Oiji

If you read nothing else in this review, here’s the main gist: Go for the wow factor and the presentation if you can afford it. Don’t go when you’re starving unless you want to talk out with a much lighter wallet. The food is good but not mind-​blowing.
Oiji is a really hip tapas-​style Korean fusion restaurant with a rustic feel. It’s relatively small, but on a Wednesday night, we didn’t have any trouble getting a table for 4 without a reservation. They recommended 2 – 3 dishes/​person so we ended ordering 2 «appetizer portion» dishes, 1 ssam platter (portioned for 2), and 4 main tapas dishes. Bowl of rice was extra $ 3, ouch. The fried chicken– tender and crispy with great flavors over a bead of cabbage slaw. Homemade dumplings– mediocre but I appreciated the bit of soup it came with. Slow cooked pork belly over kimchi– disappointingly tasteless pork belly over a bed of pleasantly surprising warm kimchi. Pine leaves smoked mackerel was a surprising hit at the table, but I was not digging the smokiness, though the fish itself was tender and fatty. The bests? The seven flavors dish– basically deconstructed cold bibimbap make-​your-​own-​tacos, the «tortillas» being delectably chewy zucchini and carrot «summer roll» skins (think Vietnamese summer rolls). Very healthy, very refreshing, and perfect flavors. Also a best– the ssam platter, which comes with two meats that you wrap with lettuce. The sesame sauce that it comes with is golden.
The service was very very good. My water was never less than half full and our server was patient in explaining the menu. The bathroom sink is super super small and actually a bit difficult to use. Loved the décor of the place, with the wooden and rustic feel. We sat at a long wooden table on wooden benches. Dimly lit, so there’s a romantic feel. There is also bar seating. It’s a bit of a walk from the metro, so not super accessible.
By the end of our meal, I was still hungry but unwilling to spend more. The presentation of the food and the décor of the place wowed me visually, but unfortunately my stomach and palate were not wowed. I don’t think I’ll be back.

This is Korean fusion — twist on traditional Korean food and high prices to go with it. It’s a decent sized place but always busy so make a reservation unless you’re okay with waiting it out. We came for dinner and had:
— honey chips: these are like crack. It was warm, crispy and had just the right about of honey. I wish we each ordered our own because we devoured it. My favorite part of the entire meal
— pork belly: 7 pieces of pork belly sitting on a bed of kimchi. Good but a bit on the dry side
— buckwheat noodles: small pile of cold noodles over a soy sauce mix. Flavor fell a bit flat and the soy sauce mixture was a bit watered down
— ban chan: kimchi, cucumbers and spicy cauliflower
Overall it’s a different experience compared to your traditional home style Korean restaurant and was good to try once. Even though they were serving Korean food I didn’t really feel the culture shine through at all but it is EV after all.

Everything was delish and quite eclectic during our Korean feast at Oiji. The fried chicken and truffle broth with sizzling rice were my favorites! We enjoyed all the food we ordered, even the dumplings. The ambiance is sexy with perfect lighting and cozy tables– small place. Our waiter was fabulous (I forget his name though). He brought over a cupcake for my boyfriend’s bday– so sweet!
BTW, you cannot leave without ordering the butter chips!!! Outstanding.

