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34th St-6th Ave (B, D, F, V, N, Q, R, W)
33rd Street (PATH)
33rd St-Park Ave (6)
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This review is only for the sit-down meal, not for the BBQ.
I liked the side dishes (not a lot of places offer raw, spiced crab) and their mandoo soup.
I didn't like their avocado salad, as it was an overpiced $8.95 for a chunk of sliced avocado and iceberg lettuce. Their futo maki roll looked and tasted a lot like Korean kim-bap.
I'm glad I tried this place out, but Won-Jo falls into the "I will go if I'm keeling over from hunger pangs in K-Town and every other place is packed."
My personal food critic Mr. A-C recommended Won Jo.
We walked in and were promptly seated upstairs. Clientele appeared all of Asian origin or ancestry, a promising sign.
In a blind taste test I could not tell the difference between the Korean beer and a bud light, although my wallet certainly could.
I will say the 'experience' of cooking your own food at a restaurant is novel. However, Wo Jo is not inexpensive, more so in light of cooking your own dinner.
Special kalbi very good-rich beefy taste; bulkoki average at best but pretty bland. Solid choice of tasty accompaniments.
Service very average at best; after taking your order the waitstaff seemed disinterested in keeping the water glass full or checking back on you. As noted by many others, prices are steep-the check came to nearly $70 for two people,
over the years, this place has stayed the same but the prices have crept up.
our usual order:
shumai
fried dumplings
edamame
scallion pancake
kalbi
bulgogi
rice
yeah: the complimentary steamed egg dish that was very tasty.
meh: goat soup
and stick with beer or soju. the house wine is not recommended.
overall it was good food but a bit overpriced.
at $40 a piece for a group of 6, i left still hungry.
I think from now on I'll leave all Korean themed meals to the kind people of Flushing. Sorry but this place pretty much killed K-Town for me.
I ventured in here one afternoon with a group of friends recently. We were starved and pretty much went into the first place we saw that didn't seem all too shady. We saw the sign for Korean BBQ and our stomachs growled in agreement. Upon walking in we were quickly ushered to the 2nd floor for the Korean BBQ. We ordered the Kalbi and Jaeyook Gui for bbq and also Kimchi Chige (kimchi soup) and a Bibim Bap.
The first thing to show up was the banchan which we found passable. The flavors were a bit bland for korean food. Nothing had even the slightest hint of spice. We even speculated that they probably used some food coloring because some of the dishes were blood red and yet they weren't spicy. I'm no korean food connoisseur so again it was simply speculation.
What really annoyed me was the waitress who took our order. We clearly stated we'd like one order of kalbi and one order of Jaeyook Gui for bbq. She then asked us how many people. We didn't understand what that was supposed to mean. We had 4 people and we were going to share it. She then says ok 4 kalbi and 4 jaeyook gui. What the hell? I just said 1 order each. I'll save you yelpers the trouble of reading the details. Just know this went on about 3 more times for a few minutes and finally the waitress says ok 1 order each. FINALLY.
The first thing to come was the kimchi chige followed closely by the bibim bap. The bibim bap was quite bland. I've had bibim bap before and I know it happens sometimes but the sauce usually fixes that right up. No amount of sauce seemed to help this dish though. Just had to suck it up and down the hatch I guess. The kimchi chige sort of helped the experience. The flavors really melded together to create one tasty soup.
Next came the much anticipated korean bbq. To my disappointment however, rather than setting up the pit in the middle of the table they brought out one of those hotpot burners and put a griddle on top. In my opinion it just doesn't taste the same that way. It just doesn't get the nice smokey flavor. All in all we were a quite disappointed but food is food I guess. The entire time I was thinking "wow I should have just went to Picnic Garden." And at a final price of over $20 per person on the bill for lunch.. I REALLY SHOULD HAVE JUST WENT TO PICNIC GARDEN!
Trust me, leave korean cuisine to Queens, particularly Flushing. It's going to take a whole lot to get K-Town back in my books again.
I needed a place to eat after watching the Knicks lost another basketball game. I decided to go Korean since I know the restaurants open long hours into the night.
