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Shocked at low rating
Honestly, I never write reviews on this website because the ratings on these shows always seem to be absolutely BRUTAL, but the rating being a 7.1 (and ranked below "The New Employee") really compelled me to.This is a care-free, light-hearted show about a marketing employee searching for a chef to promote a liquor company, and he ends up in a dilemma where he has to work with a chef who is known to have a strong aversion to alcohol. The plot is fairly unique in terms of food-centered kbl series - it doesn't focus on the food necessarily, but rather how their opposing views on alcohol bring them together.
The series is only 8, 20~ minute episodes, so it moves fairly quickly as expected. Some other people mentioned in their reviews the ML suddenly decided he would work with the alcohol product out of no-where and that he had a change of heart seemingly "because of love". It makes me wonder if they even paid attention to the show??? The chef was in a very specific circumstance where he needed help and money, and when Ji Yoo offered him both things, he accepted (after 2 weeks of him refusing) as a way to return the favor. When he drank alcohol, it was because he came to be comfortable around Ji Yoo and wanted to make him happy, but also because it was his job???? He had to make a menu surrounding the alcohol, it makes sense for him to try it at some point in order to make a menu that reflected and enhanced the flavor of said alcohol.
Another complaint I saw was that there was no character development and fights were resolved quickly. I'm not sure what people are expecting out of a web series; I thought it moved at a great pace and was reasonable for the plot line. The arc where they have to create a menu seems to take place over the course of a month, and I assume we are supposed to infer that both the leads grew close over this time period. I don't think it's necessary to think too deeply about it.
The production is good. For these shows you never know it will be seemingly "indie" or high quality, but it falls perfectly in-between. As a film student, I thought the framing and coloring were better than average for a web-series, and the sets were wonderful.
Both leads were charming and had great chemistry from the beginning, and the side characters weren't annoying. If you enjoy food dramas, or series based around a restaurant environment (The Tasty Florida, To My Star, My Sweet Dear, etc.) , I highly recommend this series.
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For a K-drama this was bad
I really tried to be open minded with this drama but it quickly made its way into the bottom class of bad K-dramas. everything about this drama just felt like a university short film project. the sad thing is the story makes sense because we've seen this same plot develop into a really good drama countless times so it wasn't a problem with the story it was a problem with the execution and character development. O didn't even enjoy the romance between the two enough to finish the drama and I had to stop at episode 6 cause I just couldn't take it anymore.Was this review helpful to you?
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It’s all about the alcohol and not the romance
The simplicity taken in this show has come to the point that it tasted bland. The potential is misused as the drama solely focuses on the algid bloom of romance that takes too long to execute. It takes more than half of the show to let the viewers know exactly why the lead actor hated liquor that much and his reason for not appearing in any television guestings. This is not a good way of letting the audience feel the sensation of every scene from each episode before the ending.Despite the captivating visuals of the main couple, I think that they need more acting experience to carry out their roles perfectly. I got the feeling that it affects the affection needed from both of their characters. The kissing clips are not that passionate. I want to see more fiery and exciting performances from them since I was astonished by their good looks and physique.
Regardless of the cons of the show, it is safe to say that it is not that worse compare to some K-BLs out there. I somehow enjoyed it without any doubt. I just hope that the production and the actors themselves can see where the show lacks the most and try to improve it for their next individual projects. All the Liquors is a show about characters that can and can’t live without drinking alcohol but takes us into viewing their significant stories that revolve around romance and life in general.
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cute tension yet lacked depth in the story
overall its a nice series with great tension yet it lacked depth story wise, the idea was there yet it barely gone deep. but overall I adore the chemistry they had, is very push and pull type of tension with a hint of mature-ness esque in it. its very light and easy to delve in.the thing is their characther development was very lacking and that's why i think its very light yet they show maturity in most of the scenes. while on top of that their romantic upbringing felt abit rushed but the ending was pretty cute. ihope they do a prequel of each characther to show what made them THEM as in expanding their world building and not sticking to a very typical progressive story line
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Drunk on happiness :)
One hell of a cute watch. Love can change people and All the Liquors is probably the best example of that! I loved each and every character in this show. They were not afraid to show their weaknesses and neither were they afraid to be seen loving their partner. They are not closeted, and couldn't care less about what people think about them.Story wise, there is not much new, but it's quite refreshing nonetheless. No triangles, no toxicity, no random past returns. Just a sweet love story that changes the world of two men in more ways that they could have imagined.
The two main leads are cute as hell and I am in love, in love with Won Do Hyun. He is seriously sexy and so very tall... Plus I am a sucker for height difference couples especially in BLs.. And this one definitely has that! :D
Can watch and then re-watch.. Quite a lovely story.. So go for it!!!!❤️
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What I liked?
I like Han Ji Yu's dedication to his job and the company he works for.
I like the back story behind why Park Ki Hoon don't carry alcohol in his restaurant.
I like the bit of humor the show had to it.
I liked that the acting was good for the most part.
What I disliked?
I disliked how plot of the story was a bit boring.
I disliked how the scene were cut.
I disliked that the plot is forgettable.
