an nyeong k tofu & bbq 안녕 순두부 — Restaurant in Austin

Neighborhood Korean soup and bbq spot (with less tofu options than the name suggests.) It’s a solid mom and pop neighborhood soup shop. The owner greets every table ( he also gives his unfiltered opinion on almost any part of your meal: if you ordered too much or too little, what you should have gotten this time vs saved for the next visit - all of which would be more helpful when you are ordering vs after the order is placed, lol - but a wonderfully engaging character.)

The portions are for sharing. Because Austin pricing is so bananas it is not obvious from the price / menu. I would say each dish could easily feed 2-3 people. When you know this, this becomes a super affordable family style option.

We had the raw marinated crabs. I prefer the smaller crabs - the marinade is able to “ceviche” the meat a little better. A messy delight.

The tofu salad is a great pairing - the dressings acidity helps cut through the decadent chili sauce of the crab.

The kimchi is not fermented - so you loose that crackle of flavor that the fermented has - but was still very tasty.

My biggest complaint was the very few tofu items. It’s in the name of the restaurant so I assumed I was coming to a real tofu palace. They have a few dishes, but nothing that made it obvious why it has a prominent place in their signage.

Get seating by the...

Let me preface by saying there are two good things about this place: the food and the manager.

We came here twice. First time the hostess was nowhere to be seen for 10 minutes before we finally got to put our name down. Once we were sat, we didn’t have any water for 10 minutes. The waiter showed up to our table two times total during our meal: when she took our order and when she came to give us the check. It’s impossible to flag and find the waiting staff, it’s like they just disappear into thin air.

My wife and I decided to give this place a second chance today. This time we got sat by the manager quickly. Then it took 10 minutes for our waiter to show up (a different one than first time) to take our order. Then my food came first while my wife’s never showed up. Half an hour after placed our order, I had to get up to flag the manager (because again our waiter never came to us after taking our order) to tell him that our food never came. At which point he went to check and got us our food in 5 minutes and claimed that “there was a mix up”. We think that they gave our food to the wrong table 🤷‍♂️. The manager did end up comping the dish that was late

Anyway, probably not worth coming back after two experiences of shitty service....

My visit to Nyeong K Tofu & BBQ was a delightful experience from start to finish. Parking was plentiful, which was a relief as we had our 11-month-old with us and wanted to minimize walking on a hot day. Upon entering around 1 pm, we were promptly seated, and the restaurant staff was incredibly accommodating and friendly towards our little one.

Moving on to the food, we ordered their pork dumplings, BBQ spicy pork, and BBQ chicken. The dumplings were a hit with everyone, including our young daughter who couldn't get enough of them. The BBQ spicy pork lived up to its name, delivering just the right amount of heat and flavor. However, the BBQ chicken didn't quite meet my expectations as it seemed more broiled than grilled. I mentioned this to our waitress, who was understanding and allowed me to switch to BBQ pork instead.

Despite the minor setback with the chicken, the outstanding service we received truly made our visit exceptional. The staff's attentiveness and willingness to accommodate our needs bumped my initial 4-star rating to a solid 5-star. I am already looking forward to returning to Nyeong K Tofu & BBQ for another delicious meal and...