MADANGSUI

Upon walking in with my friends, we were quickly discriminated by the staff at Madangsui. We’re in college, but I guess our child-​like faces made us seem «not serious enough to dine here»…we saw other diners already seated and eating (all of them were in their 30’s — 60’s). These customers were seated against the nice booths, along the side of the restaurant, while my friends and I were seated in the middle of nowhere (literally speaking… there were ample space where the others were seated, but they just sat us here because they thought we’d order from the lunch special, since we’re kids, and we couldn’t afford it, you know?). And, I’m not joking, one of the waitresses asked my friends and I if we wanted to order from the lunch special…
We did not order from the lunch special, thank you very much! Instead, we ordered Korean BBQ (most of the older customers seated in the nice booths didn’t even do Korean BBQ, THEY ordered from the lunch special… this just shows… please don’t judge a book by it’s cover, because you’ll look like a sore loser at the end… and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with ordering lunch specials).
Let’s get to the food, shall we? We had the seafood combo for three (since there were three of us). SEAFOOD & MEAT COMBO For 3 /​costs $ 64.99 and includes: Shrimp, Scallop, Bulgogi, Chicken, Vegetables & Mushrooms. Don’t get too excited… this was more like a meal for two or one person with a good appetite. You don’t get to cook the food yourself, you have a server to do that for you. I appreciated that they changed the bbq plate, since it got black towards the end. Our server (an older woman) overcooked all of the meat and seafood, so much of the food got stuck onto the plate and our scallops tasted extra hard to chew.
We also ordered TOPOKKI for $ 10.99 (Spicy rice cake). This was a large appetizer and worth it’s full price. I’m not a fan of rice cake, but they also added thin tofu fish skin (my favorite) in this dish and cabbage, which made the appetizer really good to eat.
The banchan (various pickled dishes) here were mediocre… there were a lot of onion sides and all of them were veggies.
Drinks are refilled every so often.
Interior of the restaurant is dark and spacious (great for groups).
Your bill is accompanied along with mini complimentary sour yogurt energy drinks (those little drinks that you see little Asian kids at the supermarket drink). I thought this was nice.
I think I’m being gracious with three stars, but I’ll leave it like so.

I’m not sure if the quality of the food here has taken a turn for the worse, or I was simply less experienced with Korean food when I visited here 5 years ago. In any case, I returned after a long hiatus with fond memories and a serious craving for soft tofu soup. Their banchan was standard fare, but nothing to complain about. However, when I ordered beef soft tofu soup, I was brought vegetarian kimchi tofu soup. It arrived at the table hot, but not at all the live bubbling stone pot that I’m used to. I cracked an egg inside it, and it didn’t even cook all the way through by the end of the meal. Very disappointing.
We ordered marinated pork as well. Very tasty, but a very small portion for the price tag.
Skip this place: there are far better restaurants in K-​town.

Was hoping this place would be good. Went there with a large group Saturday night. No one was blown away and I was disappointed. I ordered the bulgogi, kalbi (short ribs) and the pork belly. It might just be my preference but I like my pork belly thinner so that it has a bit of a crisp, it had good taste though. The kalbi was rubber. I was SO disappointed because I LOVE kalbi. I have been to a few Korean BBQ places and this was just awful. I’m used to melt in your mouth tasty kalbi. Embarrassed telling my first timers that I loved this dish! They must think I have no idea what good meat is. The bulgogi was the best of the 3. Nothing to rave about but it was the best of the worst.
Also, when it came time to pay… we had several people included in counting the money. When they walked off with it to the register all of a sudden 20 bucks was missing… we ended up just giving it to them because we weren’t going to argue but it was extremely suspicious. I don’t get how 6 people in our group would have missed 20 bucks…

Came here with a bunch of friends on a Friday night. It’s difficult to find places in the city to book a resie, especially in ktown, especially when your party is 15. However, looking on opentable, I found this restaurant and they willingly took us in an extremely short period of time, maybe an hour.
No crazy high praises for this place, other than solid service, good food, good ambiance and reservation. Everything was fine, the wait staff were patient with us and everything came in a timely manner. Quality of food is what is expected — again nothing blew me out of the water. I ordered the jae yook bokeum — very good. Pork was cooked well, kimchi and tofu all good.
This review, probably one of my general ones, is here primarily to show this is a great place that you should try out, and that reservations are taken even on busy nights. If you’re looking for a very solid place in ktown, and want the assurance of a resie, come here.

I was there with my coworker on ¼/​16. The food was horrible. I ordered Galbi lunch box and the beef was not cook right. I tasted the blood. The dumplings were dry. My coworker had spicy beef and it was not good. We complained and we got a 10% off for next meal. Really? We said thank you but we are not coming back.
Highly disappointed. I was a on going customer and the food turned me off so badly.

