Insa

Very disappointing!!!
I’m sticking with traveling to K-​town or my mom’s house for Korean food. The food is mediocre and the service is awful! Even more annoying is an automatic 20% «admin fee» added onto the bill! Guess that’s why the service sucks since the staff knows they’re going to get tipped regardless of service!

No complaint about drinks or food. Was there a few months ago, and the food was perfectly fine.
But the establishment is poorly run. Called five weeks ago to get a karaōke reservation, only to be told that they are fully booked, except for the one room that they hold for same-​day reservations, and to call on that day at noon. So I did exactly that, only to be told the policy changed and that they already pre-​booked the room. I was on the waiting list for the room, and was never contacted about the policy switch.
And he kept just saying that all he could do was apologize, which does absolutely no good and leaves me and my guests in a lurch. Thanks, Insa, for being a poorly run business!

Things That Were Said At Insa Karaōke:
–Guys, we’re basically Wilson Phillips.
–You’re singing Third Eye Blind, you can have whatever you want.
–Fried chicken tastes good.
–It’s not a hypothetical tambourine! Yes!*
–Pajeon tastes good.
–I love your interpretive dances.
–Man, I felt so many feelings to Eve 6.
–Holy shit, THAT’S the bottle that cost $ 100?! 375 ml is not a lot of ml. Well, I guess we better order three more of these tiny things.
Things That Were Not Said At Insa Karaōke:
–Well, that was affordable.
–Man, Peter D is so handsome.
Things That Were Undoubtedly Thought At Insa Karaōke:
–Man, Peter D is so handsome. But he should NEVER sing.
–Perhaps four bottles of vodka was excessive, even if they were tiny.
–The Bossam was probably unnecessary too.
–I’m so glad we don’t have to go to K-​Town for karaōke and KBBQ anymore… but this is entirely too expensive.
What I’m trying to say here, is that I really like Insa. The food is good, the karaōke rooms are excellent (as was the service, evidenced by her giving anything we wanted while singing Third Eye Blind), and if you bring the right people, you’re going to have an amazing time. Unfortunately, it’s going to cost you much, much more than you’re used to paying for Korean food and karaōke, and you’ve gotta decide if that’s worth it for you.
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*Each room comes equipped with a tambourine (and a disco ball). Take advantage.

I’ve been here four times now and it has always been a fantastic meal and experience. The house cocktails are outstanding. I’ve had the Jade Emperor and tried their special Soju Bloody Mary for brunch. I’ve had the beef brisket on the table grill twice, the Bi Bim Bap, and recently had the fried chicken, which was fantastic. The banchan are always fresh and delicious and you never get exactly the same things twice, which is always a nice surprise. Also recommended are the kimchi dumplings. Service is super-​friendly and efficient, and they are one of the new wave of restaurants that pay their waiters a living wage to you don’t have to tip. I also got a group together for a karaōke night back in January and it was a big success. Love this place.

Basically amazing. I have been wanting to go here for a while and it couldn’t have been better. The service was impeccable, the food was really fucking good, and the atmosphere was great too. Fresh good and tasty and happy. I will be back.

Definitely not worth the prices. The taste isn’t up to par either. You’re paying for the atmosphere and the convenience of not having to drive to ktown. The dumpings were bland. The steak tartar was one note only. Sesame oil! And the meats were under seasoned. I won’t be going back here. Don’t forget small portions.

