Seocho Garden — Restaurant in Lisle

I am saddened to be writing this review. I wanted to keep supporting them as the place seems to be a family owned business since there’re always the same people working there every time I’ve been. But I will absolutely not be coming back after today’s experience. First off is the food. It’s not horrible but I do believe it could be a lot better. I’ve had Korean BBQ in many states as well as in the Chicago land area and this place tastes very mediocre. Our all you can eat menu didn’t come with lettuce and when we ask for it the lady just shook her head while mumbling something at us indicating they didn’t have lettuce and just walked right off. What sort of Korean BBQ that is not served with lettuce 😩 If you’re in Chicago and craving Korean BBQ, go to Deabak restaurant in Chinatown (IMO this place serves the best tasting food besides great service)! Now the service is what made my last visit the absolute worst out of all of my restaurant experiences. They never came check on us. This place is so very understaffed and it’s always been the same 2-3 ladies working here. (They do not ever have a hiring sign!?!) It was almost impossible to get someone if you need something. Water was never refilled, neither were the side dishes. Never came by to check if we wanted to order another round. Most importantly the ladies’ attitudes were the absolute worst and it disappointed me so much!!! They seemed so rude and unkind. It seemed as if they just wanted to throw the food at you, have you eat quickly and get out of there. We were so uncomfortable with the service that we couldn’t enjoy the dinner. We simply just ate whatever and wanted to leave the place ASAP. When we asked for the check the lady said yes and just disappeared serving other tables. After waiting for quite a long time and the check never came, we decided to just get up and went to the register area asking if we could pay here and were told ‘one second’ in a very rude way by the person standing at the register. I was almost in shock when I saw that they charged us 18% for GRATUITY 😒. I totally understand when restaurants automatically add tips onto the bills if you come as a group of 4 or more people. But this was me and my sister, literally 2 persons who got zero service whatsoever having to pay 18% tips. It’s just WRONG. I am a good tipper but this time I felt ripped off. I am a business owner and during the dinner all I was thinking about was what our customers would feel if they were treated like this at my store. I take my staff out for dinner quite often. We’ve been here a few times as a group because it’s close by and convenient. But I will never come back here again if things stay the same. I am not writing this with the hope that no one will come eat here. I just felt I had to speak up. This place can feel like a scam. They’re located in the heart of Naperville, with a huge store sign, and has relatively no competition around. Maybe that’s why they don’t think they need to improve? Regardless, no customer should be treated the way these people treat their customers....

I only come here because this place is 10 minutes from where we live and I love Korean BBQ. I have to mention the food here is not terrible but just average. This place is probably the only Korean restaurant that doesn’t bring fun side dishes and lecture as extra for the orders ( most enjoyable thing about Korean BBQ). Every time I crave for BBQ my husband always brought up how rude and unattentive the service here were and we just laughed, we still come to support local small family business even though never truly had enjoyable dinners there. Today was really cold and blizzard outside but we decided to make a short trip for Korean BBQ and excited for warm dinner before Holiday. I called ahead to make sure they I open, the guy on the phone confirmed two or three time that they kept open until 8:30. We arrived at 6:20 pm. They sat us at a table, brought tea and menu. The rude lady came around (always rude every time no exception) tried to say something about she was planning to close the door(I was not sure because of her English????? Why sat us down and brought menu???? Then indicated we are not welcome?????) my husband told me that he felt the negative vibe☹️☹️ I was like okay here you go again 😐😐 then I looked at menu quickly because I already knew what I want, I told the guy server what I want he paused for a second said “ok” then walked away ( we left puzzled if it was approved or not ???) , the rude lady came and decided to tell us that she was sorry but they ran out of time , they wanted to close early, they didn’t want to make dinner for us. It was the last straw for this intolerable rudeness of this place. I told her that she should let customers know at the door sign or on the phone when I called I steady of sat us down then kicked out. Or they even can tell us when we walked through door. We drove there in an extreme weather to have this experience???? Nothing good and there will never been such good or so so experience at this place. The price is exactly same at other fancier Korean BBQ restaurants. Just don’t waste your money here for terrible service and average food....

Let me see. Where shall I begin?? Well first of all we saw the ratings and it was at 3.9 so we thought why not. This is not our first Korean BBQ rodeo because I am a Korean cowboy so rodeos are my thing. Just kidding. However this place is somewhere you must not go. Period. Service is met with the same doorbell ringer from 95% of Korean restaurants. The ring that is met with a smile that hides an expression of why do I work here still. After ordering and the ridiculous amount of empty seats your requested items. Family of 4 arrived at 7pm. This place states they close at 9pm. That means as they get close to closing they are supposed to do last call. Usually around 10-20 mins before closing. Around 830pm we ordered our last round of meats. It was the marinated ribs and shrimp. We were however DENIED this request stating the kitchen had closed. I said I’m sorry I think you must be wrong for it is only 830pm and last call was not given. He looked at me and said kitchen is closed and walked away. This is 40$ per person and 10$ for my 5 year old and free for my 2 year old. So bill so around 100$. For me to leave hungry from an AYCE Korean bbq after being denied my poor stomachs last two choices, I was outraged! Betrayed!! I begrudgingly paid even tho they added 18% gratuity to my final bill or a family or 4. I however did not argue the 18% because that’s I usually tip shitty service. Excellent service gets around 30%. This place will try to put a message saying they are sorry and will try better. Will they? Will they?!?!? By far one of the worst Korean BBQ in my life and I have gone to a terrible one in Jacksonville Florida where not a single Korean lives! And this was worse. I hope they learn from this short and sweet...