Had to update with the newest addition to their Korean menu: GAMJA TANG (pork bone soup). This is a spicy stew that is so appropriate for Boston winters. The broth is VERY CLEAN and just spicy enough. The ratio between meat to vegetables to the spiciness is actually very perfect. I used to go to Hanmaru in Allston to get my gamja tang fix, but it tasted like it was smothered with MSG and the broth was alarmingly too thick. The gamja tang at Seoul tastes very clean and does not use MSG. read more

I love Korean food, people call me a foodie. As my parents are immigrants of Korea I wanted to experience a restaurant where I was able to connect better with my parent's roots. Seoul-Boston really did that for me and eating kanpoongi here was fantastic. I would prefer this over other chicken spots such as Bonchon because the chicken and spice complemented each other really well. I will definitely come again soon! read more

This was a great little find. I thought the restaurant was clean the service was great. I had a combination lunch with 4 pieces of sushi and the spicy pork bulgogi. It was a nice size and worth the value. My wife had the spicy chicken ramen, and she's still dreaming about it. One of the better meals we had while we were in the Boston area last weekend. read more

Went there the other day, service was good. The waiter handled it all really well, our group was really huge, over 15 people (can't remember the exact number). I had the Yukgejang and while it was good, I wasn't really impressed. The soup wasn't spicy at all, it was the after taste hat made it slightly "spicy", but barely at all. They had an okay amount of sides, I'm used to getting 9, but they only had 6 to offer. The kimchi was pretty tasteless, therefore I had only one piece. Overall, the food was mediocre, but the service was good. I'd stick with going to Brighton/Allston for Korean food if I ever crave it. read more

Seoul offers good food at reasonable prices. Unfortunately our meal was interrupted by so many flies it was distracting. (We killed two during the course of the meal.) If you go, DO NOT sit in the bench seats between the side wall and the sushi bar. The wall and glass panels mounted on the wall were crawling with flies. We spoke to our server about this twice and all he did was wipe down the wall with a napkin. Unsurprisingly, this did not kill any of the flies. We will not be returning. read more

Seoul - Boston - The "trophies" from our meal. Two flies down, only 6 more to go! - Korean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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So I wanted to like this place. This was my first time having Korean food in Boston, after having it in LA and DC. As much as I wanted to like it, there were some issues that were unforgivable. My sister and I came here on a busy summer Saturday night. We were seated pretty promptly and we both ordered beef bulgogi for our entree. First, it took at least 20-30 minutes for the bulgogi to show up, and then it was slightly cold. I started eating it to find that it was pretty standard "okay" bulgogi. The sauce was just sweet enough, albeit the entire dish had a slightly watery feel to it. It was seasoned fine. The issue was one of the pieces I had. While talking, I picked up a piece of meat and vegetable and started to eat it, when I noticed the weird, crinkly texture. They had accidentally served me a piece of plastic packaging mixed in with the meat. We called the manager over, to which she, and the server, apologized for the issue. Their explanation was that the bulgogi is made one package at a time and they had the meat packaged in the plastic packaging, which is how it must've gotten in with the food. They didn't make me pay for my meal, which was appreciated. I appreciate how they dealt with the issue, but it was a pretty big oversight with how big the piece of plastic was (it was at least 4 inches long and covered with the sauce). I wanted to like it, and had that issue not happened, I'm sure I would've rated this place 3-4 stars, but I can't recommend it. read more

I had the Yukejang (spicy veggie stew) and, although it wasn't anything special, it was alright. It was a little too heavy and oily, with not enough spice. I enjoyed the side dishes more than the actual entree. The jalapeño-pickled radishes were scrumptious and the kimchi was on-point. The service was fine. Our waiter was friendly but not overly intrusive. The one thing I had a problem with was the general setting. It was wayyyy too hot inside the restaurant. I understand that they had the windows open to try to give the place a "nice summer day" feel, but really? By the end of my meal I was sweating. Overall, the place was unremarkable. read more

This is a decent spot for korean food if you enjoy tofu stew. Unfortunately I found the bulgolgi meat kind of tough and without much flavor. The banchan (side dishes), though lacking in variety, are tasty and refillable. Portion sizes are generous though, and spot on for the price. Service is also attentive, and the restroom clean. Overall, this is one of your better options if limited to the MGH area. read more

