Ong Gie Korean Restaurant Review

Picture obtained from google images, copyright the local data company

I visited Ong Gie, a Korean restaurant in Edinburgh on the 14th February 2014. As you can see by the date, it was David and I's valentines dinner. The restaurant is very eye catching from the outside which is nice to see as some places can look grubby. This is the third Korean restaurant I've visited in Edinburgh, so I will be comparing the three. You can see my other reviews here: Shilla Restaurant Review and Kim's Mini Meals. 

I reserved a table for two a month in advance by email. We decided to try this place because they did Korean BBQ. ! 

Once we entered the restaurant we were greeted by a wonderful waitress, she asked for our names and showed us to a table. She had a pad with all the bookings on and table numbers. She was going to seat us in the quieter section of the restaurant away from the big group that was already in. However, the waiter decided to move us nearer to the big group of people! Now, we were first to arrive before the other couple, and were asked to move to a noisy area. In my opinion, this was unacceptable, especially how we were seated in a quieter section. We couldn't even hear ourselves talk! The waiter's excuse was "It will be better for you here" I don't think so! 

We ordered cokes to go with out meals and they came in wee tumblers. Maybe the depth was the same as a taller glass, but I drank this within a few minutes! It was a pretty expensive soft drink too. I forget the price. Around £2 for a small glass.

The waiter came to take our order. We asked for Korean BBQ but little did we know, you had to ask during booking. How are you supposed to know this? It's the job of the employees to advise that you need to book separate for the BBQ. This was a very disappointing visit due to this, and we would have liked to be advised when booking, especially when I booked it a month in advance. 

We asked to have a few more minutes before ordering. He came pretty quick again and asked us if we were ready, but we weren't. When we did order, the waiter kept judging at the food we ordered, because we wanted two rice's. He kept saying "but you ordered Kimbap too". This wasn't very professional. He also came back three times to check that our order was correct!

We were we ordered the pajeon (£6), and kimbap (£6.80) for starters. The kimbap wasn't on the starter menu, but we ordered it for that anyways. As you can see, it's extortionate! 

This was the pajeon, at £6! There's hardly anything there for £6! I took a photo of the kimbap but it was a corrupted file. This too wasn't worth £6.80. I am aware that all the Korean restaurants in Edinburgh charge this much for kimbap. I don't understand how, I expect to pay this much for sushi with expensive fish, than a roll with veggies and tinned tuna. It's only around 50p in Korea! We got around 8 on the plate and the top two sushi were shaped into a heart which was cute. 

For our main course we ordered the Bossam £12. On the menu it states that it is boiled pork served with lettuce wrap, mooli kimchi, and bean paste. 

The presentation is good. But where was the lettuce wrap? Yes there was ONE lettuce here, but where were the others? I mean, the point in this is to wrap everything up and eat it. We got this as it was similar to the BBQ. At £12 this was NOT worth it! £12 for pork and a few bits of garlic, chilli and kimchi. Awful. 

We also ordered the L.A Galbi (£12). On the menu it reads thin sliced beef spare ribs cooked in traditional Korean sweet soy sauce. This taste wise was amazing! This WAS worth the £12 charged. 

Rice was only served with one of these meals, so we had to order a separate rice. The rice was good, white and fluffy. I'm not a fan of the mixed rice that some Korean places serve. 

During the course of the meal, David asked for some Aloe Water, which is on the menu. However there must have been a communication problem. He asked twice and the waitress came back with tap water. I understand my boyfriend's Scottish accent is a bit hard to follow sometimes, but we gave up asking the waiting staff and stuck with tap water. 

We were disappointed at the lack of the small side dishes that traditional Korean restaurants serve when you order main meals. In both Shilla and Kim's mini meals, they served about three small appetisers. In Korea, many restaurants have wee side dishes with every order. 

The staff were friendly and attentive. 

Overall, we would visit again to try the Korean BBQ. However, we felt that it wasn't living up to the standards of Shilla and Kim's Mini Meals. Kim's Mini Meals is by FAR the best Korean in Edinburgh. 

Overall 3/5 Hearts