NY Kom Tang Soot Bul Kalbi

WARNING: CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS
I was very disappointed to hear that NY Kom Tang Soot Bul Kalbi was closed for renovations when I tried to make a reservation for this evening! I will wait for the best Korean BBQ spot to re-​open with bated breath :)

I tried the bulbogogi there and let me tell you, it was one of the most fascinating experiences I had in a korean restaurant. The side dishes are exceptional and they are perfectly balanced in flavor. My waitress was super nice and there is a rule here that if two people come in, they have to make two orders (no sharing). At the time, we weren’t prepared to pay two payments of BBQ, around $ 25 each. So we told her we would come back another time but she sat us down and got permission from her manager. So we ended up sharing and the waitress was super smiley saying how this was special service. Great experience!

I came here twice and I’m quite pleased with the food. I adore their appetizers especially their fish and tiny fried fishes as well. The reason why I love korean food so much is because I’m a die hard tofu fan and spicy-​food! I must say, their seafood tofu stew is the best I’ve had on the block– or so called Ktown. Their stew is somewhat spicy and a touch of sweetness with a generous amount of squid and shrimp. The only thing I didnt like about the stew is that there’s no egg in it and the tofu is overly soft, to a point where they all crumple. I’m use to tofu served in wholes or cut up of a few pieces. But here, looks like they took their spoon and mixed everything up and the tofu looks more mashed than ever. I guess every restaurant has their own «specialties».
However, the reason why I did not give it four stars is because one of the waitress is very rude. I didnt get her name, but there was a group of tourist from a foreign country eating there and they’re not familiar with «tipping». After they paid their portion, they get up and gradually start to leave, the waitress ran over and started yelling at them and demanding $ 5 tips. Ofcourse, the waitress is entitled to her tips but the customers didnt even speak english, I had to step in and translate Chinese to them that «tipping is necessary in America.» They thanked me for being polite, threw down a five and walked out. All that shouting from the waitress and shaking her head was completely unnecessary.
NOW when my boyfriend asked for the check, that same lady handed over the bill and stood in front of my boyfriend; locked her eye on his money and made sure he gave her tips! WOW! I’ve never seen anyone do that! My boyfriend, being a good tipper, slapped a smile on her face when she saw the tips. Before we even got up to leave, she snatched the bill as if we’re about to change our mind and take back the tips. Luckily, the second time I came back, I was assisted by a different waitress who spoke beautiful english was very, very polite. I ordered a stew that cooks on «hotpot»? I’m not sure what it’s called. Although I am happy with my meal, I can smell the gas burning/​coal as I ate whatever that was in the pot. The gas smell was overwhelming that I had to shut it off. Which defeats the whole purpose of getting a boiling stew hot pot. The stew itself is very plain. Much different than the classic soondubu tofu stew.

I’ve only ever had modern Korean fare or Korean «fusion» food, so this place was a little intimidating for me. I wasn’t sure what the process was for ordering or eating, haha. But we managed to order an appetizer and then split the bulgogi (which was hella pricey!). You get a ton of little bowls of appetizers. We only had two people so they didn’t use the table grill, but we saw other people doing that and it looks cool. The waiters were pretty nice, although the language barrier can be tough. The food, however, was very good and I was excited to try new things!

Food is actually not bad but the service… We had over 20 people so they gave us the room in the back. half of us had charcoal grill and the other half regular items. i was sitting in front of the grill so i was feeling hot and the smoke was bothering me (seems the ventilation was either not working or not strong enough). the waiter assigned to our room kept coming in to try to take our orders when there were like only a few of us there (like I said, our party was 20+ people). the panchans were few for so many of us.
our table was splitted, literally, in half (bbq and non-​bbq). the waiter delivered the food to the wrong «side». he was so busy running around it was so hard to get his attention to find out if the dish he delivered to the other side was ours or theirs. for the bbq, he just flipped the first dish of meat onto the grill and left the room. the meat was in a heap and was not spread out (for cooking). i waited and he did not return for a while so I ended up «cooking» the meat. my friends say «isn’t he (the waiter) suppose to cook the meat?» i said «yes but he has not come back and i don’t want the meat to burn (bottom of heap) or not cook (top of heap). and I am hungry!»
Overall, I think they were overwhelmed by so many of us, in a small room, with so many different orders going on.
Pro — they did not add any automatic tip onto the invoice which surprised me in NY and with our large group. we still gave them a good tip.
Con — had better service elsewhere.

