Heo's Diner (2025)

Funny, warm, scary and educational and almost ruined by the draggy script

I loved this kdrama. So bubbly and fun. Very comical and also rather profound. It is a good thing I lasted towards the end while the script writer almost killed this kdrama by repeating the same "plot". The ending saved it, luckily.

This kdrama is about concepts that are not going to thrill empty-minded audience.
Ep 1 is a heavy hitter, addressing social injustice and social change, as both ML and FL are rebels and change makers. Then the kdrama gets into rom com and Koran history and food and psychological thriller. I find it really interesting and fun. Yeah it is a time travel trope but with twists :)

I find the acting excellent. Especially the villain and the FL and also the ML. Villain was a perfect villain, it is hard to find a villain actor this good. FL was great greasy snide, and ML was a great bubbly positive character, all shiney. He was so clean and shiney and FL was so greasy yet they lived in the same house :) He was ALL SPARKLEY sunshine.

It is so hard to find a FL who can truly act, and be a complex character, like this one. That actress is amazing and really gives a deep complex flavor to this character. FL is insecure, scared, desperate, but also tough, rebel, striving, so she is sarcacstic, angry, greedy, warm, caring, and steadily moving on, IN HONESTY. Until she gets stuck on the villain bc she kisses as# of authority and she trusts the "nice rich guy" blindly. Unfortunately, the script writer never made her grow up, so watching her DUMB and BRAINLESS to the very end was painful.
AFTER WATCHING this actress in Divorce Insurance, I think she cannot act any role but snide sarcasm.

The sarcastic insecure hungry scared urban rat FL is a perfect match for the bubbly, overly confident ML, who is a perfect OBLIVIOUS entitled male character, socially inept, cannot read the room, has ZERO ability or interests for politics and games. He is smart and was lucky to be born rich so he has NO doubt in his mind that the world is a good place and he can just do whatever he wants - and he wants to do nice things and social change, he is a naive VISIONARY and HEALER. He heals people by his warmth and honesty. The good part about him is that he is like SUNSHINE, he is a bubble of sheer light, positive energy and wisdom. Well except for recognizing the villain LOL

I think the ML actor is very good and the role of the bubbly peppy guy matches so well next to the gloomy FL, who is not pretty, dolled up nor energetic at all. no clothes, no flirting, nothing to look at, ... so the two of them just complimented so well and are very comical. ML is all clean and pretty and energetic and happy and grateful and polite and generous and nourishing, so he makes up a positive energy bubble that allows her to stand by him in some drab kitchen clothes, looking very unkept, and spewing funny sarcastic doubtful hopeless comments.

THAT WAS OK UNTIL HALF OF THE SHOW. But then ML and FL kept being dumb and trusting the villain blindly, and that was too much. The script writer almost killed this lovely kdrama. FL should have taken a shower, washed her face and hair, and wore some nicer clothes after work. She should have stopped calling Heo "Mr Homeless" even in public. She was so rude crude ungrateful!!! just bc he wasnt rich and famous ..... FL should have grown up a lot more then just asking the detective to tell her why he is there.

Now the Villain. I dont enjoy watching him bc he is too good of a villain and reminds me of people from real life LOL. That actor was superb as a villain (until the last episodes, when he lost the sliminess and cold cruelty under a polite look). Wow so real.
The villain character is an exemplary SOCIOPATH, read "The Empathy Trap" article online. https://www.recoveryplusjournal.com/2017/10/the-empathy-trap/

The Chef is a master sociopath. He is soooo scary!!!!!!!!! Scarier than any monster out there. He is so smooth, PLEASANT, SEEMINGLY CARING, and obviously SUCCESSFUL and IMPORTANT, handsome, rich, well connected, political, cunning, imposing to people, and lying and cheating and backstabbing and killing and destroying people... since Joseaon. HE IS EVIL AND SLIMEY AND LOOKING NICE. He is truly scary That actor really conveys it well. I love and hate watching him bc he is sooooo good in acting that villain.... One value of this kdrama is to watch the Villain to see what kind of facial gestures, body language, look in the eye, are signs of a camouflaged monster.

Honestly, this actor was so good as the villain that I find this Villain a LOT MORE SCARY than any Godzilla zombies etc out there. He is so scary because he is real. People like that are all around us. They are soooo hard to detect because they are such skilled liars.

The script is good bc it shows moments that are good to see to get the message. Like the Villain beating the horse or talking about no social change. Or the moment when ML looked at her hand and then left to buy groceries :) that moment was short but so sweet and revealing, so critical.

BUT the script writer dragged it too long. We never got to see how ML and FL changed. The villain probably will never change. But we need to see how ML and FL fight him, sooner than the very last episode!!!!

