Open Korea

3.5 Below Average

Food  1      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  4     

Awful food. Was here with a group of 5 on a Saturday night with the All-You-Can-Eat KBBQ voucher. Being a big fan of KBBQ and seeing the voucher was value-for-money I decided to try out this place, big mistake. No-where on the voucher did it inform us that there is a two hour time limit, and neither was I informed when making the booking over the phone. But as 2hrs is plenty of time for us, that wasn't a huge issue I suppose.

Huge problem was the 'unlimited' meat that was served up. We weren't allowed to pick and choose once we finished our plate of raw food. Served up to us were 1cm thick slices of pork belly, chunky beef cuts which weren't marinated, prawns, fish, chicken. The only thing 'ok' were the prawns. But all the raw meats from the all-you-can-eat were bland and not marinated.

The biggest disappointment was the thick pork belly which tastes nothing like the usual pork belly and the beef cuts which were also thickly sliced and tough. The sauce was a watered down soya sauce, not the usual sesame seed oil with seasoning powder. We got two plates of side dishes, one bowl of rice to go around the table and some lettuce, all of which isn't refilled.

I certainly won't be revisiting this place ever. I'd rather pay extra and eat elsewhere and get better everything than waste my time coming back here. On the night, the restaurant was very full, but seems like every table were there because of a voucher.

May 27, 2012 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  1      Value  1     

Did anyone order a really long black hair with their bulgolgi? We sure as heck didn't.
Extraordinarily disappointed as this used to be one of my favoured eateries in the area. Oh, how they can fall. The thing that really, really, really annoyed me most was the insistence we pay for everything that didn't need a shave!

May 25, 2012 

1 Not Recommended

Ambience  1      Service  1     

Last night we went to Open Korea with a voucher for an ‘all you can eat’ Korean BBQ. We had tried several times to make a booking at this restaurant and were always told they were very busy and could only fit us in at 5 or 5.30pm. We decided we’d better take the option of the early booking otherwise we’d never get to use the voucher. We checked the voucher and saw that the deal included a soft drink, glass of house wine or a beer, all well and good, checked eatability and it clearly states it’s a BYO restaurant with no corkage.

That’s when the problems started, after telling the waitress that we would have two beers and then drink our own wine, we were told that the deal did not allow this. We politely pointed out that nowhere on the voucher does it give this information. The waitress went to see the ‘senior staff’ (we assume) and came back informing us that if we wanted to drink our wine then a corkage charge of $2.50 each would be applied, we agreed to the charge even though it’s supposed to be a no corkage restaurant.

She then went to get our beers but before they arrived the ‘senior staff’ came over to our table and indicated on the menu the dishes that would go to make up our meal and insisted on telling us that the food was worth over $100 so there was no way we would be allowed to drink our own wine, if we wanted wine we would have to buy it from his wine list! With that we asked for our voucher back and left the restaurant.

Just a note on the cleanliness of the restaurant from the little we saw of it, the table top was filthy, greasy and sticky and the wine list was equally dirty with sticky fingerprints all over it! Needless to say, we left the restaurant with not a very good impression of it and are wondering if the restaurant has changed hands as we had previously had several good meals there (some time ago though) with pleasant service, cleanliness and good value for the food.

May 22, 2012 

1.3 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Yesterday after my recommendation, my friends and I, 4 of us went to the restaurant to enjoy 'all-you-can-eat' Korean BBQ Group Voucher. It was an aweful experience.

There was no menu provided, nor dishes on table to choose from. After waited for 30 minutes, a plate of 5 slices of port belly served (without asking us if we would like this or introduce what is available to choose from). We finished the plate and waited for another 20 minutes, till the next plate was served. In full two and half hours, we were served only 4 plates. When we asked for another plate, the waiter gave us the 5th plate with much smaller quantity and told us 'time is up'! We were still half starving and wondered where is the 'all-you-can-eat' service!

Not sure if you are familiar with Korean BBQ, but with 'classic' ones, sauces and lettuce are normally unlimited served to go with the BBQ. This restaurant, only served us 4 pieces of lettuce and two small sauce! When we asked for more, the answer was 'extra ones will be charged'! I tried to explain we have two coupons here so at least we should get two bowels of lettuce to share between 4, the waiter said she will ask the boss but never returned!