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Best Korean food in all of Boston. I've been here several times (5~8) at Friday and Saturday dinner times. Food: Stir fry tofu with kimchi and jaeyook (pork) is just the right amount of spicy and sweet. Their dwaenjang jiggae (soup) tastes authentic - better than most places in the Korean-restaurant-filled area of Allston. The Jungols (stew for 2) are regular, nothing too fancy. However, it is still better than all the other Korean restaurants I've been to in the Boston area. All dishes come with a side of rice. Soju runs a little expensive at 12.95 a bottle. Service: Great service every single time. The hostess always greets you right away and shows you to your seat. I've had multiple waiters and waitresses, and they were all very prompt and coming to check on us often. My water glass never was less than half full, because the servers always came by to refill it. I'd go more often if it wasn't so far.. I highly recommend this place. read more

Despite the fairly long wait for our dinner, it was definitely worth it. The miso soup and sushi were very good (not the very best out there), but the beef bulgogi was delicious. The restaurant looked clean and the presentation of the food was very nice. Friendly staff was a plus. However, we ended up finding a hair in one of our dishes. read more

Seoul - Boston - One of the spicy tuna and tempura rolls - Korean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Tasty Korean food in the city! The portions were massive, and the food was very delicious. The server wasn't that friendly though so that was the main drawback. Location wise, it's at a good location, close to Cambridge too so that's a plus. read more

I had an insane craving for dukbokki the entire week before arriving in Boston for vacation, so naturally this is where I ended up on my first night. I was surprised by how spacious the restaurant space is and by the fact that it has a retractable awning on the side to allow for open air dining. Made a reservation for Friday night which wasn't entirely necessary, but the dining room did end up filling up by around 9 PM. There is a sushi bar at Seoul but, given the name and my craving, we opted for the "Tukbokki Mix". This dish is meant for two people and comes with rice cakes, hard-boiled eggs, and dumplings. We also decided to add ramen for a few extra bucks. It came out quickly, still boiling and piping hot, with little side dishes ("banchan") to pair. The banchan was so delicious and some of the best I've had at a Korean restaurant. I loved the dukbokki - awesome spice level and the sauce also had a sweetness to it, which was great for mitigating the heat. The rice cakes were perfectly cooked and extremely tender. Dumplings were a great add-in and I would certainly recommend the ramen to make the dish more filling. Service is very friendly but could be more attentive - it got chaotic once the room began to fill up. Awesome place for a quick dinner, especially if you love Korean comfort food! read more

Dined here with some friends during our marathon trip last month. We actaully stumbled upon this place and just decided to give it a try since we were hungry and tired from the long flight earlier that day. The food was really good and the portion sizes were quite large. I had the Bi bim bap and ordered the kimchee pancake for the table to share. The food and prices were good enough to make us go back again before we left Boston. But the customer service wan't that great. read more

oh man I wrote Korean in the parentheses and it's just showing up as () now.. oh wells! AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING Like some others have said, this restaurant puts all other Korean restaurants in the Boston area TO SHAME. I was particularly craving bibim naengmyun () and I knew that the Korean restaurants in Boston didn't really do a good job with it. I stumbled upon this Yelp page and was intrigued because I hadn't heard of this Korean restaurant in the 7 years I've lived in Boston... oh -- it's new! Because the reviews were so good I decided to give it a shot and I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED AT ALL. The naengmyun is THE BEST I'VE EVER HAD and this is saying A LOT because I lived in Korea all throughout middle school and high school. I LOVE that they give you the cold broth () AND the sauce () on the side so that I can season it to my liking. The noodles were PERFECTION. Most importantly, the ratio of the veggies and meat were just spot on. I literally ate the same amount of veggies, meat, and noodle all throughout the last bite -- I was seriously SO SAD to finish it... SO GOOD SO GOOD!!!!!! We also got the gganpoonggi () and it was really good as well. It tasted very clean and it wasn't the super crunchy kind like you'd expect because the meat to coating ratio is 1:9...this was more like 9:1 meat to coating. I've been to several high end Korean style Chinese restaurants in Korea and this gganpoonggi is reminiscent of that. The one caveat I will say is that I know some people really like their gganpoonggi crunchy so just know that this isn't like the "typical" gganpoonggi you'd expect -- but it definitely is quality. (by the way, someone said that they expected gganpoonggi to be chicken wings... gganpoonggi is never supposed to be chicken wings -- just saying!) At the end of our meal after our table was cleared, our server was telling us a little bit about the restaurant and she was telling us how naengmyun is the chef's specialty. She also told us that they don't use any MSG and I could tell -- like I said, their food tasted really clean. I am SUPER thrilled to have discovered this place and am SO HAPPY that there's FINALLY A GOOD NAENGMYUN PLACE IN BOSTON!!! I'm excited to come back and try their other dishes and I'll definitely post an update review. For now: JUST GO read more

