Asadal (Holborn)

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.
Comment on this reader review

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.
Comment on this reader review

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.
Comment on this reader review

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.
Comment on this reader review

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.
Comment on this reader review

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.
Comment on this reader review

emma
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, September 25, 2008

I don't even know where to begin; this place is a total insult to Korean food generally.

I have eaten in many authentic Korean restaurants in Asia, and I just have to say that the portions and the quality of the food and the PRICES especially - all appalling.

The kimchi fried rice I ordered was roughly the amount of a small bowl of rice, and it did not come with a fried egg on top, which is traditionally what the Koreans do. The taste was quite typical, nothing special, or else slightly below average. When I asked about the fried egg, the waiter snapped that there is none.

The bul-go-gi that I ordered (TWO PORTIONS) - the portion was unbelievably small. It was appetizer-size - the amount being half the size of my fist (NOT exaggerating). This pitiful lump of beef was priced at over 20 pounds. They also neglected to fry it with onions, sesame seeds, and mushrooms, which is also classic Korean.

Whenever any of my friends or I asked for anything from the waiters, we were always acknowledged with a dirty look. I almost burst out laughing when I saw the bill and the 20 pounds we owed for service charge.

All of us emerged from the restaurant still hungry, in foul moods, and poorer 200 pounds.
Comment on this reader review

beatrix - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I've eaten here plenty of times... with no problem. Foods pretty good. but that said.

This is just a question for Andrew who said his wife got a lecture about the Anglo-saxon V sign...I'm just curious, what did the waiter say? I'm a korean American and my wife is a Korean from Korea and we were wondering why a korean waiter would find a V sign so offensive? It's quite common to see koreans and Japanese kids showing the V sign when posing for pictures and for the life of us.. we can't figure out how the waiter would have misinterpreted this. Just curious to know what he said.
Comment on this reader review

MikekiM - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Friday, July 11, 2008

I have been here a few time and I agree the visits are a bit hit and miss. I have had the log wait to be served and to be even taken notice of when first arriving but I have had some good experiences also.

I do still go back as the food is very nice and the surrounding very pleasent.

I have been to many Korean restaurants and felt this was pretty good overall.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Rave reviews. We went. Waitress put raw rib beef on COLD desktop barbecue, then switched on heat. We watched in despair as beef slowly began to bubble and steam in front of us, and disappointment as grey slab of meat put on our plate. Complaint dealt with poorly. We walked out. Enough said.

May have been a one off, but we won't be back...
Comment on this reader review

Al
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Sunday, March 02, 2008