Barn Joo 35 — Restaurant in New York

Updated -

I visited this restaurant years ago and remember it being only okay. It looks like my memory has served me right. Our party of 7 had a resso for a Sunday lunch at 12:15. We ordered a bunch of dishes to share family style. We had:

-Shisito peppers - too much going on here. There were onions, seaweed, and microgreens. Plain would have been better. Sometimes, it's best to just keep it simple -Truffle fries - can't really go wrong with truffle fries, can you? -Corn cheese - same situation as the truffle fries. What's not to love about corn and cheese? Although, they topped it with diced tomatoes and peppers, which was a little weird -Bulgogi hotstone bowl - basic -Spicy pork hotstone bowl - it kind of tasted similar to the beef bulgogi so if you already have one type, you don't need another one -Beef japchae - this was good, but if you are a Korean restaurant and you can't make a good japchae, then what are you even doing? -Korean army stew - the smallest army stew you'll ever see

For drinks, I had some flavored soju flight. I don't remember the flavors but I don't think any particular flavor stood out to me.

Overall, the portions are kind of small and pricey. If you're looking for good Korean gastropub food, there are plenty of other options in the area.

—

Came in on a Wednesday a little bit after 6:30 and the place didn't seem completely packed yet. We were seated right away but I think if you have a party larger than two, you'll probably have to wait for a table. My boyfriend and I were actually passing by and were on our way to a different spot, but then I saw Barn Joo 35 on the menu board outside and remembered I had this place on my bookmarks list. So we decided to get in there and take advantage of the last 20 minutes of happy hour.

Happy hour is 4-7. Kirin is $3, house wine is $5, and this rice wine is $4. The rice wine tasted like a mix of soju, beer, and yogurt milk. I'm not sure how I felt about this. It's odd, but it didn't taste bad.

For food, we ordered a few of their happy hour apps. The tuna crostini and the wings. I liked the crostini but it's pretty small so each person probably needs their own, even though it comes with 4 pieces. The wings had a great flavor to them but they seem to have over fried them. It was a little dry.

Their other menu items sound good and are at a very reasonable price for this area so I'll definitely come back to try some of...

I'm not normally a reviewer, but I felt compelled to do so for my experience at Barn Joo.

The positives:

1. The service was fantastic! Everyone was very nice, we got seated very quickly despite it being pretty busy. Our waiter quickly came over with water and the entire staff was attentive to us the whole night.
2. The cocktails are delicious. They're your standard NYC prices, but the soju cocktails especially were very good. I would definitely go back just to hang out at the bar.
3. The atmosphere is very nice, especially with all the Christmasy decorations. The wheel spin seemed fun for those with reservations! I thought it was a cool idea.

The negatives: There was only one thing that was disappointing, and honestly it was the food. I ordered the Uni Bibimbap which had a beautiful presentation. Unfortunately, this was overshadowed by the quality of the Uni. Most of the pieces were darker in color and pretty flimsy. This had me a bit suspect to start with but I know uni can vary depending on where it comes from so I tried it. Some of the pieces were ok, but some were really not fresh and the flavor was pretty overbearing. On a couple of occasions I had to almost chase the uni it with my drink because I couldn't handle the taste. I've had the opportunity to have premium uni at high quality sushi restaurants, so I knew this flavor was not characteristic of fresh or premium sea urchin. I realize I should've mentioned this to the server, but there was already an issue with the dish that they remedied very kindly so I didn't want to make a big deal out of something so pretentious-sounding.

My girlfriend ordered the Bulgogi bowl. The flavor was good but the meat was pretty dry and there were a lot of larger pieces of fat on the meat.

All in all, there is a ton to enjoy about this restaurant and I definitely recommend stopping in if you have the opportunity. I do however think there should be a bit more stringent checks for quality control on the food, especially for the...

I came here with my hubby on a Thursday afternoon with a 4:30pm OpenTable reservation.

I was allowed to spin the wheel and won a free cocktail, a very fun and generous welcome gift from Barn Joo 35! (FYI: reservation = spin of the wheel)

Staff was very kind and attentive! The lighting inside was a tad bit too dark for me personally, but I still found the interior / vibe cute and cozy.

It was Happy Hour from 4-6pm. From the HH menu I had the Crunchy Tofu ($12) and hubby had the taco's ($18) and a Sapporo ($7). We both enjoyed our appetizers very much!

With my free soju cocktail win I had the Midtown Forsythia, which was deliciously sweet, just how I like it!

For our mains I had the Tofu & Mushroom Hotstone Bowl ($23) and my hubby had the Galbi-Jjim ($41) with the Vegetable Wrap Set for an additional $3. I enjoyed my main, but I wasn't blown away or anything. My hubby sadly did not enjoy his main, he wasn't expecting it to be a soup type of main dish and he found the meat to be of cheap quality. The Perilla Leaf from the Vegetable Wrap Set also threw him off. I had it myself and also wasn't a fan of this particular leaf.

Overall I was happy with my vegetarian options and truly enjoyed the the Crunchy Tofu so so much, I'd come back just for that alone! I do see us coming back in the future, exploring other options on the menu. I was a bit disappointed that Barn Joo 35 didn't offer any Korean dessert options though, all they had was ice cream churro's, if I remember correctly, I passed on having dessert.

So I absolutely do recommend everyone interested to try Barn Joo 35, especially for vegetarians out there like myself, as BJ35 has a good amount of vegetarian options! I'm purely giving 4 stars, instead of 5, due to my hubby's dislike of his main dish and for me the lack of (Korean) desserts, that just would've been the cherry on top for my...