Went on Thurs 1÷14÷16 with a friend. Right off the bat, the waitstaff was… curious. Very friendly and attentive, though drinks (with a very nice cocktail program, labeling drinks «tart,» «fruity,» «herbal,» etc with little colored icons) took rather long to come out initially, with the first drinks coming out after the first three dishes were served. However, throughout the evening, the staff would slip, trip, and fall. I’m not sure if it was a particular staff, or a precarious area on the floor (seemed to happen each time right where the bar ends, between the bar and the tables). There was at least one full fall to the ground, and at least three glasses broken in separate occasions. One almost thought it was a floor show.
Steak Tartare — one of the best courses, and a must order. The gelled yolk on top didn’t mix in as well as regular yolk would have, but it provided an interesting texture. The marinated beef had a salty soy marinade that worked well with the minerality of the meat, and the aioli (a menu check tells me it was ramps) had a quality similar to capers, but a little less in your face. I licked the plate, and then sent it shooting across the floor to trip a waitstaff.
Fried Chicken — arguably the best dish. Light, fluffy, crispy (told it was tapioca flour), with a dip that was light, similar to tempura sauce. Could have used a more interesting bed than iceberg lettuce, though.
Jang-​jo-​rim — Everything in the bowl was made better by the gallimaufry mixing together. The beef was well seasoned, the egg just yolky enough to spread around, and the rice just al dente enough in texture. However, this dish would be better served as a large-​format dish. Between two people, we both got around 2 – 3 bites, not nearly enough for a rice bowl. I get the small dishes format, but this dish was hurt in the end by it, because there are too many ingredients and too little quantity to get a feel for how they mingle together.
Mackerel — This is probably the only dish that would be a skip on a return visit. The fish was perfectly oily as mackerel should be, but everything seemed slightly… off. Fish seemed just slightly overcooked, and the skin, which aimed to be crispy, was just this side of rubbery. Perhaps the skin should be removed, fried, and placed back on top? The little pine needle brush was a cute gimmick, but really added virtually no extra flavor, and perhaps just a hint of smell.
Honey Butter chips — Much lauded. It’s potato chips with honey and butter. Very good honey, and very flavorful butter, it’s true, but don’t expect these ingredients to come together in a way that’s not expected. Also, perhaps just my opinion, but it’s served as a dessert, and would probably better be served as the first course, akin to (an expensive) bread course.
Definitely a good date spot, or place to go if your parents are taking you out to dinner, but as a local interesting take on Korean, I’d be more primed to return to Han-​Jan or Danji, where things are more «fun» and I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.

Last nights dinner was possibly one of the best meals I’ve had in a very very long time.
Reservation was at 8, we were seated at 8:05.
Service was quick and super friendly.
My date ordered 4 dishes, the fried chicken, beef tartare, the spicy broth and the pork belly along with two drinks.
Ohhhhh my god. Amazing.
The pork belly literally melted in my mouth and the tartare dish is probably my new all time favorite meal. Everything was prepared artfully and tasty as hell.
Side note: our order got lost somewhere along the way and we had to wait a little longer than normal so the waitress let us know that our drinks were on the house. Definitely can’t complain.

Many thoughts went through my head as I eyed the Grade B rating displayed on their window outside.
And once inside, I thought about how imperceptibly unapologetic the waitstaff were when they gave away the table we reserved.
Otherwise, the food was wonderful — wonderful enough for anyone to have a successful first visit.
Our favourite was the very sumptuous truffle seafood broth — anyone else taste the dried squid?

This isn’t your korean comfort food (which is what i was craving this wintry night). There isn’t much on the menu that is piping hot and nap inducing. However, it is very good & i imagine better still during the warmer months.
For 2 people, we had the
— smoked mackerel
— crispy rice with seafood broth
— buttered rice with meat
— deconstructed bibimbap
— honey butter chips
Of these, the buttered rice & the crispy rice dish was our favorite. I don’t usually enjoy seafood but i thought the shrimp used was… crisp. The butter chips was not for me as they closely resembled caramel
What i did like about all the dishes (favorite or not) was the clarity of each flavor /​ingredient.
Reservations do need to be made ahead. It’s not a problem, just plan accordingly

As a Korean I didn’t know what to expect from Oiji. I’ve already had high expectations due to reviews and the sole reason I came was because so many had recommended this place. Also with the title as one of the best Korean restaurants, it’s hard not to expect so much…
To my surprise, I wasn’t not a bit disappointed. The menu offered a great selection of Korean foods to allow anybody to really get a taste of the culture. The beef tartare was definitely none like I’ve eaten at any Korean restaurant (which I mean in a good way). The mackerel was my favorite out of all the dishes. We also got the oxtail, jang jo rim, etc.
We had a little more room left in our stomachs and the perfect way to end the night here was there famous Honey Butter Chips. Do not leave the place without ordering the chips, because you won’t get the full experience without it.
The service was flawless, they were all friendly and caring. My water glass was never empty.
I would like to end the review with a big thank you and I will return again soon!