Won Jo's extensive menu features a myriad of both Korean and Japanese dishes served 24 hours a day. Soups and stews are done especially well here as are the long list of noodle dishes. Each table is barbeque capable if you have an inkling for meat. Avoid the sushi and sashimi as Won Jo is a Korean restaurant first and foremost.
There are many 24 hour choices on 32nd street past 2am but you can't go wrong with a visit to Won Jo.
This place is really nothing special. If you are wanting Korean BBQ and want to grill it yourself, then don't come here for lunch. They will not let you grill, and they will charge you dinner prices, ranging from $20.00-30.00 for 12 ounces. Therefore, eating upstairs is pretty much pointless. The atmosphere is the same as most of the other BBQ houses on the same street.
The mandoo are handmade and not pre-frozen at least. You only get six banchan and they are extremely weak. The kimchi is not fermented at all, and has barely any sauce. I have yet to have anything here that is actually spicy, and will not be returning.
took my friends here for some good ol' korean comfort food after the tough arsenal loss to sundling. we ordered 2 dol sot bibimpaps, and 1 with octopus. very tasty and did not disappoint.
a bit pricey though..
The wait staff is not so friendly, but I just love their Dol-Sot Bibimbap. Sure, a lot of other Korean restaurant have the exact same thing but their sauce is so good! I always come here when I'm in the mood for the Dol-Sot. Only here, no where else.
Won Jo is an a-ok place to go for some Korean food. I liked the 7 banchan (Korean side dishes) served to us, but we noticed other tables had 8; we were missing our radishes! So sad.
Despite my efforts to be polite to the waitstaff (smiles and thank yous), we were often ignored. My biggest complaint is that I wanted more water throughout my dinner, but my glass was only refilled once.
I ordered the beef gobdol. Pretty decent. The egg was at the bottom of the rice, not the top, which created a brownish crust on the egg and only a bit of crunchy rice. The dish tasted pretty yummy though.
I would have ordered more, but appetizers and bbq was really expensive.
This place is the worst! The first time was okay, but the last time will definitely be my last. I'm never coming back here again.
I came here with two other diners, and we asked to get two bbq orders - one combination meat platter and one combination seafood platter. The really snooty waitress gives us this scary look and tells us, 'oh, but the orders are very, VERY small! It won't be enough food!" We're positive that this will be enough food to keep us full with the banchan, and we insist that we don't want to order anything else. She insists that we should get an appetizer, but I insist again and tell her we want nothing else.
In the end, the three of us were quite full from the food and thought we had enough. Yes, the seafood platter was a complete and total rip off (what do you think of 1 1/2 scallops in your combo seafood order?). But of course, every now and then the stupid waitress comes by and asks if we have enough food. One of the people I am eating with doesn't know much about Korean food, so he does something that she finds inappropriate. So the waitress starts laughing in this mocking attitude of hers and starts aggressively showing him how to eat everything -- taking her tongs, pushing stuff aside here and there and throwing stuff into his bowl. The entire time, you could tell she was making fun of him. Um, sure. If she went to a restaurant that had food of a culture she wasn't familiar with, would she be aware of how to properly eat everything?? Probably... not.
With an attitude and mockingly snobbish tone like that, she is lucky she got any tip from us because I refuse to tolerate that type of condescending attitude, especially if I am footing the bill.
This place is reliable for Korean barbecue -- you barbecue your meat/seafood/veggies on top of coal… Read more »
Every time I crave Korean BBQ, I come to Won Jo. I'm not that picky when it comes to Korean bbq, my only criteria is that the place have those rice sheets to wrap your meat in. Won Jo does that, but they also cook over hot coals, which is a definite plus over the gas stoves because the meat is tastier and smokier.
Downside: prices are steep. I understand $24.95 for BBQ Kalbi, but $17 for a Green Onion Pancake? That's straight-up highway robbery. And they don't even give out free steamed egg anymore!! Yeah yeah its a recession, but the egg helped justify the other super high prices, so now they're back to square one. Went with a friend, order 2 BBQ Kalbis and a beer each, came out to $75. meh.
