The SOJU in Reading

Amazing, delicious food and well-equipped table. The meat-cooking stove is such a unique experience and the facilities are great. The place could use some TLC but the atmosphere is alright. There could definitely be improvements, but the world-class food more than makes up for it, as you'll be more focused on the delicious food. The bill can get slightly expensive in time, as even starters can be wallet-heavy. The service is decent, the staff don't interact as much with customers except for order-taking and bill payment. It's quite autonomous - QR Code ordering system and the need to tell them you are finished so the bill can be brought. But overall, we had a great experience - amazing table, amazing food, decent service and an alright atmosphere. I recommend trying it out, especially the sweet and spicy chicken starter.

Very satisfied with the experience. The food was delicious and the staff were great.

Very tasty, staff were very friendly. Surprisingly, the portions were massive. We may have over ordered. Fortunately, the staff gave us to go boxes

Mom & Pops run restaurant. Have been dining here for a number of years, the food is authentic Korean and the price is value for money. Highly recommended.

There was a lingering smell of pure rotten food which stained the atmosphere to a degree where I was contemplating stepping outside to get some clean air. The spicy bbq chicken is VERY spicy and tasted very low quality with most of the surface area being fat. I mean the rice was just bad, how can you mess up plain rice? Unfortunately, we got dumplings- that came cold, and we could definitely taste the three star hygiene rating. Still feel a sickening feeling in my stomach and a long lasting vile taste. Other than mediocre at best food, staff were nice however there was a feeling of being judged which stained our experience even more. We don't blame any of the staff for any of this, however, they were more than kind and helped when we needed. They even dealt with my rude family members calmly. Fun experience for cooking with friends & family but if you’re looking for quality food not quality times don't go here.

Food was good but the all meat set was a bit expensive.

Such a small sweet place to eat! The owners are so cute and friendly! Definitely would go again

Very nice lunch menu - cheap and delicious!

Service was really quick and made it comfortable. Lovely chill atmosphere and yummy food

Had a great evening with a diverse community gathering in an awesome atmosphere listening to great Christian music & rendition. Food was equally delicious and great hospitality

Recently been here for a date lunch.It is cosy place to sit. They serve several dishes including Korean BBQ, Bibimbap and drinks including of course the Soju. We ordered Gangjeong veg dumplings, woodong noodles and boolgogi soup. It was all good. Recommended for some Korean cuisines in central Reading. We revisited and must say that taste has improved even more.

PLEASE READ. The chefs in the kitchen particularly the old Korean woman kept shouting words like ‘HELLO’ to her employees and it was so loud it ruined my dining experience with my family. She really mistreats her employees. The other managers and supervisors at this restaurant are also rude to everybody. It seems that ‘Soju’ has a disorganised work system and toxic work culture. It is a shame for them. The food is not worth your time. It’s overpriced for such mediocre quality they give. You’re better off going to ‘Gooi Nara’ in Reading which is another Korean barbecue restaurant. Quality of food, atmosphere and service is much better in Gooi Nara. Everybody, stop wasting your time in ‘Soju’.

The service at this restaurant is awful and really affected my dining experience. Once, despite having available tables, we weren’t allowed to sit without a reservation, and even after reserving, we were denied entry. Another time, after we were seated rudely, had to order ourselves without any service help, and the food was thrown on the table by a staff in a black hoodie with a impatient manner. With him wander around with that attitude ruinedt our appetite and experience. If you plan to come here, be aware of this and try not to let it affect your mood for the rest of your day.

Beef and Chicken really good, but the smoke of the BBQ was too much to bear, had to walk out of the restaurant for some fresh air. Ventilation needs to be sorted

The kimchi pancake was tasty, and overall, the food was the best part. The service was hit-and-miss because we weren't explained to order by code, and the service button to get served was not explained.

