Cote Korean Steakhouse

We came in on Sunday night for our anniversary with pretty high expectations, but our experience didn’t even meet the bare minimum. To start, we arrived exactly at our reservation time but ended up waiting an extra 30 minutes near the bar while “a table just paid the bill”. Once we got to our table, our server was nice as first but then appeared to become more and more irritated throughout the night. It felt like she was constantly in the kitchen, so we had difficulty flagging her down. While the meat was cooking, other servers even had to come and turn the meat for us, and our first two courses were definitely medium to medium well when we asked for medium rare. At a certain point, a completely new server took over our table, which was very confusing at first because we were expecting our original server. Sadly, he was also away from the table too often, and the marinated galbi was way too charred as a result. Understandably, marinated meat burns easily, but someone only came to turn it once after a really long time, which was surprising because by 12 the restaurant was only at half capacity. We had to do our best to scrape the burnt parts off, and as much as I enjoyed the non-burnt halves, the charred flavor was still very noticeable. We considered asking for a redo but given the quality of the service thus far and how late it was (thanks to the delay at first), we opted not to. The only redeeming point was the amount of banchan and sides that came as part of the butcher’s feast, but for close to $100 per person I see it as a very very thin silver lining. Overall, we were turned off by the negligent service, and the meat quality suffered as a result. Some of the negative aspects of our meal were probably out of their control, but most were within. A lot of my friends really enjoyed their experience here in the past, which is why we chose to spend our anniversary here and why our night was especially disappointing for us.

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I think it is important to go with the expectation that this is a take on American steakhouse crossed with KBBQ versus traditional KBBQ (thus the menu being entirely steaks). It did take some effort to secure a reservation one month out. I thought the service was good having someone grilling tableside and explaining the cuts of meat of the butcher's meal. I thought the total 8oz was a comfortable portion given that the banchan was refillable. Meats were well differentiated and cooked well, no complaints there. Truthfully i thought the banchan was the star of the meal. I loved their authentic takes on the classics, and some more modern takes (mustard greens with wasabi was my favourite). Egg soufflé was on par. Stews were served a little lukewarm, just okay, nothing better than what you could probably find at HMart Cocktails were extremely mediocre for $20, personally would skip. Really imbalanced, not predominant flavours in any (our table cumulatively tried 5) Dessert was great. Do not fear soy sauce caramel; it is so sweet you won't taste any soy sauce! Not sure it is a restaurant I would frequent, but certainly would try once for the concept!

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If you can get past how pricey they are, the steak here is amazing, truly deserving of their Michelin star. We got the Butcher’s Feast each (includes flatiron and hanger steak, marinated galbi, dry-aged ribeye). The banchan has something I’ve never tried before — kimchi-style perilla leaf that tasted a bit strange.

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Went for a late night dinner reservation. Hip atmosphere, loud music, great hospitality. Had the butchers feast, which did not disappoint. Everything was delicious. Price point was on par for the quality of food and experience. 10/10 would recommend.

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Amazing steak. The drink menu, though, feels disjointed from the food. The natural choice for me would be barley tea — not drinks from the bar.

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