Cho Won Garden

I hope they reopen this restaurant soon! It’s a shame it got replaced by a useless mexican place. I think they’d be very successful if they reopened this restaurant near the new Charlotte Premium Outlet mall.

Been there several times. Good food, Great service. Ordering BBQ, go to Atlanta…
portions are to small is my only complaint.

Love this place. great food and great service. my only problem is the price :) if you go all out it winds up being 100 bucks for two people. but what can I say you have to pay to play

I took some of my friends. I’d give it four stars for its marinated Galbi and Bulgogi but it was too hot and they had the fan on instead of the A/​C. I’m writing this now, but we went two weeks ago so it hasn’t cooled off yet. And it wasn’t the best first impression with boxes stacked up where customers can see them; considering that most of my friends went/​tried Korean food for the first time.
Service was good though. I still think it’s a bit over priced for the overall experience. I’d go again just because it’s the only Korean place big enough to go as a group but if I had options…

This is my first time back in at least 2 years maybe a year and a half. Previous visits were disappointing. This visit shows they improved but still have a little ways to go. Food for cost is still high. Taste is better and there service was good.

Great food & the servers were not only friendly but really helpful! It was my first time eating Korean food and they explained the food to me in great detail. They also made great suggestions. Will be back again soon!

My friends and I came for lunch on a Saturday. The food was good but very overpriced. Our group of 5 adults and 5 children who ordered one entrée each and had only water spent over $ 300. WOW! The best thing we ordered was the dol-​sat bibim bap and the O-​Jinguh bokum (spicy squid stirfry with vegetables).
They won’t allow customers to use the grills unless two or more people order bbq entrees which I thought was odd. Waiters were very helpful with recommendations.

Took my family here for lunch and it was a mistake. I love Korean food but this place just sucks. I will never go here again.
I ordered a kimchi soup that claimed to have «pork and veggies» in the description and EVEN the lady told me its pork and vegetables but came out in a little bowl with kimchi, tofu, and rice. I talked to the lady about it and she said they only use the pork for the broth. REALLY? So it shouldve said «with pork broth» and she should’ve told me that at first! That was a TOTAL WASTE of $ 12. I couldve spent $ 12 for 3 ice cream at Carolina Creamery and be so much more happier.
The second issue was they forgot one of our ordered and we had to tell the guy instead of the lady. She was bad service already. He later comes and tell us that the order was wrong, which is obviously a lie, and said it’ll take 3min. The food finally came out after we finished our meal! So much for 3mins so we just packed it.
Then they had the audacity to charge us with 17% tips!!! I was most pissed bout this. Since when did Chowon started charging tips? They knew they messed up and we wouldn’t tip them so they went ahead and charged us. How low can they be!!! With that kind of behavior, they’ll go out of business soon.

Poor first impression met last impression. Food was not tasty or flavorful. Bathroom was nasty– didn’t look like anyone cleaned it and this was mid day. Service was ok. I have had better Korean food. Will not come back.

Very good spicy steak. Excellent sides. Not cheap and not for vegetarians but worth the experience. Pickled lotus root was my fave side. Korean beer Hite was tasty too. Overall a good time trying something new.

A little cold in here. They used to have $ 9.99 lunch buffet all you can eat was a good deal and good food. I love the stir fried squid dish and Kalbi dish and of course all the kimchi. Staff is better than last time I was here.

Hubby and I took my brother here for dinner last night. It’s been a while since he had Korean (Chicago Kalbi a few years ago). Korean is one of Hubby’s favorite foods. It’s always the food I crave when I want to detox from a week of holiday indulgence or when I’m getting over a cold.
We were only 1 of 2 parties eating dinner there around 7pm the day after Christmas. We left our jackets in the car anticipating the lingering BBQ smell. However, the restaurant was very cold, probably because no one was using the do-​it-​yourself BBQ stations.
The banchan was standard fare, about eight little side dishes. I really liked the purple coleslaw and the fried veggie with cream sauce. The galbi tang is my go-​to favorite Korean dish. The broth was very flavorful, but could have used more meat. We split the bulgogi lettuce wraps. The meat was delicious. Hubby and brother split the spicy seafood tofu soup. Hubby was impressed with the flavor. We also split the bibimbap. The best part of the bibimbap is the crunchy rice at the bottom of the pot (my favorite!). The meal goes well with tea served in the kettle with the broken top knob. Overall the food was good, but pricey relative to other Korean places we’ve been to in other cities.
Our two servers were friendly and accommodating. Each table also has a call button when you need something, which probably comes in handy when the place is busy and the overhead hoods are turned on during the BBQ process tableside.

