Korean Garden — Restaurant in Junction City

This is literally one of my favorite places to eat in town! Anytime I want to treat myself or do something special for someone I take them to this place....at least I used to. They have TERRIBLE service as far as attitude goes. Specifically the head waitress. She is very rude and unprofessional. From what I've observed when you first walk in, IF you are military, Caucasian, or Asian American normally you are greeted by warm "Hellos" and "How many? Anyone else is met with cold, flat tones.

When it comes to ordering there is usually no problems. The food again is to die for (unlimited side dishes) and it comes out in a timely manner. The end of the experience is what really sours it for me. The head waitress has a habit of passively yet aggressively making people leave tips. She will tap on the tip bucket located near the register after handing you your change. Not in a "We'd appreciate if you could leave something" but in a "You need to drop that in the bucket" way. Not to mention she never says anything to let you know the transaction is completed. More of an annoyed stare like "Why are you still here?"

A few months back I was ready to pay for my meal. Everything was going as usual. I pay with cash, head waitress gives me change, she taps the bucket. Already annoyed but understanding the plight of the wait staff (tips can make or break them) I placed my change in. *Disclaimer: I am a college student and at the time did not have a lot of money to my name, so I had to have some financial discernment.

In a room full of patrons and guest enjoying their meals, she reached into the tip bucket and handed me back my change. I thought "Maybe it's a cultural thing, maybe she'll explain to me so I know." I don't want to intentionally be disrespectful or rude you know? But nope. She hands it back to me, gives the "What are you still doing here?" stare before walking away. From that point on, unless I was grabbing the food to go or being treated by othera I would not step foot in there again. But as time went on I figured "Whatever. This is your favorite restaurant, don't let one bad experience deter you away from it."

Last week I went back with a friend and another incident occurred. This time no told myself "I will not leave a tip in the bucket. If I want to tip I will give it to the waitress that takes my order." It started off as one of the other waitresses but ended with the head waitress. When it was time to pay, I did so then proceeded to walk away. Before I left however, the head waitress stoped me and asked "Where is the tip? Is it on the table?" No ma'am I replied. "You guys come in here all the time (no we don't; NOT all African Americans look alike thank you) and never leave tip. What? Service no good." I completely ignored her first remark and instead focused on the question. "If I am to give a tip, I will give it to the lady who orginally took our order, but if it's a free for all I cannot." motions to tip bucket She looked very confused, so I continued "You and I have had an altercation before. I gave you a tip before and in a room full of people you gave me my money back. I found that extremely rude. So again no tip will be given". All she could do was shake her head in agreeance and say "Okay."

Again I cannot stress how much love this place. But until I feel like I will be respected, as a customer and as a person in thos place I will continue to tell people to NOT eat there. Take your hard earned money...

So, this is our 3rd time in this restaurant. The first and second experienced was not as bad as our last visit (definitely our last). So, when we came in Friday (September 28)it was a little busy. As we walked in the lady just pointed to us where we will be seating so we did. After 20minutes of seating finally someone attended us (we almost left). While watching them running around with other customers, I noticed they are unorganized with what to prioritize like one of the younger woman ,she would rather do the cleaning of the table first than attending us. When the older lady finally came to us and handed the menu list she told the younger one to take care of us, and so she did came right after the older woman gave the menu and trying to get our order. I almost told her if any of you just give the menu beforehand we will be ready by now, you just literally handed the menu list and we haven't even open it and then asked what's our order?!?!? The side dishes are only a few(limited)compared to other Korean restaurant we had been to and the portion is not worth the price. And when i paid the bill, i can sense that the lady was waiting for a tip, i did gave but with their kind of service they don't deserve it. The food was good but not to die for. The SERVICE IS TERRIBLE!!!! And oh, I agree to other comments they closed early(6:40 or 6:45) than what is posted which is 7:30pm. Overall, I would not recommend this place. If you want to be treated nice and welcomed when you come in then...

Admittedly the food is really good, very authentic and well prepared. In contrast the service is severely lacking. We witnessed multiple patrons being turned away well before their 7 closing time. We arrived at 6:15 and were the last guests allowed to dine there. The servers tag teamed us and still failed to fill my wives sweet tea. The servers tried to persuade us not to add on a soup claiming that it would take 20 mins to reach the table. After we ordered it the soup came out in 5 min. The servers were curt and rude through the whole process. When we were almost done with our meal, around 7 o’clock, the servers turned off the TV and started ushering out all the tables. There were about 5 tables and 20-25 people the it did not matter if they were through or not. It was appardently time to close and the servers were hell bent on clearing out the restaurant. The prices for the food was kind of steep considering the portions and contents of the meal. Although I enjoyed the food immensely I will not be going back to this...