Gangnam Station jazz bar tip: ask for fast course service at Flat Nine

I'm sharing an honest, info-packed review of Flat Nine, a hot live jazz bar near Gangnam Station. If you're looking for a bar with a great mood in Gangnam or a date spot in Sinnonhyeon, this one's for you~~!! It's full of tips for watching jazz here, so please read it before you go!

What are Flat Nine's interior and seats like?

The inside of Flat Nine is a black interior with a huge number of seats, and it feels designed purely for live jazz. The mood is calm too, so it's perfect for something a little different or a date ^^

But the tables are really small!! Two chairs didn't even fit properly, so it felt a bit cramped. If you want to sit snuggled up together, maybe it works, haha.

What to check before visiting Flat Nine

On top of the food, Flat Nine charges a live show fee of ₩15,000 per person, and show times differ every day. Before you go, be sure to check the lineup and schedule on Flat Nine's official Instagram or Naver Place notices.

• Live show fee per person: ₩15,000, charged separately
• Check the show schedule: it differs daily, so confirm the lineup and times via Instagram or Naver Place notices
• Tip for a good seat: if you want the seats right in front of the stage, come a bit early

We arrived at 7pm for an 8pm show. At that point not a single front-row seat was taken. There were some tables, but if you show up right at show time, I doubt any good seats will be left.

Flat Nine Classic Course lineup and price

At Flat Nine we ordered the Classic Course (for 2, ₩78,000) on a tablet menu. The table is already small, and with a tablet on it, it's even tighter... Also the tablet shows up in photos, which was a bummer lol ㅠㅠ Though as a user it is convenient.

Classic Course basics — APERITIF: an aperitif of cranberry, raspberry, mint and lemon topped with sparkling / BREAD: oven-fresh focaccia with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze / followed by appetizer, salad, pasta, steak and dessert.

How do the aperitif, focaccia and salad taste?

The welcome aperitif at the start of the Classic Course has mint and sparkling in it, and personally it tasted strongly of mint, like straight-up toothpaste, a legend! It might divide opinions, so heads up. Below are the focaccia bread and the endive salad.

The salad. There's salmon in it, haha.

White ragu pasta and course serving speed

Honestly, the white ragu pasta (+₩4,000) tasted really salty to me. It was a salt pasta. On top of that the portions are small overall, so I kept feeling hungry while eating. ㅜㅜ

At Flat Nine, ask for your course to be served quickly ⏳

We got to Flat Nine at 7pm to wait for the 8pm show, and the first main dish, the pasta, came out at 7:40;;; It took over 30 minutes after ordering, and I thought my stomach was stuck to my back ㅠㅠ

I wondered whether they deliberately slow the course to match the show time, so I asked a staff member. They said no, and that if you ask when ordering, they can serve faster. The next table arrived about 30 minutes after us, yet their courses came out at about the same time ;;;ㅠㅠ We even ate the salad before the main at nearly the same time...

If you're reading this and you're hungry, definitely ask them to 'serve quickly.' Luckily, after I said that, the next dish, the steak, really did come out right away.

Is the Hanwoo upgrade worth it for Flat Nine's steak?

The steak in Flat Nine's Classic Course is absurdly tender. It's so soft I wondered if it was ground up and pressed back together? So strange... smoked, maybe? haha. Sooo good. There were two of us, and the portion was small, which was a shame ㅠㅠ

On the menu there's an option to switch to Hanwoo (Korean beef) for ₩40,000 extra. We were going to do it too, lol. When you come to a nice place, you want to eat something nice and feel good, right? But I happened to sneak a look at what the next table ordered, and it wasn't as big as I expected! If you care about value, sticking with the standard steak seems fine.

When does dessert come out?

At Flat Nine, the course dessert is served when you finish your meal and ask for it. ^^

What time should you arrive for Flat Nine's live show?

We arrived at 7pm and spent the time waiting for food, so when the 8pm show started we only heard two songs before we had to leave, which was disappointing. Honestly, we'd even come too early. The wait was so long that we planned to hear just one and go. ㅠㅠ Either ask for fast serving or time your visit comfortably around the show.

The atmosphere is truly classy, so it's great as a Gangnam Station date course. There was a middle-aged couple who stayed longer than us, drinking wine. But the woman seemed so bored that during the warm-up performance around 7:30 she couldn't help asking when it would start... lol. I bet everyone was waiting with that same thought.

We hadn't properly checked the schedule either and thought the show would start after a short warm-up. I wish the show schedule were announced better. Please be sure to check the show schedule on Naver Place or Instagram before you go!!! Super important.

Flat Nine is a place where knowing the tips beforehand makes for a much more satisfying time.