When I want to BBQ in K-town, I go to Won-Jo for ages. I think I like the marination better than others around the block. Meats are tender and tasty with charcoil grill. I experienced some other in the area, either dry or too sweet or too soy-icky - is this a word? means that the marinating sauce contains soy sauce and the amount of the soy sauce, you know, the tatste of the BBQ depends on. Other dishes kind of all the same to me around there. Yuk-Hwe (raw beef sashimi) here is pretty good as well.
Other than that, recently I found the side dishes department got a bit less generous.
I've been to Won Jo a few times over the years and have left stuffed and happy every time. The non-meat dishes are not very impressive - ddukbokki lacks flavor, naeng-myuns are sub-par - but the meat is great. The $25 combo may not be AYCE but it's just about all I can. There's plenty of galbi, tongue, samgyupsal, chadulbaegi, along with an assortment of mushrooms. Add never-ending kimchi, ddukbossam, and lettuce, with daenjang and garlic and plenty of other banchan and you have quite the spread.
I've found the service to be consistently good as well. The upstairs of Won Jo holds the barbecue area, and it's all do-it-yourself charcoal grills, but the wait staff comes by often to make sure you're not burning your meat. They're also fast with the refills on both water and kimchi, and generally friendly, whether or not I've had Koreans or non-Koreans in tow.
I'm aware that there are other Korean barbecue joints on 32nd that I have yet to try, but Won Jo is not half bad. Sure, the ddukbokki was a little tragic, but go for the straight meat and you'll do alright.
I suggest sitting upstairs & ordering from the Korean BBQ section of the menu. They'll cook right in front of you!
Their ox-tongue (yes, sounds gross but tastes pretty good) & sirloin steak were good.
The waiter placed an assortment of appetizers that were untouched, though.
The food here is ok, but a little overpriced for the quality of food you will get.
The Kalbi was average, the pajun tasted like the ordinary pajun you can get at any Korean restaurant.
I probablly won't come back here unless someone is willing to pay for my meal.
After a few cocktails we decided it was time to hit K-town. As we walked west on 32nd we decided aloud "Kunjip? Nah. Shilla? Kum Gung San? Oh let's go to WonJo it's right here."
Tonight it was just OK. The kalbi was best but a bit overpriced for the size of the dish. We also ordered the seafood pancake which was OK, veggie soon doo boo which was OK, and a non-adventurous friend got the #2 (which turned out to be bimbibap). I bet it was OK. The little dishes at the start? They were OK too.
$80 for the three of us, an OK price for an OK meal.
Food was pretty good but I had a simple bibim bap, but excellent service. We had children with us and they were very understanding as the children spilled soup and made a huge mess.
This place is SO expensive! My friend & I spent over $100 here in one eating & we were just mildly satisfied. The BBQ is good, but very small in portion, especially for the price!
FOOD - My friend & I had both the kalbi & bulgogi. The japchae is actually pretty good. The kimchi pancake was ok, but I've had better.
SERVICE - Water-refilling was awful, which is a special travesty in a spicy food restaurant. The hot & spicy side dishes as well as some of my main course dishes made me in desperate need of water but I gulped down my glass & kept waiting for ages to finally get a refill...and only after I waved at a few waiters for more water.
My craving for Korean BBQ was satisfied, even if my wallet was not. I hope I find cheaper Korean elsewhere or I'll have to do without.
This is another Korean restaurant you should avoid even if you are famished and don't want to wait (there! this again, if there are 30+ people waiting for a table at Keun-Jip and none at Won Jo, that should tell you something).
Yeah yeah yeah, I am a moron not following my own advice. Yes, we went here because we were starving and didn't want to wait for a table at Keun-Jip. And what a mistake.
Both mool-naeng-myun and bibim-naeng-myun proved my theory. Never go to a place where there are nobody waiting or reservation is readily available.
I don't know for who or why I have been saving my Korean BBQ virginity. It just kind of crept up on me, I woke up one day and realized I was 37 year old KBBQ virgin...AACK! How could this happen? I'm hip, I hang out with all the cool kids. Am I destined to be an old spinster with 47 cats? I need to get laid, er,.. I mean I need to get KBBQ and fast. So when I saw Peter K's offer to demystify the cuisine for me on the Yelp events board, I threw off my purity ring, lubed up, and jumped at the opportunity.