these four stars are for my previous experiences. located close to my office, kom tang had been a place for comfort food.
but last time i went, the soups tasted awfully wrong… my chicken soup was like water and my friend’s tofu stew didnt come with an egg like they always do. a waiter came and offered to re-​boil them. they did taste a little better but were still not as enjoyable. –_​–
also they will make sure you tip as least 15%. im ok with it but it feels a little weird to have them coming back asking you to put a few more cents to make it 15%…

As mentioned in previous reviews, charcoal grill rather than electric. Decent tasting dishes. I am all about the banchan and this place lacks that. I went on a Friday night and I suppose with all that beef flipping every 30 seconds at other tables, our table was not properly served.
I feel indifferent about the place so I’m not sure whether to recommend it or not.

I’ve always considered any language barrier when ordering food to be somewhat charming. But that was not the case here, because the language barrier involved more than two of the servers, and more than one item on the menu.
Nevertheless, the main reason why we came here was because I wanted to grill my food on charcoal, not gas, and not electric. They allowed us to grill the beef on the charcoal grill, but not the pork belly. I figured they didn’t want the fat from the pork belly to create too much smoke, since the ventilation system was lacking.
Overall, the meat portions were really, really tiny. I suppose this is fine for NYC, but if you’re used to LA Korean BBQ, you will be greatly disappointed. Also, the banchan was lacking in variety and not particularly good.
No need to come here, folks.

This place has recently gone way downhill. I’m very sad. I’ve been coming here for years and I’ve argued endlessly about its merits vs. the fancier and more expensive soot bul place across the street. But sadly, I must admit defeat. The place across the street is now that much better.
Which is not to say it’s horrible here: just the side dishes are lackluster and if you’re caught sitting downstairs (which can happen on a Saturday night when they’re winding down; unusually they’re closed Sundays now,) you’re faced with small grills that don’t really ever get that hot and little to no ventilation.

It hurts my heart a little to write this review but it must be done. I have been coming here for years. Usually after a long day of running around the city or a frustrating shopping excursion or as a treat for a good exam grade, my parents would bring me here. So I have a lot of fond memories. But sadly this place isn’t what it used to be. Sure, there is the same barbecue set out on a grill at your table. But I feel like over the years they’ve been cutting back on the portions and the service has just been getting worse and worse. I don’t know if it was a safety issue but on our most recent visit, the server put a slab of meat down and then walked away to argue with his coworker, taking the scissors and the tongs. I had to call him back because the meat was in danger of burning and we were just about to take it off the grill ourselves with our chopsticks.
I still love the little hors d’oeuvres or tapas or appetizers (whatever you want to call them) that are served before the meal. There’s something I like about pecking at the mung bean sprouts, pickled radish and carrot shavings, and odd mix of apples, egg, potatoes, and vegetables. But it’s really nothing you can’t do yourself (or buy at the Korean market across the street).
Though the barbecue is really the selling point of this place, we do occasionally branch out. One time I got the eel which was pretty standard. On our most recent visit, we ordered the octopus bibimbap and some kind of noodle soup. The bibimbap was actually something I could have made at home. It was the equivalent of rice with ketchup. The soup was bland beyond belief. I added soy sauce to it and still couldn’t taste anything with the added salt.
If you are really craving Korean barbecue, I still love it enough to recommend it but don’t try ordering anything else and be prepared for awful service. Sadly, I think I’m going to need to find a new favorite place.

M friends picked this place for last night’s get together. They only have a few ceiling fans so when people are the BBQ-​ing the whole room is in smoke. Service was bad, we asked for hot saki three times, but they seemed not to understand it or they just didnt want to listen. We also asked for small bowls for the soups, and they brought us plates! Most restaurant would refill your tea cups when its almost done but in this restaurant, you have to keep asking them to refill it for you. Overall, this place is bad, I’d never go back again!

