Geonbae Korean Bbq - Frankston

Hubby and I had a 7.30 pm booking but got seated last despite arriving earlier than the other customers. Their excuse was the tables were pre-assigned and because there was a first batch of customers at 5 pm, we had to wait for them to finish up. There were a few tables (for two) that got freed up but since they were pre assigned, they could not give it to us and end up giving it to another couple who arrived past 7.30 pm. Poor table management, the system was inconsiderate and not flexible. The staff was kind enough to give us complementary drinks though. The restaurant was understaffed which was odd cause they had bookings and knew beforehand that it was going to be a busy night. Only 3 staff doing front of house tasks for 40+ customers. Hubby and I understand that they were doing the most that they could but we felt bad for the staff. The mains were good, but the sides were underwhelming.

We didn't know what to expect as we've not been to Korean BBQ before, but the website said they cater to newbies and would help us out. We mentioned as we sat down that we didn't know what we were doing. They offered very little assistance and when we started eating our dry meat and boiled rice we asked if there was any kind of dipping sauce and the server replied that he didn't know and has never eaten either of the things we had ordered. Apparently we probably needed to order sides. I had a beer paddle and my husband ordered a cocktail. Halfway through he felt a little tipsy and couldn't finish it, this is the only time we looked at the bottle of Soju in his drink and realised it was 13% and 3.79 standard drinks in one drink! It's a bit irresponsible to serve newcomers such a high ABV drink with no prior warning of its strength I would've thought. I might try again with sides to see if there is more flavour and moisture to the meal but I'm not racing back there to uninterested servers who barely speak to you and haven't eaten the food.

Clean and nice atmosphere with outdoor and indoor dining options. Located ground floor of Southeast Water Building. Ample parking. Quite a few set menu options and wide selections of wine and cocktails. Average serving sizes. Nothing special in their menu. Food tastes average (not the best but not the worst). Their fried chicken was so dry even with sauce (one of the worst Korean chicken we had). Their service is quite annoying and rude… staff will not leave you alone (keeps on flipping or minding our BBQ) despite letting them know were good and don’t need anything. We’re still eating but they asked us if we want takeaway container while subsequently grabbing one of our meal. We were their about 40 mins less 20 mins waiting for food and the time cooking bbq and it wasn’t busy (only 4 tables were occupied). I bet we were not there long enough to push us away. Not coming back and will not recommend to friends and family unless service is upgraded.

Lunch here was superb nothing quite like Korean BBQ and dumplings! The food was exceptional, the tap beer was icy cold would highly reccomend this place! Our waitress was really good and spot on, couldn't fault her or the restaurant very delightful experience!

We were a group of 12 so we had to have one of the banquets, apart from myself who is Vegetarian. I wasn’t expecting many choices but was pleasantly surprised and ordered vegetable dumplings, a sizzling plate of sweet corn and cheese and a vegetable stir fry with noodles. I also shared a little of the vegetable pancake that was part of the banquet,all were very yummy. We also ordered as an extra two of the Korean Fried Chicken plates which came out pulled high with very delicious chicken so they tell me) the fried chicken was definitely a favourite among the rest of the tables. Service was great, very friendly and they were full so extremely busy. Think this will be a new regular haunt.