10% Romance – The love story never reached that “soulmate” depth. It felt more like “you’re my type, let’s see where this goes,” rather than a bond powerful enough to alter fate.
10% Palace Politics – The political intrigue was shallow and underdeveloped. Threads were left hanging, missing the chance to add richness and tension to the story.
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This review may contain spoilers
Great language skill displays otherwise nope
If you're here for a kdrama with substance this isn't it. But there are gems that make some episodes worthwhile.Let's get the cons out of the way:
- The political plot is just the typical "royal relative wants to usurp throne because he feels more entitled to it" BS. Yawnfest.
- The romance angle fails to lift off from more than the suggestion of Stockholm Syndrome since the male protagonist had no qualms killing the heroine from the word go. Plus, can't say a married guy who has a habit of forcing women into sexual slavery makes for a winner.
- The heroine's reactions to many situations are just dumb and unrealistic.
- Many unrealistic behaviours occur at tense moments.
- Those above really made me want to quit the show on episode 1 however, the pros do make viewing with watching but only in the relevant episodes...
Pros (and it's really quite worth it, imho):
This is one of the few Korean shows that really put in an effort with correct language skills. The heroine's French isn't 100% but is closer to the correct diction then other kdramas I've heard. Moreover, the actors taking on Ming characters really put in a great effort with their Mandarin pronunciation, especially Jo Jae Yoon, as Tang Bai Long. Although his pronunciation isn't 100% comprehensible he nails the natural speaking tempo of the language way better than most attempts I've heard. It was a real pleasure listening to him each time. He cements his acting prowess when he speaks Korean back to his competitors, acting as though he's not a native Korean speaker by being "clumsy" in his speech with it. I was floored and impressed by his attention to detail. He really made the whole show worth watching for the cultural exchange aspects between the Ming and Joseon competitors
cooks.
Conclusion: If you're a language buff, it's worth watching the first and other episodes with the Ming cooks in them. If you're looking for a good kdrama, possibly give this a miss.
Jo Jae Yoon's acting is a 10/10 in an otherwise 1.5/10 series.
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Could be much better!!
Beautiful photography, very good actors but such a waste of quality when they begin to use endless clichés scenes of medíocre kdramas.I can't understand why they did that because they have a interisting story, fun dialogues, skilled actors, beautiful scenarys and a very good photography diretor! Such a waste of good resources!!!
The screenplayers seem to be lazy and uncompromised.
I hope the next episodes Will be more creative and varied.
Congrats to the ML for his performance. FL is always great!
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I liked it ... I think... or maybe not?
I honestly can't tell. I did watch all the episodes and It was both enjoyable and frustrating. Some things made sense, something were nonsensical. The lead actor is very handsome, the lead actress felt very one dimensional, the last episodes felt like patch work.What in the world was that Mandarin/Chinese??? I'm not a mandarin speaker, But i've heard enough to know when something (accent?)is off... this part was hilarious to me, I just kept laughing...but not in the way the writer probably wanted.
There were elements about the story, cooking, food in the show that looked like they wanted to mimic the ICONIC Mr Queen ... I chuckled at the audacity tbh.
I'd say If you have time to pass watching this, why not!
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Promising Beginning Not lived Up To in the Closure
I love the characters and story set up by the makers. What hurts my heart is that the actors, especially the stars, are all so good and deserved stronger and more balanced closure—which they didn’t get. The writers, directors, and producers had a great idea, but let us down with a 5-minute wrap up of what could have been a thrilling final 2 or 3 eps. I would like to see them admit they squandered the gold they had in that story and give us a second season which focuses on those two wonderful stars and the dramatic, thrilling love story in the future that was right in front of all of them.Major Point: Even if some viewers do like the 10-minute ending, stylistically alone it is off balance with the rest of the series. Tons of time on pots of food for episodes, but hardly a whiff of the actual love story across time. They blew the opportunity to do so much more with our leads and the love story across centuries.