Flanked by experts, Peter K, Chris H, Jeff C, and the lovely Jayne (not an expert, but lovely nevertheless), I sampled all the delectable delights Won Jo placed before me. I wish I could remember the names of everything but Peter an Chris were getting me all liquored up and my brain was swimming in sweet Korean booze. I do remember however that everything was delicious. The meats were tender and flavorful and all the small plates of sauces, vegetables, and some other mystery things were wonderful as well. From what I understand, Won Jo is one of only a few KBBQ places that uses wood or charcoal as oppossed to gas in their grills. I would think that adds alot more depth to the flavor of the meats. The only complaint I would have is about the ventilation system, it was practically non existant. But the smoke thankfully was not blowing in my direction.
Overall Won Jo did not disappoint, and I will certainly head back.
Thank you Peter K for popping my cherry...wait...that didn't come out right. Thank you Peter K for taking my virginity...um...no...that sounds wrong also. Thank you Peter K for explaining Korean BBQ to me is what I think I'm trying to say.
I had a lot of firsts during my first time at Won Jo. First time in K-town. First UYE as an NYC Yelper. First time meeting Peter K. who had the daunting task of organizing the evening.
What I wasn't new to was the Korean hospitality found at K-bbq places. There were some misunderstanding with the reservation for 20. They were going to split us into several tables but then it eventually it worked out so we had two large groups. The bbq ladies understand no English so we funneled requests to the Korean speakers.
There were a few stand out banchan. The spinach in sesame oil and garlic. Wood ear. Shredded tripe with a few slivers of imitation crab served with spicy green peppers.
Onto the meats! The galbi was delicious - flavorful and juicy. We also had pork belly and I'm not a fan of grilling pork belly. It doesn't come marinated and it's tough because you have to cook it all the way through. Pork belly is a waste unless it's slow-braised to melt-in-one's-mouth perfection.
My hands, hair and clothes smelled like meat and smoke for the rest of the night. Excellent.
I am going to have to say that although my friends liked the food here, I (little to my knowledge) was dealing with a nasty bout of the stomach flu, which would incapacitate me for the next couple of days. So I took one bite of my Bokeum Bap and my esophagus shut down. The one bite was OK.
But that has nothing to do with this place...I think.
The potato starch noodles were very tasty, as was the Salmon Teriyaki (my one friend isn't very adventurous) and the Bokeum Bab was pretty good as well (per my other friend's plate and my brother's gobbling the leftovers that I kindly left for them).
I drank the miso soup, which was alright.
Why am I not giving it more stars? I've had less greasy potato starch noodles, and their electricity cut out for a couple of minutes towards the end of our service. Not a good sign. I liked that they gave us oranges at the end of our meal (something most places do), but why the hunks? And why semi-frozen? I think someone needs to check the electrical in this place.
My cousin and I were trolling 32nd St on a Friday night hungry and craving Korean food. All the places we wanted to go to had lines out the door, but Won Jo did not. So we stepped in and had some dinner there. Overall an ok place but totally forgettable.
Pros: The service is quick and efficient and they have all your standard Korean fare.
Cons: Unfortunately, there are many. The prices, as many reviewers have pointed out, are atrocious. I don't understand WHO on this planet would pay $17.50 for a Korean scallion pancake. Yes that's right, $17.50 for what is essentially chopped scallions and flour. And they also charge $15.95 for a side of jap chae. Ridiculous! You can buy those glass noodles from the Korean market for $5 and make enough noodles for 10 people.
Also, their banchan is really nothing to write home about. The kimchi was mediocre, the quiche was bland, the spinach didn't seem fresh . . . less than thrilling as you can get some very good kimchi and a mini-whole fish for your banchan at BCD Tofu House down the street. For dinner I ordered the squid bibimbap, and although they did make some attempt to give it a unique flavor, the whole dish just ended up tasting burnt and overcooked. I much prefer the calamari bibimbap at Sura in the East Village.
The only redeeming part of the meal was the soft tofu. The broth was really good -- not too thin, not too thick -- and I sort of wished I had just ordered that as my entree and skipped the bibimbap altogether.