The overall lunch for four was good, but lacked the charisma that I am accustomed to.
We ate downstairs which does not have ventilation hoods and there is no cooking at the table. My friends said that this was because there is too much smoke upstairs. I’m sure they’re right, but barbecue without table cooking just sucks. This sucked a little less than usual. But of course they all had non barbecue.
It sucks to be the odd man out.
The kim chi was really fresh with some slightly new ideas. The bok choy in vinegar was light and fresh. The kim chi was mild and the cooked chicken was killer.
Two of my companions had the spicey beef soup and they liked it. One had a beef stew and he liked it.
Eat upstairs, and have real food in a real smokey place.
I will

My Korean coworker highly recommended this place because they are one of the few that still uses real charcoal BBQ grill other than electric. Therefore, the BBQ dish will smell and taste better. We came here and it was rather empty compared to other Korean restaurants in the area. That was perfect because I really dread waiting in line when I am hungry!
So we headed to the second floor where they serve you BBQ. I guess they want to keep all the smoke contained on the 2^nd floor and keep 1^st floor as smoke-​free as possible. We ordered the high-​end kalbi beef and some bulgolgi to share among 3. That was actually quite enough. The meat was fresh although they look frozen to me? There was not a lot of seasoning either. Therefore, although it is high quality and they use charcoal, the taste come out to be about the same, if not less tasty.
We also tried their fried dumplings and those are crispy and meaty. The free side dishes are alright. They are not as delicate as BCD or Cho Dang Gol though. I think Wonjo across the street is actually better.

I haven’t written a review in a long time now, but I felt the need to come out of this hiatus just to inform Unilocal what a bad restaurant this was.
In an environment where there are literally 15 other competitors within a stone’s throw (thanks Korea Way!), you would expect NYC Korean restaurants to really be on top of their game. Kom Tang was waaaaaaay off of theirs. Like, it got dropkicked to the bottom of the list.
— We asked for tea. Never got it.
— Water wasn’t replenished until we asked (as well as lettuce and kalbi sauce), and the waiter looked very annoyed.
— Kalbi was very disappointing, mediocre at best. Needed at least two more layers of marinade and a couple solid hours of marination. For $ 27 a tiny ass serving, I expect my meat done justice.
— We were given the wrong check, and when we pointed it out, we didn’t get so much as a «sorry,» or, in that fact, even a «thank you» when I begged them to take my money so we could gtfo.
— THE BIGGIE: I left $ 5 for a $ 55 bill, which was better than what I thought the service deserved. The lady who came to collect the receipt stared at it and snappishly explained that there was a mandatory 15% tip minimum, told me I had to tip at least $ 10 (which is 20%, way to math), and to «please be considerate.» I kind of just left.
Avoid this place at all costs. Pick one of the other wonderful restaurants Koreatown has to offer.

Went to this place about three times now; twice I had the sullungtang (beef bone broth) and once I had the ban-​gyetang (half chicken soup). The food was good but the service is just TERRIBLE.
The first time, I went and half way into our meal, the waitress started to take away the banchan dishes. This left me SO confused because we were in the middle of eating our meal. I decided not to say anything because maybe she was bringing us more, but when I saw that she was stacking the banchan dishes on top of each other (with some banchan still left in them), I told her that we were still eating and wondered why she was taking them. She said she was bringing us more and so I assumed that she would bring them out in new plates since she stacked them on top of each other (food overlapping). I was wrong. She brought them out on the same plates, which I knew because some has red kkakdoogi soups on them.
The second time, I don’t think there was anything extremely bad though service was mediocre that time too.
Today, I went for the third time for lunch and my friend ordered the bento box. The food was very mediocre. The service was mediocre. The end of the meal was what threw us off because my friend wanted her leftovers to be packed but without even giving us a chance to ask, the waitress dropped the check on our table and left. When I called out for her, she just continued to walk away and answered me without even turning around. Then, by the time we were paying, we had like three servers coming at us at once and we weren’t even done splitting the bill so it got confusing. We were so turned off by the end that we didn’t leave much tip. The lady comes by to me as we were getting ready to leave to tell us that «you have to give us at least 15% tip». Well, I get to choose how much tip I leave and no, I do not want to leave you 15%.
Not going back.
Oh, I give it two stars because the sullungtang is actually pretty good for the price (super affordable compared to gam-​mi-​oak)

I don’t think my head was on straight when we settled on this place for dinner (it was a long week). We were slightly confused in Koreatown because many of the restaurants were on different floors. We walked into this place without realizing it was not the one we were looking for. We were hungry and didn’t feel like walking anywhere else. The sign outside said it was open 24 hours but this place really closes at 10pm.
We ordered dumplings, kalbi, and a cut of beef. The kalbi is rewrapped (the bones have been separated from the meat) and they grill the meats on a hot charcoal fire. This is different than most Korean BBQ places because use a real fire pit to cook your food. They do all the cooking for you and will slice up the meat when cooked. Just like any other Korean restaurant, the side dishes are pretty typical and I enjoyed their fishcake very much. They have a garlic based dipping sauce that is very salty so be forewarned before flavoring your meats. Other than that, the food here is pretty mediocre and isn’t worth writing home about. I wasn’t really completely full after eating here, despite the fact that we ate a bowl of rice and several side dishes. I expected more food because their portions were really small for the price.
I guess I had higher expectations here but was slightly let down. The breakdown for my rating was 2.5 stars plus .5 for the charcoal grill, totaling an overall 3 star experience. Try another place in the area instead unless you really have your mind set to eat here.

