How to Order and Eat at Korean Restaurants: A Beginner’s Guide

Hi friends 🙋‍♂️

I’m Uncle Hoc (혹 아저씨), one of the people behind the HireVisa service you’re using.

Let me start by explaining my name for a second 😀

In Korean, there’s an expression “혹 한다” that means something like “Oh! My heart is suddenly pulled toward this, I feel a little excited.”

So “혹 아저씨” basically means “the uncle who hopes your heart will be drawn to life in Korea.” 💚

In English, you can just think of me as Uncle Hoc.

ℹNote

One small but important cultural tip about the word “아저씨”: In Korean, “아저씨” is what you casually call a middle-aged man, like “that neighborhood uncle next door.” It can feel friendly, but if you shout “아저씨~” to any older-looking stranger on the street, it can be considered rude or disrespectful. So it’s always safer to use names or titles, and only use “아저씨” if the person clearly says it’s okay.

Why Uncle Hoc is writing this… ✍️

I’ve lived my whole life in the Seoul metropolitan area—born and raised here, a very typical Korean guy.

Because of that, there are a lot of things that Koreans think are “too obvious” to explain…

But for international students who just arrived in Korea, they can feel like a brand-new quest in a game 😅

Especially for friends in their 20s who are here for the first time, things like:

• Where do I sit when I walk into a restaurant? 🤔
• How do I call the staff? 🙋‍♀️
• Do I pay at the table or at the counter? 💳

can be surprisingly stressful. I’ve seen many students worry a lot about “doing something wrong.”

So Uncle Hoc decided:

“Let’s help friends who just arrived in Korea

feel less nervous and smile more

while they experience Korean culture!”

In this blog, I want to walk you through real-life situations you’ll face in Korea,

and share small cultural tips in a tone that feels like a friendly older brother / neighborhood uncle 😊

Today’s topic 🍚

👉 “How to order the food you want at a Korean restaurant, enjoy it, and leave naturally”

We’re going to practice the whole flow, not just one sentence.

🎯 Let’s set up today’s scenario

In reality, Korea has:

• a huge variety of food 🍲
• and tons of different restaurant styles 🏙️

If we try to cover how to choose a restaurant and which dish to pick,

we might literally stay up all night 😅

So for today, let’s make a simple assumption:

You already decided:

• which restaurant you’re going to, and
• what you want to eat (more or less).

Now what’s left is:

👉 Practicing how to go in, sit down, order, eat, pay, and leave

Step 1 🚪 Going in and getting a seat

1. When you open the door and walk into the restaurant,

   take a brief look around and try to find a staff member 👀

2. When you make eye contact with a staff member,

   they’ll usually ask:

   “몇 분이세요?”

   or they might just look at you in a way that clearly means

   “How many people?” ㅎㅎ

3. At that moment, you can answer like this (🔊 If there’s a speaker icon, you can click it to hear the pronunciation):

   • 🔊 “한 명이요.”
   • 🔊 “두 명이요.”
   • 🔊 “세 명이요.”

4. Then usually:

   • If it’s a small place and not busy →

     the staff might say “편한 자리 앉으세요~” 😊

     (meaning: “Sit wherever you like.”)

   • If it’s busy or a bigger restaurant →

     they’ll say “이쪽으로 오세요.” and walk you to a specific table.

👉 In many Korean restaurants, the flow is:

sit down first → look at the menu → then order.

If you remember just this one point, things already feel easier!

Step 2 📱📝 Ordering – Two main styles in Korean restaurants

These days in Korea (especially around Seoul), restaurants often fall into two big types:

1. Restaurants with a self-order tablet/device on the table

   – common in city areas and franchise chains, and growing little by little.

2. Restaurants where you order directly from the staff

   – still the more common style overall.

Let’s look at both 😉

2-A. Restaurants with a self-order tablet 🤖

If you see a device like the one below sitting on your table,

you can think: “Oh, this place uses the tablet to order.”

On the screen, you’ll usually see:

• Name of the dish
• Photo
• Price

all shown clearly.

If your Korean isn’t very strong yet, don’t panic.

Some tablets let you change the display language (to English, etc.).

Take your time and look for a language setting on the screen 😀

If you really can’t find the language option,

just ask the staff for help.

If you tell them what you want and for how many people,

most staff will happily help you place the order.

If you already decided “Today I want 김치찌개!” before you came,

you can just find the picture of 김치찌개 and tap it.

When you tap a menu, you’ll usually see options like:

• quantity (1 serving / 2 servings, etc.)
• add-ons (extra portion, spice level, toppings, drinks, etc.)

Once you’ve chosen everything, you just:

• tap “주문하기” (Order) or
• tap “결제하기” (Pay)

to finish.

Here’s one important point ✨

Some tablets are “order only”,

and some tablets let you order + pay at the same time.

We’ll talk more about that in Step 4 (Paying).

2-B. Restaurants without a tablet – ordering from staff 🙋‍♂️

This is still much more common in Korea.

1. If there’s a menu on your table,

   just relax and take a look first 📖

2. If you don’t see a menu,

   look around the walls.

