Restaurants
Oddseoul
Oddseoul, a new late-night eatery is now open on Ossington. Brothers and co-owners Leeto and Leemo Han are already known for their four-year old Korean restaurant, Swish by Han, but this new snackbar aims to share another facet of Han brother's heritage, this time paying tribute their American upbringing in Philadelphia.
Inside, the dimly lit bar are relics of the 90's meld with Korean influences, boomboxes adorn the walls alongside Korean versions of Rambo and Terminator movie posters.
On the menu, whimsical combinations showcase the best of East meets West. Prime examples include sharing plates like the Tempura Chicken with Devilled Eggs ($14) and greasy-spoon inspired small plates like the Bulgogi Cheesesteak ($5).
After an informal poll, I opt for the house favourite, The Loosey ($4), a juicy, griddle smashed breakfast slider made of short rib and ground brisket cooked atop a pile of onions and then topped with Kimichi hollandaise and served on toasted challah. It is easily my favourite of the night too.
The backlit menu board boasts deconstructed Ssam Platters ($25) offering a spread of meats, condiments and wraps (lettuce, taco or rice paper depending on your choice of filling). For instance, the Beef Short Rib platter is served with lettuce wraps, housemade pickles, kimchi and bean curd chili sauce, as well as a generous side of egg-topped fried rice.
For a hearty, seasonal option, the Lamb and Potato Stew ($10), comes loaded with chunks of tender meat and packs impressive heat courtesy of the housemade chili paste and loads of cilantro and green onion kimchi.
Currently, Oddseoul is only open from 6pm 'til 2am, but the kitchen is open just as late as the bar and plans are already underway to expand into lunch and breakfast hours with promises of introducing Torontonians to yet another Philly staple; Scrapple, a.k.a the poor-man's terrine.
Though only a week old, the Hans have already hinted at additional concepts to be launched at the same address. Already in the works are an event space on the second floor and a couple of private room karaoke bars on the third. Come summer a patio out back will add even more to its draw.
Photos by Morris Lum
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That said. Oddseoul is great. The bulgogi cheesesteak is addictive.
Silly ppl. Didn't you know that Ozland hipsters prefer their own kind?
Delicious and oh so good. Go there and experience the great service! Make reservation and just come by.
Food just like my mama-san used to make in Korea. Oh, so good!
I like it here, it's solid. Good drink prices, decent food (though obviously overpriced, compared to the same thing at dirt cheap Korean spots). You pay for the atmosphere more than anything, I suppose.
The prices are definitely NOT overpriced compared to dirt cheap Korean spots. I frequent dirt cheap korean spots all the time. The dont' serve the same type of food at all...not even CLOSE.
if the server did see you, she probably thought that you were serving yourself from the bar since you sat yourself...
but, i doubt that she even saw you from the beginning and was probably busy.
but grow a pair, it's a bar.. if no one saw you come in, speak up and let someone know.
ALSO- PLEASE READ THE REVIEW ON NOW NEWSPAPER of this place.
I will be at Ronnies or Cold Tea... At least they say hi! loll
Grow up.
Went back two weeks later with some friends. Waited for a table and while we were told we were going to be seated at a specific table we were seated somewhere else.
Food was tasty as the first time. However our waitress kept on bringing us plates and drinks for the people sitting at the table with us.
I ordered a cocktail and began to drink what I thought I ordered but what was really for another party. The waitress later brought me what I actually did order and left the original drink with me. I drank both drinks.
When the bill came our party questioned the charge for both drinks. The owner came over and said that as the drink was drunk it had been added to the bill, which was a little grey in the fairness area but it was his dismissive attitude that left us wondering how much our business was appreciated.
And, OS chicken? 3 wings for $7 just with Gochujang, the Korean spicy source? OS. Original Source? you gotta be kidding me. Don't be fooled by the presentation of their food.
I'm done with this place after 2 visits.
Well, now I can understand why they'd put 'ODD' for their name.
I am a very long time veteran of the restaurant industry and for that reason I do not like to complain about an experience in a restaurant. This is not so much a complaint but a WTF?
So.... I go to Odd Seoul the other night with two friends, all service industry, no romantic connections just three dudes out for a bite. The decor is great our server is sweet and keen, food is pretty good (some very interesting) but.....
The number of items on the menu the size of the items and the fact that we are three men leads us to order the entire menu. Our server (to this point as stated earlier, great) advises us that this is a lot of food and has only seen people order the whole menu once before. We reply that we want to try everything so no matter, bring it on.
The food begins to arrive and we are happy with the quality of all of it and it's not too much for the three of us to tackle.
Then the wheels fall off.
Some of the items are single pieces, like the steamed pork bun. Others like a small sandwich on french stick are cut in two. We have been supplied only with a small bowl and plastic spoon. We call our server over to ask if we might get a knife as there are three of us sharing and she tells us they have no knives.?! We ask her then if she might take a few of the items to the back and just cut them into three. She responds by telling us that the chef suggests ordering three of things if you are three people. We remind her of the volume of food we have ordered and very politely indicate that tripling our order would be way too much food. At this point she merely smiles and walks away.
So we snack on some of the items that are split-able and summon another server over and ask if we might borrow a kitchen knife for one minute. She tells us the exact same thing and suggests that we take bites out of the items and pass them around.
Are you kidding me? Chew a third off a dish then pass it to my platonic male friend to do the same. We had ordered hundred of dollars worth of food and drink at that point, not that it should matter.
So I guess asking the other server for help in our plight was too much for our server because she became scarce, drinks stopped flowing and in the end she dropped the bill on our table with here back turned to us. There had been no incident, so i don't know if she was embarrassed by the situation, but it definitely made things more awkward for everyone.
In classic server style we tipped her between 20% and 25% and left without comment. We went up the street for a nightcap and mused over the ridiculousness of the incident. The appropriate response, I suppose, would have been to send all the items back unless the restaurant relented but I went out for dinner not a boxing match.
I had hoped to contact the restaurant directly with my story because I don't believe in public posting and would like to go back under different circumstances but alas posting an amusing story is as close as I will ever come to Odd Seoul again.
So if you do go, bear in mind that although the menu appears to encourage sharing, unless you are dining with someone with whom you regularly exchange bodily fluids, order separately.
The service was garbage as many others have stated and when my friend asked if she could have a new drink because her's smelled like fish, the owner grabbed it from her, sniffed it, loudly said, "No one else smells anything." after the whole table had confirmed the fish smell, then asked if he should throw it out. No offer of a replacement, no apology, just a dick head with surprisingly original bar. Reclaimed wood and 90s hip-hop? Oh my God, no one's done that before!
do me a favour and stay away! go get your customer service and reasonable prices at Jack Astors. bring the kids!