Barn Joo Union Square — Restaurant in New York

Starting with positive notes, manager/host was very kind, as were the support/bussing staff. Food was pretty good albeit a touch expensive. If you get stone bibimbap, galbi and ribs are way to go. Soups are massive, but a touch under seasoned. Had seafood and beef stew. Scallion pancakes were super crunchy, and daughter loved them. (her first time!). Otherwise wish there was some banchan! Guess if we did kbbq portion things would've been different? Portions made up for it though. If you make a reservation ahead you can spin the wheel for a prize! So main gripes here were from service end. I'm a stickler for service especially on a 5-top with kid(s). I also do my best not to make an issue of things if it's busy since I understand the struggle of the industry right now. However it was a pretty light day in the restaurant. We were seated very quickly (server was standing at door greeting guests), but it took about 25-30 minutes to be greeted by the server. Busser/backwaiter brought waters thankfully, but service was dragging. Tried flagging down support, but they were busy bussing, and server wasn't visible. Finally, we were greeted and she was surprised we had waters, and almost walked away to give us time to order! We had been ready for quite a while and had asked if possible to put in child's order first (as is the case wherever we go). We thought she'd pop it in quickly and return, but continued to take our orders. Put them in promptly and food came out sporadically.... Child's food did not come first which was our biggest concern. The 2 Bibimbap came out first, followed by the stew, then wings, then rice side (!), then finally the pancakes. So we were giving our daughter what we could in the interim (always have snacks!). Everyone finished the food, and the server came by to check on us, and i hadn't yet received my soup (about 35min later). So I asked the status (wasn't to worried about it, again, expo having a rough day or maybe kitchen understaffed who knows). Server goes to POS (I assume to check time ordered) to come back and apologize and say it will be right out... So essentially an hour passed and all food finally hit table minus one entree in random order yeah? 20 minutes pass...30 minutes pass she checks in and asked if food came.... Obviously not yet ma'am as it's not in front of me? I withheld attitude and smiled, "not yet!" Presumes to check kitchen and comes back with runner. "Sorry guys I have to get it to go, and the check while we're here, please." We get check and food goes to kitchen to get packed up... Taking a while so we ask support to check on it please. ANOTHER 15 min later food comes. Manager comes by to ask if we're good, all the while we're packed up and rtg. We didn't say anything since I don't like to stir the pot. (Wife was ready though!) Mind you check was settled, nothing comped (no problem I get it. Food cost is higher than ever, but I would've handled differently). Sorry this is a rant. Again take the positives (I usually don't write reviews under 4 stars bc i hate seeing local businesses get dinged), but after not having dined out in Manhattan in a bit, this was kind of jarring haha. Tldr; food good, vibes good, try bbq ($110) if you're down, otherwise stick to K-town...

Today was my fourth time at this establishment. I always go for the crispy fish filet sandwich from the lunch special. It's very good and what has kept me coming back so far, but with each visit, I felt that the service was frustratingly declining more and more. I had a great time visiting the first time last summer, no complaints there. Then, in the fall, I visited again with my husband and visiting friends. We ordered 2 crispy fish filet sandwiches and 2 other entrees, but our server only put in an order for one sandwich and the other 2 entrees, leaving my husband without a sandwich. When we asked them about the second sandwich, they said it's in the works, but we didn't get it until the rest of the group had been about three quarters of the way done with the food, which was about 25 minutes after the server said the second sandwich was in the works. Why not just be honest and tell us she forgot to put in the second order??

The third time we visited, again, I wanted the crispy fish filet sandwich. This time they put in the order, but after 15 minutes of waiting, they said they actually didn't have any more of it... then why take my money and keep me waiting?

The fourth, and last ever time, I visited was today, with my husband. We ordered 2 fish sandwiches, and we had asked for ketchup. After 10 minutes passed, no one came with our ketchup, so we flagged down someone else. We asked for ketchup (again) and asked them what hot sauces they had, and they said Tabasco. So we asked for ketchup and Tabasco, which this server returned with ketchup and Sriracha. We flagged her down again and asked if we could have Tabasco and not Sriracha, which then she said they don't serve Tabasco and only had Sriracha.... but they have bottles of Tabasco with oyster trays??? The original server who we asked ketchup from also came back after we were done with our meal with the ketchup and said, "Oh you guys have your ketchup already?"

Your staff needs better training. I gave a lot of chances simply because the fish sandwich is good, but I will not be coming back, even if someone paid for my meal because I don't think anyone front of house actually cares about what they're...

My friends were craving some oysters, so I found Barn Joo, which had $1 happy hour oysters. Once we arrived, the hostess told us that happy hour (including the oysters) were at the bar only (even though I had been to their other location by K-town, and the specials applied at the table too, but whatever. I will let this go) The bar area was packed to the BRIM on a Friday evening, so there was no way we were getting that special. So we just grabbed a few drinks and then they sat us at our table, which we had made a reservation for. We didn't do the BBQ but decided to order a few dishes to share instead. Here is everything we had:

Tuna Mayo Tartare (tuna, pickled radish, chives, mayonnaise, sesame oil, garlic bruschetta with honey drizzle) - this tastes better than it looks. I could have done with a bit less mayo, but it was a nice change from the typical sesame oil tartare you'd get everywhere else

Korean Pancake w Scallion - pretty standard, nothing to write home about

Uni Bibim Paella (rice on a sizzling hot stone plate topped with uni, cured shrimp, capelin roe, pickled radish, kimchi, quinoa, egg and seaweed puree) - this was probably my favorite. The rice at the bottom was crisp, like clay pot rice. There were also a lot of flavors going on, but in a good way.

Braised Octopus (octopus, marble potatoes, black bean, shishito peppers, ginger, bean sprouts, gochujang chili sauce) - octopus was nice and tender

Seared Scallops (scallops, fresh corn, parmesan, sweet potato, zucchini, lemon aioli) - scallops could have been cooked for a few seconds less, but pretty good overall. I really liked the corn salad that came with it

Galbi Steak aka NY Bites (marinated short rib, grilled lemon, kabocha squash, hemp seeds, butter sauteed mushrooms) - the steak was good but I feel like the star of the show here was the butter sauteed mushrooms.

It was a little too much food for four ladies, but I'm glad we tried everything that we did. Now, if only we could have had some of those $1 oysters (triple the price for non-HH, which we did not feel...