Wang Ga Ma Restaurant - Coquitlam

I have tried several Korean restaurants and this was one of the poorer ones. Food quality was below average, serving was the same, was surprised to see so many people though. We were 4 people and all found it disappointing.

This restaurant was our pick for dinner one evening during a recent stay at a local neighbourhood Hotel. It was only a short walk away from where we were staying, and via a walkabout earlier, I found it looked rather nice inside, menu looked good, it was quite busy over lunch, so decided to go for it.The restaurant is rather large inside, with booth seating, and quite attractively decorated in natural, wood tone colours, with large prints and the like on the walls. The restaurant was virtually empty when we arrived (just before 5pm), and upon entering we were shown to a table that would accommodate four people. When seated, a menu and two cups of tea were brought to our table. We ordered what they called 'assorted beef in hot pot' - it came to our table on a plate, not in any hot pot - along with sides of a small salad (of thinly sliced onion and ?), and a small serving of kimchi. The beef offering consisted of a few slices slices of beef placed on and about a small mound of 'veggies', and the whole works sitting in what looked and tasted like water -- flavourless!! The salad was 'ok', the kimchi 'not', mostly just a few small chunks of cabbage 'ends', with little taste. After leaving the food at our table, the server never returned until I was able catch her attention, and request more tea. She filled our cups, said nothing, and left - never to be seen again until I walked up to the front of the restaurant and paid our bill. Then the only thing she had to say was - "What, no tip?" - I told her to check the table.We enjoyed some good Korean food during this stay in the area. This dining experience was an exception, and a restaurant that will never see us again.

The soup I tried was excellent. Never tasted anything like this soup elsewhere. I will definately come again. Too bad their Galbijjim was sold out. I will try next time.

At Korean restaurant for lunch, I almost always have a bowl of bibimbap, rice topped with five or six shredded vegetables plus a small amount of cooked meat. Its seasoning is spicy red pepper sauce. There are two kinds of bibimbap, one in heated stone bowl and the other in ordinary metal or ceramic bowl. Both of them are quite good for quick lunch.This time, unfortunately, they served my regular bibimbap with cold rice! It's unthinkable for a restaurant to use cold rice for any dish. I was disappointed.

I would say the food was decent if you wanted to go for something better than fast food. The service was good and the atmosphere was certainly that of a home-cooked Korean meal.