Cafe Seoul

If I could give zero stars, I would. But, unfortunately, I can’t. My aunt had promised my sister and I to take us out to Korean food for dinner one day, so today was the day we’d decided to go. My cousins and my grandmother came along, and we ended up at Café Seoul. Within ten minutes of us arriving there, the owner was already pretty hostile. We decided what we wanted, so while waiting for him to acknowledge us, my grandmother had begun to move a single (ONE SINGLE) chair, of which she asked to use from a college student at another table (who said yes and that he was eating alone). Upon her beginning to move it, the owner told her to stop moving the chair. She obliged, politely, and put the chair back, whereas my aunt mentioned to him that we had six people. He told us that we should move the tables together (even though all the tables were full). When my aunt asked what he said, because she didn’t hear him, he leaned over the counter, looked directly at my grandmother, raised his voice to almost yelling and said, «JUST. WAIT.»
At that point, it was made clear that we weren’t having it, and that it wasn’t worth our time or money. My cousin forced us all to leave, because she didn’t want to deal with someone who was as rude as he was to an elderly woman, in her late sixties, of the same Asian origins as him.
We’d heard mentions of him being rude to some college kids, who are able to be rude right back, but it was ridiculous for him to raise hell and yell at an older, elderly woman of ethnicity. Not going there ever again, especially if they don’t hire more staff to treat customers kindly and like they’re fond of their job.
We ended up going to another Korean restaurant instead, who had much better staff, who were overall kind and caring.

Ordered the Korean pancake dish and overall, the food is good. Although we waited over an hour to get it, it seems like this place is always understaffed. One star because the owner is very rude and doesn’t seem to care much about his work or customer service. I won’t be coming in here again.

I Waited for service and to order for about 30 minutes. The worse was with no type of acknowledgement! Worse service ever

I never wrote a review here, but today i feel they need to know they need to stop with their horrible service. Today i walked in trying to order. I understand he was busy, but the restaurant is not even half full. Because most of the menu is in Korean, so when it was my turn, i walked up and try to ask about the menu. He just looked at with annoyed face, «how many people.» I asked if the crab stew is made with real crab and if it has vegetables. He said, «i dont know!»
HE SAID I DONT KNOW! he is the owner of the restaurant and he doesnt know! then i ask if he has any other seafood stew. He just gave me a menu and ask to step aside! he cant even answer me one simple question!!! i said «never mind» and walked out of the door. I will never go back agian no matter how good the food is.

Really great food. I live in Seattle, where there is a lot of fantastic Asian food, but this is as good or better then the Korean food I find in Seattle. It’s strange to hear about the bad service. The owner takes his job as waiter/​busser/​cashier really seriously. And he’ll stop to chat, and replace your side dishes, whenever he has a free moment. He’s really friendly and polite.

Best in West coast, try soft tofu hotpot.
If you are expecting good service, don’t come.
Just shut up and eat.

Best veggie yakisoba ever! Menu is hard for a picky vegetarian like me, but everything that comes out of the kitchen looks delicious.

Service was very quick, considering that every table was full. There are only 2 people staffing the restaurant, one taking orders and clearing tables, the other cooking each order. It was our first time and we were satisfied with the food and portions.

Been here for almost 4 years,. Now even I moved to California, still come back every year for it. Yes, the waiting is long. And the service maybe not quiet good as others. But the food is delicious, and the flavor is truly the best homemade Korean food I ever had. Live long and prosper, my little café!

My favorite Korean restaurant in town. It’s tiny and hidden under the Hirons. If you come during prime lunch or dinner hours you may have to wait for a table, it fills up fast. Your dish will probably take a bit, just enjoy some of the tea and wait because what comes out will be really good. They have great dolsot bibimbap, and the spicy squid is good too, super spicy. I recently tried the sam syup bol and found it good as well, but I couldn’t finish it as the portion was huge. Reminds me of Korea and I can’t wait to explore more of the menu.

Let me be perfect clear, I love the food here so much. But every so often, I wonder how on earth this place stays open for this many years with such horrible service.

I think it’s a very important question to ask: if a white restaurant owner were declining to serve black people or intentionally provided worse service to blacks, would I want to support that restaurant? I don’t usually open my reviews with such weighty questions, as most of the time we just want to know if a restaurant is good or bad. In this case, whether or not the restaurant is good or bad depends upon your race – and in the U.S. there should be no question about whether or not this is acceptable.
I’ll open by pointing out if you want Korean food without the excessive wait and with much nicer treatment, you might want to try Café Ari Rang, and Maru, both of which are on Franklin, about 5 minutes from Café Seoul. The elderly couple who own and run Café Ari Rang are incredibly nice and make all their own kimchee (several types) on site. They also make a fantastic beef bone broth soup that chases away winter colds like nothing else. Café Ari Rang is also a great example that a 2 person gig run by a married couple from Korea doesn’t have to include racism in the business model.
Maru does Korean table barbecue, and serves a variety of simple dishes and sushi – so while it may not speak to the purist, it’s still a pleasant environment.
Before going to Café Seoul, I read many of the reviews and noted several trends – for those who were from Korea or had lived in Korea Café Seoul provided a taste of home. For those who were perhaps Chinese, they could prepare to be actively discriminated against if they wanted to eat.
I’m Hispanic, my daughter is multi-​racial. I thought perhaps since we weren’t Asian at all, that maybe the prejudicial service might not be an issue, butI had prepared my daughter for the possibility that this might not go well. When we arrived and went to the counter to read the menu and order, I was pleasantly suprised to see the owner at the counter. When I turned to him to try to place an order he promptly turned his back and walked to a wall to look at something, then behind a flimsy divider.
We waited about 10 minutes. He «faux peeked» a couple of times, as the line behind us grew. At 15 minutes I realized it was pretty silly, that I could think of any number of places to go to where we could get good food and be treated civilly if not pleasantly. I also realized the people behind me might not get to order anytime soon if I persisted.
I have no clue if race is a factor or not, but the real question should be this: do you want to support a restaurant where that is even a factor?
For reviewers commenting that perhaps we all sit too much, shouldn’t act snooty, etc. I appreciate that you have that perspective – and you are totally ok with a business owner who singles out Chinese people? Because if that was a white business owner treating black would-​be patrons that way, I can’t help but think you would call that out in a heartbeat.
In the future we will go to Café Ari Rang or Maru. Café Seoul is someplace we won’t be back to.

