Seoul Garden
"When I first considered moving to Nashville back in 2009, I stopped by Seoul Garden for lunch. I wasn't blown away but I did like it. You see, hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurants (for the most part) have dishes that taste the same no matter where you go (with slight variations of course). Being a Korean myself who has traveled a lot, I've been to probably dozen different ones over my lifetime and they are all the same. And that's one thing I appreciate because I don't always get to visit my parents. Consistency, when it comes to Korean food, is huge for me because I'm going there for comfort and reminiscing of my childhood/heritage.Whenever I'm on this side of town, I choose the Korean restaurant based on what I'm craving. This time around, me and my kids wanted galbi (Korean barbecued beef short ribs). I prefer it over bulgogi (which is similarly popular) because it's fattier and therefore juicier/more tender. My kids like it because they call it "halmoni's food" which is what my mother feeds them every time they visit. They associate visiting grandma with being fed delicious beef ribs and rice . And like me, they crave it. So with that said, if you want any of the grilled meat items, Seoul Garden (to me) is the better choice (by a slim margin) than the surrounding Korean restaurants (Tofu House, Hai Woon Dai, Midori, BBQ Korea).I ordered galbi, an extra bowl of rice (they charge $2 per bowl, which is absurd) and jjamppong, a Korean spicy seafood noodle soup. Banchan (which are Korean staple side dishes) are free. The galbi here is good. It could use more marinade time but the base flavors (soy sauce, garlic, sugar) of savory, smoky, & slightly sweet are present. The ribs were perfectly cooked, with a glossy fatty sheen and nice char. My kids gobbled it up faster than I could cut it, like little chicks. My son likes the pickled turnips and eggs as his sides. My daughter likes the bean sprouts and eggs as hers. For me, I ate all the assorted types of kimchi. The jjamppong is a special treat for me because it's one of the dishes my dad made for me growing up. It's a seafood broth based soup, flavored with Korean chili powder. Depending on who cooks it, the types and amounts of seafood you get varies. My dad added a ton of seafood but nobody has ever come close to his version. At Seoul Garden, you get oysters, mussels, squid, and shrimp combined with green onions, onions, and a variety of bell peppers. This is a hearty, robust soup that can be mild or very spicy (be sure to tell your server if you want it spicy). It's served in a very large bowl and is quite filling. Here are the bad parts of the review. First, the price for the any of the grilled meats are ridiculous. The galbi was $25 (plus $2 extra for a bowl of rice). That in essence made my meal cheaper than my kids' meal and they split the galbi! Let me give you a tip. If you want Korean food as good (if not better) than any of the Korean restaurants in Nashville, drive over to Clarksville/Fort Campbell west of Nashville. Because of the Army base, there is nice Korean population over there. It's like a mini-Koreatown. There are Korean BBQ places that are AYCE over there. Yes... ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT. Secondly, not sure what the deal is but the service here is SLOW. It took forever to order after being seated, even longer to get our drinks, we weren't checked upon at all until I flagged down another server for refills, and then it felt like eternity to actually get the check. It was so bad, I actually feel like my 3* rating is justified despite how much I enjoy their food. The servers have no sense of urgency either. Hopefully they'll get better, but like I said, it's been pretty bad for years now. Maybe it's the fact that they don't have enough servers on the floor."
Thai Esane
"Got takeout - drunken noodle (pad kee mao) with tofu. When I went inside, there was nobody in front, and nobody was doing any service for the dine-in guests either. After waiting for a few minutes at the counter where takeout was, nobody showed up and I walked to the kitchen and asked through the open door about how to get pickup. Terrible.As for the food, I wasn't pleased; the first time I came here was surprisingly good so I'm disappointed this time, especially because pad kee mao is a pretty standard noodle dish that's served in all Thai restaurants. All the noodles were stuck together, it was pretty bad. Asked for spicy and they gave me a container of spicy oil on the side, instead of adding spicy peppers inside the noodles themselves. Good amount of basil and tofu, along with broccoli and onion, but definitely could do with more vegetables in general.For the price and quality, it's pretty expensive at $16. Wouldn't recommend it, there are likely better Thai places around."
