Ahgassi Korean Barbecue — Restaurant in New York

I have had Gopchang story and Jongro, so I felt excited to try this new addition from LA. Conclusion: Banchan is 9/10, kimchi stew is 10/10, Gopchang only 6/10.

Gopchang is usually a niche food due to 1)it is mostly intestines, and its organ intrinsically limited its audiences 2) it is bit greasy if not paired with right food 3) it is stinky if not washed/handled correctly.

We ordered the Modeum Combo: small and large beef intestines, beef mountain tripe, and beef abomasum and whole garlics. For those who are unfamiliar, mountain tripe is the folding in the stomach and the abomasum is the fourth stomach.

WARNING: those who never had small intestines before should know that they are filled with enzymes and they have a BITTER aftertaste. I knew this ahead of time and is acceptable of the taste so I ordered. But if you are not, DON’T!

Ahgassi’s intestines and stomach are marinated with the conventional Korean style marinate: sweet, salty, umami. They appear to all be chewy after cooking, and it is very hard to distinguish. The flavor is just typical, not very impressive.

They did paired each type of meat with a special sauce. But in the end I cannot really taste the difference of all cuts except the small intestines which had fillings. Apparently the place did more effort on styling and decor.

The Banchan was the surprise. I really dig the sweet potato, sweet and almost mochi-like- soft and slightly gummy like. The kimchi they served is the plain version, rare to me as the typical ones served is the spicy kind. The kimchi stew was great, spicy and savory, and there are rice cakes and tofu hidden inside. I felt this could use a bowl of rice. The onions are marinated with a wasabi/mustard miso, great for offsetting grease. The steamed eggs are fine, very fluffy at the top, but very burnt at the bottom.

We didn’t choose to have the fried rice but opted for the cold noodle instead. The noodles came in iced broth, like literally, ice cubes of broth. It is just umami, and it came with bottles of liquid mustard and vinegar for you to adjust the spice and sourness to your own liking. Great dessert to have after gopchang.

The service is great, and I felt just for gopchang, it is style over substance. I got no comments for other meat combos since I...

Very disappointing experience. Despite arriving on time for my friend's reservation, I was treated rudely by two male waiters. As it was my first visit and the restaurant was empty that time, I mistakenly entered through the back door and walked to counter to inform a waiter about my reservation, instead of helping, he asked me unfriendly if I used the wrong door and EDUCATED me to don't do that next time. I said okay politely with smile but then he didn’t even bother to ask for the reservation details until I showed him my friend's name. After that, he instructed me to wait by their door, though the restaurant was still completely empty. I stood there for 5 minutes without being acknowledged. When I asked if only full parties could be seated, another waiter said I could sit but didn’t direct me to a table. Confused and angry, I asked why I was told to stand there for so long and walked towards a table where other staff were setting appetizers, only to be shouted at by the second waiter, trying to EDUCATED me that they need to set appetizers first then I can sit??? I’ve never experienced such poor service at other Korean restaurants where customers are guided to their tables and served appetizers after customers sitting down. I don't know if they have their own rules but I came to a restaurant not to get ignored, disrespected and educated. I still tipped to show my courtesy as the waiter who served our party later...

Very pretentious place. Overpriced small portion food with terrible service. Waiters and the manager thought they are the next K-pop stars just because some celebrities dined in the place before. We brought a small cake to celebrate our friend’s bday and was told that extra $20 will be charged if we want to eat the cake there. Been to so many BBQ restaurants in K-town and never heard of such rule. Anyway, we didn’t eat the cake there. After we checked out, we took the unfinished bottle of makgeolli to go. One of the waiter said we cannot take it out as it’s against the law. Well, you better check the law below.

NYS SLA 588 allows the removal of one partially consumed bottle of wine if (i) the restaurant has the appropriate wine or liquor license, (ii) the bottle of wine is purchased in connection with a full course meal, (iii) the patron consumes a portion of the wine with the meal, (iv) the wine is securely resealed, placed in a one-time-use tamper-proof transparent bag which is securely sealed and, (v) a dated receipt for the full course meal and wine is provided to the patron

We are def allowed to take our drink to go. We just left with the bottle.

Won’t return again. There are so many other BBQ places in K town with better service and price.

I’ll leave my words here: this place won’t survive with such attitude and will close...