We waited for like 4hundred million and we only got one of the orders. We ordered cold noodle and sth else and AFTER WE QAIT FOR A TRILLION YEARS THEY GAVE US THE WRONG THING LIKE WHAT THE HELL IS IT THAT HARD TK GET THE RIGHT ORDER?! WE WERE THE FIRST PEOPLE TO ORDER BUT WE GOT OUR FOOD THE SLOWEST LIKE HUH?! YOU SHOULD DO EACH ORDER IN ORDER! EVERYTIME WE COME HERE WE WAIT FOR A LONG TIME BRUH THE WAITER LITERALLY HAS NO BRAIN ! MY COLD NOODLE WAS THE LAST THING TO COME WHAT THE?

Been a long time since I have had food that was so bad that I just got up and left. It really wasn't nice. Also staff appear to make none Asians pay upfront whereas Asian seem to be allowed to pay at the end which I found a bit racist not a big deal as I don't really care and like to pay upfront anyway but the food was just really bad not going here again. They charged a 12% service charge upfront which makes no sense.

There is no mobile reception, so I can not pay using Google wallet Had to use their free WiFi. I'm not keen on public WiFi. Food was lovely. We enjoyed cooking the very thin pieces of beef. The noodles are very nice I had the thick ones. It was a little expensive, and the surcharge didn't help. To summarise it was a very good experience

quick service and lovely food cooked fresh, nice restaurant during our weekend in reading

Fuimos a almorzar. El restaurante tiene una pequeña oferta de almuerzo agradable por £ 10 incluyendo sopa, khimchi, stater y un principal. La comida era sabrosa.

Muy malo y un desperdicio de dinero. Fuimos en pareja y forzaron un 12. 5% de cargo por servicio en las palabras “porque nos han acusado de mal servicio”. tuvimos que pedir por teléfono y nos dijeron que obtuviéramos nuestros propios cubiertos y servilletas por un servidor que estaba sentado en ese teléfono todo el tiempo. Tampoco tenían a mis novios bebiendo en stock y le dijeron que cambiara a una bebida diferente, pero se enfureció cuando pidió una bebida que era 50 p. más cara y le dijo que no podía tomarla a pesar de pagar un alto cargo por servicio. La comida era sosa y el tamaño de las porciones tampoco era muy grande.

Ticked all the boxes for me - good food especially the seaweed soup (generous portion and served hot), quite a few vegetarian options, prompt service.

Food was really lovely and came out only a few minutes after we ordered even though all tables were occupied, so quite busy. Staff were really nice and helpful, great experience would definitely recommend

Food was amazing, came very quickly, kind helpful staff. Would recommend. Thank you SOJU

El servicio fue genial, mi mesa tenía muy poco de qué quejarse. El personal nos recibió, nos mostró nuestras mesas, nos preguntó si habíamos estado allí antes y preguntó si necesitábamos algo cada - tan - a menudo. La comida y las bebidas eran fáciles de pedir a través del código QR en la mesa, todos salieron rápidamente y todo sabía bien. Mi única crítica es que algunos de los nombres en el menú físico no coincidían con los nombres del menú digital cuando pides, por lo que fue un poco difícil pedir algunas bebidas. Mi sugerencia sería agregar imágenes al menú digital o asegurarse de que los nombres coincidan exactamente. Todo lo demás fue genial. Es un buen lugar para grupos pequeños o parejas. No recuerdo haber visto ningún espacio para grandes grupos de personas.

I have been at Soju a few times and I have always enjoyed the food. Prices are reasonable too.

This is a nice place to go for some Korean BBQ. This food is very nice and there is a large selection of cooked and self cook foods. The staff are typically kind but they did come over to our table and placed items on our grill without us asking. Not sure is this is normal or not? They also have a small shop area which you can buy items for you to take home. Food can be a bit pricy but overall it’s a good experience! I recommend.

I got the lunch £10 deal with friends. The thick cut noodles were good. I wouldn’t recommend the other ramyun noodles as it’s instant shin ramyun with veggies. The sides have gotten significantly smaller since the last time I’ve been but overall it was a fair price.

Un-Intrusive staff, nice atmosphere with music, cheap food (expecially the lunch menu), large portions, would definitely come again if I was I the area

Incredible, I called to order Takeaway around 10:30pm after I finished work and went to collect it, it was ready in 15 minutes, the staff are so friendly + helpful and the food was amazing , usually it's hard for Korean food to travel well especially the crispy rolls and fried chicken, but everything was perfect and stayed crispy, the galbitang was delicious as well.

