Chilsung Garden — Restaurant in New York

It was my mom’s bday and we wanted something besides our usual pasta and pizza. Reservation was a breeze but I let them know we had a stroller. He was a little hesitant saying it wouldn’t fit and sort of lectured me on how baby shouldn’t be breathing in bbq smoke. I reassured him that baby won’t be too close that the smoke won’t be so deadly and we’ve been to other restaurants. This was all spoken in Korean. Plenty of space for a stroller btw so don’t feel discouraged about taking your little one. There were empty tables but lots of big parties and I understand when waitresses get busy…. To a point! We were given the worst service! First of all, they should’ve scheduled more people to work on holidays. They had two serving a party of 15, 10, 12, 6, 8, and maybe another 10. That’s a lot for two people! I don’t mind cooking the meat, sometimes I rather prefer it. But when they wouldn’t cook it and I started, they kept coming over saying they’ll do it. I hate that. It took about 10 minutes to change to charcoal so even if we wanted more non marinated meat (different grill) we didn’t order it bc they would have had to change it again and would’ve taken forever. So we just kept ordering galbi. And the last two servings we had, the waitress piled on ALL the meat on one small grill. The meat was literally hanging off the grill. I took some off and started cooking. She came over again and said, oh, did I put that much on there? Uuumm, ya think? My brother was so pissed with the whole experience he stopped eating. My parents weren’t having fun so they kept quiet. We also wanted to have some wine but we figured that would’ve been a terrible mistake so we didn’t order it. When we paid, one waitress came over and apologized and said we didn’t need to tip bc they didn’t give their best. But I couldn’t do that even though the whole night was ruined. I left a lot more than they deserved tbh. But the other waitress couldn’t wait to collect the tip as we were getting up. I was ok with the whole experience up until that point. I admit, the meat was amazing, but bc these two ruined our mother’s dinner, this is one establishment we will never return. We are a family of 10 (incl. 3 kids & baby) and usually spend over $1k every time we get together for special events. We love eating and trying everything on the menu. This is the first time we spent a low amount. I think we all just lost our appetite and that’s the worst thing that can happen to anyone dining out. I really hope they fix...

This review is a culmination of several visits as well as take-out services.

Overall, Chilsung Garden is a decent restaurant for Korean food. They have more tables than some other restaurants so they can accomodate large parties and their decor is nice.

I mostly get their KBBQ and noodles so my review on taste and food quality is primarily that. Overall, the meat is seasoned very nicely. However, there have been a few occasions where there was a lot of fat in the meat and it was very difficult to chew. So it varies. Their noodles are on point in the restaurant. It's on point 85% of the time with take out. The other 15% is because the noodles are hard as if they have been out for a period of time. Their banchan (side dishes) and extra services are delicious and well seasoned.

Service is hit or miss depending on who you are talking to at the time. There have been a few visits where they visit multiple times because they want us to leave (this was when the restaurant was pretty empty) or appear to rush you (in this case, the refills however are prompt and service is quick). However there have been times when refills were very delayed and servers seemed to be very curt during busy nights and seem to ignore requests. There is a manager who tries to mediate that. It would be nice if service could be a little more patient overall and consistent. I understand some diners like the quick service but others would like to eat at a more enjoyable pace.

The price is comparable to other locations. There is free parking in the back which can get crowded depending on the time you go, as well as street parking along Horace Harding. The ambience of the restaurant is great for business meetings, family dinners, and even dates I would say.

And as of October 2022, they are one of the restaurants that do not charge an additional fee for credit cards, which is a plus if you were wanting to splurge on some kbbq.

Edit: I've dropped the rating to a 2. Ordered sushi/roll combination take out and the rice consistency was akin to porridge rendering it inedible. You would also think that these combination rolls are meant for more than 3 mouths given the side dishes that came along. Price for the quality and amount overpriced. My review on prices and food quality is now based on their kbbq, sushi, and a few korean...

The electricity was shorted and went out at the entire shopping mall including this restaurant went out during when I was dining with a friend. We waited and it still hasn’t came back even after 30 minutes. Other customers began to use their flashlights on the phone to continue with their meal.

We were tired of the situation and asked for a check. Of course, the card machine was also out and asked to be paid in cash. I understood but I did not have any cash and asked if they accepted venmo or zelle. The owners declined and asked for the card information and told us it will be charged later when the electricity comes back on. But they also asked if they can get a copy of my ID and I denied since I believe it is absurd to give my information just for a meal.

Long story short, they asked for my phone number along with the card info but had audacity to ask for tip. Yes, tipping is no problem but if your customers are having bad experience due to the cause that is beyond their reach, don’t you think you should apologize first? The servers apologized but the owners were just busy collecting customers card information so that they won’t have any losses. We had couple entrees and two beers. You are operating a business. Instead of worrying about the losses, if I were you, losses should not be your first concern. If you, for example, apologize for the incident and maybe be like the beers were on us for the inconvenience, I would’ve happily thank them and gave them more than enough tip for their sincerity. But up until I was leaving after giving the information. They were like.. “how about the tip?” Like seriously? Trying their absolute best not to lose few hundred bucks and ask for tip? I still gave them 18% since the servers were at no fault but these owners need to wake up. Doesnt care about the customers inconvenience because they were acting like it’s not their fault. Yes it is not your fault on what happened but your attitude towards the customers were absurd. Never will go back. You will lose more than what you have collected on yesterday. The food is decent but their mindset is...