Kojaba Bar Korean Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Columbia

Hi! Unfortunately this is not the place for groups larger than four. I called today at 3:30 and then 4:30 for ANOTHER for confirmation to reserve a table for 15 people. This reservation was for 5:30. We arrived at 5:15 with 15 people from our nonprofit after school organization. When we arrived we sat for 15 minutes without being greeted, they did not take our food order or soda order until I prepared a paper with all of our orders and brought it to the front. Once prepared, it took around 20 minutes until the drinks came and by the time our sides arrived it was 6:15. We let our waiter know that we had to leave by 6:30 when we ordered as well. Our food never came out, and as we let them know that we could not have this food due to the wait. They then proceeded to exploit our rush and demand payment for the food that was in the process of cooking. The holdup? Chicken Ramen. This led to our students who rely on us to provide dinner to have to grab a quick to go on their way out instead of their normal 5:00. As we managed to get out we were charged $90 for 17 ($2 a piece) drinks as well as a few last minute dishes and sides that we didn’t order. As we talked about payment he said, “You’re not going to tip??” We always tip and did, but this felt a little...

If I could leave no stars I would have done that. I’ve never ate Korean ever, I went with a friend who eats it quite often in Springfield. When we got there the waiter doesn’t even speak English so when saying the drinks we wanted she barley even knew what we were asking for. They brought out these side dishes my friend said at all the Korean places she has eaten at they will bring side dishes out before the meal thats apart of the price. We haven’t even ordered yet and the cook came over and grabbed the dishes up, and very rudely and in a loud manner other table were looking at us, saying “ theses were not supposed to be for you” and we just sat there staring at each other baffled like the waiter is the one who gave them to us, and he took them when we already started eating them. So when we placed our order he said that they normally don’t come with what we ordered but he would pay for it and handed them back. But I almost wanted to just leave I couldn’t believe he caused a scene when they had made the mistake, and then as we were paying he kept promting us to leave a tip and I didn’t even want to pay for the meal after what I had experienced and when I told him no he gave me the rudest look ever. I wouldn’t recommend and I hope I have better experiences eating...

Kojaba definitely isn't bad -- it's one of the best (and unfortunately only) options for Korean food in Columbia. Their service is really efficient and quick (it only takes about 10-15 minutes to get your food after you order), but the staff can be pretty rude. Their menu has a selection of both Americanized and traditional options, but, unfortunately, the qualities of both were fairly lackluster. All of their fish dishes were overcooked and incredibly tough to chew, particularly the smoked eel and the fish in their soups. Their raw vegetables were not fresh at all and their noodles felt like they had been sitting out for hours (the texture had become gummy and almost rubbery). Perhaps the most disappointing part was the kimchi -- I've never been to a Korean establishment that can't properly make this classic side dish! The kimchi wasn't given enough time to develop and absolutely no fermentation had occurred yet -- it was just raw, slightly spicy napa cabbage that was severely lacking in flavor and texture. And, considering the quality of the food and the portions that we received, everything was definitely overpriced. I'll probably still come here again because there's really no other options for Korean food in this area, but I still find Kojaba a bit...