Pepero Korean Market and Restaurant — Restaurant in Matthews

The food here is good, but not worth the terrible customer service. The waitress (Kelly) was horrible, she ignored us the whole time we were there. She never greeted us, thanked us or even checked on us once. The only way we could get her to acknowledge us was to ring the bell. Even when she came, she had an agitated scowl on her face. She gave us two serving utensil for a party of three, when we rung the bell to asked she listened to our request and turned around without acknowledgment. We had to ring the bell for refills and again for the check. She just tossed it on the table and left, yet she would check on other customers. Needless to say, we left her 0 tip. This is where the experience goes from horrible to nightmare. We had our 3 yr old son with us, as we left and were getting our son in his car seat. She came running out of the place yelling and screaming at us for not tipping. We told her tipping is based on service and she ignored us the whole time. She said she brought us food and refill... I said that is part of the restaurant experience, however tip is for the good service not poor service. She yelled at us this is how she makes a living and got in my face. I reinterated that she ignored us and we were not tipping for the poor service. At which she got irate and continued to get aggressive and in my face. I told her I would call the police if she didn't leave our car and leave us alone. My husband stepped in and told her to go back inside. She wanted to continue arguing and he told her to go away now. She ran off back inside. I went to talk to the guy at the register to see if he was the owner. Her behavior was completely unacceptable especially in front of my child. A different waitress had come from the outside, she ran out the back door to see what was going on. She apologized and said that Kelly the waitress was not supposed to do that and as she was talking to me, Kelly the waitress ran up and told me go away and tried to shut the door on me. The other waitress stopped her and told her to go back to work. She apologized even though it was not her fault. We've been to this place almost 3 years and this new waitress Kelly is horrible. She demands a tip for horrible service just because she brings us the food. The nice waitress that usually serves us know that we tip well, but it's based on the service. I do not recommend this place unless you want a verbally aggressive waitress to attack you in front of your child because you choose to tip her or not. They are usually short staffed and the wait is long to get your food, but topping that off with this type of behavior really sealed the deal for us. Good food or not, this is a regular that will no longer be returning. I only gave a one star because it's the minimum to make a post, otherwise it would be 0 stars. I am also looking into further...

A must visit, even if it means going out of your way to get there.

The place is small, unattractive, yet, feels homey. This is the sort of place you go to for a relaxed chat over some some really good food.

The crowning jewel, in my opinion, was the kimchi jjigae. I have been to many Korean restaurants and have ordered the kimchi jjigae countless times, but this one was ,hands down, one of the best that I've had. Each spoonful of the broth was packed with bold, delicious, harmonious flavors. It was spicy, yet, the spices did not get in the way of all the different tastes. Normally, with soups, after a few spoonfuls, the strong flavors become subdued, but this was not the case here. Until the very end, my taste buds were being reminded just how good the broth was. Definitely give the kimchi jjigae a try. As long as you like kimchi, you'll love it.

I would have given the place 5 stars were it not for the steamed buns. This was a miss, not only with me, but also with the other people at the table. While the texture of the bun was nice and soft, the filling was a bit lackluster. It didn't do anything special and it didn't work with the bun itself to create a new taste. I found myself having to dip it into the sauce after every bite just to enjoy it, and that is not something that I normally do.

The service was good. They were fast and attentive.

This restaurant is attached to a small Korean market, so after enjoying some good Korean food, you can shop for some...

Charlotte's Korean food scene is almost non-existent. I consistently heard that this place was the best place to come for Korean food in the area, so we finally made the trek to Matthews to check it out.

Covid-19: you can order and pay online on their website. Our food was ready pretty quickly when we got there.

We got a Seafood Pancake 해물파전, Ddukbokgi 떡볶, Jab Chae 잡채, and BiBim Naengmyun 비빔냉면. The takeout came with bonchon too. These were all things I hadn't tried before and I loved them all.

I think the Ddukbokgi was my favorite. I loved the texture. The Jab Chae was a little sweet and I loved the glass noodles. The Seafood Pancake was not at all fishy and very flavorful.

The BiBim Naengmyun was good, but it was probably my least favorite. I've now realized that we ate it wrong though. Our takeout came with a partially frozen broth. It was packed with the bonchon so we thought it was a side. I now realize that I was part of this dish. The styrofoam container wouldn't have been the best to pour broth into either, so this could be a little logistically challenging with takeout.

Overall, we loved our entire meal. We had leftovers and it was very reasonably priced. I definitely recommend checking out...