LOVE Korean BBQ — Restaurant in New York

Weekends seem to be popping for LOVE and the Sunday was no exception. I had gotten a glimpse of the inside before but had never dined in. The place has a very cool vibe to it...like you are in a club but with Korean bbq. There is a lower floor with more seating as well as a third floor which I am not sure what they use for. I was was very surprised that one restaurant so much space. The main dining area is spacious on its own with tables and booths all with tabletop grills.

As you walk in, there is a live DJ! So this DJ is not just any random DJ...DJ Marvl is actually very well known in the NYC area. He used to spin for Fat Buddha near East Village. He helps elevate the experience for all the patrons who dine in at LOVE as his choice of music is very good party mix. He is there only on certain days so we were lucky he was spinning on the day we rescheduled. The two girls at the check in counter were so nice and welcoming. They verified my reservation as I was the first to arrive.

In total there were six people and we were given a nice booth near the left side wall. The table was set very nicely. When all my guests had arrived and were seated, we were promptly met by the staff to see what we wanted to order. Every single person who helped us was very courteous and polite even tho it was a bit busy that night. We decided on the drinks first. The drink menu consists of a THIRSTY section that has options for regular soju, premium soju, Korean wines, beer, spirits, soda, juice, lemonade sparkling water and Red Bull. The special cocktails had some cute and clever names. We ordered all of them..

HEART THROB has both vodka and soju. It was popular at the table as it had a nice taste and presentation.

LOVE POTION has Red Bull and will give you a boost during the meal but this is a fair warning...you may end up staying up all night.

HOT and HEAVY is probably one of, if not their strongest drink. They use Maker's Mark bourbon in their version of the Old Fashion. Recommended if you like your drinks very strong.

LOVE MARGARITA combines tequila and makkeoli and tasted very good.

LOVE TRIANGLE combines their popular frozen drinks Frosé, Margarita and Piña colada. With all three colors the there is a cool design in the cup. Plus you get all the flavors of the drinks.

We deciding what to order as everyone had different preferences. After looking at the menu we all decided on the Special Love Set for our main entree as it has enough food for 4-5 people. It consists of Prime Ribeye steak (tenderloin as an alternative), galbi, brisket, hanger steak, top blade steak, bulgogi, kimchi jige, soy bean paste jige , seafood tofu jige, steamed little neck clams and the super popular Korean steamed egg. Their steamed egg when it arrived at the table was a cause of awe as the LOVE version seemed to be bursting with flavor and fluff. WE all had to stop and take a photo before eating.

The meat platter was plated magnificently and all the cuts of meat were fresh and marinated very nicely. Our main server was a very pretty girl who was very patient while we took photos of the food. Then she skillfully cooked the brisket and used a torch as well which I have not seen before at any other establishment. It was unique way of cooking the thin brisket. I liked how they staggered the cooking so we had time to eat in between.

We also ordered extra food like skewers (shrimp, chicken and beef) as well as the bulgogi fries for us to share. The chicken and beef were as good as I remember. The shrimp was new to me and was savory.

Off the Feed me Now Menu, one of my guests wanted to try the Spicy Sailor Tteokboki. Since it was seafood based, the spicy rice cakes were accompanied by squid, shrimp, scallops and mussel with a lot of cheese. I am so glad they wanted to try that dish. Highly recommended.

Each of the staff that assisted us deserve praise for their hard work. LOVE is...

My friends and I dined here last night, Sunday June 9th at around 8:00pm reservation and were seated downstairs after a weekend long event and I regret to say that our experience with our server was not worth the high prices.

After we ordered and the food was brought to the table, our waiter who seemed a little frustrated and very antisocial just dropped everything into our table with very little explanation. In our experiences with Korean BBQ, the food is often cooked ourselves. One of our party members began placing something onto the grill and the same server came back with a very bad attitude and mumbled to them that they shouldn’t be putting things on the grill, removed it and replaced it despite the person apologizing sincerely. The waiter came back again with very poor attitude and not even a smile. They then brought one of the wrong sides to the table to which we explained to the waiter, he just completely ignored us and didn’t even respond. They did, however, return to the table to say the side that was mistakenly brought out was on the house and that the correct side of dumplings would be brought shortly the table. Our immediate table was left very uncomfortable by the waiter’s attitude and treatment towards us as it was very cold.

After the waiter proceeded to cook the meat that was a part of our combo, he left the Skirt Steak on the side and eventually turned off the grill and left without saying a word. The person that was on the farther end of the table that didn’t know it was left uncooked took a bite to realize the meat was left there raw.

Thankfully, a newer staff member who was night and day difference in friendliness offered to help and seemed astounded that the previous waiter treated us the way he did. Unfortunately we didn’t know his name and could not provide the name when we were asked who this person was that served us prior. The newer server was much more kind and attentive and helped us cook the remaining meat and apologized on behalf of the poor attitude from the previous server.

For the high cost of the food, I truly believe the attitude from the staff does need to be much better than what we experienced and perhaps instructions of what to do prior to serving will go a long way for those especially unfamiliar with their BBQ experience. Thank you again to the kind server that stepped in after him that gave us the treatment that should be presented by all staff in this establishment

However, I will not be returning to this location in the future and will be sharing this experience with those that I know...

Love BBQ is one of best Korean BBQ experience we ever had in Manhattan. We went on a Thursday evening and they had a live DJ!! Apparently they have a DJ from Thursday to Sunday. It is the perfect spot to enjoy some delicious Korean BBQ and drinks. After 6PM there is a lot of parking on the streets as well. Aside from the great music and easy parking, the food was phenomenal. We got the Special Love Set, which is perfect for a group of 4-5 people, as it offers three types of stew, a variety of prime beef cuts, steamed egg, steamed little neck clams, and an assortment of sides. When we first got seated and ordered our food, we got a variety of banchan. You can tell if your Korean BBQ is going to be great when the banchan quality is incredible. Our drinks came next. We got some Soju, honestly my favorite drink. It’s so sweet like candy. We also tried some rice wine beer by Màkku, it looked so milky we were not expecting that. The drink was fizzy with rice wine flavors. We also got their Love Potion slushie! It’s a combo of margarita, frose, and a pina colada. This drink was sooo strong. If you wanna pre game or get lit, we recommend it. The Special Love Set’s variety of prime meat was such a great value considering the portion size and quality. We got to try the prime ribeye, prime brisket, bulgogi, hanger steak, top blade steak, and LA galbi. The meat was so flavorful, tender, and juicy. Our cuts were not too fat and not too lean, each bite was perfect. If you do not know how to cook your own meats, this is perfect. The staff help you prepare everything, just tell them how you like the meat cooked. In between the meats, we had some steamed little neck clams, we were so happy with how fresh the clams were, usually we don’t get seafood at a spot that specializes in meat, but the clams were super fresh. The steamed egg was extremely puffy. I mean we never seen it puff out so much. They used a lot of egg for their steamed egg. The three stews that came with the Special love set. Kimchi stew, seafood tofu stew, and soy bean stew were all spicy and homey. We ate it with our rice, it felt so warm to drink some hot soup while having our Korean BBQ. We love how these stews have great health benefits too. Overall we loved the special love set and think it’s an amazing deal to share between 4-5 people. The music was poppin and the food...