Sorry again. My folks came into town from LA, and I thought I’d take them here to see what Korean restaurant (singular) is like here in Charlotte.
Probably the last time I come here. It’s like you know a random Netflix movie is going to be bad but you sit there and watch it anways. Vow to never do it again. This time it’s real!
Given that I came here already somewhat negative on the place, it didn’t get better. My pops and I asked for Hite Beer, but the server assistant/​servant said that they couldn’t get it because it was too far back and difficult to get. I was thrown aback, but whatever, we just wanted beer and had to settle with Kirin. Contrast this with another restaurant later that day where my dad asked for A1 sauce, and the server ran across the way to Taco Mac to get A1. I’m not asking Cho Won Garden to go to extremes, but maybe, ya know, look for Hite, move a couple boxes around, and serve your products.
There’s a running joke in the fam that when my pops was so poor growing up when they had a beef stew, you would just continually water it down, and leave the chunks of meat. Wow, terribly told running joke. It’s an inside joke. Point being, their Suh-​lung Tahng soup was bland. I thought it was cloudy water with some chunks of meat floating around. Soup did not have flavor despite how much salt I added – and I hate adding salt to my food.
Still overpriced (perhaps unfair to compare with Los Angeles cost-​of-​living, oh wait, that doesn’t make sense). Hmm.
dmo out.

I’ve been wanting to try Korean BBQ since the move from California, so we found this place on here.
Let me just get to the point; the meat is very pricey ($ 15-​$ 25) for the amount. In order for it to be grilled on the gas grill, you have to order 2 set of meat and we did that. I was so disappointed when they guy started grilling it for us and not a self-​grill kind of thing. He also had to ask me to move so he could be in the center to grill the meat. He grilled about 5 minutes, turned off the gas heat and left. So we basically just ate it off the grill.
I was disappointed in everything. We ate as fast as we could and left. All drinks is NOT free-​refill. It cost me $ 2.25 for a can of coke. With that, our bill came back to $ 60 and was definitely not worth the money. Never will we come back ever again!
Back in California, we paid $ 20 each person for ALL-​YOU-​CAN-​EAT Korean BBQ grilling and we got to grill it ourselves. Husband and I would rather fly back there to eat Korean BBQ than coming back to Cho Wan Garden, it’s the truth and hopefully it happens soon because we want some good Korean BBQ.
P. S. You could almost not taste the marinated sauce on the meat. Not something I was happy about cause we ordered two different meat and they both tasted the same. To be honest, if I could give them a no-​star rate, I would.

Ive started eating Korean food in college in South Carolina and have always enjoyed it but I didnt know just how good it could get until visiting Cho Won Garden. My favorite dish there is the dolsot be bim bap. Be sure to order the dolsot be bim bap instead of just the regular be bim bap. The difference is that the dolsot is served in a piping hot stone bowl. This makes the rice really crispy at the bottom and somehow, that small detail makes a huge difference. The spicy bean paste thats served on the side is amazing-​I usually finish the whole serving/​The Korean barbeque is also very impressive. I tend to be picky about meat because so often, its dry and tasteless. The bul go gi is incredibly tender and seems to fall apart as soon as it hits your mouth. The spicy pork is very good too and I cant wait to try the other barbecue options as well as the stews.

Quick disclosure… I grew up in a Korean house, eating my Mom’s amazing cooking. Also, I lived in Denver for quite some time. Which has an abnormally high Korean population with awesome Korean restaurants. So, I realize that my bar for Korean food is set really high.
I’m super disappointed that I couldn’t give Cho Won Garden more stars. I really wanted it to be awesome. Korean food is awesome when it is executed well. The flavors are diverse, intense, and exciting. Korean BBQ is a fun and unique experience. Cho Won couldn’t deliver on any of those counts. Bland kimchee & dwaeji bulgogi… Really! Bland is the last word that should describe kimchee & dwaeji bulgogi (spicy pork)! The broth of the mandoo duk soup was straight up msg flavor. Not the complex beefy broth that it should be.
Service was fine. Like many Korean restaurants, they had the doorbell to call a server over when you needed them. Which means they won’t come and check on your regularly. Don’t be afraid to use it!
Bland. Boring. Far from authentic… Please don’t let Cho Won be how you judge Korean food. I won’t be back.

This was my first time at a restaurant for Korean BBQ. But my boyfriend talked it up so much that this place just didn’t live up to it. For me it was a great experience but for people who love Korean beef I think this place will be a miss for them.
I did love trying all the small plates that you can make lettuce wraps with. The flavors of the food were really good. We ordered the fried dumplings which were great. They came with soy sauce for dipping which I wish they put more consideration into and seasoned some how to make an actual sauce.
The bulgogi had good flavor but was not tender at all. My boyfriend had described the bulgogi he had at other places as the most tender steak he’s had. For the price of this bulgogi, I would expect them to use higher quality meal. If it had only been $ 10 — $ 12 it would have been more in line with what I expected.
The service was also not the best. It was pretty busy for what seemed like only two wait staff. We ordered a drink each and never received them but they did show up on the bill which we had to have them take off. (They kindly did and apologized.)

