The concept was very good and the story was well-done, more or less, and Kim Rae Won was adorable. So was his father, old Chef Oh, one of the most delightful characters in the show.
1. The romance department was more than lame. Especially the romance between the main leads. It seemed as an after-thought, the restaurant problems being the main concern for everyone. There were no heart-fluttering moments - let alone a proper kiss. We never felt he's really in love with her.
2. The female main lead was terrible. Both the actress (plain, boring, overacting) and the role (clueless and helpless idiot). Her part was barely relevant to the plot - except for that one article, that could have been written by anybody else.
3. The music was too on-your-face, over-dramatic, you thought it was a historical epic. It seriously bothered me at times.
4. Too many cooking competitions, in the end it got old.
5. The cooking part, which was the main thing, sometimes showed extremely disgusting things, I had to turn my eyes away.
6. The second female lead's love story was disappointing. This drama had one of the coolest female second leads I’ve seen. But Yun Ju Hi was too self-sacrificing and noble, didn’t fight for her love, or let's say she was too wishy-washy, not bold enough. In fact both she and the one whom she loved had to compromise and ended up with their second choice of partners. This wasn’t satisfying, especially for him, given how much of an insignificant woman was the one he ultimately got with and how much more suitable was Ju Hi for him.
7. The negative characters were pardoned too easily, with no consequences.
Still it was a solid drama.