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This review may contain spoilers
The writer must be sick
I watched this drama because my boyfriend recommended that this show is fun and i need to watch this. Sorry for telling you this babe, but i won't trust your recommendation ever again. so, this show was starting strong in the early episodes, but again and again, the writer ruined the last 2 episodes! aarghh, like wtf dear writer, you waste so much potential with such beautiful with good-acting-skilled actors and nice osts!!!!! spoiler alert!!!
wtf with the ending??? at least show us glimpses of scenes of how the majesty goes to the future!! it was nonsensical and out of logic if the ending just finished like that. i know the writer must be already lazy enough to finish the story and just put all of the trivial things that usually happen in time-traveling drama. And all the emotions that i felt while watching this drama were all 'almost'. it is sad, but not sad enough to make me cry. it is happy, but the way the scene portrays the emotions was not good, so i'm not happy enough. The feelings of 'almost' make me not satisfied at all watching this drama. so sad that i wasted my time watching this.
Watching this drama feels like eating a good appetizer, but with a very bad main course and dessert. wasting time. will not rewatch this.
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A Feast for the Eyes, But Not the Story
This drama, essentially a MasterChef competition set in the Joseon era, is certainly a fun watch with an interesting premise. I was immediately hooked after the first episode, which masterfully showcased the great idea of a culinary competition. If you enjoy food competition shows, you will absolutely love the culinary aspects. The food styling is insane—it is impossible to watch without immediately feeling hungry, as the cooking and resulting dishes are undoubtedly the main character of the show. The popularity of the drama is understandable, driven by this appealing culinary theme and the presence of a handsome male lead.However, after that strong start, the show faltered as the focus shifted away from the great cooking and toward courtly intrigues. Where the show excels visually, it fails narratively. While the story is loosely inspired by real historical events, this is strictly a backdrop and not a properly explored historical drama. If you are looking for a deep storyline or compelling plot execution, this is not the right choice. It is an easy watch, but the story is not deep, and it suffers from being overhyped. There are far greater dramas that deserve this level of attention, which is a real shame.
The drama struggles significantly when the cooking and competition are removed. Chae Min was the only character that truly stood out, and if you take away the culinary element, you are left with a weak script. This failure of writing became painfully apparent in the final episodes. They were a real disaster—so boring and badly written that I was forced to skip scenes just to finish. It’s a huge missed opportunity; the show should have concentrated more on the actual story and explored the female lead’s potential arc, such as her attempts to change the future, instead of relying on the cooking spectacle. Ultimately, the miracle ending felt unearned, capping off a season where great visuals were let down by poor scripting.
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Lazy Writing: Tyrant to Softboy Overnight
Everything from romance, character arcs to plot was underdeveloped. The idea that she could cure illnesses instantly with food makes no sense. The tone swings from serious to comedic with no warning.A plot that wandered off course. Premise vs. Delivery.
The show begins with a compelling setup: King Yi Heon is introduced as a tyrant, the consort is a villain, and palace enemies. The promotional material including the trailer and official synopsis clearly paints him as a dangerous ruler: " She’s forced to cook for an infamously temperamental tyrant, King Yi Heon, a ruler with a killer palate and a deadly temper.” But after just a few episodes, his personality and plot direction flips. He becomes a softboy with barely any explanation. The show tricked viewers into watching! Expecting a slow-burn romance and emotional unraveling through food, only to deliver a rushed character rewrite. The show shifted direction fast, abandoning the premise.
A plot that feels like three different dramas stitched together.
1) Political danger, cold tyran king etc.
2) Then: Sudden romance shift. The king becomes a softboy. The Ming cooking competition begins and drags on.
3) Almost near the end: Whiplash back to political rebellion, betrayel, romance THAT DID NOT get explored.
Final episodes: tries to tie everything together in a rushed way.
Romance sucks, then "I LOVE YOU." all of a sudden
This drama is barely a romance. It teased a gradual emotional connection, her capturing his heart through food. Instead he falls too fast. Her perspective is glossed over, and she acts like a frozen robot pretending to be into it. There is no buildup.
Female Lead: Very hard to connect with.
