What to Expect When You’re Expecting to Eat Out in Korea

1. No Kids Zones

There is a reason Korea’s fertility rate is the lowest in the world, and hits the record low every year. Korea is far from kid-friendly. One great thing about Korea is that there are so many places to eat everywhere you go. But the type of restaurant sort of splits into 3 types: drinking, hip, and old.

Drinking restaurant is just that – places like wine bars, pubs, dive bars, etc. You are there to drink, and they happen to serve some amazing food as well. And these places wont accept anyone underage obviously ):

Hip places are the trendy places that people seek out. They have nice atmospheres, great food, and amazing lighting and interior for your instagram photos. These places are filled with people in their 20s and 30s. If you are older than that, you will stand out for sure. Even I hesitate to go eat at these places with my own mother. But worse than being older is being younger. Many of these restaurants don’t want kids “ruining” the vibes, so they don’t allow children. They will outright have a “No Kids Zone” sign outside, or you will probably have to ask them directly if you can bring your kid in.

Old places are the places with Korean soul food that the older generations go to. The elderly are not about to look up hashtags and trendy places, so they go eat at places that are bright, comfortable, and not-so-pretty. These include the korean barbecue places or the kimchi stew places. These places no doubt have some of the best classic Korean foods, but they really do only have older people in there.

So if you are traveling with kids, I am sorry to say that you will probably be stuck eating in old places. You can find hip places to check out with your kids, but people will find you uncomfortable and you will probably start feeling uncomfortable yourself.

But if you are in your 20s or 30s traveling with friends, you can go in any of these places and enjoy yourself. And you will be vibing with all the other younger adults there with no kids or elderly changing the scene.

2. Break Times

Many Korean restaurants have break times from around 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Some start at even 2:00 or end at 6:00. So if you missed lunch and are wanting to eat a late lunch or early dinner, too bad for you. You are not about to find good quality food at that time. You will probably have to settle for convenience store food or fast food 😢

So make sure you eat on time!

3. Lines Lines and More Lines

Remember those hip places I talked about? Imagine a tiny city with tiny spaced restaurants. And these tiny restaurants are trending right now for their food and vibes. Everyone wants to go. That means there are freaking lines everywhere!! You have to put your phone number down or line up. And everyone inside takes at least an hour to order, eat, rest, pay, and leave.

If you want to experience any popular place, you need to expect to wait A LOT.

But there is worse. Omg I shudder even thinking about it.

These restaurants are so small they can’t buy enough ingredients or make enough food for everyone who wants to eat there. So at 7 or 8 PM, they announce that they have run out of ingredients and can’t serve people anymore. Usually they are more prepared for this scenario and allow only a certain number of people to line up or write their names down on the waiting list. But if you are even a little bit late to lining up, sorry but you went all the way there for nothing.

One time, it was about 8 PM. I went to a restaurant and they said they weren’t accepting any new customers today. Disappointed but hungry, I went to a different restaurant in the area that said the same thing. So then I made my way to ANOTHER place that also rejected me. I literally spent an entire hour going to 3 different places just to get rejected as a freaking customer. That makes no sense to me. I was so hungry I started crying. Actually crying. I ended up going to an old place type restaurant to eat with the elderly. I was so dissatisfied and angry by the food and the situation.

These trendy places do have some good food, but you need to be there early and prepare your hearts for rejection.

4. Tax and Tip

All the food prices in Korea include tax. And Korea has no tipping culture!!

Hooorraayyyyyyyy!!!!

This is literally the best thing about eating in Korea. You aren’t gonna order food just to be hit in the back of your head when you get your check. No extra tax charge nor mandatory gratuity.

You should visit just for this. It’s amazing. Food is already cheaper and tastier and you don’t have to worry about 20-30% extra charges.

But also, keep in mind that no tipping culture means no super attentive and friendly servers. Instead of servers coming up to you and asking if you need anything more, you will have to raise your hand and flag down an unhappy looking person.