How to Order at a Korean Restaurant: A US Diner's Guide

Why Korean Restaurants Are Suddenly Everywhere

If you’ve noticed a Korean BBQ spot opening where a Tex-Mex chain used to be, you’re not imagining it. On June 12, 2026, On the Border — the queso-and-margaritas chain that once had 166 locations at its 2007 peak — closed every one of its remaining company-owned US restaurants. A week later, on June 19, its operating company, OTB Hospitality, LLC, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. What’s left of the brand is five franchise-run locations, scattered across South Dakota, Florida, Nevada, California, and — in a detail that says something about where the industry’s attention has shifted — South Korea.

Meanwhile, Korean food concepts are opening at a pace that would have looked unlikely a decade ago. KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot, which only began franchising in 2021, has grown past 100 US locations in more than 40 states in three years, with over 50 more in the pipeline. Cupbop, founded in Salt Lake City in 2013, reported 57 US locations across six states in a late-2024 release and roughly 60 across seven states in 2025. Bonchon, the Korean fried chicken chain founded in Busan in 2002, opened its 150th US restaurant in Jonesboro, Arkansas in February 2025 and had passed 151 US locations by mid-2026. Even outside major metros, the pattern holds: in Portage, Michigan, a fast-casual Korean BBQ bowl restaurant called K-upBop Laboratory moved into a strip-mall space a Moe’s Southwest Grill had vacated in January 2026.

Analysis: It’s tempting to draw a straight line from one chain’s bankruptcy to another cuisine’s rise, but the sourced facts here don’t actually support that — On the Border’s bankruptcy filing points to its own financial and operational troubles, not competition from Korean restaurants specifically. What the numbers do support is a simpler point: if you eat out in the US in 2026, you’re meaningfully more likely to encounter a Korean menu than you were five years ago, whether that’s a sit-down Korean BBQ concept, a fast-casual bowl shop, or a fried chicken counter. That’s the practical reason this guide exists — a format that used to require seeking out a Koreatown is now showing up in strip malls and suburban shopping centers.

How to Order at a Korean Restaurant

The order of operations at most Korean restaurants in the US is simpler than it looks, but it varies by format. At a traditional table-service Korean restaurant, you’re seated, given water and a spoon-and-chopstick set, and banchan (small side dishes) typically arrive before you’ve ordered anything — more on those below. From there, you order your main dishes, either by telling a server, tapping through a tablet, or scanning a QR code, depending on the restaurant.

Korean BBQ changes the order slightly. At a concept like KPOT — which pairs tableside grills with individual hot pot cookers and a full bar, and now operates a mix of franchised and company-owned locations out of its Randolph, New Jersey headquarters — you’re typically ordering proteins and sides that get cooked at the table, sometimes as an all-you-can-eat package rather than à la carte dishes. Meat orders are the centerpiece: thin-sliced beef, pork belly, and marinated short rib go straight onto the grill in front of you.

Practical: If it’s your first time at a Korean BBQ place, ask your server (or check the menu) whether the format is à la carte or all-you-can-eat before you start ordering — the two have very different pacing and value math, and mixing up the expectation is the single most common first-timer mistake.

Understanding Banchan (Side Dishes)

Banchan are the small side dishes — kimchi, seasoned bean sprouts, pickled radish, and similar items — that Korean restaurants bring out as part of the meal, not as a paid add-on. Refills are typically available just by asking.

Analysis: American dining doesn’t have an exact equivalent, but it has cousins. The free bread basket at a Texas Roadhouse, the endless breadsticks at an Olive Garden, or the warm pão de queijo a Brazilian steakhouse sets down before your meat even arrives — all of these share the same underlying logic as banchan: something included, replenished without a second charge, meant to soften the wait and set the tone for the meal. The comparison isn’t exact — banchan is more varied and more central to the meal itself, not just a pre-meal filler — but if you’ve ever grabbed a second basket of rolls without a second thought, you already understand the basic etiquette of asking for more banchan.

The most recognizable banchan, and usually the first one on the table, is kimchi — fermented, seasoned napa cabbage that comes in a small dish at nearly every Korean restaurant, with spicy versions being the most common in the US.

Getting the Server’s Attention

In Korea, and at plenty of Korean restaurants in the US, waiting for a server to swing by your table isn’t really how it works. Calling out “yeogiyo” or “jeogiyo” — both roughly translate to “over here” or “excuse me” — is the normal way to get a server’s attention, and it isn’t considered rude or impatient the way raising your voice in an American restaurant might read.

That said, plenty of newer Korean restaurants have built around this differently: tableside call buttons and kiosk or tablet ordering are increasingly common, letting you flag a server or place an order without saying anything at all. Either approach is normal — check the table for a button before assuming you need to call out.

Chopstick and Rice Bowl Etiquette

Two habits are worth unlearning if you’re used to other Asian dining traditions. First, don’t leave your chopsticks or spoon standing upright in a bowl of rice — even between bites. It’s commonly explained as resembling the incense sticks used in Korean memorial and ancestral rites, which makes it an unsettling visual at a dinner table rather than just a minor faux pas. Rest utensils on the edge of the bowl or on the provided rest instead.

Second, keep your rice bowl on the table rather than lifting it to eat from, which is standard practice in some neighboring food cultures but considered impolite in Korea. Korean table settings expect you to eat rice with a spoon while the bowl stays put — a small adjustment if you’re used to lifting bowls elsewhere, but one that’s easy to remember once you’ve been told.

Pouring and Drinking Customs

If you’re sharing a bottle of soju or beer with a Korean dining companion — particularly someone older than you — pouring is its own small ritual. Etiquette calls for holding the bottle with both hands, or with one hand supported by the other at the wrist or forearm, rather than pouring one-handed. The same applies in reverse: when someone pours for you, holding your glass with both hands is the polite way to receive it. It’s a small gesture, but it’s one of the more visible ways Korean dining etiquette treats age and seniority differently than typical American table manners do.

Paying the Bill and Tipping

Don’t expect a server to drop a check at your table at the end of the meal. The common practice at Korean restaurants is to pay at a counter near the entrance on your way out, rather than waiting for the bill to come to you — worth knowing so you’re not left sitting at an empty table wondering where everyone went.

The bigger adjustment for US diners is tipping. It isn’t customary or expected at Korean restaurants — the total on your receipt is the full amount owed, full stop. There’s no 18-to-20-percent mental math to do at the counter, and you’re not being rude by not leaving anything extra. If you’re used to tipping as a reflex at every US restaurant, this is the etiquette rule most worth remembering before your bill even arrives.