The cocktail I had with truffle was so distinct and delicious here! We came because we were excited about all of the hype… and because honey butter chips are all the rage in korea.
The food was tasty probably worth 4 stars but the price is what did it for me. I came here with girlfriends and its not like we need to eat a lot but I left here hungry. I’m not saying that I need to go away stuffed but the portions are tiny and at $ 70 pp, I should not have to go home and eat a cup’o noodles which is exactly what I did.
We had the smoked mackerel (one of my personal favs of the night), the fried chicken (could have passed), honey butter chips (this was good), Truffle seafood broth (another fav of the night) Jang jo rim (good), seven flavors pancakes (as a korean this was a miss for me, but i can see how people might this this is fun to put together), pork belly and kimchi, and the lotus leaf rice (i think i’ll stick with white next time).
I had high hopes and it was cool to check out but i don’t think i’ll put this place on my repeat list.

Believe the hype: Oiji has arrived to begin changing the way NYC views Korean cuisine.
I was sad when the previous Korean establishment in this location shuttered, but then I heard rumblings of a new Korean joint in town. My vegetarian friend and I went to scope it out.
What I ordered: Fried Chicken with Spicy Soy Vinaigrette, Jang-​jo-​rim with Buttered Rice and Soft Boiled Egg, Kimchi ($ 7?)
The fried chicken was plated as a more sophisticated dish than you’d expect for fried chicken. It was a tempura/​KFC-​style deep fry, perfectly crispy on the outside and moist on the inside (when eaten right away). The soy sauce was indeed a little spicy. The Jang-​jo-​rim was nicely plated and delightful to eat.
Bottom line: On the pricey side when you look at portion size and other Korean restaurants, but taste to match. Great service.
Bonus points: I love Oiji’s wooden utensils!

I’ve been wanting to try Oiji ever since it first opened, and after months of only seeing 10pm reservations, I miraculously managed to snag a table at a decent time (8:15pm) on a Tuesday.
The dishes are small and best shared, so my friend and I split:
— Fried chicken with spicy soy vinaigrette — Awesome dish. The chicken skin was extra crispy which we loved.
— Jang-​jo-​rim with buttered rice and soft boiled egg — This was my favorite dish of the meal. The rice was so buttery and delicious, mixed with beef, mushrooms, daikon, potato, and carrots.
— Truffle seafood broth with sizzling crispy rice — Not too impressed with this one. The sizzling rice came in the form of two crispy rice cakes. The broth was flavorful with lots of umami, but didn’t think it was worth the price.
— Gochujang braised chicken with winter vegetables — The chicken was very tender, though the sauce was a bit too overpowering.
— Honey butter chips — Another winner. These chips were seriously like crack.
I’d give the food five stars, but I’m knocking off a star because the service and pacing of the food were a bit slow. We got our first two dishes at the same time, and then had to wait a while for the next one. I also waited a very long time at the door when I first arrived for someone to acknowledge me.
Overall, I would definitely recommend Oiji. It’s one of the first places I’ve been to in a long time where my friend and I both said «this is so good!» after (almost) every dish.

I had been looking forward to dining at Oiji before the NYT hype and ended up having to wait a few months to get a table at a reasonable hour. Overall, the food was really tasty but didn’t seem to merit the scheduling issues.
One of the highlighted dishes on Unilocal and in the NYT was the mackerel which unfortunately wasn’t that amazing. Yes, it was crispy and tender, but the flavor didn’t impress me too much and it was rather oily. I did, however, love the truffle seafood broth (I wanted to get a straw to drink it all up) and chil jeol pan which essentially was a build your own Korean taco. I highly recommend these!
I would definitely come back here for dinner, but once the hype dies down.

I don’t understand where the raving reviews are coming from. I am rating this place a 2 because of the heightened expectations.
I love original Korean food. this place is exactly what makes asian fusion always so disappointing. All the flavor is gone and the supposed «originality» of each dish is just some fancy words on a menu… add on a price tag and voila there goes the fusion for you. waste your money, calories and time. a disappointing meal is just a disappointing meal. Cocktails were pretty good so I suggest get a fancy drink here instead.
The highly recommended fried chicken was so bland and tasted like it had a weird kind of tempura breading dipped in soy sauce. The only thing I liked about the pork belly with kimchi was the kimchi. and the jang jorim was just not memorable at all.
Now I know I will be staying far away from Korean fusion until I can afford jungshik. and If I don’t like Jungshik I will probably get up, leave and ask for my money back. and yes if you wanted to know I hated danji as well.

