K-BOB Korean Street Food — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

My family and I visited this Korean-style spot in Orlando (on Sunday, June 22nd around 7pm) after my sister saw it trending on TikTok. The place was very packed when we arrived, with a long line that blocked the door and people waiting 30+ minutes for food - so clearly it’s popular. We were still excited to try it despite the crowd. The space itself is very small, and a worker in a black uniform (possibly a manager) was rushing food to tables. Unfortunately, he was a bit rude, pushing through people without a single “excuse me” or giving guests a chance to move. Not the best first impression. Ordering went smoothly for me, but things took a turn with my mom’s order. After placing it, we realized the restaurant sells shrimp based foods - and since my mother has a shellfish allergy, we notified the cashier immediately while still at the counter. Her entire demeanor changed, becoming extremely rude and dismissive. She tried explaining a cross-contamination sheet but slurred her words, sighed loudly, and walked off mid-conversation. Eventually, someone from the food line told her to checked with the kitchen, but before she did she scoffed and rolled her eyes making her way back. Once she returned, she said they couldn’t do anything since “the food was already made” - mind you, we had just ordered not even 2 minutes prior. When we calmly asked for a refund, her attitude got worse. She rolled her eyes, responded sarcastically, and didn’t even know how to process the refund. Another worker kindly stepped in to help, but we overheard the original girl tell her, “I’m going to lunch, you can deal with this.” Extremely unprofessional. Sadly, we didn’t catch her name, but she wore a durag under her hat, looked young, and was fairly short. We genuinely tried to be patient, but this interaction completely soured our experience. As for the food - it was meh.
I ordered:
• Tteok-kkochi (rice cakes)
• Mozzarella Takis Korean corn dog
• Chicken hotteok (Korean pancake)
• Korn cheese The corn cheese was weird; watery, unmelted, and more like a corn and cheese chunky soup than the gooey dish we expected. The corn dog was okay, and the tteok-kkochi was sweet, not bad, just not authentic. Being used to real Korean food from Korean-run restaurants, this felt far off the mark. I also didn't realize this spot wasn’t owned or operated by a Korean native (which explains the taste difference of the foods). To top it off, my sister and I waited 30 minutes, while people before us were offered compensation for delays - we weren’t, which wasn’t the end of the world, but it felt weird. Aesthetically? 10/10 (cute decor, definitely appealing to a TikTok crowd).
Food & service? 2/10 at best. Try it if you’re curious, but don’t say I...

Great food, cool restaurant concept, but the TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE did not match the location's quality. This was my experience:

I had a Bulgogi cup and tried a couple of the Korean Dogs (Potato was the favorite, Original needs a little less sugar). Everything was flavorful and well portioned well.

The reasoning behind my negative review of this location is the level of customer service that I received while here from start all the way to the end. The person at the cash register (Loki) was incredibly rude and gave off the vibe that they did not want to be there at all. When I got to the register to order I had to wait until they finished writing a text message, take a sip of their drink and then as if annoyed that I was there they said was "what do you want". Crazy. I've worked in the service industry, but with a first impression like that how do you expect to get a tip. They told me to wait and someone would bring me my to go order.

The wait took a bit long for the amount of food I ordered. But I understand that it was in the evening and the place was busy. I sat outside and waited at the stickiest table with leftover trash on it. When my food came out, the gentleman (I didn't ask his name because I did not want to be there another second) stood at the door looking bored and annoyed. We make eye contact and he just waves me over to walk to the door to get the food from him. While I was there I saw food brought to multiple people's table, but because it's a to go order I don't get the same service? Cool.

Finally when I got home I encountered the "cherry on top". I was starving, annoyed and excited to eat. I open my bag, the kcup rice bowls meat hanging out the side closed lid. There was a hole on the bottom of the bowl so it leaked all over my Korean Dogs and to top it all off, no silverware or napkins.

This place has got to step up it's game if it's going to be charging those kinds of prices. The location is great, but some of the staff needs customer service training. It would be a huge improvement to the...

Visited on opening day and I really love the concept, but prices for most items seemed a bit high for what you get. No cash transactions...card/tap only. They were out of Galbi beef and corndogs just a few hours after opening, so they must have been a hit. Taro milk tea with boba ($6.99) was great and price was normal for what you get. The Korn Cheese ($4.99) was good, but just side-item-sized.

The yum-yum tacos ($11.89, plus I got one with shrimp for $1.50 more) were absolutely delicious, but small (think Mexican street tacos) and even with three, you will still be hungry. The crispy chicken and shrimp was very skimpy (I think 3 "popcorn" sized pieces on each taco) and it didn't seem like something made in store and seemed more like frozen popcorn chicken/shrimp pieces that were heated (that's not necessarily bad, I'm just being descriptive). For spending as much money on three tacos, while they were incredibly delicious, they were overpriced for a fast casual place with what seemed like small bites of premade meat.

It was a similar story with the Kup-Bob, which I got a double cauliflower ($18.89). It had a bed of white rice, some shredded greens (seaweed?, pickled daikon radish?,carrots, and red cabbage), a fried egg with soft yolk, and some breaded cauliflower (it was soft/fluffy breaded like the chicken you get with sweet & sour chicken at a Chinese restaurant). The cauliflower seemed like something that was just reheated from frozen (which, again, isn't necessarily a bad thing). I thought it was good, but for $19 at a fast casual place with what seemed like protein that was just heated from frozen, I don't think it was a good deal.

Overall, the atmosphere and decor were great, the food was good to great, but for the prices I'd rather have takeout from a sit-down restaurant. I live an hour away, but am in the area 1-2x a month so I hope to come back another time to try a burger, hotteok, and some bingsu and wish the owners/operators well in...