If there was a service that made restaurant reservations for you, would you use it?

honestly prob not. most of the hyped up places in seoul that are hard to get into like jungsik or mingles already have systems where u can just book through catchtable or their own site in english. the language barrier isnt that bad for reservations anymore.

for the ones that actually need a korean phone number like some gogijip in mapo, id rather just show up and wait or ask my hotel concierge for free. paying 5-10 bucks for a reservation feels like a waste when most places take walk-ins anyway. maybe if it was for a super exclusive spot like a hidden tasting menu place in jongno where they only take korean calls id consider it, but thats like maybe 2% of restaurants.

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for tourists yeah i can see it being useful for places like the jokbal joints in jangchungdong or those bbq spots in mapo where the menu is all hangul and the owner just stares at you. the ones that have a waitlist system but it's all phone based and they hang up if you speak english. i'd pay like 8,000 won for that, enough to cover the phone call and a bit extra

but most tourists prob overestimate how hard it is tbh. naver map has an english booking button on a ton of restaurants now, even the ones in insadong or bukchon. and if you're going to a place like the ramen shops in hongdae they don't take reservations at all, just queue up like everyone else

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ngl i think the price really depends on how hard the spot is to book. for places like Onjium or Kwonsooksoo where the reservation window is like 2 minutes before it sells out, I'd pay up to 10,000 won per person. but for most of the trendy places in Hannam or Yeonnam you can just walk in on a weekday or go at 5:30 when they open

the bigger issue I see is that a lot of these famous restaurants already have a concierge service built in if you're staying at a nice hotel. the Shilla or Four Seasons concierge will book Jungsik for you if you ask a week ahead, and that's part of the room price. so the real market might be people staying at airbnbs or cheaper hotels

3,000 won per person feels like the sweet spot to me. anything more and I'd rather just use Google translate on the Naver reservation page or ask my Korean friend to call for me over kakao

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the whispering thing is real but its not about the sauce lol. that guy runs a 2am handoff with the chicken supplier, they drop off fresh birds from a farm near Chuncheon three times a week instead of using the frozen stuff most hongdae spots rely on. thats why the texture hits different, not the sauce itself. if u go back ask for the neck & wing combo off menu, its cheaper & honestly the best cut they do

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the thing nobody mentions is that Dogdogdog's sauce gets its body from cheong, the Korean rice syrup, not sugar. thats why it coats the wing so thick and stays glossy instead of going sticky. i asked a guy who worked there and he said they also add a splash of maesil (plum) extract at the end off the heat. that fruity tang under the garlic is what you're tasting. go on a weekday before 6, weekends the wait hits 40 min easy.

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honestly the "secret sauce" thing is prob just marketing. every fried chicken place in Seoul has a version of that story. the real difference at Dogdogdog is they double fry in rice bran oil and toss the wings in the sauce twice, once right out of the fryer and again after a 30 sec rest. thats where the crunch comes from, not some mystery ingredient. if u wanna taste the actual base, order the banban half plain half spicy and dip the plain one in the spicy sauce yourself.

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