Asadal

Went to Asadal last night with my Korean partner. If ASADAL means 'RIP OFF' in Korean then it hit the nail on the head! The food is authentically Korean but the service non-existant and the price is just robbery. Go to an Asian supermarket and cook it yourself. You'll be able to fly to Korea on the money you've saved.
Comment on this reader review

Jules
3 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Monday, April 19, 2010

I've eaten at Asadal a number of times. It was the first UK Korean restaurant I ate at after living in South Korea for a year. I was impressed initally, but after trying several other Korean restaurants in London, I have to conclude that Asadal is vastly overpriced, the food edible but unremarkable and the service eye-wateringly bad. Decor-wise it's probably a bit nicer than other Korean places in London but it's frankly not worth the money. I tried very hard to like it...but won't be back.
Comment on this reader review

Grover
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, April 07, 2010

I ain't coming back. We were the only Koreans at dinner time on Friday. Very bad sign. Every Korean would notice the food was oversweetened to discombobulate the first-timers. Not every Korean would notice they use too much MSG. My mouth felt slippery after every bite. I as a Korean was very disappointed you have to order your rice separately bowl by bowl. That is a camouflage for overpricing. Not one side dish offered along with main dish? Koreans will find it very weird. Therefore, definitely not authentic. The meat and vegetable used was very low quality. The hostess lady was very unwelcoming.

The waiters and waitresses are mixed population of Korean and Chinese. One of the korean waiters spoke to us in poor English, which we did not understand. I had to ask him to repeat what he said. After he realized we are actually Koreans, we were snubbed when we left. Very unpleasant.

The restaurant is very overstaffed. We ordered a Jeongol (casserole). One Korean girl kept turning on the heater, one Chinese girl kept turning off the heater. A little farce.

Note to many korean restaurants in London: what is the deal with the waiters and waitresses mixing the bibimbap or cooking the bulgogi for the customers while they are parts of the fun?

Time Out gave a rave review for Asadal. That is why we tried the restaurant although we lost almost all the faith in Korean restaurants in central London. However, to a native Korean, this restaurant is not even overpriced. You are paying for baffled army of waiters and waitresses, cheesy interieor of mosaic oriental/korean items, a sugared up, MSG bombed rendition that is supposed to be Korean food.
Comment on this reader review

jay the korean eater
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Friday, February 19, 2010

Average food. Bad service and ripped off.
Comment on this reader review

0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Thursday, December 17, 2009

P Kim, eat your words! I have matching foodie credentials, but was reduced to tears by P Kim's preposterous thesis. Don't you all think he writes about everything except the food itself? I almost thought he was on their payroll.

According to my limited experience (I've been only once and never went back) the food was ok, but definitely overpriced. Try New Malden instead.
Comment on this reader review

a Korean
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Totally disappointing.

On a set meal of £30 each we found that the quality of prime ingredient and cooking was at a level of supermarket pre-packaged microwaveable meal. It is very surprising to find good reviews of this restaurant as we did not see any passion, quality and pride for food.

Initial soup had very little flavor and was served in a microscopic bowl. Fish sashimi was ok even if very thinly sliced. Mixed fish tempura was served cold with 2 crab sticks (!!), 2 slices of zucchini, tasteless tofu and 1 small prawn each. A shameless processed chicken with sticky sweet and sour tomato and peas sauce made me think that fast food is not that bad. The BBQ stringy beef and pickles was again not remotely close to good korean food that you can find in London.

All people dining agreed that they would not come back.
Comment on this reader review

BK Tigrotti
4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, July 26, 2009

Do not come here.

I used to love this place and even organised a work function here, but this place has become bad and is a dissappointment on all fronts: * the worst service you will find * salty food * lukewarm miso soup * overpriced menu * small portions

No time to look at the menu. They cleared plates from around us, brang out a quarter of orange (meant for dessert) and gave us the bill - all WHILE we were eating.

the final insult was they interrupted my partner while he was on the phone to tell us the restaurant was closed and we had to leave now.

We arrived for lunch at 2pm, and finished in 1 hour. The thing is, there are no signs to say opening hours on the door. When we arrived the waiter who seated us did not warn us that they were going to close or that it may be rushed at any point.

This was the worst experience and I concur with the other reviews. Do not come here. You deserve to be treated better.
View/Add comments (1)

Foodlover
0 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, June 08, 2009

I have to say this is the worst korean restaurant i've been to i london. I am a korean and have lived here for over 6 years married to a brit - we always enjoyed going out to korean restaurants before going to this one! i went there with a big group of friends, half of them being korean, and we were treated with the worst service i can imagine! the head waitress - the woman who seems to take all the orders gave us dirty looks and rude comments about the food we ordered. only one of us wanted bulgogi and the rest of us ordered individual dishes, but she was so disappointed that we only ordered TWO portions of bulgogi and actually gave us a dirty look and said to us in korean very sarcastically, JUST TWO? does she expect all of us to have a korean bbq? we were all about to walk out from there because she was so rude and our evening was becoming sour even before we started the dinner. so we ordrered the food, (which as a korean i must say is truly a disgrace )- i have never eaten such horrible korean food and they were ALL overpriced. we must have spent around 300pounds altogether (and we didnt even order wine!!) but we were NOT satisfied at all and felt so cheated. if the service and food had been good i would not be writing this review with such an urge to WARN OTHERS , especially unsuspecting foreigners who get tricked by their nice lights and signboard outside and location -but i would NOT recommend this restaurant to anyone so beware - this is definiltey NOT the best of korean food.
Comment on this reader review

jenny
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, February 23, 2009