BANGIA — Restaurant in New York

If you're craving good Korean food without enduring absurdly long lines, Bangia is the ideal place to visit. While it is a bar/restaurant, I primarily went for the delicious food. During my recent visit, my partner and I ordered three dishes: Spicy Chicken Fried Rice, Spicy Squid & Pork Belly, and the Marinated Pork Feet.

The Fried Rice was a delightful Korean classic that I highly recommend. Adding cheese for an extra $2 balances out the spice from the Kimchi and provides a nice kick and acidic flavor (would highly recommend). The perfectly cooked egg on top also adds a really nice richness to the dish, cutting it open and letting the yolk ooze made me immediately hungry. One thing I will say though, it was really difficult to find the chicken in this dish, perhaps it blended in, or they didn’t give a lot, but either way it was soooo good.

The Spicy Squid & Pork Belly dish is perfect for those who enjoy heavy flavors. It offers a blend of garlic, onion, spiciness, and sweetness, complemented by a slight char from the hot plate. While there wasn't a lot of squid, the ample amount of Pork Belly made up for it. My favorite way to enjoy this was by placing it on top of a spoonful of fried rice for a timeless combo of rice and meat.

Lastly, the pork feet, a dish worth trying even if you're not familiar with Asian foods. The texture is soft, reminiscent of the fatty part of bacon, with no distinct "feet" flavor but rather the taste of the marinated meat. Dipped in the provided ssamjang (sweet and salty fermented soybean sauce) and wrapped in lettuce, it becomes a delightful burst of fat, sweet, salty, and spicy flavors. Personally, I slightly prefer their Cold Pork Feet, as I enjoy the chewier and springier texture of the cold meat over the "melt in your mouth" feel of the warm meat.

Overall, Bangia stands as a solid Korean restaurant, offering a great alternative to other places in K-town where waiting 1-2 hours is common. While the dishes average around $30 each, the generous portion sizes make it worth the money. I find that lots of places in K-town will cost about ~$30 an entree, but you don’t get a...

A few friends and I came to Bangia right at opening on a Friday night and ordered the grilled pork belly, spicy pork belly & fried rice in stone pot, and the soy garlic wings. The food wasn't the best; the wings were dry and the fried rice was one of the saltiest things I've ever tasted. The service, as well, wasn't the best. We had to wait almost 10 minutes at the hostess stand (this was after opening time) before someone would come and seat us. Even after we were seated, we still had to wait another 10-15 minutes just to get water. We thought this was a bit strange considering we were the only party there at the time.

However, the real problem occurred after we left the restaurant. I paid for the bill using my card and the total (after writing in tip) came out to $69 for three people. A few days later, upon logging into my banking app, I was shocked to see that Bangia had charged me $971.88 for the meal, $902.88 MORE than the $69 total that I had indicated on the receipt. I always make an effort to make the tip and total very clear when filling out the receipts: the "cent" numbers are always written smaller and underlined, so there should be no room for confusion, let alone room for an extra $902.88 charge.

That evening we contacted the restaurant and spoke with the manager, who said that he knew that he had made a mistake, but was "waiting for us to contact him", before fixing his mistake and issuing a refund. What if I never noticed, and as a result, never contacted him? Was he planning on just keeping the extra $900, even if he KNEW that a mistake had occurred? Interestingly, a quick search (there's another review here on Yelp) shows that other customers ALSO had issues with being charged extra tip. Hmm.

I don't recommend this restaurant at all-- there's no point in risking an extra $900 charge on your card to eat mediocre food and receive mediocre service. There are a ton of better options...

My friend and I attempted to stop in for a few drinks. We put our name in with the host and explicitly said that we were only planning on drinking and only needed a spot at the bar. The host said it would be 20-30 minutes, which we were ok with as it was clearly busy. After 35 minutes or so, two spots opened at the bar. We noticed that we were next on the list to be seated at these seats and that the bartender was clearing/cleaning them for us. They cleared the spots then in walked a couple that clearly knew the host (they did not have their name on the list). Rather than respecting our name on the list/the time we spent waiting, the host sat the couple that just walked in. When I attempted to ask why- the host only shrugged and apologized. We left and found better options for the soju we were looking for at other bars in the area that respected our time and had a better grasp of customer service. Recommend going elsewhere if theyre too busy to seat you- save your time for a place that will serve you/respect your wait time.

EDIT: as requested by the owner in their response. I arrived approximately 8:26 PM (sent a confirmation text to my friend) and left at 8:54 PM (sent a text to a different group that we could meet up earlier than expected). The issue was not the wait time- it was a Friday night, we expected a wait. The issue was that there was only a party of 4 ahead of us on the list at the time, and they were hoping to get a table to eat. 2 spots opened at the bar, we had been waiting the longest (other than the party of 4) and yet the bar spots were given to two people that walked in when we were told they were being...