Extremely Poor Service, Discrimination Against Non-Koreans, Rude Staff, and Terrible Food
My dining experience at Cho Sun Ok was by far the worst I’ve ever had in my life! I’ve been coming here for many years, but after much thought, I finally decided to write this review to sum up my experience over the past decade.
10 years ago, the food was decent, and back then, there weren’t as many Korean restaurant options in Chicago. However, the service has been terrible since at least 2012. In the past, the staff was merely indifferent, serving dishes with an attitude as if they were throwing them at you. Now, it has gotten even worse—they openly scold customers, and to make things worse, the food quality has declined drastically. The only things that remain unchanged are the restaurant’s poor hygiene, greasy environment, and the staff’s unfriendly attitude! There is absolutely no reason for me to ever return.
From the moment we walked in, the servers immediately gave us a nasty look upon realizing we weren’t Korean. They were extremely unfriendly. Tables that arrived after us were served water and side dishes first, while we waited an unusually long time and didn’t even receive our side dishes. When placing our order, we clearly asked for a budae jjigae (army stew) and even repeated it in Korean, yet when we followed up, they claimed we never ordered it! The service was simply beyond words.
To make matters worse, they didn’t even give us plates or chopsticks before bringing the meat to the grill. How were we supposed to eat without utensils? When we placed our coats on the chairs, they repeatedly bumped into them on purpose, knocking them off multiple times. The entire time, the staff wore an unfriendly expression, showing no sense of hospitality. However, when white customers walked in, they were greeted with warm smiles. This obvious discrimination made us extremely uncomfortable.
The most unacceptable part was when we asked a server to repeat our order, and a middle-aged female staff member actually cursed at us in their language! After we paid, we chose not to leave a tip due to the appalling service, and upon seeing this, the staff started yelling at us again with a horrible attitude. How could anyone willingly tip for such terrible service?
Now, about the food— The cold noodles were completely flavorless, and the soup tasted like plain water. The meat was clearly not fresh, with a dark color and dried-out edges, as if it had been sitting out for a long time. The texture was extremely tough, making it impossible to chew, and I ended up spitting out more than I ate. The prices are not cheap, yet neither the food nor the service justifies the cost.
In conclusion, this restaurant has atrocious service, clear discrimination, and even goes as far as insulting customers. On top of that, the food is terrible. I absolutely do NOT recommend this place! Avoid it at all costs! It’s outrageous that customers have to endure mistreatment and insults while paying for a meal. The service here is like a nightmare, it's really terrible and can't be described. I don't mind a lack of service attitude, but I CAN NOT accept being rudely insulted! I have no idea how this place has so many five-star reviews.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
NikiSnowball
Experience was extremely disappointing. They treated you like you are a criminal. The staff were unfriendly and made us feel very unwelcome, as if they were rushing us to leave so they could seat the next guests and collect more tips. The food was not fresh, and the overall dining experience was uncomfortable. It felt more like they were focused on maximizing turnover rather than providing good service. Definitely not a place I would recommend.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
L Saxiao
The meat quality is so bad, I can’t even chew it. In the past year, I’ve visited a few times and always ended up with bad beef slices. I won’t be coming back again. Goodbye. The meat quality is so bad you can't even chew it. I've been here a few times over the past year and I've always encountered bad pieces of beef. I won't come again. hi.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Fadi NC
Before the massive rant about everything else, the meat is good quality, side dishes are good, rice is good, portion feeds 1.2 adults and definitely does not serve two adults The service is nonexistent, and when it existed for couple of seconds it felt like you are interacting with a mean step mom. Atmosphere is unwelcoming, no washrooms, grumpy ladies serving It feels like a prank but it's not. Worst service I've ever had in any restaurant ever. But the food is good
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Sliced Beef
Honey Bee
I mean…don’t expect superb customer service but the food was yummy. The fried rice at the end was soo good.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Kimchi Fried Rice After Finishing the BBQ, Bulgogi
Jin Kim
This is a Korean restaurant with a Korean atmosphere. It was a little disappointing that alcohol was not sold separately, but the cold noodles were really delicious. It was made for two people, and although it was a lot for the price, it didn't seem to be that good because it had less fat. I had grilled meat and stir-fried rice and it was good, and even if it wasn't meat, I would like to come back to eat cold noodles again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Ryan Thiel
Been coming here for over 10 years. The same Korean lady servers are ALL still here, and still not one word of English (lol). They are rude as can be (it gives the place its unique atmosphere), because they are overworked and run around like crazy. Even the owner who always sits at the bar/counter in a very crowded room was still present (too present). Trying to get back into things from covid, we wanted to feel normal again. Impossible! The owner decided to face our table on his bar stool (less than 5 feet away) and without covering his mouth or face, hack cough, not once but 3 times over 2 minutes. There was stuff on the floor and on the edge of my table where my food had just been put down. I was in disbelief. When he realized we were completely in shock and stopped dining, the owner opened his wallet to show me two vaccination cards completely filled in. You can have 5 boosters up to this point, so it puts into the question if they are even real. The problem is that he touched every single napkin, restocking them with his bare hands (not washed) before and after his phlegm party. We realized the health and sanitation of this place was truly in question. We had to leave at that moment.
