Galbi Ma Eul
“Let me start by saying this was the largest selection of of ban chan that I've see yet.”
“One of their banchans is raw marinated crab (i havent seen that in a korean restaurant in years!)”
“Daeng-jang jigae, Kimchi, egg jigae as well as other side's I had never ate before were delicious.”
Galbi Ma Eul
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Came here on the recommendation of the k-scrub manager at a nearby Korean spa, and must say I was not one bit disappointed. The food is delicious – had a seafood casserole that could have easily fed 2 more than the 3 of us, and was chock full of goodies, including mussels, clams, fish, crab, lobster, octopus, squid and shrimp. Also tried the seafood pancake which was one of the best I've had in ages (and I almost always get one every Korean place I go). It was perfectly crispy with a wonderful flavor, and filled with the right ratio of seafood to pancake batter.
Finally – SIXTEEN banchan! AND the waitress zealously refilled any that finished up!
I observed charcoal bbq, and will definitely come back (hopefully to upgrade this to 5 stars) by trying the bbq plus the other amazing looking dishes I saw on other tables.
Be forewarned – it got busy fast around 6:30pm (Sun). Luckily we have a supper habit on Sundays and came early.
I am so happy to have gone to a proper Korean restaurant again! We didn't come for the BBQ, but that's OK, because their casseroles are amazing! We ordered the seafood casserole and a seafood pancake. We were only a party of three, so we weren't prepared for the amazing banchan that they brought out, which were all, of course, all you can eat. All the banchan were delicious and fresh. The one that I've never had was the raw crab. It was delicious and unexpected. The seafood pancake is the best I can remember in a long time. The batter was light and crisp, and nothing was too heavy, meanwhile there was a LOT of seafood. The sauce that accompanied the pancake was great. Meanwhile, bubbling to the side of us was the seafood casserole. Although the octopus wasn't great (I wonder if it just got overcooked), everything else was delicious — particularly the crab! What delicate and flavorful meat! Service was prompt and good.
I MUST COME BACK TO TRY THE BBQ!
You have to plan your visit to GME strategically! Go during peak hours/days and you'll be facing LONG waits and inattentive service. Determine ahead of time if you're going to have BBQ/casserole or not because they will seat you at different tables depending on your decision, which could also mean a difference in wait times. The servers speak predominantly korean and chinese with little to no english. When I spoke english, they asked 3x if I spoke chinese! -.- They are understaffed and the service is very chaotic on weekends. Most of them are nice, but some can be rude and forgetful of customers' requests (secondary to the stressful chaos I suppose).
Their banchan selection is amazing. Just look at some of the photos here; they're mainly of the awesome amount of banchan you get. But please don't be fooled into thinking banchan is free! You pay for it in the form of overpriced main courses (relative to the many other nearby establishments). But again, you do get a great selection!
The food is okay, but there is A LOT of MSG! Not the best kalbi out there and certainly not worth going on a weekend. If you can make it during the weekdays, it's worth a try.
You know it's a good sign when food starts raining down on your table before you've even opened the menu.
Galbi Ma Eul is a not a large restaurant by any means but around lunchtime, hoards of couples and small parties blockade the door, hoping to dine in. The aforementioned number and variety of free banchan (or small appetizers that characterize Korean meals) are one of the huge draws. With four salads, two types of kimchee (radish and cabbage), spicy marinated crab, and various root vegetables littering your table, our table had hardly enough real estate available for the entrees to come.
The menu hosts an attractive spread of dishes, including soups, stews, and a few main dishes that are intended for sharing (the marinated meats being one of them), but the one thing that sets Galbi Ma Eul aside from the rest of the pack is the section labeled 'Dolpan' which can be literally translated as 'stone pan'. While similar to a hot stone bibimbap at other restaurants, Galbi Ma Eul's pans are large and flattened, allowing you to spread your rice-and-topping mixture across a sizzling circular field that was about a foot in diameter. I had the tofu dolpan, which included (along with the rice and tofu cubes), oyster and shiitake mushrooms, spinach, diced onions, and bean sprouts, and sesame-marinated fernbrake. Mine was one of the vegetarian dolpans but the spicy pork and sweet marinated beef seemed like two other popular orders. Two important things to note about these dolpans:
1) Squirt bottles of spicy sauce are brought to the table, allowing you to adjust the spiciness as you please. I applied mine liberally, reddening my dolpan to sweat-and-tear incendiary levels but of course you can customize yours as you wish.
2) As with hot stone bibimbaps, try to leave the bottom layer of your rice undisturbed as you mix and eat. It allows the pan to cook and crisp portions of the rice so that, at the very end, these add lovely textural contrasts in ways similar to the socarrat in true paella.
Each dolpan is accompanied by a complimentary bowl of seaweed soup (with small chunks of beef, so this is a vegetarian no-go), with tender strands of seaweed and a broth that is both savory and comforting.
Sent for lunch today and food was delicious. The lunch special is a great deal and you get so much food!
Galbi here was okay. Everyone comments on a lot of side dishes but I didn't think they were more than other restaurants, if anything, the quality was as good as others. The service seemed very hectic and busy even though it was busy, but you can tell they were definitely understaffed. The meat was just okay, I don't think they kept it on the grill long enough and it was cut way too big, which is a sign that they were in a rush.
I was not impressed, probably won't go back there.
Can you eat a lot? That should be a pre-requisite for this place. I came here for lunch with my mom and we were sitting at a table that could seat 4 people. The waitress came by and asked me if I could move my phone off the table… I was confused UNTIL she filled the table with a ridiculous amount of banchan. My mind was blown by how big the serving sizes are and for an extremely affordable price point! The food isn't the best Korean food I've ever had, but seriously… I could have had a full meal by just ordering a bowl of rice to eat with all the banchan. The stone bibimbap dish is MASSIVE… I warned you, don't say I didn't. It is definitely enough to feed 2+ people. The waitresses here are so sweet. When she saw that my mom and I finished the bibimbap, she congratulated us and told us we did a good job HAHA We were a bit embarrassed, but it was good to get the recognition.. especially since my mom was on a mission to finish the bibimbap and ALL the banchan O.o The owner also continually walks around asking if anyone needs anything, which I thought was a great example of how management should be done. I'm definitely coming back next time, ready to feast.
Their #2 on the kalbi menu is better than the #1! The service is really good here and like most of the other Korean BBQ places in the Flushing/Bayside area, some of the wait staff speaks Mandarin (which is awesome so that my mother can communicate what she wants). They're pretty generous with their bonchon and never give you looks when you want second helpings. We always order several entrees of the kalbi, a soup or two, and an appetizer dish. The hae mul pa jun is crispy and pretty good. Seolleongtang (bone marrow soup) and naengmyeon are also yummy.