It is actually 4 and half stars! I went there with a colleague last Friday! I found this place when I was searching on Unilocal cuz I love those tiny gem places to explore! The menu is very simple! I believe there were no more than 15 dishes that u can choose from. HOWEVER! Food was expectedly not only creative but also fresh and yummy！
Appetizer: Jang Jo Rim. the portion was small but it is enough as an appetizer. It’s basically just wraps that u out everything tgt and roll it up.
Main:
stewed oxtail. It was tender and juicy as expected and would be nice to have some bread along with
Ssam. I didn’t expect it to be good and the portion looked not enough for two when I looked up on Unilocal.But it’s actually REALLY a lot if u love lettuce. Same idea as the appetizer. U wrapped food in lettuce and bon appetite! Spicy meat was really spicy (typical Korean spicy sauce) I like the tofu part better. It was a little salty so it is perfect with lettuce wraps.
Overall I had a great experience there. It is a little over priced but isn’t it what is happening right now in the city that many new Asian fusion concepts restaurants are coming out with small places, simple menu but full of creativities? (At least presentation wise). If you are looking for something to feel filling, it’s not a place to go. But if u want to explore something new. I would recommend to give a try. Bring different ppl. I won’t come back with same group of friends. There are many other Asian fusion restaurants that I would like to try. More importantly, they only have honey butter chips as dessert. I do love food but I also want to watch calories intake. So I passed it and went to cha an for desserts. Would suggest more light dessert options. Chikalicious or cha an style could be a reference.
It is my first review– meant to be long and wordy. Lol

