Jinyoung P.
Yelp
My sister and I wanted some Korean bbq and we specifically wanted to go to a place that uses charcoal. We tried to go to Koryo but after two unsuccessful attempts, we decided to try Seoul Garden.
I called before going just to make sure we wouldn't drive all the way for nothing. The lady who answered the phone was going to get me someone else when I first spoke in English but I switched to Korean and asked if they're busy. She seemed confused but then asked how many we were. When I told her 2, she warmly told me to come.
By the time we arrived, it was close to 9pm. We were promptly seated in a booth, and shortly after, someone poked her head in while walking by and asked if we were the ones who called. We still had our masks on at this point and she asked us if we were twins (my mom later joked that it's because we both got out eyebrows done at the same place). She would check in on us frequently and be super sweet the whole time.
We ordered the Suwon Galbi and Pork Jowl (Hang Jung Sal). The charcoal was brought to our table, as was the banchan, then the meat. They do use a pan that covers most of the charcoal underneath, so I didn't taste a huge difference from using charcoal vs. another source of heat, but my sister and I both noticed that the meat cooked super fast, which was great since we were hungry.
The Suwon Galbi was nice, with a very light marinade, and we thought the portion for the pork jowl was very large. I'm not sure if they gave us extra since we were seemingly the last table of the night and they were being nice, or if that's the normal portion, but it felt like it was twice the amount you get at Ari in Carrollton. Everything was fresh and the meat was really good quality.
I think I read some people complain about the jjigae and the steamed egg but they were both fine in our case. The jjigae wasn't like amazing but it was decent and did its job for the meal, and the egg was delicious. I will say that there was a slight smoky taste in the egg but I didn't think this was a bad thing at all.
We left feeling suuuuper full. I couldn't even finish the meat on the bone from the Suwon Galbi.
All in all, I would return, but not necessarily because they use charcoal. The food was delicious and plentiful, and the service was great.