Honestly I read online that Tina & Kevin did not treat their employees well at all :( her & Kevin went abroad quite often so there was so much pressure on the employees to operate the restaurant It was super unfortunate that you were also disappointed with your meal because $200 CAD for that is super expensive!
I did not know that at all. That’s unfortunate if it’s true. Thank you! I’m still glad I got to try it before they closed even though it wasn’t as I had expected
I don't know Tina and Kevin but I do know a bit about the restaurant industry. Though this doesn't excuse their alleged behavior, I just want to say that kitchens around the world are a high-stress environment where workers inevitably feel overlooked, under appreciated, and are regularly being yelled at. It seems like T&K were under even more stress because they also had to run their RU-vid channel. I'm sure they were genuinely doing their best to deal with their stress, even though their employees might not think so. We all have our traumas from growing up. Some are big. Some are small. They all end up rearing their heads when times are intense. I hope everyone finds a place where they can thrive.
Holy crap…. $200CAD. That whole meal is not worth no where near that price. I’ve never been there, just based off your video everything looks underwhelming.
When people are slightly critical of something they are reviewing, people often praise them for being "honest" and whilst, yes, it is clear that she gave her actual opinion rather than just saying it was great to save face, I think it's important to bear in mind that, just because someone gives a glowing review, it doesn't mean they're being disingenuous. On the flip side, just because someone gives a negative review, it also doesn't mean they're being honest. I'm not saying you misinterpreted her opinion; I've just noticed that "influencers" or people generally online only ever get praised for their "honesty" or "transparency" or "authenticity" when they're delivering somewhat negative reviews or reviews with fairly balanced positive and negative points. It is possible for someone to give a completely glowing review with nothing negative to say that looks very much like they're kissing the ass of whomever they're positively speaking about but to still give a very honest viewpoint.
Haha the audio was a bit messed up on this one. My intentions were not to be hateful. I’m actually a fan but the food did not meet the hype and I was trying my best to be honest
I found that it was very far from hateful, the review sounded like a lot of disappointment because she came into the situation being optimistic but the food just wasn't meeting expectations
You could completely destroy everything about her food and restaurant in your review and still not be hateful to her as a person. Would you prefer it if she lied and said she loved the food when she didn't? I'd say that's a hateful act towards the people who may see that review and make a reservation at a restaurant they aren't going to like because of your dishonesty. especially considering that dooby/Tina herself said that people literally travelled across the world to eat there.
I love Doobydobap as a personality, but probably bit off more than she could chew building this restaurant. As a restauranteur myself, I simply dont how you can be at capacity, booked out for months, and still close due to finances. My guess is they either accumulated too much staff overhead from multiple delays in opening, or did some inaccurate forecasting. Either way, I concur with another commenter on here that said she should have just started with some pop-ups as opposed to a full-fledged, multi-course fine dining endeavor as her entry into the space.
In earlier days she said that the restaurant is not profitable. They only open during weekend, 2 days a week. Then 4 days a week recently. They only had limited capacity, max around 30 people a day. I don't think it's sufficient for making profit. It's their business model that didn't work.
@sekar9901 All of those are things that could have been figured out before thet opened, that's what budgets and forecasts are for. If they didn't have the capacity, they should have priced their menu higher since clearly they have the demand as evidenced from them being booked out for months. Most restaurants would absolutely kill to have that problem. A restaurant that is closing its door's because it's not 'financially viable' whilst being constantly sold out indicates major errors in leadership and planning.
@@Arthur-nr5ci I think the lack of capacity and operating days are the reason that it's fully booked for months. But most of her customers are her fans. With the pricing, I can see this is only one time experience,. I don't think they will come back. Eventually they will run out the customers/fans. It's not a sustainable business. To be sustainable she should attract general public.
@sekar9901 The point is...that they're fully booked. They're not locked onto their prices, they could always raise them if they needed to and still maintain a high occupancy based purely on her fame. You don't CLOSE a restaurant that has a month long reservation booking window, you raise the prices because the demand is there. I'll say again, do you know how crazy it sounds from a restauranteur's perspective to close a restaurant that's sold out every night? 99% of the time it's the opposite problem. Too few guests mean we need to cut prices, flex staff and expensive, shut down operating days, etc. This was purely a failure to budget correctly, that's all this is.
@@Arthur-nr5ci Their price is already high for regular customers tho. That's why even for her fans it's only one time experience. Even if they raising their price, I still don't think this business is sustainable. Only relying on her fame and fans are not sustainable.
I love that she had the ambition to open her own restaurant and I'm sure a lot of people absolutely loved eating there. The morale of the staff and the ambience generally seems great also, however, just based on the reviews I've seen and videos/photos of the food, it seems like Tina's boyfriend's background in fine dining was much more of an influence on the menu than her style of cooking. The food she cooks on her channel, to me, screams homely, warming, comforting, flavourful and is the sort of food you'd eat until you couldn't move. Also, a thing I massively admire about her and her cooking is that she really encourages taking what you have and making incredible meals based on kind of improvising as you go along. The spontaneity and almost everyday, street food vibe is incredible and, so, when I saw the type of food mija Seoul was serving, I was quite confused. The dishes seem to be quite "style over substance". It's the sort of food you'd eat and admire for how clever it is rather than wanting a second helping. I don't think anyone's relationship is anyone else's business (apart from abuse and stuff obviously), but I do think it's worth saying that, while he obviously also put a lot of work into it, her boyfriend has, to me, in some ways, taken liberties with the restaurant. Firstly, in the video in which they announced they're closing the restaurant, he repeatedly refers to the restaurant as "my baby", not "our baby" and "my son", not "our son". Secondly, clearly, the food served is much more in the style of fine dining than Tina's signature classic Korean dishes, packed with nostalgia but also modern and individual twists. And while I understand that she's obviously going to serve different food in her restaurant than the food she's teaching everyday people with no experience how to cook, it's almost ridiculous trying to reconcile the menu of the restaurant with anything I've seen from her previously. The fact that her boyfriend's food background has been much more influencial on the menu than her background wouldn't bother me at all if it wasn't for the fact that they've both openly said that the restaurant was supposed to be a physical manifestation of the community brought together by her channel. Also, people were booking reservations months in advance and sometimes flying across the world to eat at DOOBY'S RESTAURANT, not to eat at the restaurant that's been pretty much co-opted by her boyfriend who's serving food so far removed from what can be seen on her channel that there's really no way you could tell it was her restaurant if you weren't told.