We both want to cry. This was our go to place for Korean BBQ. Ignorance was bliss. Now, forever ruined. On a side note, he raised all the prices by 30 percent, and the quality of the bulgogi was downgraded. Greed, ignorance, and absolute animal manners destroyed a top 5 favorite spot for us.
Forced now to buy kimche at H mart and learn how to make bulgolgi marinade from scratch. Anyonghaseo Cho Sun!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
Maco Dinu
The food is delicious! But one thing.... everytime I've been there, I've felt rushed. Our group of 6 could never fully enjoy ourselves.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Zachary Wong Loi Sing
Food is good but service is several lacking.
The servers have little spatial awareness and repeatedly spilled liquid, dropped dishes on the table, and seemed to think that working recklessly fast was efficient.
Andrew Choi
This Korean restaurant has serious service manner problem. My 2nd generation daughter visited here with her friends a few weeks ago. She said the waitress was not happy when she asked her
refill the Banchan as other korean restaurant usual service. But the lady looked her and very reluctantly refilled their banchan. This is unacceptable manner in any Korean restaurants. Horrible.
We got the non marinated meat and it was so dry. You could tell it just came out of the freezer. Soon du bu was just ok. The kimchi fried rice was maybe the highlight of our meal. Don't expect too much from the service. Dont understand why people would spend so much time in line to get a table here.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Kimchi Fried Rice After Finishing the BBQ
Samridh Gupta
Food was okayish, have had way better Korean at other spots in Chicago, service was terrible
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Yifan Han
Overall the food was good and very authentic. But both me and my friend had stomachache after eating.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Kimchi Fried Rice After Finishing the BBQ
Jonathan Lin
Really really good Korean food. I’ve never seen so many side dishes. We got the ChaDol Gui. At the end, they mix in rice and more sides to create a fried rice.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Vanesa G
The food is delicious, yes. Great traditional entrees, lots of flavors, generous banchan. I know this place is well known for a reason and I have been here before. Sadly the food is not enough to have me go back again and the service has everything to do with it.
I can take brusque or non-existant service, but flat out rude and argumentative? Not at all. Me and 2 friends came for dinner, my friend ordered her dish and the waiter misheard her. She clarified by using the number on the menu, the waiter repeated a different number. She clarified again by describing the dish and the waiter said ok. When our dishes came out my friend got the wrong item, the same one the waiter said the first time. Once she told the waiter that that wasn't what she ordered, the waiter kept insisting that it was! After a minute or two they then walked away without saying ANYTHING. A few minutes later they brought my friend what she wanted, but throughout our entire meal they kept bringing up that that wasn't what she asked for. Then at one point I was having a choking episode (I inhaled some spice, you know) and as I'm coughing, trying to catch my breath, this same waiter comes asking for our bottle of vinegar for someone and getting frustrated that I'm not handing it over...as I'm choking! Ridiculous. Korean food is easily my favorite cuisine but Cho Sun Ok's service left a terrible taste in my mouth. And as others mentioned- they asked for a tip! Unbelievable ?