Despite being the protagonist, she rarely showed emotional depth and wasn’t layered at all. She stops questioning her surroundings, doesn’t act on her knowledge. She was passive in romance scenes, often reacting with blank expressions or minimal dialogue. Was that the actor’s fault, or the script’s? Both. An actress who CAN NOT express emotions in a real way. Her character arc lacked growth: she didnt evolve, reflect,
Lacks depth: dilemma and his trauma.
The fl knows the historical consequences. She’s aware of the bloodshed and the villains. Her dilemma—whether or not to tell him—is a an important conflict. But the show forgets it.
The Ml trauma about his mother, his complicated relationship with the queen, and the palace enemies are not explored meaningfully.
The Ming Cooking Competition:
The Ming storyline did NOT fit in the story and dragged out way too long. Four out of twelve episodes—one-third of the entire drama—were wasted on a subplot that barely moved the story forward
This drama promised tension, emotional depth, and a romance. It delivered none of that.
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We were robbed
I went into Bon Appétit, Your Majesty with high expectations, but after completing all twelve episodes, I was left disappointed. What could have been a truly engaging historical-meets-modern drama fell short of its potential. Comparisons to Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo do this series no favors — it never comes close to delivering the same depth or impact.To be fair, there are many things this drama gets right. The cast, cinematography, storyline foundation, and costume design all showed promise. The series successfully blended comedy, emotion, and drama in the early episodes. However, by episode six, the momentum stalled. What began as a weekly highlight quickly became a chore, and I ended up binging the last half of the series simply to finish it rather than out of excitement.
As a fan of Yoona, I wanted to love her performance here. While her presence undoubtedly anchored the show, it was Lee Chae-min who truly carried the drama. His portrayal was compelling, confident, and full of charisma — he stepped into the role with the energy of a true lead. His performance makes me eager to see more of his future projects. Unfortunately, the writing didn’t give his character the context or depth he deserved, especially regarding how he ended up in the future.
Yoona’s character also felt underdeveloped. Her futuristic advantage seemed reduced to little more than her cooking skills, which, while charming, felt underwhelming given the stakes of the plot. For a supposed romance drama, her lack of urgency in pivotal moments — particularly surrounding the king’s fate and key political events — left the story flat.
The show’s biggest flaws came from rushed storytelling and glaring plot holes, which likely stemmed from its shorter 12-episode format. Instead of tightening the narrative, the limited run made the writing feel lazy and incomplete.
Ultimately, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty gained popularity thanks to its attractive leads, Yoona and Lee Chae-min, and the visibility that comes with a Netflix release. However, it struggled to rise above surface-level appeal. Many of the glowing reviews feel repetitive and uncritical, but for me, the reality is clear: this was a missed opportunity for something much greater.
At the end of the day, it was a visually appealing drama with strong performances — particularly from Lee Chae-min — but undermined by weak writing, unresolved plot points, and a lack of payoff.
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Started with Great Potential But Ending Ended Up Being Meh
If you're looking to play something in the background, this drama would be the one to play.I started off enjoying most of this drama, as the plot in the beginning had potential and all the food looked SO good. Honestly, I think the cooking and food is what carried this drama.
Without going into any spoilers -- in short, I felt like the drama fell apart as it approached the end. There was (of course) some historical political drama that occurs throughout the story and it just ended up being really rushed at the end as the writers tried wrapping this up in 12 episodes.
If you're looking for a good historical drama, look elsewhere. However, if you're looking for a drama to play in the background with drool worthy dishes, this fits the bill.
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Simple Yet Enjoyable
My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.I don’t often watch sageuks, but I tend to like sageuks that involve a female lead that goes back in time. I think I am just able to relate to them better that way – by watching someone from my generation figure out how to survive in a foreign world. I dropped The First Night with the Duke because the female lead from the modern world didn’t bring any modernity with her (aside from the cliché of a female lead being really good at mixing drinks and playing drinking games...and sexual promiscuity…). Fortunately, Bon Appetit, Your Majesty delivered on what I was looking for from this type of drama.
