Photo is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]
Photo is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]

A group of diners who secretly grilled meat they had brought from home at a Korean barbecue restaurant has sparked outrage online.

A restaurant owner identified only as A posted on the social media platform Threads on Sunday, venting about a recent incident. "I'm so furious. Does it even make sense to bring your own meat to a barbecue restaurant?" A wrote.

According to A, a group of six adults and three children visited the restaurant. Despite numbering nine people, they ordered only two packs of samgyeopsal, three bowls of rice and three cans of drinks.

"There were a lot of them, but they ordered so little meat — I figured they just weren't that hungry since it was an odd hour," A said. "There was clearly not enough meat, yet banchan refills — the ssam, peppers and garlic — went out four times."

The group's suspicious behavior was soon uncovered.

"When I looked more closely, I realized they had brought their own samgyeopsal," A said. "We don't even charge a table fee or a private room fee, and they still brought outside meat to a barbecue restaurant. I politely asked them to leave, but they said they were going to finish grilling and eating the meat they had already started."

A added that when told the charcoal would be removed, the customers demanded it stay until they were done. "They had the nerve to get angry and shout at me — it was the first time in five years of running this business that I raised my voice back," A said.

"They had packed it all in a bag," A said. "I thought maybe they just weren't hungry, or that times are tough economically." A said the situation took an unexpected turn. "I was actually feeling more sympathetic because they weren't ordering much meat — I never imagined it would end like this. When I told them outside food wasn't allowed, one woman stared at me with this look of disbelief and said, 'What do you mean we brought outside food?' I can't forget that expression. Shouldn't the first response be an apology?"

The situation worsened afterward. Rather than apologizing, the customers left a 0.5-star review of the restaurant.

"At first I tried to resolve this amicably, but when I saw they had changed the review to just 0.5 stars, I decided a peaceful resolution was no longer possible," A said. "After consulting with a lawyer, I am considering filing a formal police complaint for obstruction of business and other related offenses."

The post drew a flood of comments from other restaurant owners sharing similar experiences. "I run a pork specialty restaurant and once saw beef on the grill — the customer tried to take it away, saying it must have been served by mistake, then apologized," one person wrote. Another said, "A customer brazenly brought in the same type of alcohol we sell." A third commented, "There are people who say they can't eat samgyeopsal, then sneak in beef and eat it on the sly."


jshan@heraldcorp.com