Abiko Curry — Restaurant in New York

TLDR: terrible food. Even worse service. Go somewhere else!!

Came here on a rainy Sunday night, around 8pm for dinner as a group of 6 people. This place has been on my list of places I’ve wanted to go to for a while and I was excited after reading all the positive reviews.

Upon entering, there was no one to greet us and we stood near the door hoping to be seated. It was clear they were understaffed. After about 5 minutes, we were able to spot a staff member who could help us. I walk over to ask him how long the wait is for a table for 6 people. However, he immediately yells at us for water that’s from our dripping umbrellas. This put us all in a bad mood like Hmm… sorry we can’t control the weather. It rains. Water drips from umbrellas. It’s nature.

So he tells us to put our umbrellas on the floor by the front door before walking in. Clearly there are unspoken rules for people who aren’t even sure if they’re staying yet. And clearly they can’t handle ten drops of water. With peace in mind, I put my umbrella down and then step in to ask again how long the wait would be for 6 people. He goes very rudely, “I don’t know. Around 30 minutes or so. Do you want to wait?”

I tell him, “One minute please. Let me ask my friends.” So I go back to my friends who are still by the door. I quickly tell them about the interaction and the possible half hour wait. We were going to go somewhere else and I’m sure they caught on. So immediately they tell us they have a table ready. So strange that the table that was already clear, they told us it would be a half hour wait and then when we’re ready to leave that they would offer it to us.

It was a table all the way in the back of the restaurant and let me tell you… it smelled like absolute garbage. We were thinking it was the end of the night, they had garbage piled up in the back of the kitchen ready to be put out on the street or something. We try to ignore the smell and we order our food. I ordered the vegetable curry noodles as I love noodles and I wanted to try their highly rated curry. I chose spicy level 2.

The food itself wasn’t spicy and there was barely flavor in the curry. It was actually very bland and seemed watered down, despite the dark color of the flavor. There was a decent amount of vegetables in it- at least enough to be expected. But that’s about it. Mind you, we were trying to eat with the garbage smelling table or area we were placed at.

Besides the staff member who I encountered prior to being seated, the waiter who placed our orders and filled our waters for us was actually very nice. He was very efficient and very kind. If only the first guy could learn some manners from the waiter. Having bad weather or being short staffed is not a reason to take out your temper on potential customers since you work in a field that deals with other people and we were nothing but kind.

After our meal that most of us didn’t finish, we pretty much rushed out of there and once leaving the table, it was obvious that only that back portion of the restaurant had that terrible odor. Leaving the restaurant was a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively.

Would I come back? Would I recommend this establishment to anyone? No. At least not anytime soon. Please have your staff treat customers more nicely and if you know there’s a table in an area with terrible odor, please leave it empty. Don’t just sit people there just because they’re about to leave. Also, add more flavor to your food.

Would I give this place another try? It’s a possibility to give it another try and hopefully have a better experience. But like I said, not anytime soon. There’s so many other restaurants in Ktown where they have better mannered staff and where the food actually tastes great.

Sadly, this was not a great experience even though I had heard great things about it here. Save your money and go elsewhere for better food...

This spot has been on my radar for a while, since it bears Japanese name, and it is a curry restaurant! I love Japanese curry, but yet this restaurant is located in Korean Town… So, is it Japanese or Korean restaurant? From what I understand by visiting this spot, they serve “Japanese style” curry, with Korean twist. It is a Korean restaurant that does not serve typical Korean food. Interesting!

They have good amount of seating, with rather simple interior and furniture, with modern design with making black and vibrant yellow colors throughout. I really liked the table with a hidden drawer on the side that held all the utensils. Nice way to keep the table open and allow more space for the food and drinks.

They had three main kinds of curry style: curry rice, curry noodle, and curry pasta. Your order can be very simple, or you can customize the curry in many different ways. First, you select what kind of curry you want. Second, choose the level or spiciness. Third, choose the toppings. I went with Basic Curry Rice, Level 2 spicy, and Cheese Pork Cutlet as my topping.

Now, let me first talk about the spiciness. When I was trying to decide on the level of spiciness, it did come across my mind that this really is a Korean restaurant, and that their level of “spicy” is different from others… it might be much spicier than I am thinking…and guess what, I was right! My goodness Level 2 was REALLY spicy!!! It was way more spicy than I expected. So, beware of the level of spiciness.

But, the crazy spiciness aside, it was really good. It tasted different from typical Japanese curry, but it was deep, velvety, creamy and flavorful. It came with a nice amount of rice, curry, and pork cutlet. We enjoyed it, with lots of water to calm down the heat.

We had a nice dinner here, I liked their curry that was created with a mixture of Japanese and Korean flavors. I would like to go back again and try a different curry, with “Level 1: Medium Spicy” for sure. Read my full review of their restaurant and food on my food blog,...

I went to dine in with some friends to take them here for the first time on 2/13. The bill was close to $200. Our waitress was a middle aged women. Food was great. However what ruined it for me was when we settled the bill and we tipped her 15% which was around $20 in tip. She then hassled me and my friends to give her more money for a tip. She said “it wasn’t enough.” And her excuse was that “they don’t make enough.” So my friends and I were put in this really weird and awkward situation where we didn’t really have much cash on us to begin with to tip. We thought we could simply tip through card and they only carried enough cash since they were simply traveling to NYC. They’re not from there. We gave the waitress what we felt was necessary especially since most of the hospitality isn’t really “hospitable.”

Just to set the record: you order your food through the mini tablet. A waiter doesn’t take your order. It was a slow day. There were only two tables including ours sat that afternoon. Most they’ll do is set the table up for you, serve you cups of water and bring you any drinks/your food. That’s the extent of the service which is fine. And nothing else is quite necessary for us at least. Not like she approached our table and asked how we were doing or if we needed anything and checked in.

Just greedy when tipping isn’t mandatory. It is a privilege and of course it is something I do because I think waiters deserve to be compensated more, and tipped for service, but when you hassle your customers for more because it wasn’t “enough” to your liking or standard you come across as entitled and disrespectful. I was tempted to take my tip back but I wanted to be the bigger person because I figured she needed that money more. I politelygave her word of advice to not do that because that’s how you lose customers for future reference and I felt she didn’t care. I won’t be coming back...