Little Dokebi — Restaurant in New York

As a Korean, this is not Korean foods. service and vibe is good. I won’t mention about that. But food is disapointing.(FYI, I used to work as a korean cook in new york)

I ordered soy ginger fried chichen and galbi (beef rib). ssam (lettuce for wrap) and souce, banchan(complimantry side dish) came togather.

soy ginger chicken is soggy with the souce, and too salty. wasn’t marinated inside though. I never seen soy ginger chicken but I thought it could be nice try. (there are many styles of chicken) but basic is soy galic and spicy. Japan more likely use ginger. And soggy style is more like chinese. Side radish pickle is weak. taste like chinese chicken store near my home

galbi is not marinated but taste like they use oyster souce on it and roasted with some vege. so there is water. Don’t expect millard. This is chinese style. Korean rather cook galbi without souce or marinate with sweet soy with garlic. this was very wired taste.

souce for ssam(wrap) was japanes soy paste. Real korean is little sweet. more garlicy, dark color. (there is many style in korea but this is out of expectation. Even thou I am open minded.

4.kimchi. there is many kind of style. but most of Korean would not like this taste. Some people might think this is well fermanted. But I don’t agree. Better fermantation need more salt (or garlic, red pepper)otherwise bad microorganism can grow and produce bad smell. (FYI I worked microorganism lab for 10years in korea)

vegi banchans were salted lightly with only salt. It is very basic style. Some Korean resturant in korea prefer this style on purpose. This strategy(intentional downgrade) is to avoid to refill banchan and guide customers focus on their main dish. It is also because Korean already know their(basic banchans) tastes. they fed up already bored with them. but here is New York. Most of people doesn’t know how it can be good. and wouldn’t request refill. Garlic, soysouce, some sweet, fish souce, sesame oil can make their varieties.

The wiredest banchan is chunsa chae(kelp noodle)which is tangle jelly-like noodle made of extract from see weed. they use salted sea weed(shio kanbu in japanes) with it. I don’t know it is japanes style. as long as, Korean never use shio kanbu in korean food this way. especially on this typical chunsa chae banchan. most Korean expect this banchan is with sweet mayo.(very kid taste)

I reviewed picture people posted, yukejang(soup) is kidding. dducbbokki is too little. chicken dish looks chinses style. pajun(scalion pancake) doen’t look crispy. (use more oil) Someone say kimchi fermention is not enough. In my opinion, it fermented not good way. lack of fish souce, galic, some rice paste.

This is just a store trying to ride the Korean trend. I'm sure there are no Korean owners or chefs.

I writing this review with the hope that many people would not misunderstand these food are Korean. And Korean food in New York is still very limited. some frozen foods and banchan, soups in H mart are way better

ps. I have been NY for 10year and familier with korean food here. and food trend in Korea is changing fastly. I like fusion style and twisted korean food. But menu here is very basic. that mean there is standard range of taste people expect. it...

Visiting from Pittsburgh and was looking for a nice dinner spot before a show at the Brooklyn Steel on Monday. My partner and I love Korean food and found this cozy restaurant in a nice walkable area.

Staff were friendly, service was top tier, and the food and drinks were wonderful. We ordered the kimchi pajeon (pancake), fried mandu, 8 pc KFC spicy wings, and split the Samgyeopsal (unmarinated pork belly).

I'm a bit particular when it comes to food so bare in mind with my honesty: The kimchi pancake didn't taste like the typical red spicy kimchi we're used to, and I was wondering if it was just a plain scallion pancake because it didn't have much flavor. I couldn't tolerate the spicy wings because the chili peppers were super fresh and overwhelmingly hot (my partner devoured them), and had to order extra pickled radish but the portion was on the small side for the number of wings. The banchan (side dishes) were good but a bit under-seasoned, and the pork belly only came with 3 medium lettuce wraps (not pictured).

I was super excited to see makgeolli (fermented rice wine) on the menu since it's a rare find, and only wished it were served in bowls rather than cups.

Dessert was toasted rice ice cream affogato (w espresso), simply magnificent.

Overall a wonderful meal and experience. I would definitely come back to try some...

Dinner review. 4 stars if you're coming here on someone else's dime. 3 if on your own. It's a wonderful experience. The walls are lined with art and you feel like you've been transported into another time. Like any super expensive place, the service is impeccable, yet I have to say our waitress was a very warm and inviting older lady. Cocktails were made very well and the food was good.

I got the appetizer platter with fish and meats and that was perfect for me since I wasn't too hungry (and also felt guilty about spending too much of my friend's parents' money -- but I guess I ended up getting cocktails instead of food so it pretty much evened out.)

If you get a dinner dish, get the Chicken Kiev to maximize your value. That thing is an absolute monster (and probably has a horrific amount of calories, seeing as it's a huge deep fried stuffed chicken thigh.)

But I would never come here if I had to pay my own way; this isn't quite my sort of place. I think this is the place you would go to impress older people. Younger people don't mind -- prefer, even -- a more divey, minimalistic experience where the food is...