Restaurant Review: Ong Ga Nae Korean BBQ

Details: Located at 936 South Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006. I couldn’t find an official site so here’s the yelp site: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ong-ga-nae-korean-bbq-los-angeles

I came here for dinner on a Sunday I think. We ordered the Ong Ga Nae Special Combo B. It came with prime rib eye, prime beef brisket, boneless beef, marinated beef rib, and the pork belly. You could substitute the marinated beef rib for not marinated beef rib and the pork belly for beef tongue or chicken bulgogi. Altogether, it cost $99.99, not including tax and tip.

Restaurant Review: Mapo Galmaegi

 

Located at 136-71 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing, NY 11354.

Mapo Galmaegi is a relatively new Korean barbecue place in the heart of Flushing. It’s surprising to see since the area is mostly Chinese, but I am very glad it opened and is a welcome addition to the area.

The interior is pretty classy and comfortable.

You can order a la carte or you can get all you can eat. I prefer the all you can eat option which will cost somewhere around forty dollars if you include tax and tip. Here, you can get your standard bulgogi and galbi varieties. They also have pork belly, brisket, and sirloin steak. The quality of the meat is really great in my opinion and definitely better than Picnic Garden. What is noteworthy is that you only get one sirloin steak if you choose to the all you can eat option. The other meat choices you can order as many times as you want.

Service is fantastic and closer to what you’d expect at a higher end, Korean barbecue place that’s not all you can eat. The waiters are very attentive and will direct you to when you are supposed to eat a piece of meat.

Additionally, I like the appetizers or bon chan they have here. They have your standard Korean appetizers, but they also do that egg moat thing. The egg moat thing is a mixture of egg and other ingredients (I think some kind of stock is mixed in as well) which is poured into a groove surrounding the circular grill. As you grill your meats, the juices from the meat will fall into the egg moat surrounding the grill, adding some more flavor. The result is a grilled (or steamed?) egg that captures the flavor of the marinated meats. It’s really good.

Score: 8.2 My new favorite Korean barbecue place. It is easily better than Picnic Garden. It’s a better environment and less hectic, plus it’s still all you can eat so you will never leave this place hungry or wanting more. Definitely recommend this place to anyone who likes Korean barbecue and wants all they can eat.

Restaurant Review: Picnic Garden

Located at 14742 Northern Blvd, Flushing, NY 11354.

A lot of Korean barbecue connoisseurs I’ve talked to regarding Picnic Garden generally argue that the meat here is substandard. They’ve told me you can get better higher quality stuff elsewhere, and they’re probably right. However, I can honestly say that I have never walked out of this restaurant unsatisfied with the meal I’ve had here.

Picnic Garden is an all you can eat Korean barbecue restaurant. For around thirty dollars (it’s about forty if you include tax and tip) you get to eat your fill of Korean style meats like bulgogi, galbi, etc. They also have some appetizers like a fried fish, spicy chicken wings, and kimbop among other things. It’s worth noting that the kinds of meat they have differ depending whether your here at a weekday for lunch or any other time. If your here during weekday lunches, they will charge you less, but won’t provide the more expensive meats.

This place is almost always packed, especially during peak hours. Accordingly, the service you get from waiters and waitress is less than what you’d get at higher end Korean barbecue places. For instance, normally, the waiter will cook the meat for you because it is part of the service and because you may not be able to cook the meat to ideal done-ness as well as the waiter can. At Picnic Garden, they will try to cook it for you, but generally are so busy you end up cooking it yourself. Plus, they aren’t as good or as attentive when it comes to cooking meat. It’s part of the price of having all you can eat Korean barbecue. Normally, it’s not meant to be all you can eat.

Regardless, every time I’ve been here has been a good time. It’s just fun to do communal eating with some friends, to cook together and to decide on what to eat together.

Score: 7.8/10 Always fun to come here, regardless of the quality of the meat in comparison to other Korean barbecue establishments. Since it’s all you can eat, you obviously won’t walk away hungry. You will smell like Korean barbecue for days though. The dining room at Picnic Garden is sort of a giant, Korean meat smoker.

Restaurant Review: Mad For Chicken

Details: Located at 157-13 Northern Blvd., Flushing, NY 11354. Official site is http://madforchicken.com/

I’ve been to this place a couple of times as well as its Manhattan location (the Manhattan location has since been renamed Turntable Chicken Jazz… I didn’t name it). This is your standard Korean fried chicken place.

The first thing I noticed was the size of the place. The last time I was here it was fairly small. They’ve since purchased the store next door and expanded into a larger space with a more open area in the back as well as a bar. In addition, the menu here is a lot larger than the menu at Turntable Jazz Chicken. There are all sorts of greasy foods that look good with a beer.

We ordered a plate of soy garlic wings, the La Poutine (fries with gravy, pork, corn, onion, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese), Parmesan fries, mac and melted cheese, a bulgogi sandwich, and the avocado salad. It was all pretty good. Nothing worth any Michelin stars, but good, greasy bar food.

Score: 6/10