Where their chemistry between actors?
I would say Yes, they were chemistry from the first meeting at the restaurant. The way Park Ki Hoon would stare at Han Ji Yu was intense.
Any Plot Improvements?
I would say that I would have love to see Par Ki Hoon and Han Ji Yu have a bit more conversation in getting to know each other. The kissing scene could have been better.
End Thoughts: This series to me is a one-time watch. Nothing memorable happened and it not a show where you would be coming back too .
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I do feel if you watch this you need to have food with you
I really enjoyed this drama, it was so cute and nice it was like having a nice meal while watching this there wasn’t any annoying characters, but it was actually one that you could get through it was calm and nice. Although I did feel that t wasn’t like a drama, but more like it could’ve been like a cooking ad since in each episode there would be a new recipe being made. I swear to god I’m just like Ji Hoon because he’s literally the only single guy in the whole friend group, I’d pay for a season two just to see if the new part time worker would be his lover. I did love Han Ji Yu because he was so adorable especially whenever he became drunk and also when he literally fell down on the front porch of Gi Hun’s restaurant and I would always be bursting out laughing because he’d just be rolling around and tripping. Also I get that the smell of beer is disgusting and smelly, but like wouldn’t it be good for business since Gi Hun did make a whole lot of fried chicken. The main couple was so cute that when Ki hoon would freeze on stage it reminded me of light on me when Tae kyung also freezes on stage and it would be their lovers who could make them be normal again. Anyways I really recommend this drama I loved each second of it.Was this review helpful to you?
Dislike
The lack of intimate scenes that are viewed. It is lead on to be a bl drama yet a kiss only came in the last episode and feelings were not clear. I still don't get why Ki Hoon hated alcohol yet I watched every second of it so that is still a mystery to me that will never be discovered. Each episode wasn't clear in its message and the pacing was a little slow with no action or drama whatsoever
Like
How the friendship develops with them getting closer in their interactions.
Yi Hoo is my favourite as he is so warm and bubbly personality that anyone can be friends with and just open up with him around.
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Love on the menu or menu without love?
Han Ji Yoo likes to eat and drink. Unlike his friend and roommate Park Ji Ha (Jeong Ho Gyun), Ji Yoo drinks to forget his sorrows. Recently, his boyfriend broke up with him and working on the marketing team of a soju production company, called Pai Syn Tang Liquors, even helps to get free samples of the distilled drink native to Korea and preferred by the youth of that country made at base of rice, potato, wheat, barley, sweet potato or dangmil, among other ingredients.One day, the extroverted young man must fulfill an assignment from his work team to find an up-and-coming chef to partner with to help promote the company.
In this way, Ji Yoo returns to the restaurant owned by the handsome and talented chef Park Ki Hoon and from which he was expelled for asking to be served soju. His mission is to convince him to be the chef of an advertising campaign.
But how do you get a chef who meets the proposed requirements when he hates alcohol and refuses not only to sell alcoholic beverages in his restaurant, but also expels customers who try to smuggle liquor into the restaurant? How could such an introverted person, with stage fright, who refuses to give interviews and does not even have social networks because he does not like dealing with others, appear on television programs and become an idol?
Han Ji Yoo's pleas to Park Ki Hoon to consider the company's proposal will be fruitless, which could even be very useful to promote his own establishment in the face of negative publicity from dissatisfied customers who cannot have drinks in his restaurant.
Han Ji Yoo refuses to take no for an answer, so she takes a part-time job at the restaurant in an attempt to get to know Park Ki Hoon better and find a way to finally get him to agree to work with her agency who runs the risk of being fired if he cannot convince the chef.
As the men begin to get to know each other, they develop feelings for each other. Hence, from the first moments in the relationship of the two protagonists, a powerful question arises: could love be on the menu?
On these budgets is built 'All the Liquors', the South Korean series directed by Kim Jin Yeol ('Individual Circumstances'), which fails to satisfy me for, among other reasons, despite showing Ji Yoo as an understanding and willing person to support Ki Hoo in overcoming his anxieties and internal conflicts, his character fails to achieve true character growth.
Likewise, the trauma due to which Ki Hoon rejects the consumption of alcoholic beverages takes too long to be explained, while the story does not fully explore the changes that have occurred in the character to suddenly not only allow the consumption of alcohol in his restaurant, but also to consume it himself.
I don't find it appropriate to start the plot with the breakup of Ji Yoo and her boyfriend. It is a scene that provides no tension or any usefulness to the development of the plot. Apart from being one more reason for the character to need to consume alcoholic beverages, this character never appears again, nor does he have any weight in the story. It only serves so that from the beginning we have the information that Ji Yoo is gay, which is laughable to say the least because as viewers we already know that the intention is to narrate a homosexual romance and that Ji Yoo is one of the members of the leading couple.
But the main problem lies in the fact that the promise of a romance does not burn and the story fails to show the passion between the two boys and reach the climax.