Novelty place at premium prices.
Even at 5:30 pm, the start of Insa’s dinner service, there was already a line of ten deep. Thankfully, we were able to get a table before the crowds arrived. Most of the tables were long, wooden communal tables; we were able to procure a side table meant for 4.
Dishes:
1. Haemul Pajeon (seafood and scallion pancake $ 17) — thinnest and smallest Korean pancake, probably half the size of one you’d find in K-​town
2. Samgyeopsal (thick sliced pork belly $ 28): was not thickly sliced. Deceitful description, sliced thin like a credit card. I had never seen pork belly presented this way for BBQ.
3. Yangnyum Galbi (marinated beef short ribs $ 35) — tasty
The meats were high quality, but the portion sizes were insanely small. 2 out of 3 of us were not full; I reckon we would have needed 3 more dishes to be completely satisfied.
Drinks:
1. Silk Punch (Cachaça, Aged Rum, Coconut Milk, Cornsilk, Crème de Banana $ 12) — tasted like a cross between a White Russian & a Piña Colada. Not exactly reinventing the wheel here, more like renaming it.
2. shot of Chamisul soju (happy hour pricing $ 1) — it was a buck, nothing to really think about
The karaōke rooms were behind a door in the back of the restaurant, which was consequently where the bathrooms were located as well. Karaōke is my weakness and the rooms were very cool looking. Five private rooms available: 4 small rooms $ 60/​hr, one large room $ 160/​hr. Based on my quick scrolling through the binders, there seemed to be a decent and updated song list.
The caveat for a trendy new Korean spot in an unexpected part of town: Disguised as an admin fee, they will tack 20% onto your bill. They claim to not accept tips, however, according to their website: it «goes to paying our staff a living wage plus benefits.» In addition to paying for my food and drinks, I now have to help Insa front their staff’s salary? Why don’t they actually pay them what they’ve worked for?
A one and done place, heed my cautionary tale.

Sorry but the food is simply not authentic Korean. Great service and extremely attentive staff. They treated the Korean culture very well and you can order in Korean and their understanding was seamless. But the lack of authenticity was overbearing.
Don’t order stews or soups as they are more Brooklyn fusion than Korean, maybe that’s why it’s so expensive. The Karaōke bars are certainly a plus but the creative behind the food was too overreaching. Keep it simple and I might come back.

What a cool space with a great concept-​Koren BBQ and Karaōke all in one place-​it screams out great birthday spot. I came here with a few friends and there was a little wait for a Friday night even though we called ahead. The bring a whole bunch of light mostly if not all veggie salad snacks to start out with, but I had no idea what anything was because the waiter went through everything so fast and I couldn’t be sure he was speaking english. The kimchee fried rice was yummy with some pieces of pork belly that made it salty, delicious and savory. We ordered the steak which was great but really just 3 small and very thin pieces, especially for the price. I had a cool green (green tea?) cocktail. The only problem is that everything is overpriced here. Unfortunately they have the market on this cuisine in this neighborhood, so I guess that’s how they get away with it!

3.5 stars.
Ate and drank at the bar. Absolutely packed to the brim on a Saturday night.
Big props for the fact that they did away with optional tipping, instead pricing their menu such that they can pay their workers a living wage + benefits. Considering that, the prices weren’t too bad!
Food was pretty good but nothing too special. I’m probably not going to go out of my way to come back for it, but I’d come back if I was in a group that wanted to eat here.
Also good: They take reservations! Especially good for groups.
The cocktails looked good on paper but tasted pretty gross, tbh. Whatever you do, don’t get the Dragon King — it tastes like weird mouthwash. Pick a beer, which goes better with Korean food anyway.
Will have to come back to try out the karaōke rooms, though! There aren’t many karaōke rooms in this part of Brooklyn, so Insa’s filling a real gap there.

I did enjoy this place yes I did. Rating it higher than its Unilocal average and I stand by that.
I was only here for dinner not for karaōke, and here’s what the boy and I got:
The Blood sausage — what?! In a Korean restaurant? Yes. And it tastes impressively Asian. I really enjoyed it, they had a good mouth feel, especially cause they were stuffed with lots of little (I want to say, vermicelli?) glass noodles. Also I love blood (not in a murdery kind of way just in a classy boudin noir lover kind of way).
The beef short rib Galbi bbq — yummmmmmmmmm meeeeeaaaaaat.
You can decide if you want them to cook it or if you want to, but we chose to do it ourselves cause we like our meats rarer than the average person. Hence:
The beef tartare — what an interesting dish. Not super Korean tasting with its caper and Asian pear mixed in, but I did enjoy it and the seaweed chip it came with.
The rice cakes — have a well deserved reputation you should obviously just get it cause everyone here tells you to its awesome.
I think that’s it. + ban chan obvs. They were really good to us about refilling them I don’t know what other people are talking about. They were fine nothing super exciting.
We also got to avua Mai Tais which were tres delicious.
very interesting ambience and serving style with long tables and dividers to divide parties. It’s a big open room with lots of space and I love it, but if you want cozy and ambience, there’s a lounge bar area that you can get comfy in.
I like it. It’s in the middle of nowhere so I probably won’t be back, but I like it.