Wow thanks for putting it into such a thoughtful comment. I agree. Most people fly over expecting an elevated version of a homey meal that she shows on her channel but end up a little disappointed when it’s not what they get. This definitely feels more like her bfs restaurant more so than Tina’s for sure. I hope if she does open a new restaurant elsewhere that it shows more of her style and flavours instead.
unfortunately, having a restaurant, is hard hard work and maybe 2 or 3 weeks of a year and then the restaurant is also closed. You cannot combine it with travel. That is also the bad part of the job, Some restaurant owners and cooks are not having holidays for 15 years or more , and that is a bad thing. but reality.
I've seen most reviews are half and half. Some saying it's good and others saying it's mid. This is very helpful feedback and is in no way hateful. I think what's lacking with the food is the korean comfort feeling which caught people off guard? I understand it's supposed to be elevated food.
I noticed that most of the dishes were only vegetables. :/ Kind of doesn't make the price worth it in my opinion.. Feel like she could've gone a better route by doing small pop ups of her actual cooking and then if all went well for her, then open up a restaurant.. that way she builds more rep and recognition. Starting out with a restaurant with no experience and catering to a specific niche/demographic is tough. It's not impossible but it's tough.
That’s a great observation. From what I can tell, it seems like the menu is created by her boyfriend and he may have gotten some inspiration from her Korean cooking but Doody isn’t the head chef. I would love to try a pop up by dooby or a menu that she cooked or created herself. Hopefully a pop up in the states will come one day.
In pop ups the veg and non veg menus are priced the same. One has nothing to do with the other. Fine dining is all about innovation and creativity, high quality ingredients which are expensive to source.
The portion sizes were so small omg. And it feels like they were trying hard to come off as fancy. can't imagine anyone returning after their first visit.
Actually I was quite full by the end of the meal. They were definitely trying to make the Korean fusion food more upscale but the flavours were lacking something.
When you never worked in a real kitchen and want to play Michelin restauranteur... This is what happens. Kevin is definitely not familiar with Korean food so most of the ideas is definitely coming from Dumby. You can't expect to play dinner host and charge 200 bucks.
I’m not sure whose idea it is but the entire meal did not taste like a Korean meal to me so it’s quite possible that dooby introduced to him some dishes which inspired these. The dishes she makes on her channel look very traditional and are things she grew up eating and these are very different.
@@christineele I've seen those Michelin chefs take Asian food and try to make it French. It will never work. And if it does, it loses all sense of what makes Asian food Asian in the 1st place. I just despise the fact that chefs have to twist and conform to French standards to try to "elevate" the dish. Which typically involves deconstructing everything, making sauces into foams, sprinkling caviars everywhere and decorating with baby vegs.
Okay spending 200 CAD equailvaent to won. Is literally being robbed 😂 thank you for your honest review. Btw they have closed the restaurant now and I am not surprised at all.
200 bucks?! Seems like a rip off.. Here in Japan you’ll be able to eat at a top sushi restaurant with expensive ingredients (not boiled veggies..) for half price..
@@christineele I highly recommend going out to the countryside the food in the city is pretty crappy here. For sushi aim for old school restaurants near the ocean. The menu is in Japanese so it’s inconvenient for travelers but totally worth it. You could try downloading an app that shows translations and see if that works. Locals usually start out with omakase it’s like a small course for tasting variety of fish that the chef recommends that day. After the corse people order what they like or want to try that wasn’t served. No way you’ll be paying 200 bucks most places will be under 100 (I would say average is about 30-50bucks) These places won’t have California rolls tho, rolls are served in chain sushi restaurants. Most chain sushi restaurants are crap but some in the countryside are amazing, they also have pictures so it’s easy to order. Some old school restaurants require reservation you can ask the hotel to call them for a reservation. If you’re traveling for good sushi I recommend Hokkaido Ishikawa Toyama Niigata Fukui Kyushu, the places near Tokyo are Kanagawa Shizuoka and Chiba (Boso area) from Kyoto I would say Wakayama. Hokkaido and Kyushu has the highest quality sushi and it’s cheaper too. Hope this comment helps for future travelers ;)
As a former food writer, I feel like you could had been more descriptive of the food you ate. There's a difference between a "review" and an "opinion". if you review a dish, you should focus more on the technique, fragrances, colors, description of flavors, experiences and images that conjure in your mind. Look up the late Jonathan Gold or even Anthony Bourdain food reviews, and you'll know exactly what I mean. Your review seems to only scratch the surface and appears to be more of a reflection of yourself than the food. Not sure if your channel is focused on food reviews, but if it is, that's just my suggestion for future vids. Cheers!
Thank you so much! I will look into both chef and critic and take some notes. My channel is not a food review channel but I will do my best to focus more on the food when I film these videos. Appreciate the tips :) cheers!
