Gahwa — Restaurant in New York

My family and I came here because (1) they were the only place open at ten in the morning, and (2) my mom crowed about their bibimbap. The restaurant, at first glance, doesn't seem like much. It's a small space with few servers, and the de rigeur banchan, or small plates, that are a part of every Korean meal are few. Other restaurants might provide a bevy of offerings, but Gahwa sticks to the bare basics with the ever-present kimchi and kkakdugi (spicily fermented radish). That said, I couldn't stop my chopsticks from returning to these small plates. Both are done extremely well here, and we had barely enough time to savor them before our plates came out because the food arrived that quickly.

I went with the dolsot bibimbap, the hot stone pot version of this dish, which was every bit as good as my mom claimed. There was a surprisingly varied mix of root vegetables and mushrooms and the server here was kindly about making mine vegetarian by removing the meat. All too often, the vegetables for this spicy mixed rice dish are cut into all kinds of lengths and sizes, including some that are too long for a spoon and leave vegetal tendrils dangling as you try to grab a mouthful. But here, everything is thoughtfully chopped into tiny dices, making it that much easier to pack a bite. It seems like a small thing, but I thought it a delightful touch.

The only two drawbacks were that the pot wasn't terribly hot, which meant the rice never crisped on the bottom as much as I would have liked. The other very small thing was that I missed having an egg to throw in (which many other restaurants provide). But those small quibbles aside, we appreciated the quick service and the fact that they were one of few Korean restaurants in the area open to hungry...

As a long time regular, it is so disappointing that the service is declining. My friend and I came at 8:30pm to grab dinner. After ordering the mains, I asked for drinks and the server said they do not serve alcohol after 9pm. It wasn’t even 9pm at that point but I said fine. We get our dishes and we are enjoying it. It’s 9:15pm and the server wants us to pay now. Umm we haven’t even finished the meal. But fine, we pay. 9:19pm comes around and the other server comes up to us to say that they’re closing at 9:20pm. Like what?! How can you tell a paying customer that is in the middle of eating to leave in a minute? This should be communicated before being seated. It says closing at 9:45pm on google so we thought we had at least another 20 minutes to finish eating. I literally had no words at that point. I didn’t even want to argue with them. We just left as soon as we finished swallowing. They didn’t say good night as we walked out.

It’s 2025. I know we are in Flushing but cmon! Please do not operate like this. It’s such a let down to people, especially when I’m introducing Korean culture to my non-Korean friends! If you can’t commit to letting people finish their food because you want to go home early, then don’t accept them. It’s extremely rude and...

Terrible Customer service! We came in 30 min before closing for a quick meal, since their food is usually quickly prepared. The waitress told us some food menu is not available since they are closing soon. Which we understood and ordered whatever was available. We asked to order some alcohol and she told us we can’t because they are closing soon. We told her multiple times we won’t stay long and will be out before they close and won’t overstay. She still said no multiple times which was frustrating because it was hot and we just wanted to quickly grab a bite and have a beer. She finally gave in and served us alcohol. However after getting my food and having 3 bites - I felt something really hard. I spit it out to check and a coin “dime” was inside my soup!! Disgusting and also wondering if intentional! I stopped eating as it made me completely lose my appetite. I regret paying for the food I barely ate, and I even tipped 18% for a service that was poor. Will never go back and hope the owner does something to train their employees better. I get it, staffs want to leave early but please if you are opened until 30 min, then treat your customers with upmost respect for those remaining time and DO NOT tamper...