IN SHORT: Classic Korean food gets a youthful, modern update at this low-​key restaurant in the East Village. Don’t let the size of the space fool you though; Oiji has just started doing big things with Korean cuisine.
THE STORY: A few months ago, I celebrated a friend’s birthday at a BYOB, all-​you-​can-​eat Korean barbecue restaurant on a particularly fishy-​smelling stretch of Grand Street. There was a lot of meat thrown on the flames, a lot of light beer passed around the table, a lot of raucous shouting between bites, and nothing really authentic about it all. It was perfect for a party of 12 20-​somethings on a Saturday night, but it is not somewhere you would want to catch up with an old friend, and certainly not somewhere you would take a date.
But if you’re in the mood for Korean food on a weeknight, where would you take a date? That $ 85 Asian-​fusion tasting menu in Midtown is too expensive, and Seamless doesn’t give you nearly enough options to make settling indoors worth it.
This is where Oiji has carved its own remarkable niche. In a cozy corner of the East Village with only two plates on the menu over $ 20, Oiji has created a chic, contemporary restaurant with traditional Korean classics filtered through a modern lens. The two young chefs at the helm here have taken home-​cooked favorites and have updated them with energy and deference. The result is, for the most part, Korean food that is fun, exciting, and still honestly authentic.
Especially impressive is the Fried Chicken with a light, spicy soy vinaigrette. The crisp surrounding the tender dark meat is paler and airier than most fried exteriors, emphasizing a suprising lightness across the entire dish.
With creamy, buttered rice, a soft boiled egg, large slices of cooked mushrooms, pickled radish cubes, and braised beef filling a big, comforting bowl, the «Jang-​jo-​rim» is another rewarding adaptation of a Korean classic, but here the chefs have restrained their use of salt and spice, allowing the ingredients to properly shine on their own. The leanness of the beef also tempers the richer, fuller experience of the yolk that swirls around to coat the rice in yet another buttery flavor for an experience more attuned to our modern demands from sophisticated cuisine.
Another success is the Mackerel, smoked with pine leaves and paired with a light citrus soy sauce that is brushed onto the crackling skin of the fish with a little broom of whole pine needles. While the rather involved act of consuming the fish is perhaps the most in vogue aspect of the menu, the dense white meat is sensationally soft and aromatic, chewy and creamy in all the right places.
Less successful are the beef tartare with ramp aioli, whose heavy dose of sesame oil overwhelmingly masks the more delicate flavors beneath, and the slow-​cooked pork belly and kimchi. Though the spicy, vinegary broth of the kimchi is excellent, it is not enough to balance the thick, fattier squares of undersalted pork. But when a meal finishes with a bowl of glistening honey butter chips, a South Korean favorite that the chefs have recreated in their own kitchen, the minor misfires can go unnoticed. The thin potato crisps here take on an almost ethereal nature, having been coated with honey, brown sugar, and cayenne, a texture that doesn’t seem quite possible for a chip. It becomes impossible to just have one bite.
Oiji is still a new restaurant, but as the chefs continue to innovate and add to their creative menu of elevated Korean small plates, it will only get better. For now, let’s grab a date and embrace this new frontier in Korean food.
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3.5 star
A foodie friend of mine recommended that we go try out Oiji while she was in town. We could not find any online reservations for the whole week she was in town, but we called as soon as they opened at 6PM on a Thursday night and the host told us that he had a few seats available at the communal table. Luckily, we were able to drive down to the East Village in time to grab 4 seats at around 6:45PM. So, in the case that you cannot grab online reservations, just give them a ring. They’re good about answering their landline, unlike other small restaurants.
Oiji is in the heart of East Village, and just like most other restaurants in the area, Oiji is also very small. They have an open kitchen set up, so you’ll be able to spot Chef Brian and Chef Tae Kyung working their magic. But because of the open kitchen, the entire space becomes intolerably hot. INTOLERABLY HOT. THEY DO NOT HAVE CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONING, and leave a huge front window open even during excruciatingly hot summer days. They have a dinky fan in one corner that blows to the ground, and that’s about it.
The food is more tapas serving size, I’d say, with a few exceptions like their Ssam Platter and cold Buckwheat noodles. The Ssam Platter comes with a variation of sticky rice wrapped in grape leaves, home-​made soybean paste, butter lettuce, sesame leaves, and a small dish of marinaded spicy pork. The pork portion itself is tapas size, but because the Platter comes with a few other items, it can be shared between two people. But even then, you’d have to order a couple of more dishes.
The cold Buckwheat noodles is a traditional Korean summer dish, that the kitchen staff can order from any Asian food distributor. This particular dish is one of their bigger ones (in terms of portion), since it only consists of a cold vinegar, mustard powder, and shitake mushroom broth with noodles. It wasn’t my favorite– never was, never will be.
The Chil-​Jeol-​Pan Seven Flavors platter is a joke. A JOKE. It’s just few pieces of pickled radish, to wrap juliennes of Jang Jo Rim (heavily salted beef), egg, mushroom, carrots, and cucumbers. It’s a beautiful photo for Instagram, but not worth the $ 15 price tag.
We still were not full, so we also ordered their slow-​cooked oxtail, fried chicken, and red pepper paste braised chicken. They were all very good, but again, nothing that strayed too far from a regular Korean meal. Obviously, the food is better than anything in Ktown but nothing mind-​blowing for people who have been raised in a Korean household. Sorry, Oiji. SORRY.
The fried chicken is very much like a lighter Katsu with panko. The zesty vinaigrette added a special touch. But the oxtail and braised chicken dishes were just as expected.
For dessert, we ordered the restaurant’s popular Honey Butter chips. It’s all the craze in Korea and markets cannot keep them on the shelf. So naturally, we ordered Oiji’s version and was not impressed. The initial bite is a diluted honey, then it all goes downhill with the butter. It honestly feels as though you have a cube of butter in your mouth.
Good food. Great presentation. No Air Conditioning. Worth the hype? Not sure.

PROS:
— Slow Cooked Pork Belly And Kimchi — Probably my favorite dish of all. Only 6 pieces of pork belly but oh so good. It’s not enough for 4 hungry girls. [5 STARS]
— Jang Jo Rim (buttered rice with egg, meat, diced pickled radish, mushrooms) — almost like a mini bibimbap. It has some mushrooms in it. This is good as the other dishes were very small and this seems to be the most filling. Taste wise its pretty good. I love the egg and the rice is buttery fragrant. [4 STARS]
— Ssam Platter with Spicy Pork and Sticky Rice (for 2) — Loved the sticky rice. It went really well with the lettuce wrap and spicy pork. Not enough lettuce wraps/​sticky rice because we had a lot of spicy pork left over with no sticky rice to pair with. Spicy Pork was very salty so sticky rice is a must. [ 4 STARS]
— Truffle seafood with broth — Loved the mussels however most of them were unopened or required us break the shell open. Broth was a little on the salty side but was very delicious. Contains asian rice crackers. Don’t let the rice crackers sit too long in broth because it’ll become soggy.
— Décor was nice. It looks very country-​esque with the the wooden tables and field flowers on the table. The interior towards the bar area has a more modern look.
THE OKAY:
— Beef Tartare — beautiful presentation with flowers and an egg in the middle that looks like a mini beehive. Taste wise it was alright. The beef tartare was cut up into such fine pieces which made it hard to pick up the pieces to eat. [3 STARS]
— Seoul Paloma cocktail — drink is strong. It’s probably the tequila. There is a grapefruit hint of citrus in the cocktail however the alcohol really overshadows all the flavors. It’s not really the sweet and refreshing drink I was looking for when I asked the waiter what he can recommend to me. Drink is OK but I wouldn’t get this again. [2.5 STARS]
CON:
— Portions are small.
— Expensive $ 160 damage not including tip and and it WAS NOT that FILLING!
— Honey Butter Chips — Overhyped. Too sweet. It’s like its drizzled in caramel. Good for one or two pieces and that’s it. [2 STARS]
— Wild Sesame Truffle Soup — I typically love anything truffle but this soup tasted BLEH and HERBAL LIKE. It sort of tastes like mung bean powder mixed with crushed sesame. This weird taste overpowered any truffle taste there was. The soup tasted bleh. But if you are in the older generation — perhaps like my mom — they might like this herbal/​sesame/​mung bean like taste. The soup was topped with thin and long mushrooms in the middle. [1 STAR]

