The Kunjip — Restaurant in New York

I’ve read several reviews mentioning how rude and disrespectful the servers are—but after our experience, it seems like that behavior might be coming from the top, starting with the owner herself 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve been to this restaurant before and never had any issues, which is why I was genuinely shocked by what happened during our most recent visit. We came in specifically to try the marinated crab again, having seen great reviews online, and it was the only item we ordered.

Right from the start, things felt a bit off. But the real issue arose after my sister took a few bites of the crab and suddenly had a severe allergic reaction. Her lips began to swell badly, starting from one side and eventually affecting her entire mouth. It was alarming, and we were really scared.

For context, WE ARE BOTH MINORS and immediately called our parents for guidance. They advised us to speak to the staff and ask about the ingredients. When we approached a staff member, they were very kind at first. They saw her swollen lips and assured us that someone would come speak to us about it right away, which we appreciated.

However, when a woman who seemed to be the owner came over, the tone completely changed. Instead of showing concern, she dismissed the situation by suggesting maybe my sister was allergic to shellfish, or maybe it was the weather, or even that she might’ve cut her own lip while eating. These comments felt like an attempt to downplay the seriousness of what was happening—and frankly, were insulting.

We’ve had marinated crab and other raw seafood many times before at different places, and nothing like this has ever happened. So it was clear to us that something was off with their preparation or the freshness of the crab. We weren’t asking for anything unreasonable—we just wanted to know what was in the dish and why this reaction could have happened.

Things escalated when the owner said, “What do you want me to do? Call you an ambulance?” —in a way that felt more defensive than helpful. We were still on the phone with our parents at that point, trying to figure out what to do. When we handed the phone to her so our parents could speak directly (since we felt overwhelmed and unsure), she snapped back saying, “Why do I need to talk to this person? I’m talking to the customer.”

This whole situation was handled very poorly, especially considering we were minors dealing with a health emergency. Eventually, she offered Benadryl—but by then, the damage had already been done in terms of how little care and responsibility was shown.

It honestly felt like they assumed they could brush us off just because we were young. That’s not okay. We weren’t trying to start a conflict—we were trying to understand what went wrong and make sure my sister was safe.

We left feeling disrespected, unheard, and very disappointed. A serious allergic reaction was treated as if it were our fault or something trivial. No accountability, no real empathy, and definitely no understanding.

We won’t be returning, and I hope others—especially those with food sensitivities—take this...

Literally one of my favorite places in ktown

Edit: I don’t know if I’ll ever come back to this place. For context, last time I was here I gave this good review because it was around 2 am and the server was so nice and offered my friends and I free tteokbokki if we gave a 5 star review. We agreed, but it was also because I had had so many positive experiences here, and I genuinely do love the food. This place has one of the best naengmyeons in the city. However, about a month later, I came back (again around 2/3 am) with friends, and the experience was completely different. The two servers were extremely rude and blatantly disrespectful. I understand it was late at night, but while perhaps there was some drunken rowdiness, my friends and I weren’t contributing to that. We waited 15 minutes to get our menus despite the fact that it wasn’t super busy, and we had to ask the same server twice to even get the menus. I noticed (and even discussed with other customers) that service was bad almost all around. The couple next to us (they were Chinese) were telling me that they asked for glasses for their beers twice and didn’t get it until the third time when they got up to the counter to ask for it. I’m Chinese American, but I speak Korean fluently, and they’re usually nicer/more accommodating when you do/think you’re Korean. That being said, there was a pair of Korean men who came in after my friends and I, and not only were they offered service almost immediately, the servers were catering to their every need with utmost respect and friendliness. For example, someone will usually cut your naengmyeon up, so that it’s easier to eat. When I asked for it to be cut this time (usually they cut it for me automatically, but I spoke to them in English first), I got a singular haphazard cut that barely cut the topmost noodles. This honestly isn’t the first time I’ve noticed such a huge disparity of when I speak Korean versus when I only speak English, but we always treated it as a joke. My friend (she’s white) orders galbi tang every time we go. We always thought that you just have to pick the meat off yourself, but one day when we were seated next to this Korean man, and he ordered galbi tang, as soon as he received his dish, they cut the meat for him. My friend did not get her meat cut. Again, I overlooked a lot of these instances because I thought it’s to be expected that Korean people are treated better in Korean restaurants, but after that night where my friends and I were treated so flippantly and frankly, disrespectfully, I felt the need to edit my review because I couldn’t in good conscience recommend this place anymore. Again, I understand that it was late on a Friday night and that it can be frustrating to deal with drunk people, but I don’t think it excused or merited such a blatant disrespectful attitude. Maybe experiences like this is why their rating is so low and why they offer people free tteokbokki to give them a 5 star review (there were 4 of us, and we had to give at least 3 in order to get the...

I was in Yelp searching for a new spot to try in Koreatown for “homestyle” Korean food. I have discovered that it is very difficult to find recommendations for Korean spots that aren’t either the late night karaoke crazy scene or the “elevated” tasting menu type places. So I wound up in Google Maps and just on random websites reading lists of restaurants and then cross referencing their online listings. And that’s how I found The Kunjip.

The Kunjip was listed on a website as one of the places to go to in KTown for homestyle Korean food. And then I look on Yelp and they have a 2.8 rating, with over 1,000 reviews. Which is CRAZY low. Like it’s hard to get a rating that low. So I decided to read some of the recent reviews (The Kunjip has been open for a long time, so you gotta look at newer reviews to get a feel for what’s going on). Some of these reviews were also shocked at the low overall rating. So I decided to go. Clearly something whacky has gone on with the people reviewing The Kunjip. I’ve experienced it myself with my own restaurant.

The Kunjip opens at 9am (apparently they used to be open 24 hrs a day?? Which is just CRAZY!!! LOL) serving all the Korean classics. And since I needed to be across town to catch my 1:15pm bus back to Vermont that worked perfectly for me. I was able to show up at 10:30 in the morning for Kimchi Pajeon and Dukkbokki and even some sake!

The place is small and “plain.” Which is par for the course in the homestyle Korean spots. But the playlist was really good. Everyone working was friendly and the service was very good. I ordered a large Kimchi Pajoen and a small Dukkbokki. Which was a lot of food.

The fact that The Kunjip has an actual selection of sake sets them apart from other Korean places I’ve eaten at. I just don’t like soju. My bad. But I do like sake and The Kunjip had one of my go tos. So I was able to have all my beverages: ice water, barley tea, sake. Which is how I roll when I’m eating out.

I got 4 banchan. They were good. The coleslaw was particularly delicious and really good kimchi. I’ve never had the sort of pickled onions before. But they were delicious and the liquid from the onions (which also included big slices of jalapeños) also served as the dipping sauce for my pajeon. Which I kind of was suspicious of? Since I’ve only ever had the soy dipping sauce in the past. But this was AWESOME with the pajeon. Kimchi Pajeon is a little tricky because the kimchi makes it harder to keep together. This was excellent though. Lovely and crisped on the edges and thick in the center and full of kimchi and scallion, but cooked all the way through.

The Dukkbokki was also excellent. Extremely flavorful and fairly spicy, thick sauce FULL of fish cakes and veggies etc. Super filling.

I’m thinking The Kunjip is going to be my go to “before the bus back to Vermont”...