I decided against my better judgement to do a GPS Roulette with this place. I did a search and looked up restaurants in my general vicinity because my stomach was getting angry and planning to rub some blisters on my back bone from lack of food. I know Unilocal is frowning at me right now, and I swear I usually do the Unilocal Roulette instead as my preferred treasure finder.
Well, Unilocal,I was paid back. pretty badly at that. I will never stray again, I promise it was just a fling and boy am I ever sorry for it. I should have known by the 2 other cars that were in the parking lot during a normal busy time of day… I should have known by the décor when we entered, and I usually never judge a place based on that alone… I love me a good dive, but the prices were NOT divey.
We sat down and our server was so so. My honey told him specifically I can’t eat vegetables, so for my meal if there are any, please tell them I don’t want them. The server said ok, and when the first round of food came out I was impressed. They give you about 6 little appetizers to try, and they were pretty neat. Some of them tasted pretty good and some not so good, but I just figured that was my palatte.
Well my honey’s food comes out, and you guessed it, it’s PILED with vegetables. Our server wasn’t the one to bring it out, but he did come and check on us. We told him about the vegetables and he was very nonchalont, and pretty much dismissed us for the most part. He disappeared, and never came back to check on us.
My food was very bland, and just not appealing in general, and I’m not very picky. I was upset that he never came back, and that he got our order wrong in the first place, but the lack of service is what did it for me. I am a stickler for service, and for the prices they charge, this is unacceptable. I don’t give one star reviews often either, but this place earned it.
We had to ring a bell next to our table when we were ready to go, that was like a door bell for our check to be brought out. We ring it… and wait… and wait some more, and some more… and I’m starting to get angry by this point. I ring it again a few minutes later and finally he comes back over. He can tell we are angry, but doesn’t ask how everything was, sees our full plates of uneaten food still sitting in front of us, and doesn’t even offer to get us anything else, a discount etc. We paid, and I will honestly say I will NEVER walk back through the doors of that place. The lack luster food was bad enough, but pair it with non existent service… OH NO. I’ll take my money and good mood elsewhere.

I enjoyed coming here an the food was really good however there were a few drawbacks. I would really like to give them 3.5 stars but I’ll round up. We did have a rather large group (19 people) so they were hard pressed to keep up with us. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t all sit together but it worked out in the end.
So anyways the food was good, although I’ve had a Korean friend (who unfortunately moved back to South Korea) host Korean BBQ parties and his food was by far twice as good as Chow Won. That aside I really enjoyed it a lot! The best thing is the sides/​apps are unlimited an the hot tea is complimentary. The biggest drawback to me was that if we wanted to cook it ourselves we could only do it if we ordered two of the same dish. So our table of 7 wanted to order 4 dishes but we couldn’t order 4 different dishes. We got a pork dish and a beef dish; I really hate I can’t remember what they are but it was in the 22 – 26 range on the menu. The beef was really good and while the pork was okay it wasn’t something I’d choose again.
I will definitely be back to try different dishes. They probably do deserve 4 stars and next time I’ll have to order what I really want instead of doing a group order lol. I’ll update after going again!

Winner! Best fried Dumplings! Best Dumplings Overall! These Dumplings were better than all the others I have eating so far ANYWHERE! 5 Unilocal stars for the Dumplings!
When Dinning in an Asian Restaurant, it is a HUGE compliment to me when they assume I have chopstick skills and when they never ask it I would like different utensils! At Cho Won Garden they never even hinted at the notion of suggesting a fork!
Two guys waited on me and did really well, both spoke perfect English with no accent and made suggestions for my first dine and my next dine!
Best Flavor for «all the extras»! To date I have only eaten in 4 Korean Restaurants — In every place they describe the Kimchi and all the other small dishes as «all the extras» Cho Won Garden does «all the Extras» Excellent!
Tempura was Very Good! As good as I have eaten! 5 Unilocal stars!
Salad was good with a Ginger type Dressing, even though it had something like milk or mayo with it (I hate mayo)!
Miso Soup is… well since I’m not a Miso fan I will not rate it!
The BBQ Beef Ribs were very good though not quite as flavorful as I’m used to at other Korean Restaurants!
It is easy for me to see me «Falling in Love» here! I’m the only white person here so that is nice! This place makes my «Lookalota» list with ease!