Ilsong Garden

Wow bad. Not Korean food. I eat and cook Korean food frequently, so I'm fine with all kinds of versions of Korean food. I have a high tolerance for mediocre Korean food because I love it so much. This place is NOT Korean food, not even close to authentic. We were the only ones in the restaurant at lunch time, which should've been a tip off. I ordered the tteok-bokki 떡볶이 spicy rice cakes and 김치파전 kimchee pancake. The flavor of the rice cakes tasted like it was made with maple syrup, instead of red pepper paste and soy sauce. See photo. Weird taste, worse texture. Rice cakes must have been in a long term freezer and cooked from frozen. Low quality. Not fresh. Photo below. The savory veggie pancake literally had those string hash browns in it. It was about an inch thick and saturated in oil. Very unusual flavors, for sure not made with Korean ingredients. The side dishes 반찬 were not fresh, and not many options. I left all the food there, didn't even take a to go box, which is not like me. >.

Husband and I had the AYCE KBBQ dinner on a Saturday night, they’re open until 1:30am! AYCE includes appetizers, we ordered the fried dumplings, seafood pancake and spicy rice cakes. All the appetizers were served hot and tasted fresh! Best tteokbokki I’ve ever had! First time my husband has ever had tteokbokki and he liked it a lot! The fried dumplings were crispy and super flavorful! The seafood pancake had plenty of seafood inside and on top with a nice crispy bottom! They also have a self serve banchan station included with the meal. For our meats, we ordered the beef ribeye, beef bulgogi, la kalbi and spicy pork bulgogi. All the meats were well seasoned with generous portions! Our server was attentive and made sure we enjoyed our meal. We enjoyed our dinner and left full and happy. We will definitely be back soon!

I never imagined I would be doing this, but I have to give Ilsong a 1-star rating. We used to eat there fairly often, pre Covid, and it was always great food and service. But clearly, the original owners are no longer involved (hopefully they are happily retired) because what we experienced this time was one of the worst restaurant experiences I can remember. The food quality was not great but not bad, so I will leave that there. As to service and atmosphere, it was awful. We almost walked out before ordering and now I wish we had. In the past, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the atmosphere or service. We typically had Korean waitstaff and a typical Korean-style menu. First problem, the waiter understood neither English nor Korean, only Spanish. Next was the menu. Besides the regular menu, they had an "AYCE" menu which I later understood to be all-you-can-eat and which was, for me, very confusing. When I tried asking about the menu and items and prices, the waiter could only point to the menu. He could not answer in English or Korean. Long story short, I thought the ayce price was $37.99 for 2 persons. No. It's per person, which in my opinion was way too high for their food quality and level of service. Next, Atmosphere: although we were greeted by an Asian man in an apron, he was probably the cook. There was very little there to make us feel like we were even in a Korean restaurant. The final insult came at the end when I asked for a bottle of soju to-go. (It's a korean liquor similar to gin). I asked the waiter if he understood "so-ju," and he indicated he did.He brought me a bottle (about 12 oz) in a paper sack which, as we found out at home when we attempted a toast with shots of soju, was actually apple wine. APPLE WINE. When checking out at the register, I was greeted with a tab for our party of 4 for $229.00 that did not include a gratuity, and it was certainly not what I would expect to pay in a less-than-high-end restaurant. Visit at your own risk.

we came in last night around 9:45. the service was amazing we ordered tteobokki and the kimchi pancake. the portions we amazing and the food was amazing. definitely 10/10 will be coming back soon!

10/10 the food is extremely delicious the portion are large! The prices are normal 12.99, 1499 etc. The waiter was beyond generous. My daughter and I were eating and I had to step out for a phone call, and the waiter came and took my soup back and sent a fresh one out! Above and beyond. Will be back :)