Came here for Xmas dinner with my family, total 9 ppl, it was somewhat a last minute choice because the other Korean BBQ place near the area didn’t even want to entertain a party of 9…
Anyhow, we were early and seated right away. We ordered some meat platters, tongue and dry aged ribeye. I must say the dry aged ribeye was the best pick for the night. The bulgogi and galbi were delicious but that ribeye (even though not enough to share among 9 ppl but it had great flavors!) The only things we dislike for the evening were as follows:
1. the waitress cooked for us and almost to the point of rushing. We hate to be rushed when it comes to BBQ… I had to ask her to stop and let us finish the first platter before cooking the next, but guess what, she didn’t really listen. I never felt so rushed eating dinner at a restaurant before. And we always prefer to cook ourselves and that’s the whole fun part.
2. One of the burners wasn’t working right.
3. The place is somewhat dirty, especially the bathroom. Soaking wet floors, and no TP
4. Seafood pancake had so little seafood.
Will not go back personally since there are other good Korean BBQs in the area to choose from.

Most awful sushi but the hot pot is so-​so. Don’t eat here if you are craving Korean. There has to be a better one in town.

Our group of 4 got the meat for 3… and it was super filling! Loved all the meats, as well as getting loads of side dishes, hot soup and the steamed egg (yum)! We also got some mul neng myung which was pretty standard (I like Don’s Boggam for mul neng myung better).
Service was friendly and we got a table right away on a Tuesday night! It’s pricey here, so I’d rather go to Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, though this place didn’t have a wait!

This place is a lot of fun. I am glad we came. It is one of the few places that take reservations for Korean BBQ in the area.
The selection of kimchi and accoutrements were expansive. Most of which were relatively bland, but satisfying. The egg custard and tofu soup were very good.
The pork belly showed up and I began to question this choice. You get two slabs of pork belly for what you would pay for 3 pounds of bacon. However, I took back what I was thinking upon trying it. She snipped away and made bite sized pieces and man, they melted in your mouth. Delicious. The fat was flavorful and accentuated the meaty part. Great fat to meat ratio.
The marinated short ribs stole the show. The sweet aroma coming off the bbq stuck to your clothes and I am glad it did. The sweet and lightly tangy marinated permeated the meat. The short ribs must have been marinating for days. Tender, flavorful, and meaty. Generous serving of this.
As for the last mound of steak we received, I think it was the ribeye, it was less than exciting. Good quality beef, mild flavor, cooked through, it was just ok.
Great times had by all.

I have only eaten at one restaurant in Korea town, and I have been there twice (albeit out of pure coincidence). And that restaurant is Madangsui. I was not disappointed either time. The first, we had typical bbq fare, one of the platter selections fpr 3 ppl. With the amount of kimchi they give you, it is more than enough to fill you up. The meal ran about $ 30 per person: quite pricey!
The second time was more a la cart/​family style where we shared some pancakes, tofu/​seafood soup, and jabchae noodle dish. We were not filled up so we ordered a second pancake. I preferred the mushroom one over the kimchi one. This time it cost about $ 20 per person. Not bad.
As a side note, one friend is vegetarian and as such we did not order much meat, so as to be able to share most of the dishes. And this was totally reasonable and not lacking in taste! I’d go here again knowing the food is consistently good, but also with the knowledge that there may be something better out there– just have to find the courage to try it!

I had dinner on a Sunday night and it was nearly empty. The service was very attentive and the food was fresh and tasty. I had N-​1: Yang Nyum Galbi and it was very good. I would recommend Madangsui to friends.

We were tired, hungry, and craving BBQ. Of course, this means one travels to West 32^nd Street. Our chosen restaurant was Madangsui which is technically on 35^th street. I had only explored that one street historically.
The dwaejibulgogi and bulgogi were solid; though, the former could have been spicier. Our waitress was very hands on when it came to the grilling. Here’s what distinguishes Korean food in NYC or San Francisco. The kimchi was abundant, fresh, and spicy. I almost cried. My local H Mart kimchi (from Central Square in Boston) is often too bland and/​or outdated.
Madangsui’s kimchi was such a treat. I would pay to eat kimchi in NYC at venues like this one. This is not hyperbole. O. o

I got take out lunch from here and it was amazing! I can’t speak towards the table side service, but from a food perspective it hit all the spots. The size of the portions from the lunch menu were huge, and was very to happy to get an entrée, salad, soup, dumplings, and sushi with my meal.
The food tasted great. I had the beef bulgogi and the flavored were very good. Just enough sweetness and saltiness to get me through the day.

Another average Korean spot in Manhattan. We came for lunch and ordered the dolsot bibimbap and a spicy tofu soup. One way I judge the quality of a Korean restaurant is by its kimchi, and Madangsui’s was bland. Notably, this is the only place I’ve been to so far that gives you a whole grilled mackerel as part of its banchan. The dolsot bibimbap was below par — aka no crispy rice formed at the bottom of the stone bowl. The gochujang served on the side was too mild. Likewise for the spicy tofu soup (and no, BCD is not the place go for this dish either.) For Korean food, Cho Dang Gol next door is a higher quality option.