Despite a coherent, easy-to-follow story and cozy love scenes that tantalize the audience, the narrative is slow to develop and loses momentum rather than gaining it. The initial romantic sparks are extinguished in the ending with the waves of the sea where the protagonists go, while we left want to witness an attractive romantic relationship in which deep feelings are expressed and the audience is able to convince themselves that they are seeing two people in love.
The lack of chemistry and convincing romantic development between the protagonists manages to disappoint me.
Both Ji Yoo, played by Kim Joon Hyung, and Ki Hoon, the character assumed by Won Do Hyun, fail to act convincingly in accordance with the feelings and emotions we expect from them. They give us only a very superficial relationship, while the slight potential at the beginning disappears as does the tender love story that tepidly forges.
Like dishes prepared without seasoning, the story lacks flavor and fails to excite the public.
Is the weak romance due to the fact that South Korean idols receive rejection from the homophobic, patriarchal and heteronormative South Korean society and, especially, from their fans if they star in BL dramatized films, as has happened on other occasions?
Won Do Hyun is a debut actor in this role, and after this role he has never officially been in front of the cameras again. For his part, Kim Joon Hyung does have a longer career in the acting scene of the Asian nation, even being the protagonist of the films 'Streamer' (2023) and 'The Education' (2020), and appearing in several series as an actor guest or secondary character after 'All the Liquors'.
But aren't other actors who have convincingly starred in boys' love stories and are produced annually in South Korea at equal risk of being despised by fans? Or do Won Do Hyun and Kim Joon Hyung have no prejudices when playing homosexual characters but they will have qualms about being tender and loving on screen? Will the obstacle to the development of a passionate romance fall on the script by newcomer Kim Hoy Joon?
Or will these mistakes have served Kim Jin Yeol well? It may very well be like that, because in 'Individual Circumstances', a love series between boys released in 2024, the year after 'All the Liquors', its protagonists, Ha Yeon Woo, played by Han Jeong Wan, and Seong Woo Jae, a character who comes to life through actor JunQ, builds an emotional bond with more passion and love and both clearly show that they are in love with each other.
The truth is that the absence of seduction, the lack of romance, which also lacks ardent kisses, passionate glances, sublime gestures, convinces me that both characters are just close friends or were sitting in an intermediate space between close friends and more than friends. The lukewarm connection between the protagonists contributes to the lack of seduction in the romance.
Many find the secondary couple more attractive, composed of Choi Wan (Bae Shi Jun), Ki Hoon's assistant at the restaurant, and Kim Yu A (Han Da Sol), the deputy boss of the company where Ji Yoo works. How to value a BL product when the heterosexual couple has greater potential? Aren't these arguments for the work being condemned to oblivion?
With so many BL content productions, many of them South Korean-made, the technical and artistic teams should have taken their work more seriously to convince the demanding public.
Despite showing handsome actors and actresses, 'All the Liquors' is an artistically weak exponent of BL, whose main success lies in the fact that, luckily, it has only 8 episodes that last no more than 16 minutes.
This is not a completely disappointing production. One can still laugh and dream of sitting at Ji Yoo and Ki Hoon's table, tasting delicious dishes and drinking bottle after bottle of soju, but their story, without spirit, fails to move me.
So now I can answer: love is not on the menu. The menu lacks love.
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Nada explica nada
Não desgostei da série, mas das coreanas, com certeza ela é uma das que menos gostei. Um plot meio sem sentido, o casal desenvolvido às pressas pq a série tinha pouco tempo, uma série vazia de conteúdo. Não consegui entender o pq o chef não gosta de álcool a ponto de se indispor com os clientes, imaginei que ele fosse dependente, e não pudesse ter álcool por perto, sei lá... Ele tomou um copo de licor e desmaiou, eu fiquei: ??????? E depois, do nada ele aceitou Ji You, a quem ele conheceu bêbado, enfiado no restaurante sem ser convidado, e do nada quebrou sua própria regra de não vender álcool, sem maiores explicações também, isso me pareceu ilógico. Aparentemente o chef é muito bom em superar traumas de forma rápida.Agora isso, a série passa uma impressão realmente negativa sobre a bebida. Como se passa em uma cultura diferente da minha, não posso deixar de me perguntar se lá as pessoas bebem de forma descontrolada mesmo, pq tinham cenas de alcoolismo puro, em situações que não faziam sentido.
Eu realmente não veria de novo. Não me cativou. Todos os aspectos técnicos estão excelentes, mas esse roteiro é uma desordem.
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fofo mas roteiro fraco
li umas resenhas onde descreveram a história como realista, e realmente faz sentido, por isso é meio chato, as vezes parecia que eu tava vendo um reality sobre a vida deles, a premissa é boa, e não tô dizendo que uma série precisa de drama e algo muito complicado pra ser boa, mas eles simplesmente não me cativaram muito, não consegui me apegar ao chef, desenvolveram de uma forma muito preguiçosa o passado dele, o desenrolar do romance é fofo, mas também é fraco, achei muito infantil pra dois adultos, não que precise de cenas íntimas, mas eu quero acreditar na paixão dos personagens, sabe? e não foi bem o caso.É bom pra passar o tempo se vc não quiser uma história muito trabalhada, mas não veria novamente!
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