YOGI GastroNomad aka Barn Joo Nomad — Restaurant in New York

Update: I'm not sure what's going on at this place anymore, but the service wasn't great tonight, the cocktail not as good as usual, sashimi not as fresh as usual, and it took 3 times to get the fisherman's soup made not spicy. I have gotten it many times before and there has always been the option for spicy or not spicy, and the menu still lists the two different types. I told the waitress I wanted it definitely not spicy but it was brought out to me fully spicy. The waitress said she had told the kitchen, so she asked them to make it again, supposedly not spicy. It came back a second time again spicy. The waitress said she thought that the kitchen just makes it "slightly less spicy" if you don't want the spicy option. What?? I had to ask a different waiter who has been there a long time if he could straighten out this issue, and he finally got them to make it the way it was always made before for the non-spicy version. But all of this took so long that they were closing up while I was eating it, and then I had to smell horrible strong smelling cleaning products while trying to eat so I ended up not even finishing. The only thing that went well tonight was that the truffle fries were delicious.

Previous review: I love this place in general. The staff is wonderful, the cocktails are delicious, and the food is generally great too. However, after one time having the most delicious fried soft shell crab I ever had in my life, I have ordered it two times again over a couple of years (including last week) and it has been absolutely disgusting. So these last two times the crab was not fresh and tasted fishy and gross. Even worse, last week they somehow molded the concoction they fried to look like the shape of an entire soft shell crab, but in fact they stuck two crab legs onto the ends of this fake body they formed and those legs were the only actual crab (which was disgustingly fishy and gross tasting), and the rest of the fake "body" of the crab was filled with a ridiculous amount of stringy sweet potato shreds (white and tasteless). The one time I had the delicious fried soft shell crab here, there was just a small amount of the sweet potato shreds wrapped around the outside of an actual and fresh soft shell crab, so those shreds were deep fried too, instead of being a mountain of white stringy grossness, filling up a fake body shape. Please either go back to making delicious and real fried soft shell crab, or just take it...

I am so incredibly disappointed that I have to write this review. My last experience at Barn Joo will be my last experience. My sister and I loved this place until we were made to feel so uncomfortable by staff that we lost our appetites and chose to leave. Upon arrival we asked to be seated outside and that seemed to be no issue as we received our menus and water. After we got our drinks and appetizer we were informed of a "policy" that only applies to outdoor dining. This "policy" was that outdoor diners had to prepay for their meal just in case they decided to dine and dash. While I do understand the need for the policy, we were not informed immediately upon arrival. We were not informed when we ordered our food. We were not informed when we received our drinks. So if this is "policy", why was it not being enforced and why was our waiter so apologetic as if he didn't want to tell us? He was nervously telling us of this "policy is not something he wanted to do". If it's policy, why don't the workers know? Why isn't there signage outside where diners will be seated? One can only assume that policy is made up and we're being targeted. I was so excited to sit down and have a good drink and meal with my sister at a place we both loved. However, that was not possible. Instead we were made to feel targeted and uncomfortable. I did not object to their "policy" and immediately gave them my card. After a while I started to wonder where my card was and it wasn't only until I went inside and inquired about it was when I found out that their "prepay machine was broken". They then took it upon themselves to hold my card, that is unacceptable. I paid for what I ate and immediately left. The way I was treated today made me feel second class and stereotyped. It's a shame I'll never go back... I really loved their...

Had a fantastic dinner here the other night. It's conveniently located within a short walk from Herald Square and the Empire State Building. Requested for a last minute reservation that turned out to be a good move as they were packed on a week night.

Service is impeccable! Servers are super friendly, attentive, and very efficient. Our order came out relatively quickly, we never thought that we were left waiting too long, and our servers kept a close eye on us the whole time.

We ordered the pasta noir, pork belly, open roll trio (uni, shrimp tempura, and house recommended galbi), Drunken Tiger cocktail, and bread pudding for dessert. The pasta noir was amazing, it has chili oil so we requested for a little less heat and it was just perfect for us. It's very generous with the toppings and was enough to share for 2. Other variations from other restaurants have similar dishes that were too rich, but Barn Joo got this one perfectly balanced. Pork belly was the same, great flavor and the white kimchi was refreshing and served as a palette cleanser. We originally ordered it for our kid, but ended up enjoying it with him as the serving was quite generous. The trio was equally great, I highly recommend the galbi, shrimp tempura, and uni varieties. They can be eaten in one or two bites, but each one packed a lot of flavor. The Drunken Tiger cocktail was smooth and balanced flavors with the alcohol pretty well. Finally, the bread pudding was a great finisher for the night. It's creamy, chewy, and had just the right amount of sweetness without being too decadent.

Overall, Barn Joo Nomad is an awesome date night spot in Korea town, we hope to...