Best Korean I've had in a really long time. Ordered the dukbokki appetizer with beef (wished there was more). Fantastic spice level and the rice cakes were divine. Also ordered the japchae, which also had a lovely spiciness to it, but was so overloaded with garlic. Disclaimer: do not eat this on a hot date! Overall, I would absolutely come back for the large variety (they also offer Japanese) and impeccable service. Worth the trek out in the cold! read more

I wasn't expecting much, but was very pleasantly surprised. The sushi was fresh and fantastic and perfectly prepared, and the other dishes that we tried were all quite good. A little on the pricey side, but not bad for the area and what we received. read more

Let me start off with the service. Honestly one of the best service I've ever received. I came here on a Saturday night with my significant other and we had a pleasant experience. It wasn't too packed, like the past 2 times I've eaten at this place, and we were seated immediately. Our waitress, a little aged, yet still very nice lady! No problems whatsoever with our wonderful waitress. One of the best things compared to the other Korean restaurants is when I asked for extra side dishes, there was no hesitation or a dirty look involved! My girlfriend and I probably could get full off the side dishes alone because they're just that yummy. It was a potato type food, broccoli, bean sprouts, kimchi, and tofu. But my 4 stars didn't come from the service, it's for the food. My girlfriend ordered a soft tofu stew with kimchi and beef and I ordered a firm tofu stew with seafood. What's the difference? One has soft tofu that just breaks apart easily and mine had tofu that took a tiny bit more effort to break down. I don't know whether my girlfriend enjoyed her food or not, but she finished it so that must be a good sign! The kimchi definitely made the stew red and gave it lots of color. Mine however wasn't too bad. It was served in a stone pot so it kept its heat very well of course and stayed hot until I practically finished it. There was something off about it though, it wasn't as good as I expected. Maybe it's because I'm so used to kimchi jigae.... Unless Jigae means stew then my apologies but it wasn't good enough for me. I felt as if it lacked flavor from previous stews that I had. By the end of the stew I tried to drink some of the liquid in the pot, but it tasted quite bitter. It's probably because it was at the bottom and it started to burn, my fault for not finishing it fast enough lol. I still finished my meal though! Then for dessert I asked our wonderful waitress what she recommended. It was between fried ice cream or green tea ice cream. Both sounded very tempting. She said that the fried ice cream was a little fatty so she personally doesn't like it, so I went with green tea ice cream! It was okay. It was presentable though, served in a tall glass! For green tea ice cream, it wasn't as bitter as I was expecting, because y'know tea. It was very sweet but I destroyed it anyways! read more

Seoul, you got it goin' on. Bugolgi, Japche, Kalbi + bibimbap combo all A+ on my list. Great service and great delivery. Little nervous about ordering over the phone? Nope, you call right now and tell them what you want and they will hook it up. Oh, they also give you all those little kimchi et al sides in your to-go order. Order extra, you will definitely want leftovers tomorrow. read more

This restaurant was previously known as Ma Soba (the mashup of nearly every Asian cuisine you could think of). They've since narrowed it down to Korean and Japanese, and changed the name--you can still see remnants of the Ma Soba name in parts of the menu and the delivery car. In any case, the more specialized menu certainly tastes better. I thoroughly enjoyed the seafood jap chae. My friend got one of their soups and had no complaints. We shared an order of the fried gyozas, and those were also ok. I'm not sure if they kept the staff--I hope not. Service is still slow, but not as slow as it used to be. No real complaints here. It looks like they've changed for the better, but ma soba was just so bad that I'm not sure it's much of a compliment for Seoul. They do have very tempting lunch specials you might want to check out. It's tough to find Korean restaurants anyway, so Seoul may be on the better end of the spectrum for lack of competition. read more