Our bill was cheap because we weren't about ordering any of the $15 dishes. But I probably won't be back. This place was disappointing and there are so many other good places to go on 32nd St it's not worth paying a mediocre place a second visit.
Every time I've been to Won Jo there's been a service issue. I went with family and they loved the bbq. It was really good and not too badly priced. Then the waitress rushed us (while we were still eating!) and said someone was supposed to sit at our table next so if we could leave asap that'd be great. There were a lot of us and jeez, we should be able to have a meal without being hurried out!
The bbq was good enough to come back and I brought friends who hadn't tried Korean bbq. I'm not sure if it's because times are tough or I didn't pay the last time I went but their bbq orders seemed to cost more and were a lot smaller that I remembered.
When we got our bill we put our cash down and ended up putting in less tip than we intended without realizing (but still a decent amount). But the waitress had the nerve to pick up our cash, count it behind us, and then being shocked that we didn't leave +20% tip went to another employer and started talking ish about us when we were right there! My bf was eavesdropping and said she was complaining that we didn't put down enough tip. I was really turned off because our waitress was rude enough to make an issue of it in front of us. Go to Kun Jip for better Korean food and less service drama.
I think the BBQ here is pretty good but it is a bit pricey. The meat is marinated well and the portions are good. Pretty good selection of small dishes with the meal.
ok, maybe I am just used to cali prices but this place is way too expensive for the amount of meat they give you. I got the $25 per person meal combo deal, that came in a small round dish, i was there with a dinner companion so it was 2 people serving and I don't think it was hardly enough food for two people to eat for that price.
We were sitting next to another group of people who ordered different meat and they were complaining how small the portions were.
BUT, quality was good, looked pretty fresh, side dishes were ok, nothing spectacular.
I wouldn't return here again, nothing memorable for me to come back.
to the tune of michael jackson's "beat it"
MEEEAAAT it MEEEAT it, no one wants to be defeated!
i think that the group i was with made for a really amazing night.
peter/pedro k. and joolie t. got a bunch of yelpers all meated (or is it meat-ed?) up and filled with soju last night.
the meat was awesome and the company was even better. i do have to say that they were a wee bit flaky on our reservation (i.e. not enough seating for our group). but...i love korean bbq. love it more with soju and that plum wine stuff.
I give this place 1 star because they serve food.
We ordered the seafood mixed stew and all it was was a salt lick!
Service---awful
Banchan---nothing special
We actually left and ate somewhere else!
Came here with my boy and GF and ordered the :
BBQ special which is: Beef Tongue, Kalbi, Fatty Pork, and Beff chunks....25pp
Raw Beef with Pear salad
Hamul Pajun (Seafood pancake)
Let's just say I was satisfied with our meal that these guys sat down next to us ordered exactly what we did b.c it looked so good and they were impressed by our food
The place has a cute ambiance but the food and the prices are horrible.
Four of us decided to get some Korean bbq and someone in the group suggested this place. When we walked in I thought the place was promising but the second I opened up the menu two thoughts came to my mind: 1) EXPENSIVE and 2) if it's so expensive I bet it's yummy. Expensive is true...yummy is not. Like another yelper mentioned it is $25 per meal per person! We ordered two types of meat for our table and when the portions came out I could have sworn they forgot half the meat. The portions were TINY. In addition, all the side dishes were basic and I think that because we were white they skimmed us on the bonchons.
Aside from skimming us on portions the food was eh. The meat could have been much much better and the bibimbop was eh. Nothing satisfied the taste buds! After a disappointing meal we ended up leaving $30 a head.
Wandered in here with high hopes since there was a line to be seated.. it was definitely busy on a Friday night. Was it good? I would say no. The service was so rushed.. if you stop to talk to your friends, they swoop by and try to take everything off your table so you will leave. And if you go for the bbq grill, watch out for your coats.. the Mexicans that work here don't really watch where they swing those hot charcoals. Rubbed it against my friend's coat .
The food.. not horrible.. but definitely not worth the money. The seafood pancake had nearly NO seafood. Why did I pay $15?! And then the food.. it was okay.. I wish there was more meat and some green onions to marinate it. The side dishes are good. Still though.. not worth the money. Blegh.
