I liked Golden Pig better than Seoul Garden. My wife and friends agreed. In general, I thought the food we had from Golden Pig was more enjoyable than the food we had from Seoul Garden. Not that the food from Seoul Garden was bad, but there were parts of dishes we didn't like. We didn't have that problem with Golden Pig.
A little background: This is Seoul Garden's second Triangle location. Their original location is in Raleigh: https://bit.ly/3c5fSxy. I don't think these two Seoul Garden restaurants (Cary and Raleigh) are affiliated with the Seoul Garden restaurant in Greensboro: https://bit.ly/345S9cZ. Seoul Garden Cary replaced Golden Pig when Golden Pig closed in 2020: https://bit.ly/3f5vCT0.
If you ever went to Golden Pig, Seoul Garden hasn't done much to the restaurant space. They repainted the outside from gold to gray. Inside, they've opened the space up and modernized it a bit. No more half-wall partitions in the main dining room. Gone is the old-fashioned, homey decor. The bar area was actually in use during my visit. It feels more like a "restaurant" now than eating at grandma's house. That said, the place still felt a bit bare to me and I think it could use more in terms of ambiance.
I could be wrong, but I think Seoul Garden is an upgrade from Golden Pig in terms of menu selection. Seoul Garden offers more specialized and adventurous Korean dishes than Golden Pig did. That was my impression when first looking at Seoul Garden's menu. For example, they serve Eun Deh Gu Jorim a.k.a. Daegu Jorim which is soy-braised cod ($29.99) and Yumso Jungol a.k.a. Yeomso Jeongol which is black goat hot pot ($35.99).
We got the Gopchang Jungol (Jeongol; $35.99). In metro Atlanta, I'm a fan of these restaurants called Gopchang on Fire: http://bit.ly/2NlVHi1. Gopchang is Korean for beef intestines (small intestines) and pork intestines (large intestines). Those restaurants specialize in gopchang. Seoul Garden Cary's Gopchang Jungol was my first time trying gopchang in the Triangle. Unfortunately, we were disappointed in both the taste and texture of the gopchang.
Note we ordered takeout and, unbeknownst to us, the cooking for the Gopchang Jungol had to be finished off at home by us. The containers of broth, deep-orange-red in color from the chili/spices, were hot when I picked them up. The other ingredients - meats, veggies, and carbs - were served cold in a tray. Each meat was in its own small plastic bag. The meats included chopped beef intestine, tripe, and slices of "regular" beef (not sure which cut). The tripe was frozen. The slices of beef were well-marbled. The veggies included short leafy greens, cabbage, scallions, and mushrooms. The carbs included udon noodles and rice cakes. Other ingredients included tofu cubes and fish cake. The broth was flavorful and the ingredients were fresh. Both the tripe and beef were good. I really liked the tripe. However, the intestines were bland and had an off-putting, unpleasant, and gritty lining on the inside. Intestines can be hit or miss for me and this was a miss.
Another special dish we had was the Jae Yuk Bossam a.k.a. Jeyuk Bossam. At Seoul Garden Cary, this dish comes in two sizes: small for $15.99 and large for $29.99. The large size comes with raw oysters. The small size does not. Again unfortunately, the oysters weren't good. I love raw oysters, but Seoul Garden Cary's version were not pleasant at all, not even when eaten with the accompanying seafood sauce. It was just fishy all around. It tasted bad. We ended up cooking the raw oysters in the Gopchang Jungol soup above. That way, the oysters were palatable.
An additional issue we had with the bossam was the spicy pickled radish that came with it. Like the oysters, it tasted a little weird and fishy. Other than that, everything else that came with the bossam was good. There was lots of meat. The menu described it as pork belly, which was obvious from all the layers of fat and meat. There was cartilage too, which I liked. The bossam meat wasn't as tender as I've had at other restaurants, but it was still OK. The meat came with ssamjang which is a salty, fermented soybean paste condiment. Other ingredients included napa cabbage (to wrap), pink daikon, and pickled garlic and jalapeno. I do recommend the bossam if you've never had it before.
Lastly, we tried an order of the Dduk-Bok-Kee a.k.a. tteok-bokki ($10.99). These are spicy stir-fried rice cakes. I order these often when I go to Korean restaurants. A popular Korean snack food, these have become more of a comfort food to me. Seoul Garden Cary's version was fine. The consistency of the rice cakes was harder than we would have liked. In the Triangle, I think Bonchon in Chapel Hill has superior rice cake texture (softer, more delectable).
Banchan (side dishes) included kimchi, vinegared daikon and jalapeno, broccoli, bean sprouts, and noodle salad. Portions should have been bigger.
Service was good. Our order was ready in a little over 20 minutes. read more