Asadal

Average food. Bad service and ripped off.
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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.
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a Korean
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.
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BK Tigrotti
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, July 26, 2009

Best Korean food in the UK

I really enjoyed the food... in my opinion the best Korean food in London. The quality of the food is second to none. I loved the dumplings and the spicy chicken.

I found the surroundings beautiful and clean and enjoy bringing my friends here. The surroundings make me, for a moment, forget my troubles and makes me feel like I'm in Korea. I especially like eating lunch here because they have a set menu and its great value for the quality of the food and the restaurant ambience. My friends whom I have taken to this restaurant have raved about the food and the beautiful decorations and now often go to Asadal restaurant in Holborn. I find it's easy for us to meet at the restaurant because I just tell my friends meet me at Holborn tube station.

As a Korean, I've traveled worldwide and always make an effort to eat Korean food regardless of where in the world that I'm in whether it's London, Paris, Brussels, Los Angeles, Washington (DC),Seattle, New York, Honolulu, Seoul, Busan, Tokyo, etc. Many of the places in the USA and Asia that I frequently travel to have strong enclaves of Korean entrepreneurs who have through hard work, ingenuity, and training have built successful restaurant and other businesses. Out of all these, I find that Asadal restaurant is in the Premier league and 1st among them.

My objective in going to a restaurant is sometimes business oriented. I, as many Koreans, am proud of my Korean heritage and want others to experience the Korean culture and get to know me better and provide a comfort zone when doing business. Many people are not familar with the Korean culture or food. I want an environment that provides the best food, good service, superb dining facilities, and feels authentic and provides a nice ambience... Asadal provides all this and more.

When meeting with potential clientele, it's important for me to make them feel comfortable both in the service and surprisingly, other people in the restaurant. The service is the kind of service that is both discreet (they don't bother you unless you call them) and provides an extra special touch... they often pour your drink into your glass. They have both extremely experienced and new wait staff. I find the extremely experienced wait staff the best in the world. The new staff are willing but sometimes inexperienced. I find often that these are students who are from Korea. I make sure that I speak speak slowly, clearly and enuniciate all my words.. having once had to learn English and having had to learn foreign languages I know how difficult hearing a language is while learning a new work skill.

Whenever, I've gone to this restaurant there are many people of all races and many cultures. I find that there are many business people, diplomats, and overseas visitors who go to this restaurant. Therefore, my potential clientele and I can discuss our business without interruption and in a nice environment. If I need discretion and have a large crowd, I can reserve a special private room at no extra charge. If I'm in a hurry, I have my food to take away.

I am beneficiary, as many of us, of the knowledge provided on the web. I find solutions to many problems from those people who have been kind enough to take the effort to write what they have learned and their opinions. I think too often in our busy lives we don't have a chance to write or say positive things when we have a good experience. When we have a bad experience or misunderstanding, we write our experiences. I often use reviews and information on the web as a starting point to go to a restaurant but then I try the restaurant and evaluate according to my own criteria and mine is the food. The food in Asadal is, in my opinion, the best food in London... and I've tried many restaurants.
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PKim
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, July 21, 2009

please do not waste your money here. my boyfriend and i ordered two lunch boxes and a pa-jun, which all came out to be 40 pounds total. i dont mind spending 20 pounds per person on lunch, but the food had better be good. not so at this place.

the bento boxes had a miserably sad looking tiny portion of washed out tasteless radish kimchi, and other dishes that would qualify more as chinese. the salad was not fresh (I hate soggy salads!!). the chicken and beef bulgogi were very, very bland also. what ever happened to the free side dishes that every korean restaurant should be serving? where's my kimchi? where are my na-muls people?!

the pa-jun was the better part of the meal, and the bf seemed to enjoy it. it was again too soggy for me.

soggy and sad is the leitmotif of all their foods. definitely not worth the price. feel cheated. not going back. and i urge you to please take my (and others) advice and stay away from this restaurant.
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foodie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, July 01, 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.
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Foodlover
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.
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jenny
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, February 23, 2009

As a Korean I broght my Swiss friends hoping to treat them with proper Korean cuisine. Food quality was just about on par but what I found frustrating was the pricing. Even comparing with London food prices, their food & drinks are way overpriced, charge everything they possibly can and brings 4pound-a-bottle upscale mineral water if you ask for a distilled water.

I had an impression they try to rip people off and I'm thoroughly upset about it.

They only had one baby chair as well which i thought quite funny as well.

You definitely can find better Korean foods somewhere else.
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eurozero
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

this place is awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwful. terrible service, as the waiters don't really speak english. they messed up my orders and didn't do anything about it...terrible. terrible. make sure you stay away from it if u dont want a disastrous experience.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, December 13, 2008

We were recommended by some friends to try this restaurant. I have tried Korean food at several restaurants in london and must admit Asadal has been one of the better venues. Our group of 5 enjyed a variety of dished ranging from oyster pancake, pork dumplings, japchae and numerous bbq dishes and kimchee with bibimbab in the sizzling stone bowl. We all agreed that the dishes were tasty and i particularly enjoyed the bbq especially the beef ribs which was just delicious.

It was midweek and yet the place was full with many tables occupied by Koreans. A good sign!!! I found the service helpful and courteous. The restaurant atmosphere was busy but relaxed....overall excellent!

We all had several Korean beers plus wine to go with the food and everything worked out around 26 per head.

If you're looking for good korean food i can certainly recommend Asadal.

It's also next to Holborn tube so it's very convenient too.
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emma
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, September 25, 2008