Jingogae Korean Restaurant

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  3      Value  2     

We arrived after googling this restaurant and reading the reviews. The door was locked and the lady unlocked it for us on a Thursday night at 7 pm. We were the only two customers there. We ordered BBQ beef. It was not the traditional BBQ beef, it was stir fried and watery. We will never go there again.

Sep 03, 2011 

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

Good place, with tasty food and friendly service. Agree completely about the friendly and pleasant service. Dumplings are yummy, as is the rainbow trout sashimi.

Aug 16, 2010 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  7      Service  10      Value  10     

Cheap and cheerful + some great very tasty food and the best kim chee in Sydney. Great value for money, ambience is what it is, casual, "caf" consistently providing excellent Korean food and has been doing so for years, I've been going for at least 20 years. Be adventurous with your food choices and don't stick the same old stuff, Jaep Chae noodles, the Korean version of Steak Tartare (can't remember its name) is just about the best dish on the menu, yes the pancakes also good.

The Ma & Pa running it are just shy and while limited in english we have never had a problem that hasn't been dealt with sweetly and simply. To all those people expecting to be grovelled over, you get back what you give out.

May 19, 2010 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  9     

Not bad at all. After seeing the negative reviews of others I wanted to try and prove them wrong. And I did. My first visit, I ordered (takeaway) a Kim Chi Hot Pot for $15. Under ten minutes' wait (there were, however, only two other customers at the time). Old Ma didn't seem to have the best English skills but she was certainly friendly and pleasant.

The hot pot was just like I had in Seoul, delicious, spicy and filling. Came with a large container of rice as well. Comparable to the quality of Seoul Ria, but much better value. Satisfied and eager to try everything else on the menu.

Feb 10, 2010 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  10     

I have been to this little restaurant many times, over the years. Whether with friends, family, or just the two of us, I have always enjoyed the deliciuos homestyle Korean menu. Crunchy kim chee, yummy jap chai and a mouthwatering raw beef dish. Sure, it's no Aria or Guillaume, but that isn't what we want when we go to Jingogae.

Good food, no fuss, and an elderly couple who really want to help us despite their struggle with the language. If people want silver service and smarmy wait staff, this is not the place. Long may it remain to satisfy our Korean food fixes.

Sep 13, 2009 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  9      Value  10     

I've read all the comments and am amazed by the level of demand of certain individuals "burnt this", "grumpy as". We are locals and rarely do we eat out but when we do, we much prefer to eat Korean. The lady (someone idiotically called her 'waitress') is one of the nicest, smily people I've met in this country. As for her husband, yes, there were times when our meals were not the most delicious but I certainly admire their ability to keep the business afloat.

I love their Kimchi soup. I love their dumplings. I love the fact that they bring you tea free of charge. I love that it is the prices are appropriate. To all those who expect this to be a posh place, go and eat some place else. This is your typical local family diner.

Apr 09, 2009 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  2      Value  2     

As a long time reader of eatability I've never felt compelled to contribute to this forum until now. Jingogae has got to be the worst Korean restaurant I've ever been to. I really hate saying this because it's a 'ma n pa' set up as described already and the old couple really need help as they clearly struggled.

Food was served after 40 minutes of waiting and it was very salty. The kimchi was brown and the beef ribs were still raw and really chewy.

Aug 29, 2008 

4.8 Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  4     

I went here last night with my partner after my friend recommended it goodness knows why! We ordered the spinach and potato pancakes (on other readers suggestion) and it was covered in so much mayo and was burnt! We also ordered beancurd pancake these were served luke warm and had obviously been sitting around all day waiting for someone to order them!

My partner's main come out next and I was left waiting for mine. When the waitress finally brought it over it was the wrong one! As it's a family owned business older couple husband and wife I felt quite sorry for her as with the language barrier she was most upset she got the order wrong. I waited and finally out came by chicken with coconut - I wish I'd kept the wrong one this was greasily and no coconut!!! Sigh.

On the upside it was free BYO and we both had an entree and main for $40 but when I paid the chef he had the largest boogie ever seen hanging from his nose in white which needless to say turned our hungry tummies and we will never go back again.

Jul 09, 2008 

6.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  9     

It was the most unassuming restaurant. In fact I think it was the families home and they had converted the front part into a dining room. Mismatched furniture, faded prints on the wall, faded silk flowers in odd vases on some tables, no table cloths and an old lino floor. It was a mum and dad doing the serving and cooking in what looked like a typical family kitchen. Their grasp of English wasn't the greatest which to me explained the bad review about the service.

Reading the menu made my mouth water. It all sounded so different to my usual Asian fare. I chose 3 entrées and a bibambap for main. "Mum" wasn't happy with my selection of entrées and waved her hand in some sort of gesture which told me I had ordered too much food, so she said she would just bring 1 entreé. It was the dumplings (I was hoping it was the potato and spinach pancake). The bibambap arrived a little later in its super hot stone bowl. I mixed it up and it sizzled away at me. Spoon at the ready I dived in, it was hot, it was yum.

The food was cheap and very filling. I'm convinced. I will be back for more. There are a few more interesting dishes on that menu that I need to try.

Feb 22, 2008 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  4     

I don't really know where to start with this one as I promised my partner I would be nice. Now I'm not a fussy eater but I would probably say (and this was me personally) that this would be the worst dining experience I have ever had.
Below it is listed that there is a language barrier? Language barrier is fine, the "waitress" coming up to your table and looking at you as if she would rather die than serve you, then to only greet us with a "what??" when she took our order is a whole different thing!

We all decided to share starters and couldn't decide on the mains straight up so placed our order and asked to order mains when we had decided. This didn't go down to well (come to think of it - not much did). We asked for Spring rolls to which she said they had run out. Seeing as we were the only 5 in the place, I'm not sure how then had run out?? So we ended up with dim sims, prawn and fish tempura and some kind of pancake. All 3 were very oily but not too bad.

For our mains, we had 2 bbq beef, 1 korean tempura, 1 coconut chicken and 1 rainbow trout. The bbq beef and the coconut chicken eaters were well happy with their meals and I tasted both and they were actually really nice. The fish dishes however - not so great. The Korean tempura was refused by the person who ordered it as the oil was old. I ordered the rainbow trout and after one of our diners heard the microwave go bing, out came my trout. A little worried as she walked over and rightly so as when she got to me, the fish was whole, covered is slivered almonds and so dry I had to wash it down with wine. I was a good sport at having one bite but that was enough for me. So I ended up eating a friend's Korean tempura and he just starved.

The bill did only come to $18 per person but to be honest I would have preferred to have gone elsewhere and got myself 2 combos for that. I can't stress enough how we will definitely not be back at this place. Although the others food was nice, my food and also the terrible service have left a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended).

Oh also - While we were waiting for our mains, a couple turned up and were looking at the menu outside deciding whether or not to come in. The lady from the restaurant quickly scuffled from the kitchen only to close the door in their face and flip over the sign to say "closed" and just wave her finger at them as if to say no entry! This was at 7:50pm and like I said before, we were the only 5 in the place! The couple just walked away laughing at what had just happened. To be honest I'm a little upset I didn't leave with them.

Jan 08, 2008