Seoul Garden - Olympia — Restaurant in Lacey

This restaurant is not what it used to be. If you love the old Seoul food, you’ll probably be disappointed with the food here. We used to go there all the time before Covid; dined in as a family and ordered the family meals, spent $200-$300 each visit. We loved it. Even during Covid in the last 2 years, we still ordered takeout, and the food was delicious.

After the restaurant was closed for a model, and then re-opened, it was renamed to Seoul Garden. We decided to order takeout to satisfy our Korean cravings since there weren’t very many good Korean restaurants in the South Puget Sound. Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the food we got this time. We ordered Japchae, Galbi-beef short ribs, and spicy pork. We noticed something different immediately with the food. The main entrees were bland to say the least.

The rice was very soft and wet; it felt almost congee-ish. The Japchae no longer had the hint of sesame oil; all we could taste was the sugar and vegetable/canola oil. Instead of shitake mushrooms, it now has some wood ear fungus mushroom, and no longer has the umami flavor shitake mushrooms used to give it. The Galbi tasted like it had only been marinated for a couple hours versus overnight. Again, all we could taste from the Galbi was sugar. The spicy pork was no different. It was not spicy at all, despite the name. Sweet pork is more of a befitting name. The theme seems to be that the entrees didn’t have much salt at all.

We wondered why the food tasted so different prior to the remodel, and found out the obvious; of course new name, new management, so probably new cooks and new recipes. Seoul Garden is not the old Seoul we used to love. We understand some people have to retire and businesses get sold and rebranded. We are just disappointed that the food isn’t up to par with the old gem we used to frequent. On the positive note, the sides were good, especially the kimchi, which was rightfully spicy.

For how much it cost just for 3 entrees, I don’t think we will be coming back here again, especially if the food taste isn’t worth the price...

Waitress was rude and kept disappearing into the kitchen even though we were the only customer. Tables hadn’t even been bussed and the place looked like it needed a good cleaning. Waitress brought out water, no ice, not enough for everyone, and quickly dropped it off without asking if we wanted anything else to drink or appetizers (we wanted both). She came back only to scold my wife (seriously?) for letting my kid use her chopsticks. Look, my kids are Korean and they have metal chopsticks at home that they use...Four other tables came in quickly after that, which were seated and the waitress came out and took everyone’s order from one side of the restaurant to the other, not in the order we came in. 30 minutes and we still hadn’t had our order taken. After we finally had our order taken we noticed every other table was getting served, including another table that was seated after we ordered. We finally got up and asked for our order to go; took over an hour to finally get it. I’ve read the other reviews and it seems this is the case when certain staff is working. Food was just okay; soup was lacking depth and flavor, mandu (potstickers) over cooked, and the meat was fatty and looked like it was rushed. Also, dinner prices were very expensive for a non-BBQ Korean restaurant. Funny thing is I’ve been here for lunch during the week and had a totally different experience. Inconsistent food and inconsistent (and rude) service means I’m not...

Very disappointed with this place. They charge extremely high for subpar and low quality Korean food. We ordered the the $59 Combo A that came with the following: Dumplings, Mackerel, Soondoobu, Japchae (glass noodles) and Spicy Pork Bulgogi.

Pros: Very clean and cozy establishment despite exterior and very polite service. The dumplings were fried fresh and the Soondoobu was not bad (a bit light on the seafood, but refreshing base). The vegetable side dishes were very fresh and well made. The mackerel was not overcooked and tasted good.

Cons: For a combo deal, the price was a bit high for the content and quality of the food (65$ with tax, tip not included). The glass noodles were terrible, beef quality was low and overloaded with black pepper. The pork bulgogi was also overwhelmed with black pepper, which did not conceal the off taste of the meat (sauce was fine). The mackerel was not overcooked, but the price of the overall combo was frustrating.

I recommend trying out their lunch deals. Same portions for their dishes even though dinner prices...