“Got a Fine After Using Valet”: Anseongjae’s Mosu Faces Another Service Controversy

Review from Mosu Customer X: "Lacked Impact"

Earlier in April, Restaurant Faced "Wine Switch" Scandal

Anseongjae, the chef who previously faced backlash over the “wine swapping” incident, is once again embroiled in a service controversy at his Michelin two-star fine dining restaurant, Mosu Seoul. This time, allegations have surfaced that cars entrusted to the restaurant’s valet service were caught in an illegal parking crackdown.

A menu board posted by a netizen and a fine notice. Screenshot by X

On the social networking service X (formerly Twitter), a review was posted on August 20 by customer A, who claimed to have visited Mosu Seoul.

After describing the meal at Mosu as “lacking impact,” customer A stated, “On top of that, I got a fine after using the valet—it’s legendary.” To support this claim, A also released photos of the Mosu Seoul set menu and a notification from the Yongsan District Office titled “Notice of Vehicle Subject to Fine.”

Netizens who saw the post reacted by questioning, “Does a two-star restaurant not even have parking? Where is valet service parking the cars that results in an illegal parking ticket?” Another commented, “There have been ongoing valet issues that don’t seem to have been fixed.” Others asked, “Are they not properly managing things?”

While the post spread online, the original has since been deleted. For this reason, it is difficult to verify the specific circumstances and factual details of A’s account. It also remains unclear why the parking fine was issued or who was responsible for paying the cost.

This is not the first time Mosu Seoul has faced service-related controversy. In December last year, a customer entrusted their car to Mosu’s contracted valet service, and the valet driver crashed the vehicle into an exterior wall.

Yonhap News Agency

At the time, the contracted company paid 20 million won upfront for repairs, but after a detailed inspection, repair costs increased to around 70 million won, leading to a compensation dispute. The Mosu side claimed that, in principle, responsibility for compensation lay with the valet contractor and reportedly advised the victim to pursue legal remedies, drawing criticism.

In addition, in April, Mosu Seoul’s sommelier served a customer a 2005 vintage wine instead of the 2000 vintage wine that was ordered, which led to the so-called “wine swapping” controversy. The wine actually served was known to be approximately 100,000 won less expensive than the one the customer had selected.

The customer learned of the situation after requesting to photograph the wine bottle—at which point the sommelier produced the actual 2000 vintage from storage. When confronted, the sommelier reportedly did not apologize but responded by saying, in effect, “I will let you taste the 2000 vintage as well,” further fueling the dispute.

Mosu Seoul later posted an apology on its official SNS, but criticism continued because there was neither a clear explanation of intentionality nor any concrete measures to prevent recurrence—leading many to dismiss it as an “empty apology.” Mosu Seoul also offered A a personal apology and an invitation for a meal, but A reportedly declined.

As the controversy persisted, Chef An issued another apology on SNS in May, stating, “I have removed the staff from the sommelier position in charge of guest wines and will ensure thorough oversight to prevent this from happening again.” However, just one hour after the apology statement was posted, a new video was uploaded on Mosu Seoul’s YouTube channel, sparking renewed criticism. The YouTube production team eventually announced, “We plan to temporarily suspend and reorganize the channel for careful content production and an overall review of its direction and operation.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.