Great food, good selection of dishes. Would definitely go again

I have been coming almost every time I visit Reading for years. A sure family favourite. As a vegetarian (and former vegan), I always feel like I have enough options and they are all delicious - my personal favourite is the (vegan) tofu dooboo raymun noodles. The vibe is nice with friendly and attentive staff, pretty decor and nice music

I always love the food here. If I'm passing Reading, it's my go-to for Korean BBQ. You can eat really good food here and have a great atmosphere. I always ate well.

We visited as a large group and the staff catered to us very well, the drinks and menu are great, loads of options and everything we ordered was delicious! Understandably, it gets quite hot in the restaurant so some ventilation could improve the experience! We will return again to try out even more of the menu!

Vine aquí con la familia. Somos muchos, así que nos sentimos como si compráramos la mitad del menú! Fideos de cristal increíbles. Tortitas increíbles. Maravillosa carne, pollo, cordero. Muchas opciones halal. El personal era encantador, y muy servicial cuando vieron nuestros problemas con la barbacoa de mesa jaja! Estoy impaciente por volver.

Scan QR code to order and pay which makes it easier for the waiters = Quick service in getting drinks and food. Varied menu, normal dishes, hotpot or BBQ. It can be quite smokey if everyone is BBQ at the same time. Just need better ventilation. Other than that definitely would come back as the food was full of flavours.

1 calle contrarreloj probando un restaurante coreano, mi hija lo eligió y a los dos nos encantó. La comida era preciosa y el personal era amable. Hubiéramos sido un poco más aventureros con nuestra elección, pero el menú era un poco ligero en la descripción. Lo que sí escogimos sin embargo fue cocinado muy bien y los sabores eran excelentes.

Only thing nice about this place was the setting. The food is overpriced and literally instant food with added vegetables. A friend and I went there earlier today and got a “pork ramen” and “egg fried rice”. The noodles were instant packet noodles with added veg and a tiny bit of meat for garnish. The egg fried rice was what tastes like a microwave fried rice from Costco, again with added veg for garnish. Although the food was bad we got seated nicely and the staff were kind.

Quiet expensive meat 🥓 platters The fired chicken pieces are out of this world

Average standard of food and price, big portion. Staffs are not attentive as we waited for a staff to serve us for about ten minutes

Prices and food were really nice. I could get a side, meal and drink for around £20 which was better than other restaurants. I don’t personally have a problem with the service charge, but I understand it may be a problem if you have a tight budget. Everything I’ve tried so far has been really good and I kinda like that the staff leave you alone and aren’t coming towards your table asking questions every 5 minutes. I would definitely recommend for casual dinners with friends. Definitely try the hotpot or bbq.

I’m so disappointed with Soju and I certainly would not recommend this place to anyone. The food served was way below standard: both in quality AND quantity, and the staff don’t care about customer satisfaction. It is all pay up front so if you are unhappy with a dish, they literally just say, you will have to pay for another one if you don’t like this one. Now the food: I ordered a galbitang (short beef rib soup) but it was more like salty water with a few bits of beef bones. The beef ribs had hardly any meat - they felt like horrible leftovers from their bbq menu. The soup was meant to have radish and glass noodles, but there were 4 thin slices of radish and perhaps a few strings of glass noodles. In addition, we ordered the soondooboo jjigae (tofu and seafood soup). Again there was no depth of flavour: it just tasted like salty water with chilli powder. And what seafood? There were some tiny bits of - I presumed, cheap frozen seafood. The tofu was a broken, and again, looked like some leftovers they were trying to use up. I am kicking myself for not taking any pictures because you will understand just how sad the food looked! It is no point speaking to the staff, who don’t seem to care about the satisfaction of the customers. Overall - I would say Soju’s food is more like cheap but overpriced canteen food; and their food makes street food seems like fine dining. There are WAY better restaurants within King’s Walk than this one. Don’t waste your money here and go somewhere else.