Acting/Cast: I didn’t like the male lead so much in the beginning because of his acting style, but he grew on me throughout the course of the drama. I thought I wouldn’t like the female lead, but she did a really good job. I think she fit the role very nicely. I liked the side characters – particularity Gil Geum. She was so cute. I really enjoyed her relationship with the female lead. Most of the characters are likable in general, aside from the villains. 7/10
Writing: I think the female lead was a very well-written character and I think that is what ultimately made this drama work as well as it did. She is fun, strong, talented, level-headed, and, most importantly, believable. Like I alluded to in the beginning, the female lead’s character brings aspects of the modern world with her to the Joseon era, such as hand gestures, vocabulary, and of course recipes. Instead of trying to just blend in with everyone else, she remains unique and even tells other characters that she’s from the future. I was very happy about that. The premise of the drama is simple. So simple that if you don’t enjoy the cooking aspect of the drama, then, there’s not much else to hold your attention. The majority of the drama is the cooking and in contest-like fashion. I didn’t think I would enjoy something like that, but I did. I was actually bummed when the cooking stopped towards the last couple episodes or so. Even though the drama focuses heavily on food, there is a consistent romance storyline as well as the typical plan to overthrow the king that persists throughout the entirety of the drama. It’s all pretty basic since this is a 12-episode food-centered drama, but I enjoyed all of it. One thing I dislike about sagueks is that they are typically very depressing with a lot of torture. This drama is not like that at all, which is a huge reason why I liked it as much as I did. However, I can say that I was hugely disappointed that more wasn’t done with Gil Geum’s character, such as her own love story. I was also disappointed in the ending. It’s not the worst ending, but it would have been easy to give us some sort of explanation. It’s like the writers gave up in the end. The characters suddenly felt lifeless—as if they only existed for the female lead instead of being their own unique individuals. 4.5/10
Direction/SFX/Music: This drama has a charming quality to it. It’s like a comfort drama. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and it looks nice. The food scenes are definitely the highlight of the drama. The OST didn’t stand out to me. It’s your basic K-drama romance songs. 6/10
Entertainment Value: I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this drama. This is the first time I’ve watched a food drama. Even though I’ve never been a foodie, I found it interesting and educational. I liked to watch while eating dinner. 7/10
Overall, I gave this drama a 6/10. A 6 or higher is in my ‘would recommend’ zone. It’s a pretty basic drama, but it has a certain charm to it. The female lead is a well-written and acted character and the other characters are likable as well. I would recommend this drama if you like happier and more family-friendly sageuks.
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It definitely started strong,
I haven't been this hooked on a drama in a while, but somehow this show has lost me around epsidoes 8-10.I think the acting is great, the chemistry between the leads was pretty good, the romance is cute, and I loved all the characters however the plot lost heart somewhere and became very rushed.
[The King & Consort Kang]
Consort Kang who was supposed to be the King's favorite (probably because of the parallels with his mother) until Ji Yeong shows up and Consort Kang basically becomes non-existant in the King's life and the show never really bothers to flesh that out in any regard.
After a while they just stop having scenes together at all which was a total let down.
Consort Kang's character also feels all over the place to me?
Her loyalty lies with the evil uncle, so much so that she's willing to marry him, but she's still hell bent on getting rid of Ji Yeong for no other reason than because.....?
She's oddly possessive over the King for no real discernable reason and that makes her hostility toward Ji Young so plastic that it takes me out of the show.
It's clear Ji Young isnt a spy, she isn't a danger, and her only fault is apparently the fact that the King fell for her, which with his reputation why would anyone find it wildly out of the ordinary for the King to be getting around? Ji Yeong is only really a problem because everyone else is convinced she is for no tangible reason in my opinion.
If Consort Kang only truly cares about working the the evil uncle to get the King deposed, why spend so much time targeting Ji Young specifically when she could be doing literally anything else? The show never elaborates on why I should care about the fact that Consort Kang loves the King, in fact the show tells me that she wants him deposed, but she is still catty and jealous because...?
Consort Kang starts strong but because the show just abandons her at some point her character just fell flat and she's more of a plot device than anything else.
