Jang-eo Jip (장어집) — Restaurant in Palisades Park

I rarely post reviews regarding customer service..but theres a first for everything.

Our party of 4 waited in line for about 20 minutes before being led to the back of the restaurant for outdoor seating. We were seated and after a bit, they took our orders. As soon as we started to mention our order, the owner (I believe) came and asked us to give up our table for a reservation she had forgotten about. This was frustrating as there were no other tables, and so she couldn't offer an alternative and just told us to please move due to her mistake. Knowing these aren't the easiest of times, our party decided to move.

We ended up waiting for about another 30 minutes in their parking lot for a table.

The food admittedly was actually pretty good. The eel is probably one of the better ones in this area. However, this was again met by poor service as on the menu it clearly says that it comes with fried rice. We asked for the fried rice and were told that we couldn't get it because we ate too much of the dish (???????). We just asked for some sauce then to cook it ourselves, but was told that they ran out of sauce. We then just asked for the rice, and they reluctantly gave us rice. The feeling that our party got was the we were just another group of customers, and there was a stark difference to how they treated their more 'special' customers (the ones we got moved for).

I'm quite frustrated and disappointed with the whole experience. At the very least, I thought they would be courteous to us for the mistakes that they were making, unfortunately I was severely mistaken. She made us feel like we had made the mistake.

The food is good. But the service is the worst. It's hard for me to recommend as I wouldn't want any of my own friends or family to have to deal with this experience. It's tough because I know with COVID it's hard for everyone, but I believe that everyone can extend a little bit of kindness and good-matters, which is something we didn't experience at all.

I would say don't risk having an...

Firstly, the portion size was very small. The amount for two servings was just enough to fit on a plate around 15 cm in diameter, which was barely enough for the two of us to eat. Secondly, the price was expensive! From previous posts, one serving was about $27.50, and they required a minimum of two servings. But today, when we went, it had increased to nearly $33, so just for the two of us to eat eel cost over $70. Considering the portion size, it was really not worth it! Additionally, previous visitors mentioned that they were given eel soup and a scallion pancake, but today we were told that the scallion pancake costs $15. Also, the grilled fish didn't come with rice, which was really disappointing. Thirdly, the taste was poor! The key to eating grilled eel is the sauce, but the eel here had hardly any sauce at all. The sea eel itself was dry and tough from grilling, and since it was being cooked over a fire at the table, it just got drier and drier. The salt-grilled river eel tasted really fishy, which is probably why they put so much ginger on it. This is the only place l've seen add shredded ginger to their eel. By the end, all you could taste was the ginger. Fourthly, the service was terrible! There was only one older lady who didn't speak English serving. Throughout the meal, aside from giving us two small bottles of mineral water and a little bit of cold dishes, we hardly saw her. The side dishes she gave were extremely spicy and completely inedible. It was really...

Came in for an early dinner around 4pm on a Saturday. There's literally only 3 tables in there so we had to wait a few mins before being seated.

After being seated we were given banchan and barley tea. The banchan was great, fresh, tasty, not too sweet, and seasoned well. The barley tea didn't taste fresh though. Not surprised when there's only 3 tables, they probably aren't making a new brew that often.

Food took a little long to come out. We got the combo eel that serves 2 people. The eel is served on a hot plate that has a lit candle underneath to keep your food warm. It's almost too hot actually it scorched one of the eels in the center cause it kept cooking. In the middle is a large bunch of shredded ginger.

The eel was awesome. Fresh, seasoned perfectly, and delicious. However I do have to say the portion is small. Probably not gonna fill up 2 adults unless you get some rice. We ordered a bowl of rice to share (it costs $1 which I find to be pretty lame). The rice also didn't seem as fresh, I bet because people aren't buying it that often so it's the same batch that sits all day.

Your meal also get served with some light doenjang jjiggae (or maybe miso?). It compliments the eel very well and...