It's not bad, but it isn't great. My biggest problem with this place is that the service is slow. I've came here for lunch at least 5 times and I always finish my meal around an hour or little more than an hour. If you choose to come here, make sure to order a roll of sushi because that comes out quicker. Lunch specials are a good deal, but it takes a while to come out. Side dishes are not that fresh. Especially the kimchi, one time I ate a kimchi that was way too fermented that it felt rotten. I don't really recommend eating the side dishes even though it comes with the meal. I like the porridge they have there, the soft tofu stew and clay pot is decent. This place is definitely a 3.5 stars, would be a 4 if they improved on their side dishes and service around lunch time. read more

Been here twice now and it's one of my favorite places to go when I'm craving Korean food. The service is good and the wait staff is nice. I ordered the hwedupbap which is basically just rice with raw fish and some veggies. The waiter gave me an entire bottle of sauce to go with it but then he took it away... not sure why. What if I wanted to add more later? Maybe they only had one bottle of it... Anyway, I also got the citron tea which tasted really good - too bad they only give you a little cup of it. Got green tea ice cream for dessert. Most places usually give you about two scoops but here they give you a tall glass of it. Could've been just two scoops too but felt like more. read more

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Amazing!!!!! Everyone was so kind, and professional, Service was super fast too. The Place is super clean which is very important to me. Highly recommend this restaurant if your looking for some delicious fusion food. I recommend the traditional Korean dishes. read more

Got the bulgogi soup/bowl thing - I really liked it! I was actually going for the bulgogi rice but I accidentally ordered the wrong thing so I'll be sure coming back here again to get my bulgogi rice. The portion sizes were generous and pick up was quick swift and easy. The servers are all very nice! Would recommend stopping here. The inside looked very cozy too for dine in. read more

CHECK OUT MY FULL REVIEW + PICTURES ON MY BLOG: http://kands617.blogspot.com/2014/07/seoul.html Having grown up in Duluth GA (which has become a mecca for non-LA or -NYC Koreans), I definitely used to take good, cheap Korean food for granted and assumed that every city had a sprawling Ktown. One of the challenges of living in Boston, is being without good, cheap Korean food! I don't eat Korean food on a regular basis, but there are just some of those nights when I crave some good Korean grub. Last night was one of those nights. I dragged my boyfriend to Beacon Hill to try Seoul, which underwent a rebranding strategy around two months ago (formally Ma Soba). Given Seoul's traditional and extensive menu (easily trumps Samurai and Jae's Cafe), I was really excited to try this new spot! VENUE // Located on the intersection of Cambridge + Hancock street right in front of Whole Foods, Seoul has a great location and is hard to miss. The venue is spacious, bright and clean and complete with a full bar and sushi bar. The best part of Seoul though has got to be the open window seating -- nothing beats a cool breeze and good Korean food on a warm summer night. FOOD // I was really impressed by the menu here. Seoul goes beyond the traditional Korean appetizers and entrees, and offers Korean + Chinese fushion dishes as well as sushi. I was feeling a little under the weather so ordered the vegetable porridge and my carnivore boyfriend ordered the stone pot bibimbap + beef bulgogi option. Oh and can't forget the massive kimchee pancake we ordered as well. Including our traditional rice wine and side dishes, I was surprised our table could hold all of our food. I'm usually hesitant to order porridge at restaurants because it's so easy to end up with a bowl of bland mush, but the porridge at Seoul was wonderful. The tender bits of cooked rice + carrots + mushrooms was cooked perfectly and seasoned well. My boyfriend's stone pot bibimbap + beef bulgogi combo was also delicious -- the bibimbap was teeming with fresh veggies + ground beef, and the bulgogi was tender and sweet. My only knock on Seoul would be that the kimchee pancake was tad on the greasy side (interestingly enough though, this was my boyfriend's favorite dish). DRINK // We usually always order the traditional rice wine when we dine Korean. Made from fermented rice, makgeolli is creamy white, a tad bit sweet, and is about 6-8% alcohol by volume. Makgeolli is also traditionally served in a clay pot + laddle + metal bowls which adds to the authentic dining experience. It's definitely the perfect complement to spicy, hot Korean food. SERVICE // Service here is great. Our waitress was incredibly friendly, and the food and drink service were timely. Definitely no complaints here. read more

