Different Days I Went To The Same Korean Restaurant

Different Days I Went To The Same Korean Restaurant

            At the beginning of this semester, I went to a Korean restaurant named Silla, which is located in Columbus. I really like this restaurant, the food they cook is really good. I always went to Silla if I was in Columbus. This is a small restaurant; the door of Silla is a little bit small. When go in Silla, the right side is a small bar, there will have some particular Korean alcohol, but few customers would choice bar place, most customers would like food part better. The sit place separate in two parts, median place is wooden desks and chairs, usually large number of customers would choice this area; the border place is sofa with wooden desk, which looks more comfortable, but only can have four people eat together. The light of Silla is Warm yellow color, especially when the food under the light, it make food looks yummy, and make customer feel like home and feel relaxed to enjoy food, On this particular day I went with my friends. When we arrived at Silla, the so the owner of Sila was also in the restaurant. She let a waitress came to serve us, she took us to the sofa part, asked us what drink we needed, and then prepared the drink for us. She waited until we were ready to order. During this time, there was no more talking. Then ordered around five kinds of Korean kimchi (Kimichi is a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables with a variety of seasonings like cucumber, daikon and bean sprout, the taste of those Kimichi is a little bit hot and sour. In Korean restaurants, servers will give kimchi while customers are waiting for their meals). About ten minutes later, the server came to place the dishes on the table, and she added water for us. Then she left to do other things. After we finished, she came to collect the payment card, then gave the card back to me and said, “ Thank you, hope you have a great day” before going off to serve other customers. I calculated the proper tip and wrote down the tips we left. When I walked out of the door of Silla, I felt really satisfied since the food was really nice, and I thought I would come back again.        

            Two weeks ago, I wanted to introduce Silla to my host family, so I went to Silla again, together with my host family Mark and Debbie, and their two grand kids – Emma, who is 11 years old, and Aldan, who is 3 years old. The weather was cloudy and cold in that day, when we arrived at Silla, the worm wind came to us made me feel warm and happiness. The owner of Silla wasn’t there, so we waited at the entrance until a woman I have never seen before, came to serve us and took us to the wooden table. And we began to choice what we want to drink; Debbie and I still felt cold, so we ordered hot tea (Korean hot tea is totally different, it made by boricah), Mark ordered Pepsi, Emma ordered orange juice, Alden is allergic to surge so he only can drink water. Then she took our drink orders first. It seemed she was talking all the time and laughing, even though I couldn’t understand what she was joking about, but I still felt good, because that day the server from Silla was much more enthusiastic than before. She prepared our drinks quickly, but since Mark and Debbie had not yet decided on what to eat, she came back a few minutes later and gave some suggestions to them. Finally, Debbie made a decision to order beef, Mark ordered a bowel of seafood noodles, and I ordered tofu soup, Zhajiang noodles, and pancakes to share, since the two kids would eat together with us. Then she took the order to the kitchen and gave double kimchi to us, which surprised me. I thought maybe she had some happy things happen to her. I really like kimchi very much, and she joked if we didn’t eat all of the kimchi, and then we would have to pay more. We ate this kimchi and waited for our food.
     The food was cooked quickly, and she came to place all of the food on the table except for the Jajiang noodles. As soon as the server brought the food we started to enjoy it. Under warm light, foods looks all dainty, we all felt hungry. I had ordered Tofu soup (put some seafood, dark soy paste and tofu together in earthenware pot), which is my favorite, and I shared it with Mark and Debbie. They liked it also. The beef which Debbie ordered was taste yummy too, Alden had ate too many of it. When we almost finished our food, the server came to ask Mark if the food tasted good and did he need more food? I asked her when the Zhajiang noodles would be cooked, and she realized that she forgot them. She apologized to us and asked the kitchen to make them for us quickly, and then she came to say the drink that Emma and Adel had was for free because of her her mistake. I was thinking I should give a larger tip to her since her service was so thoughtful. When we finished, I gave my card to her but after she returned my card back, she went to Mark’s side and said something to him. I heard her say: “even she know most Asian student did not make money, but most servers rely on tips, can you explain to her that she should pay for tips” then she left. I told Debbie and Mark that I pay tips all the time. And my friends who are around me also pay for tips, even though we didn’t make money and have no custom to pay tips in my country, but when we came to America we would follow the rule of tips. I have no idea why she said this. Actually the words that woman said make me really angry and embarrassed. I was embarrassed because she said some rude words to my friends that caused my friends to misunderstand me. I was angry because she could say something if I truly did not pay the tip, but I had paid it. I had come to Silla many times and never missed tips, and I was the person who paid the money for the dinner. If she had some question, she should have said it to me directly. How could she say some bad things to my friends, especially when I didn’t do what she accused me of? Then I only gave her a fifteen percent tip. When I left Silla, I thought maybe I would never come back again, even though the food still tastes good.

            The server who had said those words was really bad. She shouldn’t judge a person by her unfair view; she didn’t show a respect to others. If she did not respect other people, then maybe in future, somebody wouldn’t respect her.