Extremely Poor Service, Discrimination Against Non-Koreans, Rude Staff, and Terrible Food
My dining experience at Cho Sun Ok was by far the worst I’ve ever had in my life! I’ve been coming here for many years, but after much thought, I finally decided to write this review to sum up my experience over the past decade.
10 years ago, the food was decent, and back then, there weren’t as many Korean restaurant options in Chicago. However, the service has been terrible since at least 2012. In the past, the staff was merely indifferent, serving dishes with an attitude as if they were throwing them at you. Now, it has gotten even worse—they openly scold customers, and to make things worse, the food quality has declined drastically. The only things that remain unchanged are the restaurant’s poor hygiene, greasy environment, and the staff’s unfriendly attitude! There is absolutely no reason for me to ever return.
From the moment we walked in, the servers immediately gave us a nasty look upon realizing we weren’t Korean. They were extremely unfriendly. Tables that arrived after us were served water and side dishes first, while we waited an unusually long time and didn’t even receive our side dishes. When placing our order, we clearly asked for a budae jjigae (army stew) and even repeated it in Korean, yet when we followed up, they claimed we never ordered it! The service was simply beyond words.
To make matters worse, they didn’t even give us plates or chopsticks before bringing the meat to the grill. How were we supposed to eat without utensils? When we placed our coats on the chairs, they repeatedly bumped into them on purpose, knocking them off multiple times. The entire time, the staff wore an unfriendly expression, showing no sense of hospitality. However, when white customers walked in, they were greeted with warm smiles. This obvious discrimination made us extremely uncomfortable.
The most unacceptable part was when we asked a server to repeat our order, and a middle-aged female staff member actually cursed at us in their language! After we paid, we chose not to leave a tip due to the appalling service, and upon seeing this, the staff started yelling at us again with a horrible attitude. How could anyone willingly tip for such terrible service?
Now, about the food—
The cold noodles were completely flavorless, and the soup tasted like plain water. The meat was clearly not fresh, with a dark color and dried-out edges, as if it had been sitting out for a long time. The texture was extremely tough, making it impossible to chew, and I ended up spitting out more than I ate. The prices are not cheap, yet neither the food nor the service justifies the cost.
In conclusion, this restaurant has atrocious service, clear discrimination, and even goes as far as insulting customers. On top of that, the food is terrible. I absolutely do NOT recommend this place! Avoid it at all costs! It’s outrageous that customers have to endure mistreatment and insults while paying for a meal. The service here is like a nightmare, it's really terrible and can't be described. I don't mind a lack of service attitude, but I CAN NOT accept being rudely insulted! I have no idea how this place has so many five-star reviews.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Experience was extremely disappointing. They treated you like you are a criminal. The staff were unfriendly and made us feel very unwelcome, as if they were rushing us to leave so they could seat the next guests and collect more tips. The food was not fresh, and the overall dining experience was uncomfortable. It felt more like they were focused on maximizing turnover rather than providing good service. Definitely not a place I would recommend.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
The meat quality is so bad, I can’t even chew it. In the past year, I’ve visited a few times and always ended up with bad beef slices. I won’t be coming back again. Goodbye.
The meat quality is so bad you can't even chew it. I've been here a few times over the past year and I've always encountered bad pieces of beef. I won't come again. hi.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Before the massive rant about everything else, the meat is good quality, side dishes are good, rice is good, portion feeds 1.2 adults and definitely does not serve two adults
The service is nonexistent, and when it existed for couple of seconds it felt like you are interacting with a mean step mom.
Atmosphere is unwelcoming, no washrooms, grumpy ladies serving
It feels like a prank but it's not.
Worst service I've ever had in any restaurant ever.
But the food is good
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 4
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Sliced Beef
I mean…don’t expect superb customer service but the food was yummy. The fried rice at the end was soo good.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Kimchi Fried Rice After Finishing the BBQ, Bulgogi
This is a Korean restaurant with a Korean atmosphere.