Came here with a party of 8 after a Yelp Elite event.
We didn't have to wait at all. Take note, 8:30pm on a Wednesday, not bad.
Everybody orders a dish of their liking. I was in the mood for Yook Hwe (Korean beef tartare) shredded raw beef served with shredded pears, raw egg and spicy sweet tangy sauce. One of my favorite Korean dishes. $22.95 (Ouch!), but a craving is a craving.
Other dishes ordered included Japchae, a kimchi Pajun, chicken fried rice and I forgot the rest.
Anyway, the food was good, more like average with nothing really outstanding like at Han Bat or Baden Baden (Fort Lee, NJ) or Gam Mi Oak.
I doubt I would come back here on my own choosing as there so many other good Korean restaurants around.
Other than that the decor was nice and service was good. Nothing really to complain about hence it was just "A-OK".
Pretty standard taste/price for the K-town strip. It is open really late (24 hours?). BBQ is fine. Naeng myun (both mool and bibim) was bad. Avoid.
I had some kind of bulgogi/jap chae noodle soupy thing here and it was tasty. The second floor has a nice window view over the hustle and bustle outside.
Returning back to NYC after moving to LA, our friends chose a korean bbq restaurant for our big group gathering. Which the hubby and I thought was very funny. LA is the land of korean bbqs. But we were curious to see how NYC compares -- and trying to be open-minded!
Our party of 16 were seated upstairs. The place is a half and half mix of Koreans and non Koreans. Which would never happen in LA. Where most of the room would be loud Koreans talking animatedly.
We ordered a wide variety of meats (mostly pork and beef), beers, and kimchee pajuns.
The food came out quickly. And the meats were good. Just not exceptional.
And the wait staff were fantastic. Very patient. Clearly used to drunk whities (I was the lone Korean).
Overall, a decent place for korean bbq at NYC prices. Come to LA and taste the real thing!
Though I haven't had it myself, apparently the BBQ here is pretty good. I know this, because the line for BBQ, on any given evening, is literally out the door.
The last few times i've been here, I resigned myself to the downstairs non-BBQ area. However, I don't really feel like i'm missing out too much. One of the better executed kimchi jigae's can be found at Wonjo, as well as an excellently prepared grilled mackerel. The banchan, relatively speaking, is better than a lot of the other dining destinations along 32nd st, which helps differentiate it from the other standard options.
Other people have noted that the prices are higher than some of the other restaurants, which I definitely agree with. The service in most Korean restaurants, while not as bad as Chinatown, is usually pretty impersonal. At Wonjo, it's nearly non-existant.
However, Wonjo delivers where it counts, the food.
My first experience at Korean BBQ - you can only imagine how excited I was that day! So my 2 friends and I venture upstairs where the intensity of the charcoal grills makes your mouth water... by the way, each table has it's own grill in the middle of the table! How fun!
We ordered the Kalbi, Bulgogi and Fried Rice to share - To top that off, the server must have brought 10 different Kim Chee with the meal! Just know - that these vary daily and some have very strong/robust flavors - definitely a hit or miss! At first, I was not convinced it would not be enough food for 3 - but to my surprise, we were all full at the end!
They brought out the grill out and placed it in the middle of the table - yes, the embers flying about made me little nervous! Your food is grilled to YOUR liking ...aka perfection! The meats were marinated well and had a sweet/charred flavor - wrap your grilled goodies in the crispy lettuce leaf, add a little bit of the white radish, kim chee of YOUR choice and a little bit of the sweet peanut sauce - YUM YUM YUM!
The service was so-so, the server took time to bring us water/soda, take our order, and even get the grill going! The place was packed and my friends and I were having such a good time, it didn't really bother us so much. The price turned out to be about $24 per person - a little pricey since we didn't order drinks...
Overall - the food was good and it's definitely a FUN experience for a group of friends where you can sample and share lots of different dishes!