My taste buds were freaking amazed after just a bite of all the dishes I tried. I will definitely come back and eat more from this menu and would be more than willing go eat new items from this place! The décor is super romantic and intimate, my biggest love is the communal table and the hooks where you can put your stuff in sight without worrying about it.
The wait wasn’t even that long on a Thursday night before July 4^th holiday. The waiting process was even easier and hassle free compared to others where they don’t notify you when your table is ready.
We ordered the butter rice which was super fragrant !! I loved how the meat and the mushroom provided the hearty taste yet the oils from the rice really coated it well and glided around smoothly my taste buds!!! YUMMMMM.
The pork belly was also amazing — cooked to perfection not too burnt or not too chewy. The kimchi underneath it worked super well because it wasn’t cold kimchi, but warm — melting my heart. The warmth and the slight fattiness of the pork paired well. Almost like a light stew since it was slow cooked.
The beef tartare dish was so refreshing for a muggy summer night. The egg yolk was a bit small on the beef pieces but was the best coating the delicious middle pieces. Each piece of beef was like biting into an explosion of flavor.
Manager and staff were attentive and friendly — answering a lot of our questions about the business. Although the plates are small and a bit pricey– it is dang well worth your buck. Be ready to embark on a crazy ride of flavors!
This is not your typical Korean food!

