Seoul Garden Restaurant
| Address: | 2456 Harry Wurzbach Rd, San Antonio, TX 78209, USA |
| Phone: | +1 210-826-1790 |
| Site: | seoulgardensa.com |
| Rating: | 4.2 |
| Working: | Closed 10:30AM–9PM 10:30AM–9PM 10:30AM–9PM 10:30AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 12–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
JE
Jeff Turpin
Im unsure why Seoul Garden has so many 4-5 star reviews, but after having eaten at every Korean restaurant in San Antonio at least once and at other Korean restaurants outside of San Antonio (including in South Korea) I give Seoul Garden no more than 2 stars for the food. The service was friendly and the tables were clean (though the rest of the restaurant was run-down), but neither of these factor into the rating. While there was nothing wrong with the kimchi (average to above average) nor the soup (fairly good), the entrees were quite terrible. In fact, this was the most disappointing meal of the year for me. By far, this is the worst bulgogi Ive ever tasted, and Ive eaten bulgogi at every Korean restaurant Ive visited. The beef lacked any color and caramelization - no evidence of any searing or grilling - due to what must have been cooking it in an overcrowded pan (which leads to the ingredients being boiled/steamed instead of being pan-fried and allowing the Maillard reaction to occur). The meat, which of itself had almost no flavor, tasted like boiled beef: very bland and dry. The only meat that had flavor was that near the bottom of the plate, where the only note the sauce was hitting was soy sauce. There was no spiciness to the dish. The veggies mixed with it were just as bland. Overall, it was an embarrassment to what bulgogi should be. We also tried the fusion dish of a baked potato with, you guessed it, bulgogi on top. I had to eat a large spoonful of bulgogi by itself to taste it at all, as any bulgogi mixed with the baked potato was, you guessed it, masked by the flavor of the potato (which arent altogether known for having a lot of flavor in themselves). Luckily, I had plenty of butter to flavor the potato, but I mixed most of it with the bulgogi. As far as the baked potato goes, it was disappointingly mushy, poorly cooked, and under-seasoned (particularly the skin where they should cover it in a dusting of coarse sea salt and brush it with butter). There was no sour cream, cheese, or bacon as the menu said there would be. (Sigh). If nothing else, we were full after we ate. However, that was the only satisfying part about our meal. In short, I would consider Seoul Garden the worst Korean restaurant in San Antonio if based on nothing else than their recipe and execution of the Korean classic dish of bulgogi. There may be dishes they excel at, but based on the bulgogi, my willingness to take the risk to find such dishes is nonexistent. The best bulgogi (and probably Korean cuisine in general) is going to be Chongs but Kiku Garden and even Koreana (just 50 feet away from Seoul Garden) are also far better bets.
BA
Barbara D
First and foremost, wonderful Steve (the person who served us), hands down, provided the best service we received in any of the Korean restaurants located in SA. He was genuinely friendly, professional, and prompt with refills and other requests. He even offered another generous set of side dishes when we were almost done with the first one; however, we didnt need any more, so we politely declined. It was a pleasant surprise, and we really appreciated his thoughtful gesture, because trying to get more side dishes at other Korean restaurants here is like attempting to do back flips with no prior gymnastics experience. We ordered the rice cake soup, which had a rich and flavorful beef broth with soft and chewy pieces of rice cake, and garnished with egg and green onions. Great for a cold, rainy day. We also ordered the Korean style fried chicken covered with a tasty, spicy sauce---that we werent able to find in the SA area before---and it was slightly sweet and tangy, with a little kick of spice. I wondered if the sauce would make the fried chicken soggy, but we were delighted to discover that the texture of the chicken was crispy and crunchy. The atmosphere reminded us of a comfortable mom and pop place with wooden benches and tables, and east meets west decorations.
DA
Daniel Yi
Here are my honest opinions about this place. This review isnt meant to detract people from coming here. The food is pretty decent considering that its in San Antonio and not Dallas. I cant hate on the food. The main reason why I wont give the place any more than 4 stars is because of the service. I will say, the servers are extremely kind. We did not experience any rude service. The main issue was with delays. After we ordered our food, we ended up waiting for an extremely long time before we got our food. In fact, we noticed that people who were seated long after us were already getting their food. The same thing occurred when we were waiting for our checks. We didnt receive our checks until waiting for about 20 minutes after asking for it. Having said all of that, I do hope that people check the place out. The food is good, and I like the ambience. I would give it 3 stars had it not been for the friendly staff. Although there were delays, the waiters/waitresses were very kind and did feel sorry for the delays.
JA
Jack Thayer
This place was just a big no. I got a "spicey noodle" plate that was neither spicey nor even remotely edible, in fact it tasted bad like it was past expiration date. Kimchi was tasteless, kimchi pancake was more batter than anything else, kimpab was generally on point but the girl who served us A. Never bothered with refills, B. Gave our plate to another customer and C. Huffed and puffed when we returned one of the plates I could take no more than 2 bites from. What I will say to acknowledge the good things about this place is when I told the owner exactly what went wrong he was extremely sincere in his apology and his prompt response to make things up. That level of customer care from the owner is something I can definitely appreciate.
YU
Yu-Hsien Ho
Authentic, delicious, and very large portions of Korean food. You get a bunch of mini korean starter dishes after youvplace your order. The service here is great. The menu is pretty broad encompassing most of your favorite authentic korean dishes. I ordered the jjangbong, spicy seafood noodle soup. It came out in a gigantic bowl. The broth was flavorful and very spicy. They didnt skimp on the seafood they put in the noodle soup. They put a bunch of noodles in there too. I couldnt finish the bowl, even though i had given my coworker some of my noodles to try. Id highly recommend this place.
ME
Melissa C
Our first visit to Seoul Garden... the food is tasty. I ordered the Chicken Bulgogi, marinated chicken and veggies in a spicy pepper sauce. Excellent taste, although I had to make an extended trip to the bathroom soon after eating. My man friend had the Beef Bulgogi, and he said there was quite a bit of gristle in his dish. Loved the Steamed Dumplings that we had as an appetizer! The ambience is casual and noisy. Im not sure that a return trip is in our future... mixed feelings.
MI
Michael Huel
Absolutely not a BBQ restaurant! Terrible! Brisket tasted as if they reheated week old meat they purchased from Bill Millers. Their creamed corn & beans were bland & watery. One bite from everything was all I could stand. I couldnt believe the exceptionally low quality of the food I was served. This place is a Korean Seoul restaurant. To call your self Texas Brisket is misleading, & now having eaten it, offensive. Terrible!
