Hong Chun Cheon Cheese Dak Galbi | 홍춘천 닭갈비 뉴저지 — Restaurant in Palisades Park

This place just opened this week so I think they are still working out the kinks. However, we did go there hungry and had to wait a while for our food to come out. Luckily, we arrived at around 6 and our two pans came out first. We noticed all the tables that came after us were without any food except banchan. The couple seated at the table next to us actually left after waiting and only having soju and banchan. I saw they were checking their watches and phones constantly. I wish this place had steamed egg like the other dak galbi restaurant I visited. Here, they only had water kimchi, pickled onions and jalapeños, bean sprouts, spinach and kimchi.

There were enough servers I think but maybe they need more cooks in the kitchen. I agree with what someone else said. I never tried capsaicin but there was a strong peppery aftertaste and "mild" is not really mild. It does still have a kick. Our party of 6 ordered 1 pan of mild with cheese and another pan of spicy (Hong Chun Chun) chicken. I prefer the other dak galbi place in Pal Park in terms of the sauce. I liked the sweet potato tempura and gimmari add-ons. I saw an employee carrying green bags of gimmari inside. I also have the same kind in my freezer at home haha. This place is different from the other dak galbi place because it's currently BYOB so of course while we waited for our food we drank almost everything we brought. They kindly provided us with 3 types of glasses to drink with.

When we noticed how slow the food was coming out we decided to order fried chicken and fried rice before we were done with our dak galbi chicken. We also ordered chicken katsu. We thought we should clear out the pan before they fried the rice. However, the server came back and said the cook said we must have some chicken dak galbi left in order to have fried rice (??) So we said can we just get fried rice without any chicken? She said "sorry, no." How about if we order one more serving of chicken? "Sorry, there's a back log of orders so it will take a long while." We ended up scooping up leftover chicken from one pan and moving it to the other pan! After half an hour the fried rice came and it was good. Thank goodness. The fried chicken was just ok. I couldn't tell if it was fully cooked. I guess I will know tomorrow. The chicken katsu was mediocre at best. It was not seasoned well and the breading came off as we each took a piece. That is something I've never experienced before.

The complimentary makguksu or buckwheat noodles were the highlight in my opinion. My only complaint was that 3 bowls came out first then the other 3 people got to enjoy their noodles AFTER the first 3 people were done eating their noodles. I had a good time but I don't think I'll come back. If I do, I will call ahead and ask them to have my food ready or eat something...

My friends and I (trio) visited on Friday, Oct 6 for dinner.

CONS Severly understaffed, in every sense of the word; two staff (owners?) were literally struggling, juggling everything between the two of them from seating guests to taking orders to cooking and more, meaning: a) Nobody else was ahead of us, but we still waited a good 20+ minutes to be seated. b) They forgot one of our orders so we had to wait for the appetizer (fried pork) that arrived 10 minutes AFTER we were done eating our main dish (dakgalbi), when fried food should have come way before the entrée... c) Other things have been forgotten throughout, like the constant reminder for water, and later a box to take leftovers, even the check.

PROS Struggles aside, the food is great. a) They have a variety of dakgalbi and in different spice levels like one might find in Korea. We got the kimchi cheese dakgalbi with extra toppings: tteokbokki rice cakes, fried sweet potato, and gimmari (fried seaweed rolls). b) Their cold side dishes are worth mentioning: cucumber kimchi, jalapeño jangajji, and Korean macaroni salad (all refillable, if they remember). c) Their hot side dishes are tasty as well: gyeranjjim (egg) and corn cheese (although not sure if refillable, as we kind of gave up seeing how forgetful they are...) d) The quoporou (sweet and sour fried pork) was a nice mix of crispy and glutinous.

OTHER NOTES It's on the second floor, but there's an elevator if you need. It's kind of interesting to see dakgalbi and malatang served in the same place. 👀 It's BYOB. The dakgalbi portions are rather large; we got two servings for three people but all three of us were somewhat full even before we got to the...

They will rip you off. I asked the lady if one portion would be enough for 2 and she said yes especially since you’re mixing the rice later. We order 1 portion, it comes out, there’s spots in the pot. Given the pot was big so we said sure makes sense. They forget the side orders, I ask for it again, they don’t give it to you but still tried charging us. We finish half way and we are still starving, we asked them to mix the rice. They take it to the back and come out 15 minutes later, not sure why. The NY locations mix it in front of you and do it in a minute. Given it’s new, we thought we’d give them the benefit of the doubt. It finally comes out, I click on the service button to get water, they cancel it. I have to get their attention since the service bell is useless. At this point asked for a check and water. We get the check we got charged for 2 portions. I tell them this was 1 portion because that’s what we ordered and the portion was small. We are a little hungry now but says that what we received is 2 person portion. The waitress did a cute little annoyed eye flutter so we said fine and paid it. Do not come to this location. $70 to still be hungry, spend your...