Oiji is the kind of girl who lets you get to second base and just that. She’s the kind of girl who leaves you wanting more, basically she’s a tease.
Most important thing to note is to not come here hangry or hungry because you will end up being impatient or do major damage to your wallet. Or both!
I would say the food here is Spanish and French with a Korean focus. It is Spanish in the sense that all dishes are meant for sharing, basically tapas in my terms. It is French because each dish is elegantly presented. Korean is self explanatory.
I’m always a fan of restaurants that are kind of on the down low but yet hyped enough that you want to go. I highly recommend making reservations because the few times I’ve tried to come in from just walking in, I was told they were booked for the whole night or there won’t be availability till 10pm. At this point, OpenTable is your best bet.
The servers are friendly and very attentive, the atmosphere is rustic, minimal and somewhat reminds me of izakaya places.
Their menu offers no more than 17 items, this definitely allows you to try almost everything depending on the size of your party. I like that the menu was simple, to me it means that they really focus greatly on those few dishes and execute it well rather than juggle 50 different dishes and half ass it. Plus I don’t feel indecisive when there are less options.
I’m not sure if they change it time to time but I couldn’t find the buckwheat noodles that other Unilocalers seemed to mention. Bummer because they sounded really good!
It’s recommended that each person gets 3 — 5 dishes and you’ll totally see why when the food comes.
Beef tartare — served as a long strip of diced raw beef cubes and topped with spices, it was a delight to your taste buds. The texture wasn’t too tough but it wasn’t too soft either, it was the right chewiness. The spices added a nice kick to it.
Chil-​jeol-​pan — Gorgeous presentation, everything laid out like a flower and the crepes/​wrappers it came with were so colorful (red and green). This dish reminds me Peking duck where you assemble it on a crêpe wrapper with fillings. I wish they offered some gochuchang or kimchi to make it spicy, but otherwise it is light and fun to make! A quick note — make sure you properly peel the layers of each crêpe, I accidentally took two at once and was left with no crêpe wrapper for my fillings.
Jang-​Jo-​Rim — Wow buttered rice is dangerously good. I wished they used a whole egg instead of a half since I’m an egg addict, especially when it’s poached! The pork and diced radishes complimented the rice quite well. The flavors reminds me of baked cheese rice from Hong Kong cuisine but so much better. This was like it but on crack!
Seafood truffle broth with crispy rice —
If you like truffle, definitely do not skip out on this dish. I like that they pour the soup in front of you to melt the crispy rice. The soup was quite hearty and filling. I noticed the seafood was extra tiny here? The shrimp was like half a shrimp and the mussels were baby ones that could’ve passed for being premature.
Honey Butter Chips — Sinful as f&@$! I haven’t had sweet potato chips often in my life other than ROYCE’s famous chocolate covered ones but these, these are better. Each chip is thin and delicate yet it still holds that sturdy potato crunch. The honey butter is addicting. Each bite I took, I almost didn’t feel guilty because of how thin the chips were until I saw all the butter at the bottom. I don’t regret it though because it was delicious!
A side note, the chips are best eaten warm. I liked it so much I wanted to order a box to go but the servers said they couldn’t allow that because once the chips cool down, it changes the entire taste and texture completely and they wouldn’t want any one to eat bad tasting chips.
The food overall was terrific but I never felt completely full after each dish, the soup helped later on with its liquid contents. I definitely left wanting more. I noticed the main courses like the seafood broth and jang-​jo-​rim took a while to arrive after my smaller plates came. The small plates already took long but the main ones took even longer! Which goes back to what I said earlier, do not come here hungry or you will became hangry!
Bottom line, I can say I left Oiji with blue balls. My taste buds were teased and perked, I only wish the portions were bigger so I could’ve hit the spot all the way.
Damages: $ 80 including tip and tax for two people. Borderline $$ almost hitting into $$$.

I’m sorry but I’m rating this place 2 stars. I think I’m being harsh on rating because I came into this restaurant with very high expectations due to the nearly perfect reviews. I would describe Oiji to be more of a Korean tapas place. Yea, the food looks great, but each dish was extremely BLAND. I came with 3 very hungry guys and we ended up ordering almost ¾ of the menu.
1) Truffle Seafood Soup: This was probably my favorite dish of the night. The broth had a strong spicy seafood taste to it and the mussels were extremely fresh (but tiny). Two out of the 6 mussels we had didn’t open… so that was a bummer.
2) Ssam Platter (meant for 2): This dish probably had the most flavor compared to all the other dishes we ordered. It was spicy pork and a mushroom tofu stew that you are supposed to wrap around with lettuce. They had rice wrapped in bamboo leaves but i wasn’t crazy about the taste of it.
3) Buckwheat noodles: I actually liked the preserved spring ramps sauce (which is a garlic/​onion sauce). It was actually quite refreshing and went well with the cold noodles.
4) Honey Butters Chips: They are OKAY. Apparently, it’s the newest crave in Korean. I was curious about this dish a few days ago and was able to replicate the same recipe at home, therefore this dish wasn’t that big of a surprise for me. It’s melted butter, honey, with a dash of cayenne peppers sprinkled over chips. It’s overwhelming if you have more than a few chips.
5) Beef tartar: Presentation wise, it looks amazing. But it’s just raw beef diced into small pieces and a lot of sesame oil, mustard seeds, an egg, and some flowers.
6) Jang Jo Rim: I hear everyone raving about this dish but it just wasn’t good at all. I found the rice to be very oily from the butter and the meat slices and mushroom on top were not flavored at all. We actually mixed the truffle seafood broth into the rice to make it more tasty.
7) Slow Cooked Oxtail: Yea, the meat slipped off the bone, but c’mon…where’s the flavor?
8) Pork Belly with Kimchi: I thought the pork belly was tender but the kimchi was disappointing. It didn’t have that spicy kick you normally get. The sauce was very watered down.
9) Fried Chicken: I was expecting bone-​in korean fried chicken, but what I got was a few tiny slices of fried boneless chicken.
10) Mackerel: strong fishy taste… but don’t remember too much about it. Enough said.
It was interesting to try out, but I doubt I’ll ever come back.