Just awful. Everything from the food, service to the cleanness of this place was just bad. I used to like this place many years ago. But even the last time I was here (in 2012), I was not impressed with the food. They have really gone downhill.
We came here with a large party of 9 to celebrate two of our birthdays. It was not even busy when we were there. It was a Sunday afternoon. The staffs there were more focus on eating and chatting themselves than tending to us. And they just seems clueless like they didn’t know what they were doing
First of all, we ordered a grapefruit soju but waited a long time and even after the food came out, there was still no sign of our soju. When we asked the waitress what happened, she asked us, «are you sure you ordered it?» Are we sure? Yes we are! And she proceeded to ask «who took your order?» We told her we didn’t remember but she insisted on finding out who took our order. Did it really matter at that point? She should have just took care of the matter.
The side dishes were very limited and the taste was not great and you can tell they weren’t very fresh
We ordered four of the beef and seafood barbecue combo. The food took forever to come. And keep in mind there were only 2 tables at that time. And this is a traditional Korean restaurant and for barbecue you are suppose to get a side of garlic and the soybean sauce and the lettuce wraps. They gave us none of that. We asked for it 3 times and waited 20 minutes before it was given. By that time we had already finished most of our barbecue.
The meat was dry, bland and flavorless. And the meat was very low quality and the seafood was not fresh at all. And the portion was tiny given how expensive it was. And where was the side of steam eggs in the pot that all Korean restaurants give you with your barbecue combo? We got none of that.
There weren’t enough food so we ended up ordering a seafood pancake on the side. And their seafood pancake took over 30 mins to come. And while it tasted OK, it was tiny! The smallest seafood pancake I’ve ever been served.
And when we asked for our ban chan, side dishes, to be refilled, we had to keep on reminding them, Cuz they just weren’t bringing them out.
Our water glasses were also empty more than half of the time and had to flag down the waiters more than once to get them refilled.
The place also smelled funky and seemed dirty and greasy
Overall, just awful. Terrible service, terrible food and overpriced. Seriously regretted that I celebrated my birthday here. Our friends were very unhappy with the service and food we got. The only ones that liked the food in our group were a couple of our white friends who had never had Korean barbecue before. I suspect the other good reviews of this place were also written by non-​koreans
I’ll never return here again and I suggest you don’t either. Go to KangHoDong or Dons Bogam for barbecue instead

The key here is the RIB EYE and the SPICY PORK BBQ. It’s totally worth the $$$! This place doesn’t seem like much but the BBQ is super solid. My friends and I were here for dinner on a Friday night and surprisingly ordered FOUR different types of meats in addition to a Spicy SEAFOOD SOUP. The soup was little overkill considering that BBQ already included the egg soufflé and a side tofu soup. But you know what, we ended up finishing everything anyways!
What I don’t love about them is that their banchan (side dishes) are compiled of mostly pickled and fermented veggies, nothing is entirely fresh. Their basket of lettuce with the BBQ wasn’t too fresh either.

I simply love Korean BBQ and this is the best restaurant for Kalbi!
I went on a Friday night for dinner with some friends and ordered the Kalbi (boneless ribs), haemool Pajeon (seafood and scallions pancake), Japchae (stir fired noodles)!
Everything great, they have option for white or bean rice and also KeranJim (omelette korean style) that comes in a hot pan, still boiling. Tha variety of banchan is very good, I love their Kimchee also!
Service was good, not great though!

I’ll be honest, I don’t have much experience with Korean BBQ to draw a comparison. All I will say is that for the price I paid, I felt ripped off. The meat was good but not great and the sides were small and tasted like something I find in a supermarket for way less the price. What probably made the experience worse for me was that I went with 2 other people had to pay for them. So imagine paying over 150 dollars for subpar food.
The good news is that the staff is really nice. They’re very accommodating and made sure we were comfortable throughout our whole experience… but it still was way too expensive for me and not that satisfying.

E-​Scale: ⁹⁄₁₀
This is my Ktown staple because I believe they have the best little appetizer plates. Their bbq is a bit pricey but I don’t usually order that. I get the bibimbap and the seafood noodle soup. But seriously, nothing gets dinner started off like those appetizer plates.

Madangsui is well kept and clean. The staff is very nice and quick to assist. The menu offers just about everything any other Korean BBQ restaurant would in the area. They give you banchan with any entrée order and will refill them if you ask.
The place is pretty well kept and there’s never been a wait for a table when I’ve went. The quality of their meat is definitely not as good as other restaurants I’ve been to, but they still charge a high price for it.
If my usual spots in the area are closed then I’ll come here, but I never crave Madangsui or think of making this my first stop.
Maybe if they either upgrade their meat or lower their price I’d consider coming back more often.