An all time comfort food spot. Great food and excellent customer service.

The place which I visit twice a week. The best lunch menu ever, see on the picture, especially for Reading, like a brilliant. Today they are serving water for free, which shows there attention to customers during the heat wave. Respect.

Not sure why I am being charged for other people's bad reviews, food was OK but service was appalling,

Food was gorgeous, but the service was not the best unfortunately. We asked for help with the hot pot (what to do, when it is ready to eat) and we weren't given any assistance. The food was lovely but not the best experience overall especially given the price and included service charge.

Food was lovely , i was amazed to see the restaurant get packed up so quick. Portion size was great we couldn’t finish 😂 but all over the service and food really good , you can always choose soju to enjoy a nice korean meal

Quite disappointed - from food, environment to service. If anyone wants to enjoy authentic Korean BBQ, please go to New Malden. The quality of the food is really normal - and most of the dishes are not authentic and tasty. The price is too high for that quality.

Been eating here for 10 years including little Soju which shut. The owner helps me as I am badly disabled. Great service and long winter nights were helped by Deliveroo. Wish beer was a bit cheaper. Love the Soju and the little shop for groceries

Loved the spicy noodle roll. Crispy crunchy well seasoned. Seafood haemolytic was great too. Will Be back again

Friendly place with an original vibe where you get to grill you own food, with a little help of beer kind waiters… lovely friendly restaurant I recommend :)

Very disgusting store. My partner went to take out food and was charged a service fee. I have never seen a service charge for takeout. Totally deceptive! deliberately! Ticket, very disgusting!

Halal options here and at the other places as well

Definitely worth a visit as a Korean food lover . Being a regular customer there I never miss ordering the assorted barbecue surf and turf. Also their sweet and spicy chicken, any kind of bibimbap and ramyuns are amazing and very tasty.

I enjoyed the barbecue here. Three people a random guess and it turned out to be one of best place to have Korea food. The fun part was, in Korea Soju is an alcoholic drink🤩

There was a strange smell when I came in, and the bathroom wasn’t very clean. The meat were not fresh!!! We tried beef, lamb, prawns… Neither of them was good . They have no service to Asians, maybe they recognized us as Chinese? Each time I asked the waitress for help, she was always with an expressionless face, and even a little annoyed. However, she was always smiling to other European guests, which made us feel very sad and uncomfortable.

The food was quite bad and the pancake we got was even burnt on one side. The amount we paid for the quality we got was horrible. Would never go here and suggest you look elsewhere for food. I would recommend Gooi Nara if you want a better korean BBQ experience.

Have tried SOJU lots of times over 4 years. Service is great (especially after they implemented the 12.5% service fee). Ventilation has been improved but still can be better. Food is on a bit of a downward trend, portions are getting smaller and amount of meet they give is less than before as well.

I’ve been coming to this restaurant for several years and have enjoyed eating here a lot, but recent visits have left me thoroughly disappointed. The decline in quality is evident across various aspects. Firstly, the food quality has noticeably decreased, with dishes often not cooked properly and significantly smaller portions compared to before. Additionally, encountering unhygienic practices, such as finding a hair in my noodles, was highly unsettling. Furthermore, the decline extends to the service, with rude employees providing subpar assistance. Overall, I am disheartened by the significant decline in the once-excellent standards of this restaurant.

Real Korean food, highly recommended to everyone.

They serve you in bowls with peeling anti-stick chemicals. I don’t think the food is safe to eat as a result. Avoid if you care about your health.

The service was slow and the food did not come in order. We mentioned to the lady it’s our first time to experience BBQ, it will be better if the lady can give us brief instructions what to do. She put the grill in high temperature at first so our meat was burn and stick on the grill. She was eager to taken payment as ask us twice to pay and the bill was not present.

Had dinner there with a colleague. Food was great and service was excellent even though it was fully booked. Nice experience, just ventilation could be improved.

I absolutely love this place. The owner is super friendly and helpful. The food is delicious a little pricey for the portions. It's very clean and he's always welcoming. The only thing is I wished they served Gimbap.

