Now let's talk about the Korean barbeque buffet for my lunch.
I didn't know about this restaurant until I saw it being introduced on a TV program. It seemed quite a nice place with a good varieties of tasty authentic Korean food based on the TV hosts recommendation. There were Ginseng chicken soup, abalone porridge where you can find big chunks of abalone, fried glass noodle with scallops, Kimchi hotpot, Kimchi pancake and different kinds of meat for barbeque.
Since, me and my cousin were somewhere near to this restaurant, we decided to try it out based on the TV program.
The place was located on one of the ground floor units in a refurbished old flat-turned-hotel.
Upon entering the restaurant, there was no service staff to greet us. We were not sure if we have to wait for a service staff or do we help ourselves to the table. We walked further in and a waitress saw us. Then she put down what's she holding and showed us to a table.
We were quite early and there's only about four tables occupied (out of maybe 30 or more tables).
Four men seated next to our table were quite loud. So before sitting down, I asked if we could take the table on the other side of the restaurant which was quieter but was told something like that section is closed. I couldn't hear what she was mumbling. Anyway, that's fine by me.
The lady turned on the fire and told us that we can start the buffet.
So off we went walking one round to look at the spread.
Ok. The raw items were filled to the brim. However, the cooked items were almost empty. Only two miserable fried chicken wings left. And yes, I saw the fried glass noodle, without any scallop. Were they all taken by the early birds? And where's the Kimchi hotpot and pancake? All not what I saw on TV. The program definitely showed a lot more.
The staff were busy bringing out plates and plates of cooked dishes and laying them out on a number of tables. There were hotpots, fried fish and side dishes all over the table like what you find in a proper Korean meal scene. Do they serve set meals? They sure looked more appetizing than the buffet spread.
We got our items and started barbequeing. My cousin tried a bowl of the Ginseng chicken soup and said it was tasteless. I asked him about the porridge and he said he tried scooping but found nothing except rice.
However, the marinated meats were quite tasty and were of slight better quality than some of the restaurants serving barbeque we tried before.
Just them, we saw a busload of Korean tourists coming in. And so the mystery was solved.
My cousin remarked, "They probably won't survive without catering to the tourists."
We went for a second round and again, the cooked food were practically empty. We came back only to come back and find another waitress keeping all our cutlery. Apparently she thought we had left. She apologized quickly and went off. I noticed that there's a guy who looked like a Korean and possibly the boss dressed in polo tee shirt, bermuda and a pair of crocs slippers. The rest of the staff were in their own clothes and all are Vietnamese.
We looked around the restaurant and both of us had the same thought - we wondered if the present owner took over this unit from another business which did not survive. Apart from some wallpapers with Korean language characters pasted on the pillars, the rest of the restaurant's equipment and furnishing looked like inherited. The seats where those wooden seats from the olden days coffee shop.
As we were speculating, a couple with their grown up kid came and seated at the table where the four guys had left. It looked as if they were hungry for the longest time. Not long after they were seated, their table is piled with plates and plates of food. The lady made a comment which I must agree. She said to her husband, the staff were very slow to refill the items.
Then I asked my cousin "Will you come back to this restaurant again?"
He said, "No."
And I said, "I won't come back too."
The only saving grace is that the boss offered to change the barbeque steel plate without us asking.
I believe the business owner has paid a big amount to the TV station to feature his restaurant in the program. But why paint such a different picture from the actual experience?
In your business, are you making this mistake? You have to make sure that what you portray your business as has to match what your customers actually experience. If you say this is what you will get, make sure your customers get this.