K’OOK
“The free dak twigim was delicious, it held the qualities of all the things I look for in korean fried chicken.”
“I ordered 4 appetizers to share: Snowky, Soy & Garlic Fried Chicken, Bossam and the Crispy Rice Egg.”
“I personally got the budae jjigae and the waitress said I could adjust the spice level so I got less spicy.”
K’OOK
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
After getting told the wait was going to be 1.5 hours at Upstate at 8pm, my friend and I quickly scrambled to find a new dinner place so we wouldn't be starving. Luckily, after a quick look around we found K'ook which was down the street and down some stairs.
Atmosphere & Service (4 stars): At 8:15pm, the restaurant wasn't too full, and we only had to wait for a bit while the staff cleared a table. By 9pm, the restaurant was packed- even tables that were suppose to sit 2, some were fitting 3 people at them. The duo tables are very, very close together (not like you're sitting at the same table as the people next to you), but closer than I prefer…conversations can definitely be overheard like it or not. The service is good, you'll see them once in awhile to fill up your drinks after you get your food.
Tip: Almost every table I saw had the Banchan dishes ($3) which are 4 house-mini korean dishes. My friend doesn't like spicy stuff, so we chose not to get it.
***Fruit Soju Sampler ($12) (5++ stars): Lemon, Green Apple, Lychee, and Yuzu. GET THIS. Oh, if it is one thing that you should try is to get the fruit soju sampler. Yuzu is my ABSOLUTE favorite. I didn't think these drinks were too strong, and it was a perfect set to split between 2. The lemon tasted like soju and lemonade (and I'm a BIG fan of citrus drinks), the green apple tasted like green jolly rancher, lychee tasted like lychee, but the yuzu (which I now know) was incredibly light, fruity, slightly citrus tasting and perfect.
Fried Scotch Egg ($5) (3 stars) Ground beef wrapped around an egg and deep fried: Harsh, I know, especially since every seems to go for this egg (including me). Is it worth the $5? Maybe to try once, but would I get it again? Nahhh. The meat was a too bland… if I had some siracha sauce to dip it in or something to kick it up a notch, it probably would have made the dish better, imho. They do drizzle some spicy mayo, but all in all, it was just really "meh".
Dak Twigim ($7) (4-5 stars) Korean fried chicken wings- Soy & Garlic: This is what drew my friend in. Overall, he loved it so much he would have paid 2x for it. The wings are BIG. Like genetically modified BIG. This aint no buffalo wild wings, you're in K'ook now. The wings came out piping hot, a huge plus. The skin was cripsy, but not overwhelming covered in batter. Also, the sauce was really good too- overall a popular dish at all tables. I personally loved the pickled dicon in the small flower pot.
Dynamic Stone Bowl ($13) (4 stars) Hot Stone Bowl w/ Stir-fried Homemade Kimchi rice, egg & greens covered in mozzarella- (1) when I got this dish, it was literally 1/2 spinach. Now, I LOVE spinach so this was a HUGE plus (and surprise) for me. It might not be everyone's cup of tea. For example, if my friend would have gotten this dish, he would have been miserable. (2) I have never heard of cheese in my bim bim bop… not sure if this flavor combo is quite right. (3) These portions are huge. I don't know if it was the 2 apps & soju, but I took home half of my dish and some leftover apps.
Overall: 4.5 stars, maybe 5 stars since we left with our stomachs completely stuffed. So. Much. FOOD. All for around $55 (not including tip). Completely different atmosphere from another restaurant we ate the prior night where we spent much more and still craving food/dessert. If you're in the area, I would highly suggest this place- and get the fruit soju sampler!
I really wish I could give them more stars…
The place itself was a little bit hard to find. It was slightly claustrophobic because the ceilings are a bit low. One of my friends who is around 6' had maybe an inch or so of clearance? However, there is plenty of seating with enough space in between.
The food itself was great! Corn Corny Corn I only had a bite of since it wasn't mine lol but I wish I'd gotten my own. Nice and cheesy! However, I suspect canned corn was used.. I might be wrong, but canned corn has a particular taste. Don't get me wrong. I love canned corn. But, if I'm paying for it at a restaurant, I prefer fresh food. The Fried Rice Egg was freaking awesome. Super crispy on the outside, not too much rice, and who doesn't love egg? I appreciate that it was pre-cut as well. I got the oxtail soup for my entree. Very delicate and able to add your own salt to taste. Spot on for what I wanted. My boyfriend got the budae jjigae, and while he sort of like it (?), it was far too hot for him. Maybe caution yourself with anything that has the [H] symbol =P
So, what was bad. The 'boss' was the one who took our order for a group of 4. As the appetizers came out, we were expecting more. Finally, we asked for the rest of the apps, and apparently it was forgotten about. Wompwomp. They said that the kitchen was closed already. The entrees came out shortly after that, and we realized that the same person who ordered the missing app hadn't gotten his entree. Again, we asked, and again, they forgot. That's pretty bad… Their redeeming factors were that they were very apologetic, and the boss offered to make it herself (however, there was some back and forth of not being able to make it in the stone pot as originally ordered). Eventually, he got his entree at least. So, he got his food pretty late, and then they kind of 'pushed' us out (again, it was nicely at least) bc they were closing. Like, I get that they probably want to go home… but to be fair, they did forget about TWO dishes… Last, something that is a bit of a peeve to me. When service messes up like that, usually they offer to take it off the bill or have some sort of compensation…not here though. Oh wells…
I've been here three to four times and there's obviously a reason why I keep going back: It's good and I can never have enough of Korean food. I've eaten here for lunch and dinner. For lunch, they have a lunch special menu, where a lot of the usually commonly ordered appetizers are for a bit cheaper (I think).
