"The "booking club" is a social club exclusive to South Korea, and is a unique compromise between modern Western ideals and the preservation of traditional customs. "Booking" is very popular in the capital, Seoul, and can be found in some of the larger cities outside the country where there is a sizable Korean population (e.g. New York City, Los Angeles). "Booking" is very much a man's world, an extension of the traditions already in place in society...
"Women and men come here to be introduced to each other through the use of a go-between. Instead of entrance fees in Western clubs, tables are "bought"; you rent out a table for the night with a group of friends...
"Men's tables are very expensive, especially the private rooms; a single night out can cost up to US $1000 (~1,000,000 won) for men, not including additional drinks and tips, depending on what kind of table is bought. Each room has several waiters serving it; in many cases, customers have a specific waiter that they prefer or are in good standing with.
"You might be asking yourself, "Why would there be a waiter if there is food and drink already on the table?"
"The waiter's primary purpose isn't to get more food and drink (though they can be). What you order from a waiter are women.
"The men... will observe the screens to pick and choose among the women dancing (as if they were no more than menu items), and will then give their "order" to their waiter. The waiter will leave and return with one of the items in your "order", dragging whatever girl you especially liked enough to make a request for. She'll sit down next to you, and the waiter will depart to serve someone else.
"[Upon the girl's arrival], you introduce yourself, and try to impress her in the short time you have. While it's true that you chose her and that the waiter dragged her over to you, she's free to leave if she doesn't like the way you look, or how you spoke. If you're lucky, you'll exchange email addresses/phone numbers, but you know it's over when the girl says that her friends are waiting for her at the table (a blatant lie; her friends are being shipped around from table to table, too). Hopefully by then you've snagged her number, and you can always call her later if things went well."