FL and ML are Visionaries and social changers, and their fault is that both are too childish and naive. They were fortunate to be able to stay naive... FL had her mother to protect her, and ML was a rich noble man... BUT NOW... the diner might close unless they grow up and get it together. and finally register that there are bad people out there right in front of their noses and they gotta take care of themselves.

ML AND FL WERE SHELTERED ALL THEIR LIVES AND DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT BAD PPL ARE OUT THERE DOING BAD STUFF

FL grew up enough to ask tough questions, but one smooth lie from the Villain and she is back under his spell, she is so insecure about her looks and social status that she gets sooo smitten when someone so cool pays any attention to her and then she trusts him blindly. Tsk tsk... FL is a smart chick so this character flow gotta be taken care of!

AND IT WAS NOT. That was suffocating. I am sure many ppl dropped out from watching. I read the comments, by ep 6 ppl were dropping out bc yeah it was too much of watching two dumb fools fall for the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again.... !!!! and it lasted till episode 9!!!!

At about half of the show, we needed to see how ML and FL grew up a little bit and kept growing up. But it never came. So they are not really worthy of being the main characters n the story if they are not going to change......

FL did not really grow up at all except to recognize the villain.
ML has not grown up except to realize the villain. He ignored his feelings of red flags, his memories, etc. In his world. evil just does not exist. He was NAIVE . At least he recognized the villain but did not change in any other ways, he still spoke up and caused his own death.
THe villain hasnt changed at all either. He is still trying to elbow forward by any means. The smaller villains as well.

So we get to see the entire Josean gang AGAIN doing the same things in the modern day bc they havent cleaned up their karma.

THIS DRAMA HAS KARMA, has magical entities. and time travel. THe lessons about karma are amazing. ML and the villain "practiced" their emotional weaknesses since Joseon and probably before,.... Since they practiced so long and so hard, all their bad habits are so well ingrained. THey are just BLIND.... ML is a naive smart good guy and Villain is a well-camouflaged monster.

So ... recognize yourself in all of them. THe naive good guy, the insecure girl, the smooth talking liar Chef..... the vane and damaged MaChong....

The entire drama is about real life. Real stuff happening to you and me. Yeah including karma and magical entities LOL

10 episodes is waaay too short though :) If you want to drag showing off how the villain controls ML and FL...... and then you need time to finish it off properly..... Ep 6 had so much going on, the plot went sooo much faster, ... bc THE VILLAIN IS TAKING ACTION and the diner might die off. But unfortunately the script writer did not show how ML and FL grew and overcame... until ... episode 9 for ML and Episode 10 for FL. That could be ok in a 16 episode drama, but not in a 10 episode drama....

So the ending was positive but rushed and somewhat fake, everything resolved in a POOF! of magic ... and that is not how the real life works :) We need to see how ML and FL matured a little bit at least.

This kdrama should have been 12 or 16 episodes kdrama, if the script writer needed 9 episodes to start showing growth of the characters. Then the ending could be proper, we would get to see what Heo does when he leaves the diner and we get to meet the guy who walks in at the last scene. Also, the script writer should have given some time to the FL to grow up too. And it would be funny to see what happened with the Chef. Sociopaths do not really change unless it is some major miracle

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Thanks to Fl I change my rating from 9 to 1, she made this drama Garbage ?️

Heo's Diner is an unexpectedly charming drama that shines brightest thanks to its male lead. Watching the ML—a genius from the past—navigate the complexities of modern-day Seoul is both heartwarming and hilarious. His character is written with a great balance of brilliance and innocence, and the actor delivers this with sincerity. The way he gradually adjusts to the fast-paced, often cynical world around him while still holding onto his kind nature is one of the drama’s strongest points.

The storyline itself is engaging, with a nice mix of mystery, emotional beats, and light comedy. Another standout is the villain—played by the second male lead—who does a great job of being detestable. Even with his good looks and charm, you can’t help but hate him, which is exactly what a well-written and well-acted antagonist should do.

However, where the drama stumbles is in the female lead. For a modern-day woman living and working in a competitive city like Seoul, her character is shockingly naive and frustratingly foolish. She blindly trusts a man who is clearly her business rival, without even the slightest suspicion. While it’s understandable for the ML to be overly trusting due to his background, the FL’s choices just don’t make sense. Instead of showing street smarts or professionalism, she comes across as almost unbelievably gullible.

The contrast between the ML’s innocent but justifiable trust and the FL’s sheer idiocy is jarring. It’s hard to root for her or take her seriously, especially when she constantly makes decisions that no sane, city-savvy person would make.