I was excited to try this restaurant, but my experience was unfortunately a letdown. The food, although presented well, was overpriced for the quality. What truly ruined the meal was the automatic 12% service charge. I couldn't understand the justification – the service was lackluster at best. Charging extra for poor service seems counterintuitive. How does this practice incentivize restaurants to improve if they're already getting a guaranteed tip? This policy left a bad taste in my mouth; enough to knock two stars off my rating. I won't be returning or recommending this place.

Had a lovely time with friends. Contrary to some recent reviews, we had great and very friendly service. Food was delicious and came promptly, definitely give this place a try if you haven’t already!

Fantastic Korean barbecue restaurant. Food is amazing and the lumch deal at £10 is great value

Great homely food, especially the surprisingly delicious kimchi. The atmosphere was lovely too, the only thing I’d say is that the music was a tad too loud. But overall, might come back again, next time with headphones, just in case.

Very nice food and quick service

Lovely welcome from Aunties and Uncles at FoH and you can see the kitchen team too....reminds me of hospitality from home.... Very reasonably priced too...the Assorted Kimchi is amazing, would happily eat that by itself! Thoroughly enjoyed our meals and cannot wait to be back.

My wife and I love this restaurant. We have been twice now and the sweet and spicy fried chicken is to die for. The service is great - our first visit an older gentleman very kindly showed us how to season and eat bibimbap properly (and it’s amazing). 10.5/10

My main took 1h20 to arrive and only after asking after it repeatedly times. My dumplings were cold in the middle. My wife noted that the quality of her beef tongue dropped since our last visit, it was more rubbery in texture and had an odd aftertaste, though she did enjoy the rest of the beef BBQ.

Waiting for more than 50 mins for a cold noodles to my daughter. That's what they do. The boss was ridiculous.

Service is lacking. After waiting about 10 minutes to be served, I asked the older gentleman, who I assume is the owner, if he could take the orders and he pointed at the QR code on the table without much explanation. He looked very annoyed that I had asked and I noticed that other customers received similar cold reaction from him. As somebody who suffers with asthma, I wish there was a smoke extractor fan, preferably above the grill like most Korean places. I'm not sure how they got away without one to be honest as it's certainly not healthy to be breathing in all that smoke Food wise, it was alright. Normally banchans ( side dishes) are complimentary in other korean places if you order BBQ but this one was just not worth the price.

The experience started with the staff allowing a bunch of people to skip the queue. The £60 meal (including a forced 12% tip) that could maybe have satisfied a small child included fairly flavourless food and rice which has never seen a single pinch of salt. The experience was punctuated by random service related issues and the owner being incredibly rude to his staff. It is a strange place and I will not be told that this is the quintessential Korean barbecue experience.

First time to this restaurant. Food was alright. Was in for BBQ but no chimneys like other Korean restaurants. Ambience could be better. Very frank old guy. We were here for an hour, just had my food finished and was asked if i could leave to cater other customer (fair enough, no offence taken). Not bad restaurant if you are looking for something different but I would not be visiting this establishment again.

We order the 'All meat' bbq assortment and they were delicious. Salmon is also good. Ox tounge needs improvement as they are not fresh.

