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| - Please do better! You're the *only* AYCE Korean bbq in Charlotte and you should set a high standard. This review is going to be honest and straightforward, as I've eaten at quite a few Korean BBQ places in Cali, NY, NJ and FL where I have lived
Service- very good. The wait staff is on point, food came out rather quickly. Very attentive to our needs (and there wasn't many), accommodating and receptive.
Atmosphere- it's located next to its sister restaurant so they share the same modern-esque concrete wall and industrial look. It was a little loud from the music and people conversing, the sounds bounce off the walls as there isn't anything to dampen the hubbub. We didn't mind, it livened up the place.
The food- well, here is what I am hoping they would do better on. I asked for hot tea, since it was raining pretty hard out and we sat in the car for 20 minutes as there wasn't any standing room to wait to be seated. No reservations so we pretty much took a chance on a dreary rainy Thursday night.
The don't serve anything hot. No hot tea, no green tea, no Barley or Corn tea... right. So beer it is.
So we ordered the four choices of beef to start with, 2 flavored, a brisket and the tongue. We also ordered the egg soufflé, a couple bowls of rice and the mushrooms. The banchan came out quickly, followed by the freshly sliced semi frozen brisket and tongue. I quickly threw those on the grill without hesitance. The rice came out next, it had formed a chewy crust on top making it seem like it had been sitting for a while. As I prepared myself for the first bite of the first meat of the first Korean bbq in Charlotte, I noticed the cooking tongue had a white circumference. Without thinking too much about it, I grabbed a Cooked piece, chewed it and began to gag so I spit it out. It seems like someone had FORGOTTEN to CLEAN it. Yup. Someone forgot to peel off the rough sharp outer layer surrounding the bovine's tongue, I gagged because it felt like i had just swallowed a Rose bush. Why did i order this you ask? Because if you've ever had it, you know tongue is good when it's good.
I told our server about the issue and even had him touch the spikes on the raw tongue and said he would inform and get the manager.... who never came. We figured who the manager was after a few minutes but she was clearly too busy (or maybe didn't want to be bothered?) by our issue. She walked frantically between tables, to the front desk and to the back without smiling much. We didn't want to make a big deal about it so just sucked it up to a lost cause.
Soufflé was left on the stovetop for 2 minutes too long, the eggs were pretty much scrambled in soup when we ate it. It's supposed to be sorta on the silky side. Good flavor tho.
The brisket was simply ok, it was cut a little too thin (it was a little fatty too) so it pretty much turned to a messy cheesesteak type material. If only I had some bread, onions and cheese I coulda made a legit Philly.
The flavors on the other two beef dishes were also just ok, it felt a little "toned down" to cater to the general taste... it didn't quite taste as authentic as I've had before. I didn't get the saltiness and umami of the soy, the heavy aroma of the sesame oil or punch of the pepper flakes or garlic; I felt like I was eating sweet meat and a little hint of something something.
Oh, and about the portions, they give you about 1/2 cup worth of meat so you have to order three times as much to feel like you're actually eating something... listen I'm no heffer. I just dislike having to flag someone down for more food especially since I have to cook it too!
We ordered the pork dishes next, and I understand while it says pork belly... it felt like I was eating lard belly. It was mostly fat to be honest, I had to cut out a fair amount of the white jiggly stuff just so I didn't have to shave off a few years of my life. The wine pork belly was decent, the curry one didn't have much curry flavor (weird because it was so yellow, you'd think it was loaded) and the hot pepper pork... wasn't even worthy of any scoville units.
The king mushrooms were dry (it's not that hard to slice them real quick per order is it?) and after that we decided to call it quits since we were told (when we first got there) that it's a 2 hour seating. It felt like they were already asking us to leave before we even ordered. Hello, welcome, you have two hours, ready to order and GO!
So all in all, I hope this is read by anyone who care enough to read it, and by the owners. This place really has the potential to really make a name for itself. I understand that Charlotte is a young, growing expanding town, now is the time to set a benchmark to be the only place in town that's worth going to.
I gave two stars and I'm hoping to give 4 or 5 after I finally get over the fear of the tongue incident!
Really though, who doesn't like a good tongue?!
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