One major flaw in Heo Diner is its baffling portrayal of law enforcement—there appears to be just one single cop in the entire storyline. This lone officer, who is not only incompetent but also blatantly corrupt, seems to handle every case with zero accountability. There’s no backup, no detectives, no superior officers, and absolutely no follow-up on the numerous cases he fumbles or covers up. It's unrealistic and lazy writing, as it reduces the entire justice system to a cartoonish caricature and severely limits the drama’s credibility. A show that claims to dive into criminal elements and social issues should at least attempt to portray a functional law enforcement system, or if not, make its brokenness a clear narrative choice—not just a result of poor plotting.


In short, Heo's Diner is a fun and heartfelt watch mainly because of its brilliant ML and compelling villain. But the FL’s character seriously drags down the otherwise well-written narrative. She’s not just naive—she’s frustratingly dense.

Rating: 7.5/10 – Could have been great if only the FL had a bit of common sense.

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This show was a fresh breath of life, quite different from most fantasy shows that rely heavily on CGI!

After watching Xiumin in “Boss-dol Mart”, I wasn’t prepared to see him in a serious role, but he stuck gold with this role. Unfortunately, lack of promotions didn’t do well for this show, because this hidden gem remains unexplored. Set in two different eras, the show explores the themes of societal discrimination and power struggles. I was instantly drawn to his battles with the baby faced antagonist, Lee Sae On. Lee Sae On has always played positive roles and his caricatures are pretty endearing. The sudden transformation into a gruesome, evil villain was uncanny that I was stuck with surprise and shock. Frankly, most of the times, I couldn’t comprehend the fact that someone who looks so cute was out killing people left and right. Despite that, I enjoyed the dynamics between the lead protagonist and the antagonist, it was entertaining to say the least!

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2025/04/24/heos-diner-series-review/#more-1766

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Enjoyable enough to finish

I am a huge fan of time travel dramas, especially past to present. I love the culture shock and I feel they handled it in a fun way in this drama. I also like that there of versions of the characters in both time periods.

This show is a time travel/comedy with some drama. 10 episodes was more than enough for me. It is a mystery for the characters but not for the audience. To be honest if the series was longer I probably wouldn't have finished it...

The opening/Ending songs were really good and I liked the dramatic instrumental music used at times too!

The leads were both new to me but overall the acting didn't bother me. I liked both their characters because I like the dramas that have the male lead being more friendly and a.more guarded female lead.

I liked the leads for rhe most part but sometimes the female annoyed me at times, however looking at it from a realistic point of view she is going through a lot of stress and I have witnessed that affect people's thoughts process in real life so it does kind of make sense.

The villain stole the show though in my opinion. He does the role so well that it would take me a couple episodes to trust him in a good character role...

I wouldn't call it a romance. The one scene that seemed like it was trying to lead into a romantic direction seemed out of place to me and for that reason seemed kind of cringe. For the rest of the drama you kind of get an idea that they are starting to like each other but I don't feel they are really even together long enough to form real feelings. The ML supposedly has some feeling for her but I feel it is more a sense of duty to him than romance.

I think the overall story is why I didn't love the drama. I like the overall plot but somethings felt weird or rushed and in the last episode I needed a little more closure over events in the past. Nothing that needed anymore episodes! The side characters were good but sometimes theor plots just seemed kind of dumb...

In the end the drama was enjoyable most of the time with a refreshing male lead. I would recommend it as a filler drama if you like time travel dramas.

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Traveling from Joseon to Modern day

Hey everyone, last time on the K-drama study, I reviewed When the Stars Gossip, a show I didn't enjoy at all. I wasn't a fan of the story, and some of the characters were strange, making the show unenjoyable. Today, I'm here to review Heo's Diner, a show I hoped would be more enjoyable than the first drama I watched in 2025. Now let's jump into the review and see what my thoughts were for the drama.


Heo's Diner is a time travel show with culinary elements thrown into the mix. During the first half of the episode, we are in the Joseon period getting to know the characters of the period. Xiumin plays the male lead and the character that goes from Joseon to modern-day Seoul. I didn't mind the historical drama moments as that added to the mix. Mr. Homless played my Xiumin dies in the Joseon period which makes him time jump to the present day. I love the expressions the character delivered as he was experiencing new things in modern-day Seoul. Exy Playds the female lead Eun Sil is a decent character one that is gullible and light-hearted at times. I loved her interactions with Mr. Homelss as they had some good chemistry together. I loved seeing both characters working at the diner as Mr. Homeless was looking for who tried to killer Eun Sil's mother. The billion who owns the restaurant access from the diner did a fantastic job as he fits the role perfectly making him seem suspicious. Seeing Detective Kang working with the villion makes the detective feel like a sheep. I did find the whole plot easy to understand as you don't have to think much watching the show. Finding out that the villain who owns the restaurant tried to kill Eun Sil's mother wasn't a surprise to me as he felt suspicious the first time. I do find the ending sweet, but not overly happy.