I always go with a Crispy Rice Egg (Korean scotch egg $4 for one). Other things I usually get quite often are the seafood scallion pancakes (Pa Jeon $9), Ddukboki (Spicy Rice Cakes $9), and Snowky (White Ddukboki $8). The Ddukboki is quite spicy for me so usually I like to get the Snowky, the white Ddukboki and it's not spicy. Just very cheesy and creamy. The crispy rice egg and seafood scallion pancakes are quite cheap for what you're getting! The egg is basically a deep fried boiled egg ball coated with pork, rice and kimchi served with spicy mayo over some vegetable leaves. Definitely a filling and money's worth appetizer, and can't forget the presentation! Looks nice when served with the spicy mayo drizzled on top, but even better when the egg is open and the yolk is a bit runny. The seafood pancakes comes with six pretty big and thick triangle slices and some spicy sauce. Perfectly made and crunchy upon taking first bite and you can chew and see all the seafood in it.
I've also tried the Corn Corny Corn (Corn and cheese $5), GukBap (beef stew with bean sprouts, beef and clear noodles and it comes with a bowl of rice for $12). These are okay. For me the beef stew was a bit lacking in the taste aspect. It came looking all red and spicy, however, it was nothing close to how it looked. I wanted some spiciness to the stew so I took the spicy sauce from the Ddukboki and mixed it with my stew and rice. Perfect! I like their Dak Twigam with fries (K'ook's own KFC wings 6 pieces $10). Their KFC stands for Korean fried chicken. I got the soy garlic today and it was not bad. Not too salty nor oily. They were big pieces too served with a lot of fries and some salad with some preserved radish and ketchup on a big sled/shovel/wagon like pan. I couldn't really settle on what it reminded me of. I've had their drinks before, some of which are really strong and makes it hard to drink personally.
Everything is relatively big for its average price. The staff are friendly, attentive and polite. The whole place is filled with silly, witty and funny signs. Their checks/bills come in a nice treasure chest/box, which is kind of cute. Would definitely keep coming back.
Food is 4 stars but the service is what puts it over. Our server was absolutely fantastic. She accommodated our huge birthday cake and even gave us plates and forks. Theses days is hard enough to bring in a cake into a restaurant in Manhattan but kook didn't even charge us for it and our server went above and beyond what was required of her to accommodate us.
For the food, the fried egg is great. Stuffed pepper is hot but good. The hot wings were also tasty. All of us got the dynamic bowl and it was pretty good.
I highly recommend coming to this place. Oh, just to note, they no longer have a trading sampler for the tea soju. They only have it for the fruit ones now. I recommend the green apple soju (it reminds me of green apple jelly).
Went for quick lunch and had glass noodles.
Good variety of vegetables and beef. I found noodles little bit undercooked, but overall tasty.
Decent food but little bit pricey. You could get ar better price in Korea town
I always like to try new things so I thought hey korean food with a modern twist, why not! The food was decent, everything you want on 32nd street in one restaurant. The crispy egg was pretty good, loved the concept of a scotch egg with rice. I really enjoyed it, perfectly cooked egg with yolk still orange and creamy.
We ordered the chicken wings and the stew with hot dogs and spam. The chicken wings were amazing, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside with the perfect the amount of sweet and spicy sauce coating it. The stew was just OK nothing to rave about.
Overall decent food but not worth the $$.
Great find (actually recommended by a friend of a friend) in the East Village. We had actually passed by this restaurant many times before we met up here with a group of friends (five of us total). This is a modern looking, casual Korean spot…
What's great here is you can order a bunch of apps and a bunch of entrees when you're with a group (not to mention a bunch of soju) and you'll be super-full and super-happy but the cost will be a fraction of what you would've paid if you went out alone.
We had the seafood pancakes (good), fried chicken wings (wonderful), stuffed peppers (good), bulgogi (ehhh), scotch egg (good), BUDAE JJIGAE ("Army base stew" absolutely wonderful), and Galbi jjim (absolutely wonderful).
Lots of different kinds of soju and we still only paid like $25/person. Can't beat it…
I would probably only come here for their appetizers and drinks. The crispy egg and pork belly was amazing. The main courses weren't that special. Will definitely come again but just for their appetizers.