Since it's so close to the US army base, Itaewon has become one of the most internationally diverse areas within Seoul. The neighborhood doesn't exactly feel like Korea; more like a K-Town in some other major city in the world. The area is packed with people, restaurants, bars, shops, and clubs that foreigners might feel more comfortable with. There is even a whole street dedicated to international foods from different countries around the world. You want Mexican food? Indian? Spanish? Chinese? Turkish? Chances are you will be able to find it here.
This evening I had dinner with a Canadian couple Sara and Austin, whom I met a couple of years ago at the climbing gym. Austin had shot the cover photo for 10 Magazine (about rock climbing in Korea), and he was on a mission to obtain a few hard copies to keep for himself and to send to friends and family. Route 66, an American pub, was one of the places he could find a copy, and so we decided to meet for dinner there.
The place is actually really easy to find: just go straight down the street between exits 3 and 4 of Itaewon station, and Route 66 is on your left. It's a 30 second walk from the station exit.
I arrived at around 6:15 to meet them. The place was nearly empty at first, with two other girls and another table, and a group of Americans loudly playing beer pong in one corner. The interior generally felt... American, as is obviously what one would expect from an American pub. By the time we were finished with our meal, the place was actually packed and we had to wait a good amount of time to even pay the bill.
I had looked through their menu beforehand via their website, so I already knew what I wanted to order. The place is apparently well known for their Long Island cocktails, but I opted for a coke instead, and ordered the Southwestern salad with chicken. My friends ordered fries and boneless wings. (The place also has a special everyday except for Saturday... which is the day we chose of all days to eat here. Boo.)
This evening I had dinner with a Canadian couple Sara and Austin, whom I met a couple of years ago at the climbing gym. Austin had shot the cover photo for 10 Magazine (about rock climbing in Korea), and he was on a mission to obtain a few hard copies to keep for himself and to send to friends and family. Route 66, an American pub, was one of the places he could find a copy, and so we decided to meet for dinner there.
The place is actually really easy to find: just go straight down the street between exits 3 and 4 of Itaewon station, and Route 66 is on your left. It's a 30 second walk from the station exit.
I arrived at around 6:15 to meet them. The place was nearly empty at first, with two other girls and another table, and a group of Americans loudly playing beer pong in one corner. The interior generally felt... American, as is obviously what one would expect from an American pub. By the time we were finished with our meal, the place was actually packed and we had to wait a good amount of time to even pay the bill.
I had looked through their menu beforehand via their website, so I already knew what I wanted to order. The place is apparently well known for their Long Island cocktails, but I opted for a coke instead, and ordered the Southwestern salad with chicken. My friends ordered fries and boneless wings. (The place also has a special everyday except for Saturday... which is the day we chose of all days to eat here. Boo.)
One thing I really liked about this place is that there are a bunch of board games you can choose from and play at your table. Using one requires a 10,000 won deposit that is refunded after you're done playing. The game Sara chose was "Sorry," which I felt couldn't be more adequate of a choice for a Canadian. ;)
Our food arrived mid-game, so frankly I was too absorbed in playing to pay proper attention to what I was eating. However, I can still say for sure that the food was a slight bit of a disappointment.
At first glance, the portions were small even for Korean standards. The salad was an exception, but there was way too much lettuce compared to everything else. I didn't get to taste anything else, but Austin told me the fries were soggy instead of crispy. The wings were apparently all right. As for the salad, the chicken pieces looked artificial, like they came straight from a can, and the rest of the ingredients just did not mix very well. The onion was overpowering (but I'm not a big fan of raw onions, so it was my fault I didn't request that they leave it out), and the beans and tortilla were scarce at first because I couldn't mix everything well enough and they ended up all at the bottom of the bowl. All in all, it felt very cheap... which made sense because for a pub in Itaewon, I did feel that the prices were surprisingly low. Later I came to realize why.
We did manage to find the magazine here, which was the most important reason we chose this place. Funny story actually... I asked the waitress for the magazine and she showed it to me, only we turned it away because we only looked at the back cover, which did not show Austin's photo. We were about to roam through Itaewon looking for a different place that might have a few copies, when Austin casually flipped through a copy while waiting to pay and found his photo on the other side of the cover! It was right under our noses the whole time and we never thought to thoroughly inspect it when the waitress brought us the copy. We felt silly, but I was relieved Austin managed to find it just in time.
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| Austin and his awesome photo! :D |
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