A bunch of my co-reviewers seem to think that Seoul Garden is the best Korean food in town, and I'm not going to disagree, but I still remain hopeful that either this place improves or another better place opens. It's difficult to stumble across this establishment unless you live in the area, but word of mouth seems to be spreading. My partner heard about it from several non-Asian colleagues, who raved about it. So, on a Saturday night, we hopped in the car and made the trek.
You don't go to Seoul Garden for the ambiance, because, frankly, there's not much of that to be found. The exterior is easy to miss, and you'd probably be better off looking for the Pizza Hut sign next door, when trying to find it from the car. It's a nondescript little wastrel of a building with a large sign, but somehow it just seems to blend into the overall commercial decay that surrounds it.
The interior is swathed in light wood paneling, and there is very little about it to suggest that it's a Korean restaurant, other than the menu, which is fairly extensive for Cleveland. The most interesting, and by that I really mean incongruous, was the cuckoo clock over the cash register. I don't know if it was a leftover from a previous restaurant that may have occupied the space, or if the owner is just a fan of Black Forest craftwork.
The restaurant was also quiet, in an eerie way. There was no background music, and when we arrived at about 9PM, there was only one other table eating, so there was no sense of people dining out and enjoying themselves. Over the course of our meal, however, a few more tables arrived, and it began to feel a little less desolate.
My co-reviewer was correct about the great expanse of banchan (complementary side dish/appetizers) that they put out. I counted 12 dishes, including three varieties of kimchee type dishes, sweet beans, potato salad, seaweed, broccoli stems, and a stone pot of puffed egg. While I didn't care to try all of it, what did appeal to me tasted good, and my partner liked most of what he tasted.
As a white guy with limited capacity for spicy food, I went for the bibimbap, and I got an order of the fried beef dumplings. The dumplings were perfectly fine - pretty much exactly as I had anticipated they would taste. My meal was served in the traditional stone pot, and the rice had crusted nicely along the interior. I couldn't handle the hot sauce they served with it, and so I found it a little bland, but that's more the fault of my palate than their recipe.
My partner went for some beef and tofu soup that looked frighteningly red to me, which he enjoyed, but felt was lacking a little sweetness and acidity.
When we asked for the bill, they brought it out with two little containers of sweet Asian yogurt drinks, sort of like the orange wedges that many Chinese and Japanese restaurants bring out as a palate cleanser.
Overall the portions are large, and you're not likely to leave hungry. Mt partner took half of his soup home for lunch later in the week. I did feel that they were a little overpriced for the food - it seemed like every dish was $2-3 more than I thought it should be. In fact, I had wanted to try the bulgogi, but it was $17, and I just didn't feel the ingredients or the ambiance merited that sort of expense. The young woman who served us was very attentive, in the best sense of the word, and kept our glasses filled.
I would go back, particularly with some Koreans who could share their insight into the authenticity and quality of the food, but I'm in no hurry to return.