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| - This was my first time having Korean food in Markham and I thought it was great! I came with my Mom and Dad and they were very impressed as well (this was their first time trying Korean food, period!)
Food:
We ordered the L.A. Kalbi Beef (which came with a bowl of rice), the Kamjatang (Pork Bone Soup, which also came with a bowl of rice) and the Spicy Dukbokki (which we ordered at the Mild level of spiciness, because my mom thinks that eating spicy food aggravates your skin :P) The Kalbi was great - as expected - marinated in that yummy Korean sauce that tastes both sweet and savoury at the same time and super tender. The Kamjatang was warm and filling on a cold winter's night and the broth was very flavourful! The meat was also quite tender and not at all dry (as it can be sometimes when you've boiled it for too long). The Dukbokki was the only disappointment because the rice cakes were a bit to soft for my liking (it would have been so much better if there was a bit more bite to it!) and the sauce was not nearly spicy enough. There are 3 heat levels - Mild, Spicy, and Extra Spicy - and perhaps I should have gone for the Spicy instead of the Mild....that being said, it wasn't only the level of spice that I didn't like, the sauce didn't seem to have much flavour in general....I was expecting the sauce to be packing a bit more of a flavour punch!
Service:
The service was quite nice at The Owl of Minerva. We went in on a Saturday night at around 7 and were seated promptly (although I'm not sure whether that's a good sign or not, usually you'd expect to see more people on a Saturday night, right?) Our orders were taken and our food was presented to us quite quickly and we were able to dig in with our cute little silver chopsticks and spoons (Chinese cutlery in restaurants is usually in plastic or porcelain).
Atmosphere:
This place seemed very much like a Korean restaurant. The walls were plastered with Korean posters of celebrities promoted an Aloe drink and the staff were all wearing a cute yellow uniform. We also thought it was really interesting that everything was rolled out to us on a cart, as we're used to servers bringing them out by hand. The feel of the restaurant was quite family-oriented and very homey, which I like and I thought contributed positively to the experience. One thing that I would mention is that you probably shouldn't wear your nice clothes to the restaurant though, as the smell of meat being barbecued will penetrate into your clothing.
Price:
All together, our meal came to EXACTLY $35 after HST (which I thought was curious :P) The Kamjatang came out in a portion size that I thought was appropriate for the meal, though I thought that they skimped a bit on the portion sizes for the Kalbi and the Dukbokki. I was also expecting to see a bit more rice cakes and meat for the price - for the same price (or probably a couple dollars less), I would have been able to purchase an overflowing lunch combo set from the food court at FMP. This may just be the Chinese mentality in me though, as this is generally the price you'd expect to see at other Korean restaurants. Another thing is that they also only served 3 dishes of Banchan (kimchi, pickled radish, and also some marinated seaweed). I've been to other Korean restaurants where they offered a greater variety of side dishes and wish that they could have given us this experience as well! That being said, they were all quite tasty (albeit quite strongly salted and sugared).
Overall, I thought that this place had quite tasty food, good service and a nice atmosphere. I'll probably try another restaurant next time I want Korean food though because their menu was quite limited and I want to explore new types of Korean dishes.
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