Bab Korean Bistro Brookline — Restaurant in Brookline

The food was amazing. It really was good and the highlight of my night.

That being said, service was horrible. Nice and friendly staff, but that's where the compliments end.

Took 20 minutes to order in an empty restaurant (3 groups outside and us plus another inside) then another half an hour to get our drinks, then another 15 minutes to get our apps (seaweed salad and edamame) then another 30 minutes on top of thst to get the food proper.

Now, I'm new to Korean food and I didn't even know what I was ordering. I only knew mine was wrong because it didn't have glass noodles and I specifically craved noodles that day. I'd give them some slack of I just pronounced it wrong, but the menus had a letter and number key to prevent such mixup. It was wrong. Still don't know what I got, but it was yummy. Again, food is amazing.

The waiter asked if I wanted what I ordered and I just gave up and ate what I got after being there for over an hour already. Again, they were nice, were also promised complimentary Shumai for the troubles with the wait and mixup.

It never came, as you might have guessed.

Anyways, it was horrible and ruined the evening. The food was amazing and they were friendly so I didn't feel right complaining to their faces beyond the annoyance they already knew I had, but they really dropped the ball.

2 small appetizers, a coke and a beer, and 2 bowls of something cost us $80. Someone other then me decide if that is expensive or not because the food was worth it.

Anyways, will probably order take out from now on because the food was...

The food we ordered: -cheese teokbokki (cheese was burnt; the sauce tasted like they added gochujang and sugar to water; the Chinese glass noodles were not cooked so it was like chewing through plastic) -buddae jigae (no real flavor, just salty; meat tasted like it’s gone bad; barely any soup bc the ramen noodles soaked up all of it; comes out in a ridiculous deep round stone bowl that’s hard to eat out of) -jamppong (no flavor, just super salty; muscle looks like it’s gone bad) -side dishes (SALTY; all look like they were made over a week ago)

The service: -no greeting from staff when we first entered -food came out late -the staff is clueless and needs to ask the owner for every little thing…

I love supporting local businesses especially after such a rough few years with covid. But the owner seems as though he has given up his business. He is Korean and his staff seems to be majority Koreans. They must well know how flavorless and unauthentic their dishes taste. Also, they seem to be using old/spoiled ingredients. However, the owner still chooses to sell each dish as is. Tonight, he was not willing to hear honest customer feedback on his dishes at all. Instead, he told my party just leave without paying with such an annoyance and arrogance to his statement. We paid for our meal except for the inedible undercooked tteokbokki, which we asked to take off the bill. It was disappointing to see the owner running such a dishonest business and not the slightest bit apologetic about his...

Compared to other many other Korean restaurants (in the US and Korea) the beef bulgogi was ok/pretty average; not too special but pretty tender. The portion was also very large. However the chicken bibimbap was bland and flavorless. The chicken was boiled, dry snd unseasoned, just like the rice. There was no sesame oil on the egg, rice, or vegetables, which is a staple in bibimbap.

Ttukbaegi bulgogi soup was flavorful and had a good assortment of vegetables, noodles and rice cakes (over cooked, but may be due to takeout). The mul nangmyeon was very watery. Even if the ice in the soup melted because we got takeout, it was watery to a point where there was almost no flavor (regardless, the ice should have been made out of soup rather than water). The only source of flavor came from the vegetable toppings (cucumber and radish).

The banchan (side dishes) were very small and included pickled radish, kimchi, and boiled broccoli. The rice was very stale and resembled cheap takeout rice rather than the type of rice typically served in Korean restaurants.

Overall, the soup and beef were pretty good, the nangmyeon was bland (may be due to takeout) and the bibimbap was...