Shin Jung Korean Restaurant Orlando

Reviews 5

A

A Private User

The place was a little challenging to find, but once we found it, you realize that you cant miss it. Its a tiny standalone building off of Colonial that just oozes family Korean food. My girlfriend and I had never had "authentic" Korean BBQ before, so this was our first venture out into this type of restaurant. We ended up sitting a table with a BBQ in the middle, but we werent aware that we were actually going to be cooking the food ourselves; which isnt a big deal by any means, I just didnt want to screw up their tablegrill. After ordering some chicken and pork between the two of us, they brought us a slew of side dishes and other assorted things, that we still arent all that sure of what they were. The menus didnt explain what came with each meal, and the server didnt either. After he returned to our table with more sides than we could eye up, he brought a giant plate of raw pork and chicken, told us to enjoy our meal, and left. We both had figured that they would at least start it for us, so we could make sure we were doing it right. After some hesitation, I decided just to throw it on there. Im not too familiar with cooking in this style, so I wasnt even sure how long to leave it on, and it made me kind of apprehensive. Regardless, the meat was marinated/seasoned perfectly, because both the chicken and pork tasted amazing. I just wish I hadnt worn something that I didnt want to get dirty, because I wasnt aware with what I was getting into! As we were leaving, the place was beginning to fill up with people, and thus we could see that we were indeed grilling up the meat properly. The entire place was filled with smoke, and I couldnt get the smell of BBQ out of my nose for the rest of the day without a change of clothes. I dont recommend wearing something nice to the restaurant, just as the off-chance you may ruin it! All in all, we were impressed and definitely enjoyed the food. We wish we received a bit more details on what we were eating, but Im guessing the server didnt want to assume we were ignorant to Korean BBQ. I would say that this isnt a beginner Korean restaurant; but if youre going, be sure to ask a lot of questions and let the server know that its your first time there. The prices were a bit high for what it was, but the experience overall was still positive. We shall return!

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ER

Eric Lee

I recently moved down to Orlando and being Korean myself and having lived in places with lots of Koreans and Korean restaurants, I wasnt expecting much from a Korean restaurant in Orlando. My coworkers took me to Shin Jung as my first stop and I was VERY disappointed even for someone who wasnt expecting much. We ordered the Kalbi, Bulggogi, and Pork (Sam gyup sal) bbq and all 3 tasted horrible. The Kalbi was too rough, Bulgoggi was not seasoned well and the Sam Gyup Sal was given to us on the same grill as the rest instead of on a pan grill. Basic korean bbq is that pork should be prepared on a pan unless it is pork ribs.The side dishes were decent but the jjigae we ordered was bland. As for the service, the waitress would always come back so late that all our meat would get burnt. I eventually had to just take the reigns and start filpping the meat by myself so that wed have some meat left to actually eat considering our portions were really small too.Wanting to be respectful I told my coworkers who took me to Shin Jung that I enjoyed the food but two weeks later I went to Seoul Garden in Maitland with my girlfriend and had a real Korean restaurant experience. Excellent food, portions, and service. A few weeks later we went to Korea House in Longwood and even they had better service and food.Bottom line. Coming from a Korean guy who has eaten authentic Korean food all over the world including the mother country, there are WAY better Korean restaurants in Orlando than Shin Jung. I just cant believe some moron recommended this place to my co workers in the first place

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SO

Soojung Lee

I am a Korean-American who has lived in the NE (NJ, PA) my whole life and have recently moved down to the Lakeland area (in between Tampa and Orlando). The reason why I am giving this restaurant a 2 out of 5 stars and not 1 out of 5 stars is because it is not the WORST Korean restaurant I have been to, but out of the 20 or so I have been to in the country this is the 2nd worse. (Ive been to a place in Hawaii that claimed Kimchi-jjigae [kimchi stew] was kimchi sitting in water.) If you are looking for authentic Korean food, do not go to Shin Jung. The naeng-myun didnt taste right. It had too much of a beef broth undertone and tasted a bit like stew. The noodles also were still hard. My father had mandoo-gook [dumpling stew], and the dumplings tasted more like Chinese dumplings than Korean dumplings. The broth also did not taste great. All of the banchan [side dishes] were not to taste either. Our waitress though, who was a Columbian woman, (No Korean workers in sight. Not a problem but usually a warning bell for me.) was knowledgeable of the menu, super kind, and helpful about information about the neighborhood and surrounding areas for me (a new resident to the area). Overall, do NOT recommend this place. I will never be going back or recommending this restaurant to others. Its a shame, because people will come to this restaurant thinking this food is Korean, but its a cheap imitation.

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AZ

Aziae Lion

The food was subpar and the service was horrible. Some of the items we ordered werent served, but they still charged us for them. Youre forced to pay an automatic gratuity even though the service wasnt to standard. We had to ask our server to refill our cups. The brown rice we ordered was old, and got charged a dollar extra for fresh brown rice. Our server Tim is incompetent. He worried more about flirting with the manager than he cared about serving his guests. Tim: "Youre a married woman! You cant be talking like that to me. *giggles*" Korean Woman: I know, but you are younggg, nice! Us: Are they really flirting in the open like this while they have guests to tend to? Yeah, as we were dining thats the kind of conversation we had to listen to. They didnt even bother to give us our change after taking the tab. We were tired and didnt want to stay a minute longer, so we left upset over the crummy service we received. Wont go back here again. He didnt deserve the $25.24 "automatic gratuity." There was nothing about his service that gave us reason to be gratuitous for! Stay clear of this place especially when Tim is working. Hes a tall, slightly slender White guy that looks confused when you ask him specifically for rice nectar from the menu.

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DA

Dav Ng

This place is not worth the money, time, or effort. If you have never tried it, DONT...The food quality is low, the taste is bland, no real flavor....cheap beef and they dont give much at all, its also prepared poorly, I know my $25 Bul Goi Beef was pre-made and not cooked fresh, its also a scam, Bul Goi Beef ribs is suppose to be actual "short ribs" instead they just placed just "two" short ribs under a few cheap thinly sliced beef = the result = horrible dining experience. The "General Manager"-what he called himself is the son of the owner.....the place used to be just OKAY 5 years ago, now theyre cutting corners with incompetent managers and servers......the so-called manager is a tool, all he talked about was money, as if the customer was just a number. He tried to make it up by giving me an employee discount...real smooth, buddy... To be honest, they probably heated up the pre-cooked beef and served it on hot plate just for show purposes. What a scam, what a shame to Korean cuisine.... DO NOT GO HERE, YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT KOREAN FOOD. BUT IF YOURE A SIMPLETON, YOU MAY NOT NOTICE, ENJOY!

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