The OSTs for this show were pretty good, but not overly special. 2Z released the first OST which grew on over the weeks. Acapella group Maytree who was on America's Got Talent delivered a sweet OST that worked wonderfully with the show vibe. I did find most of these OSTs to have a sweet vibe as I've been listening to them from time to time whenever I'm in the mood for them, but overall the songs were pleasant enough.

Overall I'll be giving Heo's Diner a low B for having a decent story and characters that kept me interested in the show. At least this show was better than When the Stars Gossip. I wasn't overly blown away by Heo's Diner, but I still enjoyed it for what it was. So don't forget to come back next time when I review The Haunted Palace.

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Parallel universe?

Our series is handled very simply, again a simple story, first of all, a person who comes from the past to the future and changes some things, and also a mysterious event such as finding the perpetrator of the attempted murder. Both fantasy and mystery are added, but here the events are so simplified that it gives the impression that I would have made this series.
Nothing is pursued, excessive research, chasing, insisting, forcing, harassing, beating, swearing, such as things that constantly overwhelm the person are avoided. The event is handled in a simple manner and an attempt is made to end it with simplicity.
In particular, a mistake such as the lack of respirators when the woman who owns the restaurant was taken from the Intensive Care Unit to the ward was overlooked. They say that there is no room in the intensive care unit, we will have to take you to the ward, but the patient, who is equipped with all kinds of equipment in the intensive care unit, is left with a serum in the normal ward. I leave the evaluation to the audience and those who manage this. Do you think it will happen? He could not breathe there, but his breathing is very good in the normal ward, sir, why should we put the devices on? What is it? A very obvious mistake. I'm not counting the other simple things. Simplicity was prioritized. A plain narrative was adopted. I said, I got the impression that a new director was told to shoot this series and start his career and see how it will be. There was such simplicity, such plainness in the series and there was no room for embellishment, exaggeration, excess, acting, or going deeper. The director also learned how to shoot a series with this series, did his internship, or maybe the scriptwriter is the same. These are my guesses. My inferences. That's it. I'm not saying it's definite. I'm saying it gave me that impression. The actors' roles were also plain and simple. There was no exaggeration. There was no very good acting. There was no very famous actor. Lee Sae On and Lee So Min seemed to me to be a little more suited to their roles, settled in, and better. That's all. Our veteran actors did their job. But anyone can watch it to pass the time without expecting much. I watched it. I smiled, but my eyes got wet at some points. I was also curious. But don't expect too much.

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it needed better writing, the point of the plot, the development and the connection between past and present, there were many things that lacked

for example, his journey in cooking geniusness was irrelevant, until he talks about how he'd never tried cooking because of his statues and gender

the evilness of 2ml was pointless, even if he falls, he'll always be their reincarnated enemy
fl was always hotheaded and talk first think later type unless it revolved the 2ml who was just such a red flag, but the writer just suddenly made her timid
like sure it's hard to believe he was really from the past, but is it easier to believe a cop saying there's no records of him to changing it to "he has a criminal past"


I wonder if the illegitimate children’s plot is real cuz like go prosecute the fathers not the kids
the best thing was the coffee joke, fl cooked so bad everyone feared her cooking


There’s almost 400 years in between so they’re not really descendants of themselves?
And in ways it’s like, they reverse loved each other so even in different times they always belonged together
I mean even scarlet heart somewhat did that
And also like, his reincarnation could also be a decent of his siblings, uncles and such, so not every grandparent only had one kid so their grandparents weren’t the same and divided in their branch of relatives
that's to assume he had 20 years and spent them with the past fl

Minseok’s acting really improved, he specifically looked extra handsome when all serious like the end of the ep

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Don't make a kdrama like this my blood boils all the time

Sooooo dissapointed Korean drama I had ever watch.ML and FL idiots.they believe in chef do stupid thing ove and over to help chef.so disgusting drama what a waste of this.

if you side with enemy in this drama you can watch because everything happen for enemy success depends.enemy always do bad things smoothly no one can detect that because police officer help to him.in this drama police department have a one detective.thats only him.he can change all the evidence.FL blindly believe in enemy and do what he want.so fustrated.if you see my review skip this disgusting drama its always annoying.

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A hidden gem

I didn't expect the drama to be as good. When I first watched it, the acting and story felt mediocre at best and I couldn't make it past 4 minutes into the show without feeling underwhelmed. But then I managed to get through the first episode and to the next and somehow, everything changed. Including my perspective of my show. So, people should stop judging these kdramas from the first ep and give it a try. I have watched so many kdramas which didn't have the good start but became the best halfway through. As for Heo's Diner, it needed only 2 episodes to convince me. This is a lighthearted kdrama which is sure to bring a laugh or two and if you are a sucker for romcoms, give this kdrama a try!

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