EDIT NOV 2023: Visited again. Service has gone down. Food is still good quality, but portions are smaller. New system to place orders is a pain. Downgraded my rating. We arrived and sat down. After 15 mins of waiting for someone to take our order, a person came and pointed to the QR codes on the table, and asked us to place orders through there. Should've informed us when we were seated at our table. Secondly I had 4G signals but the website was not loading well for me. I told them I was having problems and showed them the spinning 'loading' animation on the website, but the person didn't seem bothered and asked me to keep trying. No alternatives offered. To top it off, a 'service charge' option is offered before we have even placed our order. I don't get that, why would I pay a service charge up front, before I've even been given any service? Finally once order was placed, they brought our drinks and one of them was the wrong drink. After all that hassle with online ordering, I was not impressed. Waved over a staff member who was close by and asked them to change the drink. They did, and then asked me to press the buzzer on the table if I need service. That really put off my evening. When bringing food to our table, they brought the correct ones. For one of the orders, they came to our table and asked if we had ordered it. Again, what's the point of the online ordering system if you still need to come to our table to ask us about it? Overall experience on this visit was very poor, especially the staff service. I don't expect to visit a restaurant to be told what buttons to press and codes to scan for my order, especially when staff don't tell you when they sit you down. It's as if they're doing me a favour my letting me eat there! Restaurants should focus on customer service and food quality, and both appear to have been negatively affected recently at The Soju. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Food was excellent, service was decent and, atmosphere left a bit to be desired. There's a button on each table which rings a bell to summon your waiter. We weren't informed about this so it rang accidentally, and someone came to ask if everything is l look. It's a good feature to have but inform the customers first! Food was very good in general. I'd highly recommend trying out the Korean table BBQ, a novel activity for most. Again, zero instructions given by staff about how to use it etc. This is important and should at least be offered. Summary: place your BBQ meat strips on the hot plate, should be cooked in about 30 servings or so. Remove from hot plate with tongs and enjoy. Atmosphere could be improved a lot. Dark decor overall. Too many tables for a 'quality' feel. Felt more like they crammed as many tables as possible in there. Tables seem a bit randomly placed e.g we were sat next to the counter which led to the bathroom. We could see everyone walking into and out of there, not something desirable. Overall I'd recommend for the excellent food, but they need to improve their average service and atmosphere.

Soju and the Kings Arcade in Reading are on the up! We had a flavoursome and unique barbecue experience cooking our own surf and turf on the hot plate. The home made kimchi is not to be missed. We did feel slightly dislocated from the main restaurant as we were seated in an outpost- an indication of popularity.

slightly expensive for the amount but fresh food. very small pancake in the lunch set 😂 but tasty

Very flavourful soups, kimchi and bbq beef. bbq chicken was decent, nothing amazing. Prices were bit high for the amount served but was overall a nice kbbq place. Very modern ambience.

This used be a decent restaurant for Korean food but the portion size is atrocious for the price. The atmosphere was sad in the restaurant and the service was slow and lacking. I have been here plenty of times in the past and not had an issue but the restaurant has really gone down. The food taste is still okay but nothing like it used to be.

I ordered online 김치(kimchi rice), 닭고기 was (11 pcs chicken) and 봉봉 딸기 (strawberry drink) was delicious. Their meat is halal!

Great food and lovely staff, will come again. We had the Korean bbq and homemade kimchi and both were delicious. Only thing that wasn’t great was the music.

What a shame, visited here after 6 months. They’ve now moved to QR ordering adding a message “due to poor reviews on line on service we are adding a service charge”. The descriptions of the food differ between the paper menu and QR. Although in the restaurant there are plenty of front of staff, the majority are cleaners so couldnt help with the new ordering process. The one who could was rude. The food, oh the food was a let down. I was craving soju i wanted it. The seafood pancake had no flavour to the stale rice in the bibimbap.the sweet spicy rice cake, was cooked in a spicy sauce that was granulated. In each meal whenever meat was selected you struggled to find it. The best part of the menu still are the korean soft drinks. The restaurant also needs to fix their power useage/fuse. The power always goes off. I will not visit again unfortunately. Such a shame as this used to be a great Korean restaurant in Reading.

Had a very good experience with family. The food was good and really an experience of Korean dining. Kids enjoying themselves. The BBQ and Dumlings quickly have easy to the heart hotpot. I'd recommend locals to definitely try; halal options are a bonus.

Just had the best time today ^_^ ordered so much and ate some lovely food

Ordered some beef rice thing. I got 2 slice worth of beef. And it cost 11£ so ridiculous the taste so bad. Not worth it at all. Still charge 12% service charge didn’t get any service.