Seoul is my favorite Korean restaurant in Boston now. Better food than the ones in Allston. You simply can't expect high quality Korean food in Boston, as you'd in NY/NJ or SoCal. But Seoul always hits the spot for me whenever I'm craving authentic Korean food that I grew up with, and their servers are always very friendly and kind. I really like their soft tofu soup, and dig their spicy pork dish. Their Bibimbap is excellent as well. They have this combo dishes, you can have naengmyun (cold noodles) with kalbi (bbq beef rib) for example, and it's really great. Oh oh and the stir-fried tofu with pork and kimchi is sooooo good and a must-try! Their dishes tend to be on the spicier side (again, very authentic), so if you aren't too keen on spicy food, let the server know when you place the order. Enjoy!!! read more

Coworker's and I were looking for a place with ramen...do not get the ramen here, very very bland, the broth was like water with red grease in it which I guess was the "spicy" aspect of the ramen, chicken had no taste. Also, do not order tea, I thought it was green tea but it tasted like seaweed water. The fried vanilla ice cream wasn't terrible but it was "eh" after a bowl of water and noodles that I didn't even finish. They may have other dishes that are great but don't go here looking for ramen you'll be very disappointed. read more

Seoul - Boston - Spicy chicken ramen - Korean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Best Korean I've had. Scallion pancake app is delicious - we got ours w/o shrimp, which worked just fine. Bibimbap is always good to great (it's kinda the K-version of pizza, that way) but the bulgogi was amazing. One of us may have ordered another round to reverse engineer the sauce. Minus 3/4 of a star for inattentive service that messed up part of the order and was pretty invisible even when he talked to us. YMMV. Would eat again. read more

I'm not sure why this has a high rating on yelp but the Korean food was terrible (I can't speak for the rest of the food because we only had the Korean food). The food wasn't fresh the pork dish we ordered Was scary looking like the meat wasn't fresh and the banchan especially looked like it had been sitting out and was wilted/not crisp. I would suggest going to Allston or yasu in Coolidge corner for a better Korean dining experience. read more

Not that great. Service was so so. Food overpriced for what you get. I have never seen iceberg lettuce in a bibimbap, much less so much of it. The vegetables in the bibimbap were not very tasty and the egg was overcooked. The little bit of meat tasted ok. The spicy tuna roll had maybe 20% meat and 80% veggies. The seafood pancake barely had any seafood. I think I found one 1/4" squid tentacle out of the 2 pieces I had. Why am I paying so much for barely any meat? For the same price, I could have gone to an all you can eat bbq. Highly disappointing. read more

Seoul is one of the better Korean options in the city, and after many meals here (since it first opened following Ma Soba) I still recommend it to friends who ask about the few Korean restaurants accessible by T. Unfortunately, the quality is really a hit or miss depending on what you get, or even for the same dish across different visits. Some days I want to give it five stars, on others, two. On my most recent visit my jjigae was so salty (likely because it was simmered for too long) that I had to ask for hot water to add to it. The dining area is spacious and pleasant to casually dine in. Because of the high ceiling it can get really loud when it's full, though. I'm also always impressed by the cleanliness and upkeep of the ladies' room. I really like how it offers a wide range of authentic Korean dishes; only if they could all be consistently good! Also the banchan is not great (typically 3-4 simple items including kimchi) so don't get your hopes up if you're into that aspect of the Korean food experience. Granted, it still is one of my few decent options in the area -- so I want them to do well -- but I also don't want people to walk away disappointed if they expect too much! read more

I honestly don't know how this place got as many stars as it did. My husband and I decided to drive all the way to boston to eat at this place for my birthday. Sadly to say, eating at this place ruined my birthday. We ordered the pork belly and jokbal. The pork belly has absolutely no seasoning at all. It literally tasted as if they cut the pork belly and cooked it without any salt or peper. And same with the jokbal. Every time we ordered pork belly before, it would come with lettuce for wrapping and dipping sauce. But not this time. We were served with only the pork belly and jokbal. Nothing else. No dipping sauce, not lettuce wraps. No flavor. On top of the bad quality food, the server took extremely long just to bring our food, to getting our check and bringing the change back. I will never come here again! read more

