My family and I often come to Pepero for dinner, and have always enjoyed the dishes, such as the tteokbokki and jajangmyeon. We've been coming to this restaurant for some time, since they are the only local Korean restaurant that I know of. I decided to write this review on this restaurant due to my recent experiences with this place as it seems to be going downhill in regards to their customer service.
My family and I had gone to chow down some good Korean food for dinner a couple of weeks ago, and typically we were seated to a table by a younger gentleman a while back. However, there was a waitress who had seated us, and please note that she may have been a new staff member since she had recently started waitressing a couple of months ago and we have been seeing her every time we come in. Fast forwarding, my family and I all received our food at the same time, and typically my dad is known to be a fast-eater in my family so he was the first one to be done with his meal, while my mom, sister and I were still ACTIVELY eating. The waitress had the audacity of automatically bringing my table our bill before majority of the people at my table was done with their food! Please note that it was not a busy weekday night, and there was no one that I noticed waiting to be seated outside or waiting for their food to arrive at their table. We had not asked for the bill yet, and the waitress had simply slid the billing tray onto our table towards my dad, which sent our entire family thinking she was trying to rush us out as 3 of the 4 people at our table were still eating - only like halfway done w/ our meal! I have never been to a restaurant where the server would give you the bill in the middle of your meal - usually they give it to us at the end of it! My dad was very upset at the waitress, but didn't say anything. We just paid our meal and left, and from then on, my family has yet to return to the restaurant.
Recently today, I decided to give the restaurant another chance to redeem themselves by coming in and placing a to-go order while I shopped a bit around the grocery area. As I walked in, I was met by the same waitress we had from our last visit. Honestly, she was a bit rude b/c when she was speaking to my sister and I, and acted like she was too busy to speak to us while she was walking to the kitchen, and we just informed her that we wanted to place a to-go order. In response, she just told another lady (probably the owner) in their own language to take our order. The other lady who was extremely kind, took and gave us our order. During our wait, she was also able to help correct the order she placed for us & promptly fix it with sincereness. To be honest, I was a bit upset during the time with the 30 minute wait for my order, as well as the extra 10 minutes to get our order fix - but I am happy to have my food in the end.
Overall, I gave 3 stars b/c the food is great. The lack of 2 stars was due to the customer service, as well as the wait time for my food today. Initially, I was going to give them 2 stars overall mainly due to the waitress's attitude as if she is only working b/c she has to, and my family and I just felt unwelcomed there. However, I decided to add the additional star b/c of the kind lady (owner?) promptly trying to fix my to-go order. I would recommend this place for the food, but it'll probably be better if you place a carry-out order beforehand. I most likely will not be returning to this restaurant, instead will be going to a farther restaurant up in Mint Hill. read more