Marroo Korean Charcoal BBQ & Bar

When a restaurant has been closed for well over a year, and suddenly there's a flurry of activity inside, of course I'm going to be interested. A month after I first took note of its existence, the slickly fitted out Marroo Korean Charcoal BBQ & Bar opened its doors to the public. 

Marroo Korean Charcoal BBQ & Bar

I popped in for lunch with a friend shortly after opening and was quite happy to grab a seat without having to wait, even though busy restaurant was fairly busy. The decor inside is dark and quite classy, with a fume hood over each table that is presumably used during dinner service.

Fume Hood

The menu was fairly simple yet extremely cheap with various bento boxes and rice hotpots prices around $10 featuring prominently. My friend ordered a beef bento box, while I settled on a bowl of Bibimbap. 

Then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Call me spoiled, but I'm used to bento boxes and rice based dishes coming out quickly. I wonder if they'd simply forgotten our order, but diners who'd ordered similar things after we had, we served before us. 

When my friend's bento box finally arrived, I found it fairly mediocre. 

Beef Bento Box

The rice had an overcooked texture and a slightly sour taste. Perhaps that was a result of the type of rice used. I thought Koreans ate white rice too?

Beef Bento Box

The beef didn't do the dish any favours by being overly tough, and the salad and fried foods were boring but at least fairly standard quality. 

When my lunch arrived almost 40 minutes after we'd sat down, it too was a disappointment. 

Bibimbap

The egg looked pretty but had no flavour, and the beef was once again dry. The same odd rice was used and I still can't wrap my head around it. Is it meant to taste that way? What type of rice is it? Someone help me, please!

Korean Sides

After all of that, you'll be unsurprised to find out I like the preserved beansprouts, kimchi and potatoes that accompanied the meal to be the best tasting dishes of the day. At least there was a best dish of the day.

Marroo is new and has many service kinks to get out of its system before I would bother coming back again. The food is cheap but this is one place where you get what you pay for. Who knows about dinner service - could be great or could be terrible, but I'm not interested enough to try this place again.

Marroo Korean Charcoal BBQ & Bar
392 Little Collin Street, Melbourne
Mon-Sun 11am-4pm, 5pm-1030pm