deal with not being given a receipt and the price seeming high. When I asked again this time to see they receipt, they seemed embarrassed and told me they had mistakenly charged me for a item that was about 10 dollars more expensive. I think they try to charge people extra depending if they think they can get away with it, and I must look like a pushover. Anyways, I'll never go back but if you do, demand a receipt and check it. Also compare the price they charge against their menu that they post online. If it isn't in the same ballpark, they are trying to...

I can't even begin to comprehend how this place has ANY 5-star reviews. After, increasingly unwillingly, three visits, I am convinced that anyone with a generally positive opinion of this establishment was either paid or coerced to submit their review. The food is at best mediocre (jjampong) and at worst the sludge on the decrepit wall of a sewer (jjajangmyun). As a native Korean, I know how these dishes should taste, and I know that this restaurant has gotten them all wrong. The waiters, as countless other reviewers say, are perhaps the most abominable feature. Do not expect them to have a sliver of enjoyment for their work. In pitiful shows of effort, they tend to drop dishes and bowls of steaming stew onto the wobbly 20-year-old tables, and like to pretend they haven't heard your requests. If you are looking for not even adequate food but simply a tolerable dining experience, this is the wrong place to go to.

If the owners are reading this, pay your staff more. Give them shorter shifts. Frankly, any effort will raise their attitude from the...

About eight years ago, I went there with an acquaintance. I ordered ganjjajang (black bean noodles with separately served sauce). At the time, I saw a note on the menu that said to let them know if the sauce wasn't enough. So while eating, I asked for a bit more sauce because it was lacking. Then the staff went to the kitchen and came back saying the chef told me to go buy more if I wanted it... The server lady was so embarrassed she didn’t know what to do... I was completely dumbfounded—it was such a humiliating and insulting experience. I was treated like a beggar. I never went back after that.

But I went again recently... They seem to view customers as nothing more than machines that hand over money. Whether it's jjajangmyeon or jjamppong, there's absolutely nothing special about it. I heard they opened a new location in Tenafly, so I’ll try going there instead. I'm glad—this place used to have a monopoly, but now there are options. This place deserves to go out...