Arang

I went there several times, and I found that it provides good services, and nice, romantic atmosphere. All though the price is relatively high, but it is still worth eating. It offers conventional korean food, and bbq, and variety of others, gives you a experence of exotic taste. Anyway, if you have not been there before, i recomend you go.
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Fubin Zhang
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Very good food but the service was so bad I wouldn't go back there. Asked the waitress to let us cook it ourselves (all 3 of us have been going to Korean bbq since we were kids) but she refused to leave us alone. Had to ask her about 6 times to just let us cook it for ourselves but she'd still keep hanging around, telling us when to turn it over, where to cut the meat, trying to put more meat on the bbq, telling us to take the meat off, taking the tongs off us to start cooking for us, etc etc etc. Just shoo.

If she wasn't interfering with the cooking then she was hovering badly. I'm all for attentive service but you shouldn't have to notice the waitress leaning over and faffing around your table for no reason at all. Go there if you want tasty Korean food and want someone to cook for you, spoon feed you and wipe your mouth for you too. Service charge is alot more than the normal 12.5% too.
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SG - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

A very nice introduction to Korean cuisine. I would recommend to order a set menu, which offers a bit of everything including the opportunity to discover what is inside the table. Asking to replace the pancakes with Korean pizza might be a good idea.
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evrimkoksal - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Thursday, January 17, 2008

Excellent and friendly service. We all liked it.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, December 25, 2007

What a great place, good quality, good value food, am now a regular.
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jim
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Been visiting this restraunt since being reccomended by my uni friends, i have to say it was not dissapointing at all, and a bonus is the easy parking around golden square if you turn up in the evening, making it easy to find a place to park.

Though i've eaten korean for quite a few times now, im not too sure what i would classify as authentic or not as i havn't had enough korean or been to korea yet to make a fair judgement, but the food served at arang whether it is authentic or not is extremely good! I have a friend who goes there a lot, almost 2-3 times a month and she did the ordering for us, i highly reccomend the pork belly wrapped in the vegetable and the korean spicy rice cake was very good too.

The place is nicely decorate, though a bit on the small side, i think they could have reduced the size of the bar to fit in another table or to space the tables out a bit more, as i've never really seen anyone use the bar whilst waiting, and i think it could have done its job being small and less space consuming.

Service is OK, i realised it was slightly better when i went with my friend as she was a regular, but on the whole it's ok, staff are efficient, not particulary polite, but do their job well.

I would and have definately been back a few times, and hopefully again very soon.
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doffy
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

i've been to arang a couple of times, & love the food...

BUT my positive experience with this place was marred after last night's dinner.

a companion & i were shown, after half an hour's wait or so (fairly reasonable, considering we hadn't booked), to a table for two in the back room. not a problem in itself, if not for the fact that a massive group of japanese businessmen/women was taking up the other (long) table in the not-large back room, & being extremely loud & noisy. throughout much of the dinner, it felt like we were two intruders on a private party, we could hardly hear ourselves, & we couldn't wait to leave as soon as we had finished our meal!

this was such a disappointing experience, not because of the table per se (i'm not usually fussed over seating or table service, preferring to concentrate on the food), but because the manager did not even apologize for the terrible seating. i mentioned our disappointment as we were paying the bill (on hindsight, i should have made a fuss over the bill), but all he did was nod & did not even care to make sincere eye contact with us. a simple apology & acknowledgment of our dissatisfaction would have been sufficient for me to forgive. this is bad, bad service, & i fail to understand why the restaurant saw the need to place a dining couple in a private back room, when a private (loud) party was going on in the same room at the same time.

there are other korean restaurants in london which serve better food, at the same price point, with better service. i am not returning to arang again.
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serena
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Saturday, July 07, 2007

FOOD

Illustrated menus made ordering easier, although I am familiar with the more popular Korean dishes in restaurant anyway. The dolsot bibimbap was really good. We ordered one with raw beef and one with cooked, but when it is stirred, the raw beef becomes cooked anyway. The scanty quantity of matchstick-thin beef slivers seem to be a feature of all restaurants serving bibimbap. The meat was well marinated and really flavoursome. Wonderful with thinly sliced spring onion, rolled in a crispy lettuce leaf. I also had a cinnamon drink which, perhaps overly sweet for some, was really really scrumptious, but then I love cinnamon and I have a very sweet tooth.

SERVICE

Staff were friendly and eager to make recommendations. It may have been because the restaurant was not particularly busy at the time, but they really were over-attentive to the point of discomfort! They came over to cook the meat on the barbecue for us, turning each and every slice over with patience. Very kind and sweet, but unwarranted. We asked to do it ourselves but moments later, they returned. After another request to be allowed to cook the meat ourselves, we were left in peace, but with a watchful eye over us! Admirably yet disconcertingly patient and attentive!

VALUE

Good value. Neither really excellent nor at all bad. Food was undoubtedly delicious, a similar quality to all the other places I've tried in Soho. You won't be disappointed, but not ecstatic.
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Cuthbert Greenwood - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Monday, July 02, 2007

This is a great restaurant. Visited with twelve guests and we were given our own private area at the back, which was a nice surprise. The staff were very attentive and curteous, helping to make the meal something memorable. I picked this restaurant because of the reviews on this site and I am very glad I did.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, May 14, 2007

My husband and I are big fans of Korean food, we've been to Arang few times and I have to say that it is one of the best Korean restaurants in London. To be honest, there aren't that many in town, but you can tell how good a restaurant is by how busy they are.

Unless you get there early before 7, you may be lucky enough to get a table. You will normally need to book in advance. Try weekday, it norally is quiet and you will get really good service.

We went to Arang last night with 2 friends and managed to book the table a day in advance. When we arrived, the restaurant was quiet as it was only 6.30. We had our table quickly and the service was very good. The waitor was very attentive and helpful.

We had few starters, and then the Korean BBQ. The food was just delicious and the meat was so tender. We also ordered some noodles soups & rice after the BBQ, they came near the end of the BBQ. The timing was just perfect and we enjoyed every minute there.

The restaurant started to get really busy, there was a private party at the back with a large group of people. Also, the floor was full of people waiting and eating, you can really tell everyone was enjoying their food there.

I will definitely go again and recommedate to try the Kimchee pencake, it was yummmmmmy!!
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michelle9394 - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, May 12, 2007