I went to Soju this evening as 3 adults and 2 children, and we all really enjoyed the food, which had full of flavour; the atmosphere was really relaxing; and the service was immaculate. The staff were really friendly and had a lovely chat with the owner, who was very pleasant, and as soon as we mentioned it was my sister's and my birthday, they went out of their way to make it a pleasant experience with candles on cupcakes and gave my sister and me socks as a gift. I will definitely go there again, and I will highly recommend going to this fabulous restaurant 😋

On New Years Day , I decided to give the lunch deal a go. We asked the waiter if the lunch deal was still on, and he said "yes." We were seated and ordered via a QR code. As we were waiting, the owner came up and started shouting at us, saying there was no lunch deal. We told him that we confirmed with the waiter the lunch deal was on, but he kept saying its a bank holiday so no. We then overheard the waiter saying that they've been serving the lunch deal all day, including the couple next to us. We asked if we could still have the lunch deal as others around us have been served it and he just kept shouting at us. Bear in mind me and my girlfriend didn't argue back, we were just gobsmacked. We asked for a refund and left. I don't recommend this place; you might as well travel to London for the same price.

Fantastic Korean food, all very tasty and service was good. Yes you have to order via an app and pay via the app but it’s very easy to do and food arrived swiftly. Bbq chicken and lamb chops in sweet soy were delicious. For starters the sweet and spicy king prawns and dumplings were excellent and portions are generous. Look forward to eating here again for sure. I can see why it was so busy at lunch.

Really tasty and reasonably priced food. Order online at the table, and food comes super quick.

The best experience of Korean dining I've ever had! I went with my family as a treat on my birthday and was thrilled to see a Halal option, food was marinated to perfection and everything was delicious! In particular the egg fried rice was lovely. I have to note there was an old man who served us and I'm greatful to how polite he was in advising me in regards to a certain drink that contains alcohol - thankyou for the experience, we will definitely be coming back again :)

This was the first time I visited the restaurant, the place was smoky, poor ventilation. The taste of food was good but the portions were too small. The sliced meats were magically thin, onions more than meats. Even I ordered the stir fry glass noodles, there were more than half bowl of onions and carrots.

The sweet soy sauce marinated meat was DELICIOUS. We had the bulgogi, galbi, and lamb. All were easy to cook, tender, and tasty. Our waitress seemed to have tried her best. She was courteous and tried to be attentive. With that said, the owner is not focusing on the service at all. That's sad, considering how popular this place seems to be. Maybe people are coming for the food, despite the poor service. We had to ask 4+ times for our water to 3 different waiters. The owner walked around telling patrons to scold them to "stop pushing the service button". Our seafood fried rice never came. We again had to ask multiple times and ended up taking it to-go after we finished our meal. My primary feedback is for the ownership to add a little more staff. They seem to be trying their best, but look like they are completely overwhelmed. It's also annoying that you pay (with tip) before having the meal. This takes away a lot of the incentive to please the patrons.

I don’t always come to Reading, but when I do I always go to The Soju. Even as a solo diner or with my sister, each time is a great experience. The food is always cooked perfectly and the menu offers many options. Even if you don’t come to grill, the hot stone dishes are a great option. Compared to prices and quality I’ve tasted in London, The Soju is very reasonable. Highly recommend if you’re in the area.

Great quality beef. I recommend the hot pot.

I love this place. Authentic. Quick service, great food, whether it be the prepared dishes or the marinated meats that you cook on your grill.

Great food choice, friendly atmosphere with the host entertaining his guests, helpful staff. Recommended.

I have been coming to Soju for years. The food is always excellent, but is served as it is ready, not necessarily in the order you might expect, unless you specifically request it to be served as starter, main course etc. I usually come at lunchtime and have the special lunch, usually with some extra dumplings, which is enough for a good meal. I definitely recommend the beef boolgogi soup or the pork bokgeum. What I don't like is the new ordering system, which has to be done on a smartphone. Since I haven't had one surgically implanted and don't use mobile data I had to find a local wifi hotspot since the restaurant doesn't have guest wifi. (HINT: If you must use such a system, offer free guest wifi or lose business!). The system asks for a service charge to be added before the order is finalised; not sensible. From January the restaurant is adding an automatic 12.5% service charge. I had no problem with the service, which is sometimes brusque but never rude.