GREEN PEPPER — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

I am from out of town visiting and yesterday was my 2nd time visiting this restaurant. The very first time I visited about a few weeks ago, I googled Korean restaurants in this area and this one had good reviews so I decided to give it a try. I remember walking into the restaurant and I stood there by the door for a while, while several workers there just ignored me. I wasn't even acknowledged and after a while someone finally took me to a table. They only had 2 servers for the whole restaurant. It took 30mins to even get someone to come see us at the table to get our drink orders. I saw several other customers walk in and they were ignored as well. A couple other tables that were sat after we were were frustrated as well for the terrible service they were getting. And on one of the tables, the people all just got up and left after waiting forever to even place their orders. Another group of customers came in and one of the servers sat them on the dirty table that the previous customer (who left because no one came to their table). The server told the customers that the previous customers who were sat at that table just walked out so they can just use the silverware and plates that were already on the table. I couldn't believe what that server had just told the customers. Throughout the night, it was a struggle to get anything from the servers. They never once checked on our table. I had to hunt a server down every time I needed more water. The server made me feel bad asking for water and a new spoon (because there was dried up food on it) and made it look like I was asking him to do such a big task. Apparently there was a party of Korean customers who were regulars that were eating there that night and these servers were only good to them. I am Korean as well and I know that unfortunately, a lot of Korean restaurants ran by Korean people don't have the best service but I have never seen one like this before. After that terrible experience few weeks back, I'm here again to visit and wanted Korean food. I thought I'd give it another try. I walked in w my fiancé again last night and we stood by the door and waited... Several servers just stared at us yet continued to ignore us. My fiancé and I were so mad we just walked out and decided that we will never come back to this restaurant again. I've been a server for a long time in the past so I am very understanding and can relate to how servers feel but this place has terrible employees. The food tasted ok and the interior was nice and clean but it's not worth it for me to have to spend hours in here waiting to be serviced. We ended up googling another restaurant and went to Korea Garden instead. This place was so busy when we walked in but despite the craziness, I couldn't believe the service we got. It looked like a family owned business and the poor servers ran their butts off. I highly recommend not to waste your time at Green Pepper. There are a few other Korean restaurants around this area so try them out. I'm not one to give such bad reviews on restaurants but this place truly deserves...

**Update: This place has unfortunately gone downhill. No more side dishes. It's also self serve bow and order/pay at the counter. I raved about this to a date and then was embarrassed coming here. Would still be fine to still order to go if you dont mind missing all the usual food. (The pictures are from before the changes. Sorry.)

This place is delicious. At first I thought it was a bit pricey, but for the amount of food you get, an entree easily serves two. I had the scallion pancake and the bolgogi entree along with a bottle of soju. The scallion was good, the accompanying red sauce lacked flavor and mostly just tasted like salt. I'd have preferred to have the traditional soy/teriyaki type sauce that is usually served with this. The bolgogi was amazing! Marinated in a sweet, yet savory Korean bbq and filled with chives, sesame seeds, onions...I didn't even realize it came with a bunch of sides, as the menu only says rice. It came with small bowls of bean sprouts, noodles, cold brocolli, and marinated potatoes. They also had metal chopsticks in the silverware, which I found to be a nice touch. The server was polite and didn't hover. I had my appetizer in less than 10 minutes and all my food in less than 20. There was so much food! Bring a friend!!

My biggest complaint is that their website (which I previewed before deciding to come) has dozens of things that they don't serve. Please update your site to reflect this. Fortunately, I wasn't set on any missing food items. I was disappointed that I couldnt order a soju mixed drink and was only able to order a whole bottle, if I wanted to try it. It's fine for a group, but a bit much for one person.

**Please not that the kitchen hours are one hour less than their dining room hours. Its stated on the website, but wanted to mention it because of the review that complains about being served poorly after nine when they...

My wife and I visited Green Pepper in mid August with a couple who had been there many times in the past. This was our first visit, and while the food was very good (we had bibimbap and dumpling sundubu), the dining experience was not what we were expecting. Orders needed to be placed and paid for by guests at the counter, we had to get our own water, silverware, and napkins. Also, the banchan that usually accompanies the meals was not present. When we asked about this we were told that banchan are now only available for purchase from the self-serve coolers on the "other side". Looking in the coolers revealed only a few items available. We were told that most banchan is bought up early in the day by "housewives" who use the items to supplement their evening meals. Our hosts were disappointed that the restaurant had changed so much since their last visit and hoped that the changes were temporary Covid-19 adaptations. So... Good food, but as of the time of our visit the overall dining experience was lacking. I doubt that I will return to dine here if the situation remains unchanged, though I may stop in during an early afternoon to grab banchan...