It was a little disappointing that alcohol was not sold separately, but the cold noodles were really delicious. It was made for two people, and although it was a lot for the price, it didn't seem to be that good because it had less fat. I had grilled meat and stir-fried rice and it was good, and even if it wasn't meat, I would like to come back to eat cold noodles again.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
Been coming here for over 10 years. The same Korean lady servers are ALL still here, and still not one word of English (lol). They are rude as can be (it gives the place its unique atmosphere), because they are overworked and run around like crazy. Even the owner who always sits at the bar/counter in a very crowded room was still present (too present). Trying to get back into things from covid, we wanted to feel normal again. Impossible! The owner decided to face our table on his bar stool (less than 5 feet away) and without covering his mouth or face, hack cough, not once but 3 times over 2 minutes. There was stuff on the floor and on the edge of my table where my food had just been put down. I was in disbelief. When he realized we were completely in shock and stopped dining, the owner opened his wallet to show me two vaccination cards completely filled in. You can have 5 boosters up to this point, so it puts into the question if they are even real. The problem is that he touched every single napkin, restocking them with his bare hands (not washed) before and after his phlegm party. We realized the health and sanitation of this place was truly in question. We had to leave at that moment.
We both want to cry. This was our go to place for Korean BBQ. Ignorance was bliss. Now, forever ruined. On a side note, he raised all the prices by 30 percent, and the quality of the bulgogi was downgraded. Greed, ignorance, and absolute animal manners destroyed a top 5 favorite spot for us.
Forced now to buy kimche at H mart and learn how to make bulgolgi marinade from scratch. Anyonghaseo Cho Sun!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
The food is delicious! But one thing.... everytime I've been there, I've felt rushed. Our group of 6 could never fully enjoy ourselves.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Food is good but service is several lacking.
The servers have little spatial awareness and repeatedly spilled liquid, dropped dishes on the table, and seemed to think that working recklessly fast was efficient.
This Korean restaurant has serious service manner problem. My 2nd generation daughter visited here with her friends a few weeks ago. She said the waitress was not happy when she asked her
refill the Banchan as other korean restaurant usual service. But the lady looked her and very reluctantly refilled their banchan. This is unacceptable manner in any Korean restaurants. Horrible.
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
We got the non marinated meat and it was so dry. You could tell it just came out of the freezer. Soon du bu was just ok. The kimchi fried rice was maybe the highlight of our meal. Don't expect too much from the service. Dont understand why people would spend so much time in line to get a table here.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Kimchi Fried Rice After Finishing the BBQ
Food was okayish, have had way better Korean at other spots in Chicago, service was terrible
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 1
Overall the food was good and very authentic. But both me and my friend had stomachache after eating.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Kimchi Fried Rice After Finishing the BBQ
Really really good Korean food. I’ve never seen so many side dishes. We got the ChaDol Gui. At the end, they mix in rice and more sides to create a fried rice.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The food is delicious, yes. Great traditional entrees, lots of flavors, generous banchan. I know this place is well known for a reason and I have been here before. Sadly the food is not enough to have me go back again and the service has everything to do with it.
I can take brusque or non-existant service, but flat out rude and argumentative? Not at all. Me and 2 friends came for dinner, my friend ordered her dish and the waiter misheard her. She clarified by using the number on the menu, the waiter repeated a different number. She clarified again by describing the dish and the waiter said ok. When our dishes came out my friend got the wrong item, the same one the waiter said the first time. Once she told the waiter that that wasn't what she ordered, the waiter kept insisting that it was! After a minute or two they then walked away without saying ANYTHING. A few minutes later they brought my friend what she wanted, but throughout our entire meal they kept bringing up that that wasn't what she asked for. Then at one point I was having a choking episode (I inhaled some spice, you know) and as I'm coughing, trying to catch my breath, this same waiter comes asking for our bottle of vinegar for someone and getting frustrated that I'm not handing it over...as I'm choking! Ridiculous. Korean food is easily my favorite cuisine but Cho Sun Ok's service left a terrible taste in my mouth. And as others mentioned- they asked for a tip! Unbelievable ?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
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