2298 Niagara Falls Blvd., Tonawanda, NY 14150
Phone: 716.692.3888
Rating:
[learn more]Pros:
Relatively inexpensive Korean and Chinese dishes.
Cons:
Both Korean and Chinese items are poor representations of the actual dishes, with both cuisines' spicy fried chicken suffering terrible fates, and other items at best reaching "okay" status.
See More Restaurant Reviews For:
Chinese Korean Tonawanda
"Seoul Garden's Korean dishes generally fell into less impressive territory: they rival the 'okay' or 'acceptable' fare found in the food courts of Western New York's malls."
"Cheap food." Generally, those words imply "poor quality," and it's no surprise when that's what you get. But if an inexpensive restaurant surpasses such low initial expectations, it can count on steady business, and perhaps greater things. Seoul Garden in Tonawanda offers cheap food. And because it's so cheap, reasonable people will disagree as to whether the pricing alone justifies the quality of what it serves. From our perspective, however, it's a prime example of getting what you pay for, and a lesson in how restaurants that spend and charge a bit more can offer disproportionate benefits.
To make an important point up front, we disagree with those who think that cheap food is necessarily either low in class or poor in quality. It can be both, either, or neither. We've had $3-$5 food court meals in Singapore - a country where prices are otherwise similar to ours - that are better than $20 meals we've eaten in American restaurants. Similarly, we've had budget-priced dinners in Amherst that we'd take any day over expensive ones in Manhattan. Smart restauranteurs make the most of their budgets, and hook customers by offering something better or more reasonably than they can easily find elsewhere. So what's Seoul Garden's draw?
The answer is a single-page menu with a column and a half of Korean dishes, a half-column of distinct Chinese dishes on the reverse, and the rest of its space occupied by budget combination plates. Most of the Korean items are familiar: the three forms of Bulgogi, ranging from the best-known sweet sesame beef version ($13) to the spicier pork Dwaeji form ($12), the Chigae stews ($7-11), the red chili peppered Bokums ($10), and the Man Doo Gui dumplings ($4 for 6) - Korea's version of Japanese gyoza - in both fried and steamed versions. And the Chinese menu is full of low-end gimmes: five Lo Mein dishes, four beef dishes, four fried rice dishes, and ten simple chicken dishes, plus two soups and two egg rolls. Chinese entree prices are all around $4 per pint and $7 per quart, give or take a dollar, and unlike the $5.75 Korean lunch portions, sell for $3.50 with rice or $5.50 with rice and an egg roll. That's cheap. Seriously cheap.
But unlike the brilliant budget meals we mentioned in Singapore, Seoul Garden's Korean dishes generally fell into less impressive territory: they rival the "okay" or "acceptable" fare found in the food courts of Western New York's malls. The Ohjing Uh Bokum ($10, aka Ojingo Bokum), a sauteed plate of squid with vegetables and a spicy red pepper sauce, was most notable for including what appeared to be sliced squid bodies, but turned out to be flattened glutinous rice balls. Thanks to the presence of those chewy rice coins, onions, and peppers, the plate had enough filler to seem reasonably sized for the price, and tasted fine. A bowl of Soon Doo Boo soft tofu stew ($7), with scant pieces of seafood and a red, spicy broth, was enjoyed by one of our dining companions, along with a plate of crab and pickled vegetable sushi called Kim Bob ($7). Similarly, the typical Korean banchan ("side dishes") - small plates of kimchee, fishcake, cucumber, and sweet black beans - were here very few in number but fine in quality, while both steamed and fried mandoo dumplings were as good as one would expect from a freezer package. For the record, that's not bad.
We weren't pleased by the Kan Poong Gi ($10), a classic Korean dish that simultaneously offers spicy, sweet, and sour fried chicken - at some restaurants, successfully. Seoul Garden's version was served with a watery sauce, small chunks of meat that seemed to be more breading than chicken, and tiny, forgettable vegetable pieces scattered throughout. It wasn't worth finishing. Another of us ordered the Chinese variant, General Tso's Chicken ($8), served as a largely brown $5.50 lunch combo on a plate with fried rice, a vegetarian egg roll, and filler vegetables not commonly found with this dish. Save for those carrots and peppers, each of the items was so bad - undercooked rice, overcooked chicken, overly thick breading and egg roll shell - that the plate was left substantially intact at the end of the meal. A custom-ordered, steamed Chinese chicken and vegetable plate was, however, better; it's frankly too hard to screw up.
Following our meal, as our eyes drifted to the torn apart vinyl bench cushions and unfinished plates left on the table, we could imagine what was happening at Seoul Garden: low prices left too little money for the owners to invest in improving the place, and perhaps too little incentive to invest in improving the food. Thus, our discussion focused mostly on whether the meal had even qualified as "good" or not, with two repeat customers deeming it worthwhile based on the low prices, and the other two of us noting that our dishes had been at best mediocre and at worst legitimately bad. In our view, it certainly would have been worth paying more to get better quality food. Some additional consideration was given to the point that Seoul Garden is the only local restaurant serving both Korean and Chinese dishes, a point that increases its palatability to patrons who might like one cuisine but not the other - a sadly common occurrence where Korean food is concerned.
As fans of Korean cuisine, we truly wish that we could recommend - and ourselves patronize - a low-priced, excellent local Korean place, and Seoul Garden at least has the first half of that equation in the bag. But when all was said and done, we couldn't avoid the conclusion that the meal we had eaten was seriously unimpressive, its Korean food in the ballpark of Koreana, falling well short of the pricier Woo Chon on a good night, and seriously weak relative to the more expensive Arirang. Another way to put this is that Seoul Garden has a bigger menu than the similarly inexpensive Koreana, but serves less impressive food, while lacking for choices, quality, and ambience relative to both of the area's bigger, more expensive Korean places. You can have a better meal at any of its competitors, and probably find better Chinese food at any corner take-out. But if you're very budget-conscious and need a Korean fix, Seoul Garden's food will suffice in a pinch, assuming that your expectations are as low as the prices.
