Anytime Kitchen — Restaurant in New York

Anytime Kitchen has always felt a bit shady to me — particularly since they ask customers to leave a 5-star review in exchange for a free soju cocktail. However, I kept an open mind for this collaboration with Chef Jung Ji Sun but was left even more disappointed.

The reservation process was frustrating from the start. To book, you were required to email them in a panic in the middle of a work day. You then had to wait multiple undisclosed hours for them to call you and then pay a nonrefundable $120 per person upfront on the phone, and the price wasn’t disclosed until you were already in a panic making the reservation. Even worse, there was no mention at all of what was going to be on the menu, the number of courses that would be served, or the duration of the meal. It seemed like their target audience were fans willing to drop a hefty $120 just to see Chef Jung Ji Sun, regardless of the lack of details.

(A week after booking the reservation, the menu was released on instagram. Thankfully, there were 9 courses which made the $120 feel more justified.) However, my friends and I were under the impression that the 9-course meal would last 2-3 hours, but we were told at the event right before being seated that we only had 70 minutes. Towards the last 15 min of the meal, we were approached multiple times by different staff announcing "15 minutes left", "10 minutes left", "5 minutes left". In the end, we left at the 65-minute mark and had to take many items to go.

All the food was served at an incredibly fast pace, with absolutely no descriptions of the dishes that were being placed on our table.

The tables weren’t being cleared, forcing us to put empty plates and carafes on the on the vacant seat next to us or floor.

One appetizer course was forgotten entirely and didn’t arrive until just before dessert.

The quality of the food was just ok: 3 dishes stood out (banana kadaif dessert, beef & shepherd's purse doenjang jjigae, mala shrimp dim sum), but the rest really were just ok

Overall, this experience only confirmed my suspicions about Anytime Kitchen. They aren't professional enough to host a celebrity chef pop-up. They overbooked the restaurant (I heard many people weren't seated until 1-2 hours after their reservation and had to physically stand in line on their staircase) and the entire collaboration felt like quick a cash grab. I was happy to pay since I really love the chef and we got to meet her for a bit, but otherwise it was an extremely...

I want to preface and say that before this last visit, I've come here twice and those experiences for a small group did go well. That being said, this last one really tarnished my opinion. I had made a reservation for this restaurant a week prior online with a worker over the phone (because I was reserving for more than 10 people and the website's limit was 10). Fast forward to the day of my reservation (also my birthday) and I receive a call from the restaurant asking to confirm and notifying me that there would be a $60 minimum for each person. I was annoyed because I wasn't made aware of this when I made the reservation and when I asked about that, the response from the worker was, I was told about this minimum yesterday -- to which I ask, why wasn't I notified yesterday then? So two issues so far: (1) your staff is unaware of your standards and (2) you waited to tell me 2 hrs before my reservation, on a Saturday, with a party of 12. There was no way of securing a substitution in those conditions so I confirmed. It was my birthday and did not want to have to worry about it anymore. My group decided to skip bar-hopping to stay and just drink there to make sure we made the minimum.

We had dinner and as we grew closer to my next reservation (karaoke), we checked with our waitress to make sure we made the minimum and we were around the mid $800s ($100+ over our minimum). However, the receipt came out amounting to close to $1200. I step away from my table to talk to the manager and he said their minimum was $80/person and that no one told ever told me $60. We go back and forth with his responses generally being that I was wrong or that I was forgetting the receipt included tax and gratuity. HOWEVER, those two items are based on additional charge that was included because we "didn't make the $80/person minimum). Eventually two of my friends join the conversation, to which he rudely asked why they were there and joining the conversation. So my issues now include (3) inconsistent pricing and (4) rude behavior to me and my guests/your customers. He eventually comes back with a revised receipt of $75/person because he said he's "a nice guy". I refuse to pay this new bill after being rudely handled, and eventually he goes down to the $60/person. At one point, he had 3 receipts in hand for $80, $75, and $60/person which boggled my mind as to how you can just change your prices like that. Needless to say, we left the restaurant with no "good bye"...

the food and ambience here are simply put, incredible. this small but vivacious restaraurant in k-town is tucked away on the 3rd floor of a building. we went for dinner on a thursday night at around 8:30pm and it was loud and crowded (with the peak of noise and bustle at ~9pm), but we were still able to be seated immediately without a reservation.

they have a large selection of sojus and other alcohol; we just went for the classic peach soon haris, which never disappoint. we ordered family-style and got the following dishes (** = especially recommend):

**super creamy tteokbokki: wow this tteokbokki dish was to die for, the flavors are immaculate and the cheesiness and creaminess of this sauce paired so well with the soft tteokbokki textures.

**bulgogi tteokbokki: this was a really satisfying, flavorful mix of chewy tteokbokki and asian sauce, with sesame seeds adding a wonderful nutty crunch. the bulgogi was cooked well and the dish includes a hearty mix of yummy stir-fried vegetables too!

**spicy pork tteokbokki: another incredible tteokbokki dish; the pork was not very spicy but very flavorful otherwise and grilled perfectly. vegetable garnishes added a fresh touch and crunchy texture.

**sweet and spicy chicken: the chicken in this dish is cooked absolutely perfectly— so juicy and tender, and the cheese mixed with the sauce was the absolute perfect sweet and savory combo with a tiny spicy kick.

smoked salmon carpaccio: one of our servers recommended this dish, and it didn’t disappoint: the salmon pieces were extremely well-marinated with great flavor and they just melt perfectly in your mouth.

bulgogi: bulgogi beef which was grilled and seasoned well, mixed with a generous amount of veggies. good dish and flavors all around, but compared to the other fabulous dishes, was a bit lackluster.

smoked pork belly teriyaki: this dish had great, strong teriyaki flavors and the pork belly was cooked so well.

though all the dishes were amazing, we were most satisfied with all the tteokbokki dishes we ordered— such an incredible mix of textures and flavors with meats grilled to absolute perfection. the tteokbokki were interestingly shaped and super chewy and flavorful.

depending on where you sit and at certain parts of the night, it can get extremely loud and hard to even hear yourself talking… nonetheless, i think back fondly on the vibes of the restaurant and night, and i’d love to...