3.5 STARS After a nice and extensive walk around Beacon hill during Boston visit my brother stumbled on this place and we decided to try it based on the good Yelp reviews and glad yelp was right. Started with some bottled soju which honestly was a disappointment bcoz I was looking forward for some soju cocktails. However these guys just have wine and beer license..bummer :(. The bottled soju was okay and my brother and dad ordered Hite Korean beer which they seemed to enjoy. My dad ordered the Stone pot Dupbap since he didn't wanted to eat meat. It was a solid veggie dish with crispy rice. Highly recommend this dish. We also ordered the Chicken bulgogi which I though was okay nothing to rave or curse - just a decent chicken dish decently flavored with side of white rice. The order of Tuboki mix which is good for 2 or 3 ppl was nicely spicy flavored. We ordered with the addition of udon noodles which turned to be a nice combo. It was god pick by my sister in law. Verdict -Pretty decent Korean food place( I won't call it an authentic Korean place but even if Americanized good). If around the Beacon hill n'hood and you feel like kimchi-ish you gotta a place to go to. read more

Beyond horrible. They kept me waiting on the phone for 2 hours with their delivery. At the end they promised they would get back to me in a few minutes with cold food that had been in the car for an hour. No thanks. Get food from anywhere else. read more

They have literally everything on their menu, which hints that you can't expect much quality.

I'm not really sure about the level of experience with the previous diners who've rated this restaurant, but my experience was abysmal. This is only for the Korean cuisine. Upon arriving, we were seated promptly (awesome!) then we waited... And waited... Our waiter walked by three times and saw we were ready to order. When he got to us, he was curt... Although this may be a Boston thing? I ordered the combo soft tofu soup and bugolgi chicken. What a disappointment. The soft tofu soup lacked depth of flavor. It was literally water with a dollop of Korean spice paste. I would know, because I've made that myself and it sucks. The tofu was weirdly chopped up? I'm not really sure what the hell was going on with this soup but avoid at all cost. Chicken bugolgi was a depressing show of maybe 2oz of overcooked and bland chicken breast. How the HELL do you make bland bugolgi? Here's some advice, use chicken thigh or cut it with fat while cooking. Learn how to properly marinate and season bugolgi before you sell it as bugolgi. Cook it on a hot grill... It looked like pan fried cardboard. For around $18, I was severely disappointed and felt taken advantage of. Not only was there a lack of food, but the taste was obviously absent. Calling this Korean food is a stretch... Maybe faux Korean mall food. Or spicy water and cardboard bugolgi. read more

I miss Ma Soba :-( The service was slow from the start. No water for the first ten minutes. My beer was warm... I had to put ice in it... Our food came out slowly. There were two of us, my meal came 20 min after his... The waitress was very nice but had too many tables and the kitchen just neglected our noodle dish. She ended up removing the noodle dish and our beers from the bill which was very nice but I was disappointed in our hopeful experience. read more

The food is decent but if you order delivery, be prepared to wait over an hour for your food. And for the delivery to be 20 min late. Get your microwave ready to heat up the food because it won't be edible when you get it. read more

The food in here is delicious but the serve is bad. It's made me waiting for 20 min to get my food and got 15 min to get a cup of water. read more

Seoul - Boston - Korean Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

The service was excruciatingly slow. The food was OK - spicy and enjoyable, but the squid was over cooked and tough. Nice setting. Inexpensive. Overall, a reasonable place to go, but nothing special. read more

Banchan was bland, but the entrees we ordered were flavorful. We had the galbi and jampong. We also ordered the seafood pancake to go. Jampong was fairly spicy and made us sweat a little. Galbi was delicious as it usually is anywhere you go. I was happy to find a Korean restaurant to try in that area. Would go again! But would definitely ask them about parking next time. We paid $24 in the lot across the street, next to Whole Foods. Seoul's takeout menu says there is $7 flat rate parking available. But where and how? The hostess was very nice and came back to our table to check whether the booth was good for our toddler since we stated we might need a highchair. Good service, but no one asked if we needed our parking validated or anything. : ( read more