Not bad, not bad at all. The prices are little pricey, but nothing you don't expect from a quality Korean restaurant. The bulgogee was exceptional, and the seafood pancake was EXCELLENT. The only problem I had was with the side dishes... you get more and wider selection at other restaurants for sure. We also got the sides to the pancake at the same time, and we really weren't sure what they were for. We started eating them before we got the pancake.
As good as the food is, I give this restaurant 3 stars because of the service. One of the older Korean men with a shirt and tie seemed to be annoyed at our table (none of us were Korean) because we asked too many questions asking opinions and differences. They shorted us one bowl of steamed rice and we never received in until we asked the latino bus boy. In addition, the same Korean gentlemen rolled his eyes and and made looks of annoyance whenever we asked for something. Somewhat made us mad.
I'd recommend this place... if you're not in a big group. I'll try it again later.
I only started taking eating, drinking, and Yelp seriously in 2009, and therefore never bothered to remember the names on any of the (to my unKorean eyes - that's right: they're double-lidded) identical, character-etched awnings on 32nd Street. I came to Won Jo the other night, and, Holy Rhianna - this place is pricey. I'm not really sure why - because raw meat is pretty indistinguishable from other raw meats. But three plates of BBQ and two starch appetizers came out to a jaw-dropping $38 a head. I was so pissed off, I didn't even feel like Pinkberry afterwards.
The Good:
+ The use of wood charcoals brings out the flavor of the meat and is superior to gas and electric grills
+ Service was efficient.
The Bad:
- ban chan to me seemed boring (I was hungry, but didn't touch much)
- dessert? Fruit? Well this is a problem with all Korean BBQ restaurants.
The Ugly:
-- One problem with this business is the inability to accommodate large groups. I called a few days before and made a reservation for 20. The hostess required for my whole party to be on time (she was surly too). On 2/19 I brought my group but yet we waited another 20 minutes to get seated. There was no room and they tried to cut my group up into 3 tables. Are you kidding me? We ended up waiting for one table to leave in order to be seated in two tables (to the two ladies who left so I could sit - thank you). In a nutshell my reservation for 20 wasn't kept. It reminded me of a Seinfeld episode when Jerry tries to get a car rental. http://www.youtube.com...
Won Jo knows how to take a reservation, but doesn't know how to hold one.
-- Poor ventilation. I asked the server if she could turn on the vents and she regrettably told me that they were broken. My eyes were burning throughout dinner. The best part was being sniffed on the subway like I was a piece of meat. Thanks Won Jo!
Overall, I will not return with a group bigger than 4. And if I want BBQ I will go to either Madangsui [http://www.yelp.com/bi...] or Chung Moo Ro [http://www.yelp.com/bi...].
IFHTP 3+
JIGGAE WHAT? JIGGAE WHO? Pee-tah K hosted a UYE (Unofficial Yelp Event) here yesterday. We had roughly 20 peeps raid the joint. This was a nice change of pace, as for once I wasn't doing the dinner hosting. I'll start off by saying that I'm not crazy about the pan chan here. The cubed daikon was decent. The wannabe kurobuta wasn't bad but was lacking marbling on the meat as all I saw were alternating layers of meat and fat. The kalbi was of average caliber, nothing special. I've also had the Yook Hwe here and this is one of the better places that makes it good. Many were raving about the Bohae Bokbunjaoo Black Raspberry Wine, which I've had elsewhere. It's a girly drink, much to the likes of a Belgian Lambic a la Framboise, sans the fizz. They also sell soju but didn't have any makkuli. The kimchee jiggae is its saving grace and what gives me any desire to return. That broth is spectacular. WARNING: YOUR CLOTHES WILL REEK OF BBQ.
Bohae Bokbunjaoo Wine : http://detail.en.china...
P.S. The Pajun here is wilty at best. Derrick D. is an ignoramus on crack for saying it's the best seafood pancake. Clearly he hasn't been to Han Bat, where it's dry and crispy. Get your taste buds checked or eat out more, SON!.
Total came out to $60/pp after everything (7 buta, 6 kalbi, lots meat and drinks - would normally be ~$30/pp w/o drinks, $40/pp w/ drinks)
Pics: http://www.yelp.com/ev...
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Korean
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Korean
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Korean
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Korean
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Category: Korean
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