GunBae
“I didnt even know there was Karaoke/Korean BBQ in Tribeca but behold, the one place to replace all of Ktown.”
“Downstairs also has full size karaoke rooms to get your sing on without trekking to Ktown or St Marks.”
“Then we snacked on all of the Korean pickles: cabbage, broccoli, bean sprouts, lotus root, and macaroni salad.”
GunBae
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Usually I'm very satisfied with Korean food that I get from restaurants. Rarely does it truly stand out in the midst of so many Korean options in New York but rarely will it disappoint either since tofu soup in my opinion is pretty hard to mess up, but I guess I was wrong. Gunbae is the worst Korean takeout I have ever gotten in New York.
My friend and I both ordered the kimchi tofu soup with pork belly. First, the delivery came with a really unimpressive banchan. One of my favorite parts about eating Korean food is snacking on all the complimentary appetizers on the side. The banchan for two came in one box and included some bland broccoli, macaroni, lotus root, and kimchi, none of which was particularly appetizing. Second, the side of rice was very hard. It seemed like the restaurant needs to cook their rice with a bit more water.
Finally, the actual soup was just awful. There was so much kimchi that the soup became overly sour. Combined with the spiciness, which you cannot adjust for, the soup just became unbearable to drink. I picked out some of the pork, which was too fatty for my preference. But the absolute worst part was definitely the tofu. I love Korean tofu soup for the soft melt-in-my-mouth texture of the tofu, but the tofu GunBae uses is FIRM.
Props to DoorDash for getting the delivery to me in a very timely manner, but I am not inclined to order from here again.
Walked in for Sunday lunch and ordered seafood soup. Staff is very friendly and young. Looks like a better diner/late bite place given that they also have karaoke and a full bar.
Food quality: 4/5
Taste: 3.5/5 （just the soup)
Staff and service: very friendly but not as attentive
Spiciness: very light. Wish they have spiciness levels to choose from.
Seats: hard wood seats, not as comfortable as regular chairs.
Meh. Overpriced. So-so quality meat.
A friend of mine was raving about this place and their Wagyu beef, so I had to try this place out while in the area. $45 for an order of beef, that included maybe 4 or 5 tiny finger-sized pieces of meat. We did end up ordering three orders of meat per person, just to fill our stomachs, and I was still left hungry. The marbling of the meat wasn't bad, but it wasn't that great either, and definitely not worth the price for its quality nor the quantity.
If I'm paying that much for my meat/entree, I'd expect a little better selection of side dishes as well, but they were just okay. I was disappointed. Maybe their other items on the menu are better, but the Wagyu beef was most definitely not worth the price.
Gunbae
NY Manhattan Tribeca
7pm Saturday 16th July 2016
Four Stars
Gunbae is the Korean version of Cheers, Prost, Salud, Kampai, and other toasts. We made a same day reservation for 6 at 7pm and they happily obliged. We enjoyed a pitcher of coors light and a pitcher of lychee flavored soju. Then we snacked on all of the Korean pickles: cabbage, broccoli, bean sprouts, lotus root, and macaroni salad. They do all of the cooking for you. They made an omelet. We enjoyed some thick cut bacon, Kalbi beef, kimchi pancake, seafood platter, and bipimbap. The food is a little experience in comparison to most Korean places but it was delicious and service was stunningly good. They even gave us a free bottle of Makkoli Kyongjoo which is like milky wine.
Went back again, and the staff cleaning the table were carefully spraying cleaning spray into their cleaning rag, rather than carelessly into the room / next table like last time. And by avoiding the entirely gratuitous pajeon and sticking to a bibimbap each we got out for under $20 per head for lunch. Add a star….
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We went here for lunch. It's a good looking restaurant with good looking young staff. We shared seafood pancake and had a hot-stone bibimbap each.
