5 Star Korean BBQ&Fried Chicken — Restaurant in Madison

I had been here and thought the food was very good despite hearing numerous reviews on unfriendly staff, early closings, etc. This time I went with my mother and a colleague of hers. We arrived at 7pm or so and ordered our food. Then it went downhill from here. They brought my food, my mom's colleague's food, but even after 10-15 minutes, my mom's food never came. Our waitstaff walked by us numerous times, but was oblivious. We let her know and she seemed to have completely forgotten about it. It was served within 5 minutes which annoyed us because it could've been served much earlier. After putting that behind us, we enjoyed the food very much - especially the kimchi. Then we paid, and after leaving, we got a bank notice about an "excessive charge". Since they had already left the Madison area, they couldn't go back for a refund on the overcharge.

update: Because my mother had left the Madison area, the credit card she used was sent to me and I personally went to the store to get a refund because they said "they need the card" the do a refund. Annoying, but understandable. So I went and after they discussed it for a bit, they said "the money has been all sent" and that there's nothing they can do. I asked about a gift certificate or cash or something as we overcharged a gross amount. They said they couldn't verify the overcharge which is not out of the question, but I didn't come here to dispute a made-up thing. Their unwillingness to resolve the complaint was extremely irritating and I still find it hard to believe that they put forth their best effort to help. It's a shame, but I cannot stand poor service.

tl;dr Their food is quite good (a little expensive), but service always leaves something to be desired. I was overcharged, but they didn't take any measures to refund me. 0/10 chance...

I would get takeout from this place but I wouldn't come back to dine. Food was good--can't go wrong with grilled meat mixed with delicious sauce. However, other aspects of the experience could be improved.

Drinks should be served first. Instead, the drinks came out with the rest of the food leaving us sitting there for 15 minutes wondering if they forgot about our drink order.

Korean restaurants usually serve these little plates of kimchi and other pickled things. These should also come out once you've placed your order, like the bread at American or Italian restaurants, to give you something to work on while waiting for the food. This place brought them out with the rest of our entrees.

Ventilation. Grilling meat creates a lot of smoke. At one point we had three tables that were cooking meat at the table and the room was getting a bit hazy. The restaurant's solution for this was to prop open the door to the outside right next to the diners. It was 11 degrees out and the draft quickly chilled the room. Luckily we were near the end of our meal so we quickly got the check and left before we got too uncomfortable.

A few things came out towards the end of the meal. Seems like either they forgot or couldn't prep it in time. It was the rice, lettuce (to put the meat in), and these pickled turnip slices. I'm glad they brought them out and we got to try it. But we were almost finished eating at that point.

Overall, despite the place not being very busy (~40% of tables seated), it seemed like the staff were just...

The cabbage kimchi that was a part of the banchan tasted exactly like a store bought guessed it was. The banchan was tasty, just wish the kimchi tasted like it had more effort besides being opened & plated put into it. Kimchi steamed dumplings are great, but not what you would expect: didn't have a strong kimchi flavor it was more like sauteed vegetables and a very faint kimchi flavor. I have no idea how authentic the yukgaejang was but it was amazing 100% recommend and that was my first time trying it, I got the spicier one. The bulgogi was alright, I didn't think it had a ton of flavor on it's own, suppose that's why the sauces exist. The service here was alright, the waiters were nice and came around a bit to refill my water glass best part was they gave us a free 2nd serving of the banchans! Worst part of the service was how we didn't get things consistently: we didn't get utensils right away until we got the banchan and my rice that came with the yukgaejang, then my yukgaejang, then finally the bulgogi. The waiters apologized when we paid which was nice but I still wouldn't say it was 10/10 service. We had to park in a small lot nearby since there wasn't any other spots by the restaurant which is not the restaurants fault, just note parking spots may be difficult to find. Food: 8.5/10 depending on what you get, Service: 7/10, Atmosphere: 8/10 might not be for everyone, kpop music playing on tvs...