Literally dah-bang translates to 'tea room', and historically that's what they were. Men would go there and get tea and now coffee served to them by cute girls who would keep them company. It wasn't explicitly for sex, but it could be arranged.

A dah-bang used to function as a type of social hangout, where you could drink/read/talk/play board games. For younger people, they just go to board game cafe's now, so the only ones you'll see in a real dah'bang are older men.

Per capita, there aren't as many dah-bang's in seoul as you would expect, but I've seen loads in other cities. Usually I see them in seoul in out of the way places, or on the outskirts of a red light district. Although a lot of times they will just be smack dab in a restaurant area down in basement, kinda the way the barbershops (hand job + massage) are just stuck in random basements everywhere you go.

Personally I've never been in one, (other than to check how cute the girls are and inquire about price) so everything I'm saying is second hand information.

Alot of guys say they go there because it's a really good place to try out your korean skills and the girls are more like friends that they can go out drinking with. And it's cheap. Drinks actually cost a normal price 1-5 dollars for coffee or tea. Some places even have beer or soju (korean rice vodka).

Another service of these coffee houses is that you can call for delivery. The girl will jump on a scooter or be driven to where you're at and bring you your order. And then you have the option of arranging for more. Often guys who go to a norebang (karaeoke) will call up these 'coffee ticket' girls so that they will hang out and sing with them.

So in a way, it turns into a cheap man's room salon.

The korean spelling of dah'bang is made of two characters. The first one has kind of a squared off C on the left with a 'T' on it's side pointing to the right on the right side. The second character (to the right or below the first) looks like an upside-down squared off capital "A" in the top left corner, then another "T" on it's side pointing right on the right side, and a circle beneath the upside down 'A' and sideways 'T'

Look for them in poorer areas.