KJUN — Restaurant in New York

This place was recommended to me by a Korean buddy of mine that knows I have some family ties to Louisiana… so on my bday weekend I thought I’d cross it off the list… KJUN (got it ;), the concept sounds great , but it did not deliver on many levels… The meal started off ok. I liked the cute space which is rare in that part of town. It feels cool to know about when you first walk in, and service started out great with our first server… but there were some red flags, looking back, that I chose to ignore. For example, after we checked in with the hostess and were pointed to our table, a waiter again asked us if we had a reservation, awkwardly, as we were sitting. And as much as I appreciate an amuse bouche (pickled watermelon rind with yuzu and mint if I remember correctly), I don’t think it was supposed to be warm… which it was was on a hot day. Not refreshing at all. The blackened catfish “nuggets” were fine but basic and really a small portion, even for an appetizer, they came with some more watermelon rind that they served in a plastic take out thing with the lid on… (just weird after the amuse bouche presentation). Next was the entrees… we ordered kimchi jambalaya with shrimp and the seafood Jjajangmyun. The jambalaya was ok, again it was a really small portion size… but more importantly our other entree never came out! We finished the jambalaya, and a new server?/runner was immediately there to ask us if we wanted dessert or the check, and my dining companion hadn’t even received her dish! She then goes back to the kitchen and returns with the dish ordered that had DIED on the line! … a luke warm aka cold seafood dish and a soft apology… for forgetting a whole persons food… Personally, I wanted to send it back, but my date wouldn’t let me. When we finished the forgotten dish they were again super quick to ask about the desserts or check, and when we decided against desserts we were brought the payment machine before the table was cleared… SUPER RUSHED. The forgotten dish was never mentioned, nor was anything done to take ownership of the kinda huge mistake, which I know the more senior server knew happened, because he talked to the server/runner in the open kitchen within earshot of our table… We never saw out first server again btw. Just a really disappointing experience. The misagaru drink was nice, if you feel like paying $15 for a non alcoholic drink. Whatever. I think this place is a bit confused (high/low) and the staff was def...

Overall for a fusion restaurant that always leaves me skeptical, it was surprisingly well done! Some dishes were more of a hit than others but I think overall the ones that worked, worked. The ones that didn’t as much- I think it can be better executed. We opted for the tasting menu which showcased all of the dishes, and with that the corkage fee was waived for us due to the size of our party. So I have to say I do appreciate the restaurant for making that accommodation.

We traveled to New York for my fiancés bday and this place was recommended by one of our friends and since we’re Korean and getting married in NOLA, this was a no brainer. It was almost meant to be that we came across this spot. The restaurant is verrryyy small and so small in order to get to the bathroom, you have to go through the very small kitchen. With that said it is a nice touch that you can see the kitchen as I’ve always been a fan of open kitchen concepts.

The service I have to say was 50-50. The person identified as a chef and owner did not seem as welcoming as she was the one manding the front door. I realize that her and her team were getting our table ready however we have been to other restaurants in New York City that were just as busy and the owner or manager was willing to take a few seconds to welcome us. On that note when we made the reservation, we were told over the phone to come earlier which we still ended up waiting about 20 to 25 minutes longer than our reservation time. However, I will say the service was made up by the wait staff because they were amazing. They were energetic, attentive, prompt, and very engaging.

Now let’s move onto the food. Some of my most favorite dishes was the take on jajangmyun with squid ink, collard greens, pork ribs, and the honey butter chips. The star of the night was the okra which I do not like but in this application was delicious, a little sweet, tangy and crunchy. No dish was disappointing per se as they all tasted good, it was the fusion aspect that was...

We went to KJUN on a Thursday evening. We were a group of three and had made our reservation through Resy about a week in advance.

The Good: We ordered the family-style menu (~$55 per person). The restaurant texted a day before our reservation to inform us that it’s BYOB and that the family-style option waives the corkage fee, which they recommended we choose. The food was generally good—an interesting take on Korean-Cajun fusion with fresh, vibrant flavors. The seafood jjajangmyeon was a bit underwhelming, but the other dishes were tasty, and the presentation was impressive. Portions were also quite generous.

The Bad: The most memorable part of our dinner was the extremely rushed and chaotic service. From the moment we were seated, the host informed us that the next reservation was in 70 minutes, urging us to start ordering starters immediately (at this point, one of our friends hadn’t even arrived). The first five or so dishes arrived within 10 minutes, leaving no room on the small table for all the plates. This forced us to eat quickly to accommodate the rapid pace. The relentless speed also meant I couldn’t even pause to take photos of the beautifully presented dishes to share in this review. Eventually, one of my friends asked the waiter if they could slow down the service, which they did slightly. However, the staff’s desperation to turn over our table was palpable. Three different servers repeatedly tried to clear our plates—multiple times before we were finished—asking the same questions about the dishes. One server hastily removed our cutlery, including the dessert spoon, just as we were about to start dessert. They also brought the check with the dessert. Staff came to our table twice to say they could delay the next reservation by 10 minutes but that we needed to leave soon. While we were finishing our conversation, they hovered around our table, giving us pointed looks until we felt pressured to cut our conversation...