May 02, 2012 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  3      Service  2      Value  2     

I went there last week. The service of the restaurant was really poor. The rice was extremely hard. Other dishes were too oily. Hope they can improve their customer services skills.

Apr 10, 2012 

4 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  3      Service  4      Value  4     

I got delivery from Open Korea, which is free above $25 in the local area. Anyway, the pork bologui was really nice but fatty and extremely oily. The kimchi fried rice was mediocre, I much prefer the spicy fried rice somewhere else which is more satisfying and cost a lot less. Overall, this is a good delivery option, but if you want better korean food, head somewhere else in chinatown.

Nov 14, 2011 

4.8 Average

Food  4      Ambience  5      Service  2      Value  8     

This place is a real hit and miss which is very annoying. Some days they're food is fantastic, other days it just dreadful. In fact dreadful enough that I have actually driven back from a pick up takeaway order and requested that they re-cook me an order that was way to salty (salty as in sea water salty) than how they usually serve it.

They're take away lunch menu is the same. Although very affordable and value for money it's very hit and miss. Today's order of Mongolian beef was just awful. The meat was not overcooked but actually burnt and toasted. I had to pick out all the meat that was burnt and was left with basically rice and veggies (which were also toasted but not as bad as the beef) I've attached a photo so you can see. If it wasn't for the fact that it was a take away and I was closer to the restaurant I would also have returned this.

My wife and I are regulars here and it is a shame that their food is like a lotto draw. However as its the only korean restaurant in the area we have to put up with it. I guess its really just whose cooking on the day - which is not good!

Sep 05, 2011 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  8     

Having walked past this place numerous times in the past year, we finally got around to checking it out. It being the first Korean cuisine experience for both of us. We were served a complimentary starter which, although neither of us are tuna fans, was a nice touch.

We ordered the chicken bulgogi, beef teriyaki, kim chee fried rice and spring roll entree, the chicken being the standout. Serving sizes were very generous and more than we could eat. We BYO'ed beer and wine and the final bill came in under $50 which by my account is a cheap night out. The decor is not amazing, but it's a nice local restaurant which we will visit again.

Nov 09, 2010 

3.8 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  1     

I've driven past this place a few times and sure enough my curiosity eventually got the better of me so a few nights ago a friend and I tried Open Korea. The complimentary appetizer was fantastic: some delicious coated prawns on a small bed of baby spinach leaves with sauce.

Here's what we ate, and what I thought: Vegetable Tempura: "Vegetables dipped in batter and deep fried. Served with tempura sauce". $12.50. I have had this dish at a few places and always look forward to a variety of tasty vegetables, but in this case there is no plural about it - 'vegetables' included shoestring sweet potato heavily battered and dripping with oil. The 'dipping sauce' was a strange vinegar concoction which didn't improve the overwhelming saltiness of the batter.

Egg Rolled Tofu: "Bean curd rolled in egg and pan fried, served with seasoned soy sauce". $10.50. No effort was made to make this dish interesting in the slightest: you get exactly what the description says with no added flavour or flair. It was a stingey serve with another plain and watery sauce to dip the already oil-soaked pieces of battered tofu.

Chicken Teriyaki: "Chicken stirfried in sweet teriyaki sauce and served with steamed vegetables". $12.50. If you thought the first two sounded bad, this dish was the disaster of the evening. The chicken was stringy and grey. The serving was very small and there was little variety with the vegetables which were very undercooked. What should be the highlight of the dish, the sauce, was like a cross between bottled 'BBQ' sauce and something you'd slop out of a jar of Kantong.

Miso Soup: "Bean curd and bean paste soup". $4.50. The most expensive and boring serving of miso I've ever encountered. Tasted like straight out of a dried packet, with tiny bits of seaweed and a grainy textured miso paste. No tofu.

In three words: Overpriced, oily and bland. I spent the rest of the evening on the toilet as a result. It's probably the kind of food you should eat when you're really drunk, if at all.

Apr 13, 2010 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  9     

This place is great for a good value, yummy low key meal with a partner or friend. Not really somewhere that would be appropriate for groups. The food is really tasty, I especially love the vegetarian pancake and the fresh spring rolls with ham.
Service can be able little bit slow so don't come in a hurry, but the owners are lovely. The surroundings are basic, but people don't come here for the ambience, they come for the food.

Sep 12, 2009