The button, and what it does
The thing on your table is a one-way radio transmitter. Press it and a receiver behind the counter — a small display or a strip of lights — shows your table number and plays a chime. It does not tell staff what you want, so somebody walks over to ask. A full set is buttons, a receiver and a charger, and a Korean supplier such as Bell System (벨시스템) sells one to a small restaurant for under ₩110,000 — an example of the relatively inexpensive equipment available to restaurants.
Three shapes to recognise:
- A single button, often on a small stand or stuck to the table edge, sometimes labelled call (호출) or call staff (직원호출), sometimes just a bell icon.
- A three-button unit — typically 호출 (call staff), 주문 (order) and 계산 (bill). Grill restaurants favour these.
- A button built into the ordering tablet, red and usually bottom-right, labelled 직원호출. Every table-order supplier ships it; T'order's own demonstration shows it beside the order button.
Press it once. Pressing repeatedly does nothing except chime repeatedly, and everyone can hear it.
How call bells became common
Call bells use technology related to the pagers that were common before mobile phones. Korea's pager (삐삐) boom collapsed when mobile phones arrived in the late 1990s, and the restaurant call bell is the way out the pager makers found — the same one-way radio, repackaged. One of them, 리텍 (Leetek), held about 80% of the call-bell market by 2016 and still sells both halves of the business from its own store: the table bells, and the vibrating pucks handed out at café counters.
Korean coverage of what surprises foreign diners puts the call bell beside free water and free side dishes as the three things visitors most want to take home — and singles out not having to wait after the meal to settle up.
With no button: "excuse me" — 저기요 and 여기요
Plenty of restaurants — older rice-soup (국밥) houses, market stalls, small snack (분식) shops, street food tents (포장마차) — have no bell and no tablet. Then you call out. The two words are:
| Word | Literally | Feel |
|---|---|---|
| 저기요 (jeogiyo) | "over there" | The safe default. Neutral, slightly distanced, works on anyone. |
| 여기요 (yeogiyo) | "over here" | Slightly more direct and more familiar. Also fine. |
Both expressions are commonly used to attract attention in a restaurant. Say them politely at a volume suited to the room. A study of exactly these two words in restaurants found the choice tracks the speaker's own age and sex rather than politeness — 저기요 is the distanced one, 여기요 the more forceful one. 저기요 is the one to learn.
Say it at the volume you would use to talk to somebody four metres away. Speak clearly enough for the staff member to hear you. If nobody responds, say it again, once, a little louder.
What does not work, and what to avoid
- A raised hand may be missed. Use the call bell where provided, or politely say “jeogiyo” when a staff member is nearby.
- Give busy staff a moment to respond. They may be moving between the kitchen, counter and other tables.
- Avoid snapping your fingers, clicking or whistling at staff. Call politely instead.
- Do not touch a member of staff to get attention. Speak instead.
- 아줌마 / 아저씨 ("auntie", "uncle"). Older Koreans still use them; from a stranger they land badly, and from a visitor there is no upside. 저기요 costs nothing.
- 이모 ("auntie") and 사장님 ("boss") are genuinely used — 이모 in casual eateries and drinking places, 사장님 to the owner — but they carry a familiarity that is easy to get wrong. Skip them.
- “Excuse me” in English may also be understood. “Jeogiyo” is a useful Korean expression to learn.
The other bell, which is not this one
A 진동벨 (a vibrating bell) is a coaster-sized puck handed to you at the counter after you order and pay. It vibrates and flashes when your food or coffee is ready, and you collect it yourself. It is the standard at cafés, food courts, department-store basements, snack (분식) shops and anywhere with a standing kiosk. Take it to your table, and take it back when it goes off.
Both objects are round, plastic and blinking, and both are made by the same companies. A button fixed to the table calls a person. A pager handed to you at the counter tells you when to collect your order.
What the bell tells you about the whole meal
In many casual restaurants, service works like this:
- Several staff members may help your table. You can ask an available member of staff for assistance.
- Staff may wait for you to ask for something. Use the bell or call politely if you need another dish, water or help.
- You often pay at the counter. In most restaurants the slip is dropped on the table when the food arrives, or sits at the counter, and you pay on your way out — ask if you are unsure where to settle the bill.