The good:
* All the food was well prepared, and hot fresh from the kitchen
* The people who served us were friendly and helpful
* The portions were reasonable sized, didn't leave hungry
* They brought a good selection of those little complimentary sides (2xkimchi, salad, lotus root, macaroni in mayo etc) and kept them refilled
The bad
* It was too expensive for a regular lunch (with tip it was $30 each) and that's with drinking free water.
* we asked for it spicy, it was really not very spicy. more gochujang in a bowl would have helped.
* when the table next to us cleared, the staff cleaning it sprayed it with blue cleaning spray, drowning out the smell of our food with cleaning smells. Possibly unhealthy for us to have that wafting around our food. Definitely unappetizing. Do not spray cleaning fluid while the next table is eating guys!
A savior of a place when stuck in Tribeca and am too lazy to trek up to K-town. My boyfriend and I came here for dinner and shared a bunch of delicious plates. The restaurant itself is nicely decorated, clean with a great social atmosphere. The service was really nice. I typically find K-town restaurant service to be very meh. They get the job done but a smile is hard to get. At Gunbae, the wait staff is very attentive and nice, conversing with the customers and all seem very polite and welcoming.
The food is just as good as K-town restaurants. We started off with the banchan and the waitress was so kind to ask if we wanted more once we finished with a side. They offered kimchi, macaroni salad, bean sprouts, broccoli, pickled jalapenos and lotus root. All were very good. When we got the steamed egg side, they cooked it right in front of us using the bbq grill. I never saw it done that way and it was great to see the end result. The waitress knew exactly what she was doing, ensuring that the eggs came out light and fluffy. Really simple and delicious.
We started with the mini kimchi pancake which is easy to share between two to four people, depending how hungry they are. It was cooked well, a good crisp texture on the outside, soft and hot on the inside accompanied with a great vinegar soy sauce.
As for the main entrees, we shared the stone pot spicy pork bibimpop and BBQ entrée of the chadol brisket. Both were great. The bibimpop can easily be split between 2-3 people. They offered a choice between white and brown rice and we got the brown. It worked great with the vegetables and spicy pork in the dish. As for the brisket, it came with a small side of zucchini, mushrooms and onions to be grilled. It also came with romaine lettuce on the side with sesame oil with salt and pepper and a spicy bean sauce. The waitress grilled the brisket nicely and it was definitely filling for two people. The BBQ experience was great as they had great air vents to suck up the smells quickly and efficiently. That way, we didn't come out reeking of meats.
Overall a great dinner experience. Definitely recommended if in the area.
Sunday Funday dinner here with the Manchild. We ended up at GunBae after uniformly reaching the conclusion that we are far too lazy to make our Blue Apron meal kit. Say whattttt? You can't even whip up a 30 minute meal-in-a-box with all the ingredients measured out and an idiot's guide to cooking? That's right, we are the world's best (worst) underachieving dynamic duo.
For being in Tribeca, GunBae is surprisingly authentic to its Korean roots. The inside is a modern take on Korean bbq without all the noise and the smoke, so you won't come out deaf or smelling like pork belly. Think clean edges here. The tables are long and communal, fitted with generous, wide bench seating. Service was friendly and attentive the entire time. They refilled our banchan dishes twice without us asking which I give major kudos to. Being there Sunday night may have helped. Their menu is concise and logically laid out, but we didn't really need to look. For us it's the usual suspects:
– Kimchi seafood pancakes: salty, greasy, crispy pieces of joy. The scallops in there were huge!
– Kimchi jjigae: what you would expect. Solid choice for a cold, wet Manhattan evening AND WHERE IS SPRING HELLO
– Vegetarian bibimbap: the Manchild got it with brown rice *pat pat!*. I personally prefer it with plain bleached unhealthy white rice, but a bap is a bap is a bap. Yum.
Overall, not exactly newfoundland here, but a solid Korean spot with comforting basics, good service, and reasonable price points–all without the silliness of Ktown. #win
Oh wait, there's karaoke here too?! I'LL BE BACK.
Not overwhelmed with the food. I have had better Korean BBQ in Ktown