So my friends and I planned to have some Korean bbq and ended up picking this place. We had the Course A — which included pork belly, shrimps, beef, kalbi, and a choice of dumplings or seafood pancakes. We got the pancakes! :D yummy
Anyways, the food was great! It was for four so it was deff enough for all of us to eat including the side dishes. We had a big table and our table was really full and packed (in a good way) I liked that we didn’t have to grill the food ourselves, not that I can’t do it myself but so that we can enjoy our food. The woman that grilled our foods was nice and friendly. She talked to us once in awhile as well .
I liked the korean pancakes, the ones here are really good! All the food was great and I would surely come again. When I went it wasn’t packed it was fairly empty but after a few hours people started to come in.
On the side note: We were seated by the window, we didn’t ask or anything but it was nice: D that they gave us those seats. Even tho there wasn’t much people they gave us those seats, I don’t know I thought It was nice of them to do.

Typical Korean BBQ place in K-​town, with the exception that its in the minority of places that still does BBQ with charcoal rather than gas. Not a large space, but spans two narrow levels. On a bustling Friday night, we lucked out on a table for 6 upstairs near the windows overlooking 32^nd Street. Service fast and efficient; they sometimes helped with the BBQ but not consistently; I prefer to do it myself personally. Atmosphere bright and lively.
We got fairly straightforward fare, including three types of BBQ (kalbi, pork, and shrimp), seafood pancake, tofu egg stew, and buckwheat noodles afterwards to cleanse the palate. Ban chan plentiful, selections typical (i.e., kim chee, potato apple salad, pickled radish, broccoli, seaweed, marinated raw crab).
Generally speaking, this BBQ place doesn’t stand out much from most places in K-​town; its solidly average, which isn’t a bad thing. Mostly, its because I’ve had much better kalbi elsewhere; here the meat was not as meaty, succulent, or as tender, nor as flavorful. The charcoal, surprisingly, also didn’t impart much flavor. So while I would return if I needed a BBQ place to go in this area, I’d try another place if I could.

One of the emptier restaurants in Ktown, so we came in because it was cold and we didn’t want to wait!
Got an order of beef which was a small plate, and the hot kalbi tang soup. Both were whatever-​I also got a tofu soup but they forgot, and then they gave me the wrong kind. I just canceled it and ate at BCD after, since my name was waitlisted for 50 minutes, anyways!
They were friendly and really apologetic, and them forgetting the tofu turned out to be a good thing.

The only spot in Ktown that still provides actual charcoal for bbq-​ing.
To be honest, the only reason I gave this place a chance was because during lunch, I noticed that had all these crazy deals/​combos: personal bbq meat serving + soup/​stew for like $ 17 from 3PM-​10PM. That’s a steal. Can’t say I’ve had this but the other night was one of the drunken I-​need-​korean-​food-​asap-​in-​my-​mouth. And yes, I got it.
Their samgyupsal is different, I want to say it’s pork belly but instead sliced really thin. Usually you get it in thick strips ala bacon but here you get circles. I guess they encourage people to toss the pork like saucers? Who knows.
But their portions of kalbi and samgyupsal were huge. A feast.
Their boodaejigae was meh. But you gotta love the service, free dwenjangjigae!
Oh, for you nonkorean folk: the trick with korean restaurants/​bars is one word: service. For some reason, Korean people always expect something free, a bottle of soju, an order of pancakes, or a small stew. This is what we refer to as service. And if you order bbq, you HAVE to get it. Don’t be afraid to ask for it. I’m not sure how one would ask but go with a native speaker and have them translate, «We haven’t received service yet?»
Or just ask your females at the table to flirt and show some cleavage. Pretty sure that’ll work too.

koreanisches essen vom feinsten. dieses restaurant bietet auch noch japanische spezialitäten an. wenn man durch die koreastreet schlendert, sollte man sich zeit nehmen und hier eins der tollen tischgrill gerichte ausprobieren. zu den hauptgerichten gibt es immer eine menge beilagen.