   Many restaurants have a big menu board on the wall.

3. If you still don’t see any menu,

   when a staff member walks by, you can say:

   🔊 “메뉴판 좀 주세요.”

   and they’ll bring you one.

If you already know what you want to eat,

you can also just tell them your dish directly –

most staff are quite helpful.

Now you’ve decided your menu!

Next, you need to call the staff over.

In Korean restaurants, people usually do this:

• If the staff is nearby →

  👉 make eye contact and gently raise your hand ✋

• If they’re farther away →

  👉 call out:

  🔊 “여기요~”

“여기요~” is one of the most basic phrases in Korean restaurants.

In English, it’s kind of like saying

“Excuse me” + “Over here, please” together 😉

When the staff comes to your table, you can say:

• 🔊 “김치찌개 하나 주세요.”
• 🔊 “비빔밥 두 개 주세요.”
• 🔊 “떡볶이 1인분이요.”

Just dish name + quantity (or 1인분) is enough to complete your order ✅

Step 3 😋 Enjoying the taste of Korea

Now comes the best part… 💖

When the food arrives, Koreans usually say:

🔊 “잘 먹겠습니다~”

and then start eating.

This phrase:

• you can say it alone,
• or all together with your friends,
• and honestly, it’s fine even if you just say it in your head.

But if you say it out loud, you’ll feel a bit more like a local Korean 😄

While you’re eating:

• If you need water:

  • If there’s a water bottle and cups on the table, just pour it yourself.

  • If not, you can call again:

    🔊 “여기요~ 물 좀 주세요.”

• If you want more side dishes (반찬):

  • 🔊 “김치 좀 더 주세요.”

  • or you can gently point at the side dish you want and say:

    👉 🔊 “이것 좀 더 주시겠어요?”

If you say it like that, most places will refill them very kindly 🥬

Step 4 💳 Paying – How do you actually pay and leave?

Now your stomach is happy and full 🥰

Time for the last mission: paying and leaving!

As I mentioned earlier, the way you pay changes depending on whether there is an order tablet or not.

4-A. If you already paid on the tablet

Some tablets let you place your order and pay with your card at the same time.

• In that case:

  • you already finished payment when you ordered,
  • so you don’t need to pay again when you leave 🙆‍♂️

• You can just stand up and walk toward the exit, and as you go out, say:

  🔊 “잘 먹었습니다”~

  to the staff you see.

  That’s a perfect, polite way to finish your meal 💯

4-B. If you ordered on the tablet but pay at the counter

Some places only use the tablet for ordering,

and you still pay separately when you leave.

1. After you finish eating, go to the counter near the exit.

2. The staff might ask:

   “몇 번 테이블이세요?”

   (“Which table number were you?”)

   or their system might automatically show the amount.

3. Then you just:

   • hand over your credit/debit card, or
   • pay in cash if you prefer.

As a final touch, if you say:

🔊 “잘 먹었습니다.”

one more time, your “Korean restaurant experience” levels up 🎮✨

4-C. Restaurants with no tablet – everything is “staff + counter”

This is the most traditional and still very common style 😄

At the very end, when you go to pay at the counter near the exit, you can say:

• 🔊 “안쪽 창가 자리 두 명이었어요.”
• 🔊 “저기 혼자 앉았던 손님이요.”

or simply bring the printed bill from your table if there is one, and show it.

👉 Pay by card or cash, and say:

🔊 “잘 먹었습니다”~ as you leave.

If you can do this, then you’ve officially cleared Level 1 of “Using Korean Restaurants” 🎉

Lastly, one thing Uncle Hoc really wants to say 💌

When you first arrive in Korea, it’s totally normal to feel:

• “What is okay here?”
• “What if I make a mistake?”
• “Am I doing this wrong?”

Even simple things can feel difficult 🥲

But honestly, most Korean restaurant staff are very happy to help when they see a foreign customer:

• try saying 🔊 “여기요”~, and
• do their best to say 🔊 “김치찌개 하나 주세요”.

Many staff will think, “Oh, they’re trying so hard to speak Korean 👍”

and they’ll genuinely want to help you.

For today’s article, if you just remember this flow, it’s enough:

Go in 🚪

→ Say how many people and sit down 🪑

→ Order from the tablet or from staff 📱🙋‍♂️

→ Enjoy your food 😋

→ Pay at the counter or via the tablet and say

🔊 “잘 먹었습니다”~ 💳🙇‍♂️

Once you get used to this routine,

you’ll quickly become “that person who eats confidently in Korean restaurants.” 😎

From now on, through the HireVisa app and this blog,

I want to keep sharing small but useful tips

to make your life in Korea a bit easier, step by step 📚✨

If there’s anything in Korean life that:

• feels difficult,
• you’ve always been curious about, or
• you wish someone would explain in a friendly way,

you can always email Uncle Hoc at

Uncle Hoc’s email 📧

I’ll try to include your questions in future posts,

and if it’s something simple, I might reply directly by email too 😊

That’s it for today!

Thank you for practicing your “first Korean restaurant experience”

together with Uncle Hoc in your head 🙌

See you next time, friends 💚