Ngrill has the prime spot in Seoul, in terms of stunning views. And with a revolving view, this should have been an outstanding and memorable experience. It was, but for the wrong reasons. The service was rude, unfriendly, and made us feel as though we were meant to be catering to them. The meals are not cheap!!! To be treated that way by the serving staff is unacceptable. Especially ome waitress.
We were there to celebrate a birthday. I researched restaurants in Seoul to find what sounded like somewhere extra special. NGrill, with its delicious sounding menu and exquisite view, seemed like the perfect place. We were really looking forward to it.
Annoyingly, I have a few food restrictions. I can’t have garlic or onion. With things like scallops, gravlax and steak (that are all on the obligatory 5-course menu), those dishes have never before been a problem in a restaurant. We chose NGrill, in large part, for that reason. When we mentioned it to the waitress, she matter of factly said that “everything has garlic and onion” and therefore it’s not possible.
Everything?! We said that I can’t have it or I’ll be sick, she repeated that it wouldn’t be possible. My boyfriend said “well then we can’t eat here, because she can’t eat it. It’s not a choice”. She said she’d ask the chef, and when she came back, she said that the chef won’t do it. That everything has garlic and onion.
My boyfriend asked if we could speak to the chef. The waitress just stood there glaring at us. Boyfriend said: “surely the chef can make something that she could eat, which doesn’t have garlic/onion?!”. I said to my boyfriend that maybe everything is premarinated. The waitress said that it isn’t, but that everything has a sauce, and the sauces are already made, and all have garlic and onion. I said “I’m fine to have it all without sauce”. Streak? Gravlax? They don’t need sauces.
We had taken a gondola to get to the restaurant, it was his birthday, and they did not mention when we reserved that the menu is not adaptable. And, it’s a very pricey place. I can understand McDonalds not catering to customers with food restrictions. But a very pricey steak place?!
She said she’d ask the chef again and when she came back, she said that it was possible to make everything without sauce, and therefore without garlic and onion. No kidding!!!!
For the rest of the evening, every time she came to the table, she was almost glaring, and practically rolling her eyes.
Sure, it’s a nuissance to her (for whatever reason) that I get sick if I eat certain foods (it’s a bigger nuissance to me than it is to her, I can tell you!!), and the chef sounds like a grumpy stickler who has no interest in making customers happy.
The food wasn’t even that great. The small piece of steak (again, very expensive!!) was tough and very fatty, the portions of the other 3 courses were miniscule. Literally one bite. The best part of the meal, by far, was the delicious bread.
Near the end of the meal, I went to find a (different!) waitress (because I was tired of being glared at by the main one who was serving us. The other one was perfectly friendly and pleasant). I wanted to ask if she could put a candle on my boyfriend’s cake. I had walked a distance from our table so that my boyfriend wouldn’t hear me ask. She walked me back to my table, and standing right behind him (so much for the surprise!), she asked if I wanted to a whole cake or just have a candle. I said “just a candle in his dessert please”. When they brought the desserts, they put the one with the candle in fromt of me. I swapped them, putting it in front of him. However.... they hadn’t lit the candle!! Thry just stuck it in his dessert. Another waiter then came over, struggled to light a match, and lit it.
The whole evening was ridiculous and amateurish, service-wise. I’m usually quite easy-going anout these things, and am good at laughing it off and considering it to be ‘quirky’ service. But not when paying those prices! It’s unacceptable. Not when we are literally bring glared at all evening, as if we are a nuissance for having health issues. And not when being told that the chef refuses to make dishes without gatlic and onion, and only agrees to when we say that we would have to leave in that case.
What could have been a beautiful evening still was, because we were there together, had fun together, and the view is superb. But as far as restaurants go? NGrill was a HUGE disappointment, purely due to the appaling and obnoxious service.
