Jang Dok Dae Corp — Restaurant in New York

**If you are looking for authentic Korean food, I strongly do NOT recommend this restaurant.

2-3years ago, we came here and had an amazing experience — the food was delicious and the service was so warm and kind that I left a heartfelt, detailed review.

Recently, I missed that sense of comfort and decided to make a special drive to come back. Unfortunately, this visit was a complete disappointment and completely changed my impression of this place.

The menu had changed significantly, so I asked the owner for a recommendation. Instead of helping, he responded with a cold, dismissive tone, saying “Just order whatever you want,” as if we were bothering him and needed to hurry up. We were so taken aback that we awkwardly rushed to choose something while feeling very uncomfortable.

As I wasn’t feeling well, I was debating whether to order samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) or grilled chicken. While we were still deciding, the owner overheard our conversation and suddenly said, “So you want that one?” and started writing the order down without confirming. We had to stop him and explain what we actually wanted, which was extremely awkward.

While waiting for our food, we were served the side dishes and chopsticks. For a Korean restaurant charging $25–$30 per dish (we spent 100$) , I was shocked to see disposable wooden chopsticks — the kind typically used for takeout. • Kimchi: It had a musty, off flavor and tasted nothing like authentic Korean kimchi. • The only edible side dish was the cucumber. • The tomato and cilantro salad — I can’t eat cilantro, and they didn’t even ask if it was okay. This dish, pictured, is something I’ve never seen on a proper Korean table.

During our meal, we overheard the owner saying things like, “No Chinese customers today. I wish more Chinese people would come, even for pickup.” At that moment, I realized that the side dishes seemed to have been catered to a completely different palate — not authentic Korean cuisine.

When my samgyetang arrived, it was another disappointment. Traditionally, samgyetang includes ginseng, jujube, and glutinous rice. This version contained only a small amount of glutinous rice mixed with quinoa ? — no ginseng, no jujube. Even worse, the chicken itself was shockingly tiny, almost like it came from a baby chick. As shown in the photo, the drumstick was literally smaller than my finger. I’ve had young chicken soup before, but I’ve never seen one this undersized and underwhelming.

Other dishes were equally disappointing: • The pajeon (green onion pancake) was so greasy that it looked like it was sitting in a pool of oil, as seen in the photo. • The grilled pork belly was unbearably salty — it tasted as though it had been soaked in salt. Even after eating an entire bowl of rice, the saltiness was overwhelming.

We were so hungry that we forced ourselves to eat, focusing only on filling our stomachs. But on the way home, we felt bloated and unwell from how salty and greasy everything was. This will definitely be our last visit. The fond memories we had of this place are now completely replaced by this terrible experience. I just hope people don’t think this is what traditional Korean food is supposed to be.

It is truly disappointing that a place with the beautiful Korean name “Jangdokdae” (traditional Korean clay pot) is serving food and...

This restaurant prepares meals with real imagination while remaining firmly rooted in traditional Korean culinary tastes. It was a delight to dine here, and I hope to visit again.

I’ve never liked a restaurant that tries to be too progressive and overly deviate from traditional Korean cuisine, but this place struck the right balance that can be so hard to achieve. Our lunch began with something you’d see more in a restaurant catering to non-Koreans: a salad consisting of large chopped tomatoes with onions and even cilantro. But it somehow worked for my admittedly overly discriminating palate.

And then we had the restaurant’s signature dish: the aged pork belly. I have never had anything like this before…the aged soybean and red pepper pastes that seeped through the meat during the 4-week aging process added a real depth. And then we spent a lot of time talking with the lady who I believe is the owner about how she came about with the recipe. She talked with such joy and passion about her work, and I feel that I could taste that joy and passion in her food.

We also had the oyster sundubu…the oysters were large and fresh, giving such rich flavor to the tofu soup that would have been delicious already by itself. My party also had the galbitang, which was prepared so cleanly with good grade meat. (I too often see very oily galbitangs with sub-grade meat in other places.)

The banchan (side dishes) were fresh and good too. I even enjoyed the nontraditional eggplant banchan, and I hate eggplant.

On top of all that, the interior is nicely set up inside that creates a cozy ambience.

I highly recommend this restaurant to those who may be interested in where Korean cuisine can go to meet new heights without betraying Korean culinary tradition—or to anybody who just wants good...

Seeing good reviews, I wanted to try this place. Unfortunately nothing stood out for me except pancakes. It is one of those run of the mill mediocre Korean places in the Flushing area.

First off, the menu is confusing at best. I needed to flip back and forth to figure out how I order them. It was especially true when I had to deal with some eyesores since they put incorrect Korean words. This gives out a vibe that the owners are not smart. The lady who seems be the owner got vexed and told me I must know what I want to eat upon stepping into this place. Well, I didn’t know this place exists and the menu is full of nonsense. They don’t seem to possess the fundamentals of Korean cuisine.

For example, the food I had doesn’t come with a soup which is, in general, basic in Korean dish. It is obvious that they don’t want to run extra miles to prep soups to make it complete. I could also see them cutting corners here and there. Due to this, this place fails to deliver full meal experience.

This is more obvious with the fact that they serve ginger tea instead of water. I know serving various types of tea is typical in Asian restaurants. Given that, this is the first restaurant I have ever had this. I couldn’t figure out what this awful thing was until the lady volunteered telling me it is ginger something and bragged about it. She doesn’t know ginger tea reduces appetite and feeling of hunger.

I don’t feel that this place deserves all these...