Kyodong Noodle Balboa — Restaurant in San Diego

This Kyodong has been a go-to restaurant inside the Hmart food court for years for my family. The service was never great at this location, but we never chose to eat at this chain/specific location for great customer service anyway. Today, however, will forever mark the day we'll never go back to this place again. My mother placed a carry-out (or "to go") order after her shopping was all done at Hmart. 20 minutes later, her buzzer rang so I went to the restaurant to pick up the food. When I approach the restaurant, the 2 female staff members present the 2 jjajangs, 1 jjamppong, and 1 sweet and sour pork on trays for dining in. I said, nicely, that this order is supposed to be a to-go one. Immediately, the main female staff (who later rejects my request for a biz card and claims that she's the manager) gives me this immediate look of annoyance and says no words other than taking the food items to the counter behind her. Even more annoyed, she tells me that they cannot separate the jjajang sauce from the noodles and that this order was a dine in order. I denied the claim again, and then she turned around again, very unprofessionally. The 2 cooks in the back then decide to pour the noodles and the broth in to-go containers... after which I immediately said that I'm not going to be taking the food home in that manner. At this point, I was so upset that the other female staff was just texting away, smirking, not being of any help (wearing what seemed like lounge wear to work). The cooks then attempt to "separate" the noodles from the broth with a ladle and additional to-go containers...which then got my mother very upset at the lack of respect towards their 1. Customers who were not being rude / angry to start and 2. For basic hygiene and the formality of serving food to their customers. Customer service clearly isn't of importance at this location, but wow. This was something else. The "manager" then got upset when I asked for our money back because we no longer wanted the food at this point, and then she had the audacity to say that they can't make 3 new orders of noodles either so money back is fine with an attitude like no other. I admire and respect small businesses, but to have people stand there as "manager" and "staff" with little to no respect for what customer service and professionalism really entail, is baffling and very disappointing. Even before our "poor customer experience" today, I witnessed another customer walking away with her tray of food with a frustrated face and a mouthful of words to her family at the table right in front of the restaurant because she was greeted with no words and sass when merely asking for an extra spoon. How horrible to be in such a competitive area and industry and yet it's incredibly easy to take their customers for granted. I really hope the owner(s) figure out the mess they're in very soon, starting with their staff and quality assurance and control across the board....

At 11:50 AM, I ordered sweet and sour pork at the food court, and when I opened the package to eat, I noticed that the sauce had no vegetables or toppings at all. I asked the staff about it, and they replied that all the vegetables were out of stock.

How is it possible for the vegetables to run out when the store opens at 11:00 AM? On top of that, the staff said something absurd, claiming, "Most people think vegetables are just for decoration." When I insisted on having vegetables, they asked if I really wanted them and said they could add some separately. However, as shown in the photo, they just placed the vegetables on top of the sauce.

If they had vegetables, why did they say they were out of stock? When I asked if they were using leftover sauce from the previous day, they insisted it was freshly made.

It doesn’t make sense for ingredients to be "out of stock" right at the opening time. If you don’t have the proper ingredients, you shouldn’t be selling the dish in the first place. Please run your...

It was my first time going to this place today. Food was good, but I wasn’t very happy with their service. The guy with the pink hair was always on his phone and the other guy was not really attentive. I didn’t know if I had to purchase water separately for this place, so I asked the pink haired guy about the water and he scoffed at me like I was stupid. Bad customer service makes your food taste like crap and I don’t think I’ll ever come back...