I don’t go to a restaurant for service, I go for great food. This place does the latter quite well. It’s a Korean family owned and operated place where I feel like I’m eating with family. I have to get up to get extra sides and drinks. That’s fine with me! I sit too much anyways. If you want real and tasty Korean then go here, just don’t act snooty and expect 5 star service, you probably sit too much anyways. He is extra nice to Americans and Koreans. Not so nice to Chinese, but they know that and eat there anyways because the food is so good.

I’ve eaten here a few times. It has always been very good, well priced, and the service is courteous and prompt. Delicious. Very clean and tidy. Nice people.

Wish I’d read some of the other reviews about this restaurant before I came, but I’ve been wanting to try it for so long, when I got a chance I leapt for it!
My dining companions, Captain Pickypants and the Mayonnaise Avenger, are not as adventuresome as I might hope, so when I saw that the menu didn’t give descriptions on the various dishes I was relieved when I saw Chicken Teriyaki and Chicken Yakisoba on the menu. We decided to play it safe and go with the aforementioned dishes in the $ 7 lunch specials.
My first thought was, «Heyyyy I didn’t know Teriyaki and Yakisoba were Korean dishes, I thought it was just a Chinese thing!» I rationalized that maybe this was the Korean version of same.
Nope– the teriyaki and yakisoba are deliciously generic food safe for the less epicurians palates. Salty, sweet, familiar, and not at all what I was hoping for. My fault.
I see reviews demanding that people who have only tried these dishes remove their reviews immediately.
No. Here’s why:
These are dishes this restaurant serves. They are a part of the restaurant’s repertoire. They’re on the main drag in a whitebread city. These dishes are, I daresay, what many first-​timers are going to order. Maybe they, like me, will go next time and ask for the chef’s recommendations
Presentation was lovely. Side dish was rice. Meal included a fountain soda. No frills.
Service was, as others have noted, brusque. There was one person working the counter, serving, and clearing. Cultural or not, brusque is brusque. I’m rating this through my lens, not what is culturally acceptable or normal in a region which I will never see. ;) The gentleman was not rude in any way, just very busy and clearly edging on overwhelmed.
We were allotted one napkin per person and served forks. There were no additional napkins on the table near the back, which had soy sauce and chili paste. We were not given the choice of chopsticks, or checked up on at any point during the meal. We asked about straws for our drinks. Lids, yes, straws, no. «No straws!» he replied as he bustled past.
I’m not sure if the lack of straws and rationing of napkins is an indication of their financial status or if it is a planning issue due to how swamped they are, but something is not quite right.

Tofu hot pot is a perfect match with a cold windy night. I think Dol bi Bim bop in Ari R is better than here. I cant give 5 stars mainly because of the owner. He always act like a boss and everyone owes him! It is ridiculous that a restaurant provides only one napkin to a customer. Seriously, there are many Korean restaurants around so I prefer those places with good food as well as napkins.

Seoul food! Yummy. We had the soups mine was a spicy beef soup number two i think, my honey had the spicy crab soup. We both thouroly enjoyed both. Alot the flavors i was used to at my other favorite korean joints in my big hometown city. You can tell this is a husband and wife operation. And its great because shes in the kitchen putting together years and years of authentic korean recipes.
I dig it and will be back to try more of the menu.
More like a order at the counter spot. The dinning room is very simple with a cafeteria like atmosphere. Located down stairs feels like were in a basement but thats ok the food is good. Enjoy
Cheers!

Miss this place so much!!!
Enough saying ~~~~~~~~~~

This is one of my favorite places here in Eugene and something I’ll definitely miss once I graduate in a few months. If you can get past the owner’s gruff service, you’ll find he’s actually very nice if he’s not being swamped by the number of international students who eat here. Best of all, the food is great! Sometimes at off hours, you can meet the chef, who is the owner’s wife. I have tried everything from their Bulgogi, Galbitang, Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap, Dukboki, to dishes whose names I cannot pronounce. One of my favorites is a stir-​fried dish of pork belly, kimchi, and tofu which was recommended to me. Yes, so I come to this place for the food… not necessarily for service or atmosphere.
The main reason, I did not give this place a 5 is because, sometimes it’s hard to get the extra side dishes/​refills. I feel that that should be standard (at least for a Korean restaurant) if the place is «as good as it gets».

I’m gonna go ahead and give Café Seoul 4 stars solely for the lunch specials. Although there’s a limited selection of lunch specials, they serve some pretty tasty beef bulgogi and chicken yakisoba for $ 6.50 (includes a drink). I know, who orders yakisoba at a Korean place, right? That’s what I thought until I tried it for myself. It doesn’t taste like the traditional Japanese yakisoba. There’s something different about it, and I can’t quite put my finger on it… some kind of sauce that it’s cooked in. Anyway, get it. Or the beef bulgogi.