Hongdae Sushi & Grill 홍대 스시 — Restaurant in Wheeling Township

To set this review in perspective, we came in on a Sunday at 6:15pm prior to the rush that came in at around 6:45pm. We did not get an order in until about 30 minutes after we were seated not by our own doing. Our server was spread so thin from not only being our server, but also being the food runner AND bartender.

As much as I want to give this place a higher rating, I just can't and I will break it down into categories.

Ambiance: It really is pretty in here. The music is tasteful and the decor is inviting.

Service: Our server was super sweet and kind. Not as attentive as I would have hoped considering this to be a newer restaurant, but I am also giving her grace for the reasons stated in the beginning. Our food came trickling from the kitchen onto the table about an hour into sitting and took almost 45 minutes after that to get our entrees, but everything did not come complete. There was a wait time of about 15 minutes for rice while our entrees were sitting in front of us.

Food: The flavors of everything were really good. We ordered 8 dishes (pictured) and each were amazing in their own way.

Spam kimchi fried rice has a spice to it, but was amazing nonetheless. (Pictured) Truffle fries were a little lack luster. I didn't get the hint of truffle at all, but were fried nicely being crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I personally did not try the truffle salmon carpaccio, but my friend said it was good. (Pictured) The bulgogi skillet was sweeter than anticipated, but good nonetheless. (Pictured) Short ribs skillet were good and flavored nicely. (Pictured) I personally did not eat the bulgogi tacos, but my friend said they were good. (Pictured) the pork belly skillet had little flavor, but cooked nicely. It was nicely paired with the spam friend rice . I personally did not try the spicy Korean fried chicken, but the table was split on it. One said it was salty and the other didn't mind. It was described as a spicy bbq flavor.

Price: I'd say that the prices were on the higher side considering the amount of food you get, especially with an all you can eat KBBQ down a few storefronts. For 8 dishes, 3 sodas, and a pitcher of soju, the bill came to around $207.

All in all, would we be back? I don't think anytime soon. The wait time for food was far too long. I believe they need more help in the kitchen in order to keep up with the demand. Our server was super kind and food was good though, that's why I had to give it a...

Came here as a group of 10. The service was just too slow, we waited for dishes that never came or just took too long. Our table also had piles of finished plates that rarely got picked up. Even when new dishes arrived, the failed to take away the stack. At one point we had to start putting them on a near by table. The original server checked on us once and the rest of the time we had to keep flagging others.

While we enjoyed most of the dishes and drinks, we all agreed it would be our first and last time.

Food ordered: Crispy pork belly 4/5 - came out cold and not enough lettuce leaves to make a wrap. But still good! Calamari Tempura 3.5/5 - calamari was salty and small. We enjoyed the fries more. Spicy fried chicken and the Original fried chicken. 4/5 - good, flavorful but it didn’t come with a ranch or any dipping sauce. Our group was split on which they liked more. LA short rib 5/5 - (it was my favorite) a few of us enjoyed the pork belly more. Garlic chicken gizzards 4/5 good but I personally thought they were too small. Grilled butter whole squid 5/5 Premium galbi jjim 5/5 just wish it came with rice.

My Martini was very watered down while my sisters margarita was super strong. They are probably still working out their kinks considering they opened just fall last year. But I just don’t see us coming back. When asked for the check and to remove the items we never got, there...

Very disappointing experience. Was very excited to try out Hongdae as I've seen it across from Mr. Kimchi. The place itself is nicely decorated with the typical Hongdae colors and vibes you would expect. However, the food was incredibly disappointing. I feel like this is a place where non-Koreans wouldn't know the difference in food quality but as a Korean-American, I couldn't believe how poor the quality of food was. We ordered the pork belly bossam, kimchi gooksoo, bulgogi japchae, ddukboki and corn cheese. The corn cheese tasted too sweet as if it was a dessert. The kimchi gooksoo was pretty bland. Here's the kicker... the pork belly bossam came with about 5 small leaves of lettuce so we asked for more (there was 4 of us). We were not informed that there would be an additional charge... when we received our receipt, we noticed a $4.00 additional charge for the lettuce. Please keep in mind, these were 4 additional SMALL leaves of lettuce. Portions were generally small and frankly, pretty overpriced considering the quality. Service was also surprisingly pretty slow considering it was a Monday night at around 6 PM and there were only 3-4 other tables of customers. I usually refrain from negative reviews towards fellow Korean-owned establishments but I'm really hoping the owner will take this feedback into consideration because this would be a really cool spot with some...