[Court Lady Chu Wol]
Also, Chu Wol's extreme loyalty for someone who is very aware of how the court ladies are discarded also seems extremely out of place. Doing a job because if you dont you die is one thing, but her prison scene where she looked ready to jump out of her body to save Consort Kang was so comically dramatic for no reason? Maybe the scene would have made sense if they gave us insight on why she is so staunchly loyal, but otherwise it was just confusing to me.
Why? Why is Chu Wol so dedicated? Just, because....? It would have been nice if they fleshed out her character more.
[The Royal Family]
I know Yi Heon is a fictional take on a real tyrant, but I didnt expect them to soften the edges of that story so heavily?
The real Deposed Queen Yun was a woman who didnt come from any noble background, gave birth to the crown prince, and though the King seemed to love her she was essentially bullied out of the palace by other noble families (in what I've put together looking into this bit of history)
She supposedly lashed out and scratched the King's face, though she tried to hide it everyone around him jumped on the opportunity to force her out and have her deposed and executed, especially the King's mother.
In the show, they do a lot to sand off the edges of Yi Heon's family. The Dowager Queen and Queen Ja-Hyun especially. When I realized they weren't going to get any depth as characters I kinda tapped out. If theyre both decent people who care about the King and Ji Yeong, then what weight does the Deposed Queen's death even have?
The edge in the early episodes, that sense of venegence Yi Heon was after and the bite he had going after it evaporated at some point. I understand Ji Young changed him, but Yi Heon was at his best when he was a misunderstood tyrant with something to prove but that doesn't hold any weight when the key people involved in the Queen being deposed are presented as 'not that bad actually'.
When the grand prince was poisoned, imagine if we had gotten insight on Yi Heon's relationship with his step mother? Maybe how she neglected him, or favored her own son over him in a way that gives weight to him feeling lonely in the palace? How he wished his step mother would care for him like she cares for her son? Something? Like, give us a reason to care about the deposed Queen because when you present the royal family as mostly decent, except that one evil guy, the stakes disappear.
Queen Ja-Hyun had utterly no screentime outside of being the benevolent mother just caught somewhere in an evil plot that she has no relation to. For someone who *should* be important, she's barely important to the plot at all.
[Cooking]
The cooking in the show and how every instance of cooking is a race against the clock for something becomes this weight on the plot. The spectacle becomes more important than the story and the cooking takes up so much time the story doesnt get time to develop. It also becomes boring and predictable when the keep doing the same thing over and over, beat for beat.
I wish we had more scenes like the Dowager Queen remembering her mother rather than long winded cooking competitions against the Ming chefs, and dont get me wrong- I liked the Ming chefs, but they didn't do a whole lot to move the internal plot forward and that block of story is probably why all the other relevant things to a major backseat and ended up rushed.
Something exciting happening every single second doesn't really make space for all the other plot elements you built up to reach satisfying conclusions, especially when the royal drama was so interesting before it got watered down, like the writers gave up on committing to a complex plot.
[Evil Uncle]
Also, Prince Jesan, Mister Evil Uncle.
Who would have expected the guy who is involved with all the medicinal things would have some hand in the Prince being posioned?
For a man who was supposed to be the big master mind behind trying to get the King deposed, doing something so obvious felt like the writers gave up, like they just needed any reason for the King and Ji Yeong to follow the trail back to him to wrap that plotline up. Prince Jesan went from this foreboding villain where I'm waiting for this grand clash and story peak, to more so just a Scooby Doo villain waiting to get his mask torn off and then we all move on.
Choi Gwi-Hwa was so good in this role its a shame that it all fell flat. I could tell after a certain point, or maybe I just became disillusioned, but all the actors performances started to feel flat. Like, compared to the first episode by epsiode ten it feels like they're just reading their lines to get it over with. The story lost it stakes, the edge was sanded off, the royal drama isn't all that dramatic anymore, and all the cooking just became so painfully limp and repetitive.
The drama lost heart somewhere, and it really sucks because it had a lot of potential, the spectacle of the cooking aspect was just way too disconnected that the plot came second to everything else.
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