I made a reservation for dinner + karaōke two months in advance. I don’t normally buy into the hype of new restaurants with long waitlists, but I was pretty interested in this place. A Korean restaurant with karaōke in super hip Brooklyn? I’d happily make the trek down here to eat with friends who live in the neighborhood, rather than constantly meeting in the middle in Manhattan K-​town.
But that’s not going to happen, because this whole experience was a huge disappointment. The food is actually excellent (despite the portion size being small), but the entire experience was colored by poor management of the restaurant.
I eat a lot of Korean food. I know what things are called. The menu items are written in romanized Korean. So why was it so hard to order things by their Korean name? Despite not being Korean herself, I was expecting that our waitress would understand the names of Korean dishes we wanted to order, because she works at a Korean restaurant. The only way we managed to order anything was by reading the English description underneath. Why would you not train your waitstaff to understand the Korean names of dishes? Oh, because the ownership is not actually expecting Korean people or people who eat Korean food on the regular to show up. Gotcha. That’s why you opened a restaurant up in Hip Brooklyn.
We ordered samgyupsal, and the sesame oil with the rock salt was noticeably missing. When we inquired about it, the man who stepped in to grill our meat for us told us there was salt in one of the other sauces. Nope. That’s not what you eat with samgyupsal. It would have been perfectly reasonable for him to say, «Oh, I can bring you some of that, but you should try it with this other sauce, which we prepared specially for the pork belly.» I’m interested in trying new things when they’ve been thoughtfully put together, but that wasn’t the case here. The sesame oil with rock salt was only available upon request.
No refills on banchan. The waitstaff was bewildered when we asked, we had to ask repeatedly, and they came back with banchan for one side of the table, and an entire plate of lettuce long after we’d finished grilling the meat. The waitstaff were not trained that banchan is supposed to be refilled upon request.
I don’t need to eat Korean food served by Koreans. However, this was an incredibly expensive dinner served by staff with no understanding of Korean cultural norms. Ganso, which is also in Brooklyn, proves that this does not have to be the case! Ganso serves Japanese food, doesn’t have Japanese waitstaff, and still respects the culture they are presenting. It comes down to training your servers to represent the culture you are presenting to your customers, which the owners appeared to not spend time doing.
The transition between dinner and karaōke was really awkward. The people serving us in the restaurant ignored us after we paid our bill, and there wasn’t any communication about when our karaōke room would be ready. We figured that we should wait in the bar for our room to be available, again, with no one communicating anything to us.
At the time of our karaōke reservation, I approached the hostess again, mentioned our karaōke reservation, and she said there was still a group in there, and that needed to get them to pay, and then clean the room for us. When the big group finally left fifteen minutes later, I again approached the podium, and she said that they just left, and that they needed to get the room in order. Ten minutes later, she saw me approaching, and left the podium in advance. I waited a few minutes, and a different host appeared, and the original hostess did not return. I then had to explain the situation to him again, and he went to go talk to her. We finally got into the room 30 minutes after our reservation, were promised by the hostess that we’d get our original 2 hour reserved time slot, only to be approached an hour and thirty minutes after we’d begun, to tell us that our reservation was coming to an end, and we needed to start packing up and leaving. Again, we had to explain to one of the employees exactly what happened, and it took about five minutes of explanation to get everything sorted (five minutes I could have been singing Alanis Morissette, FYI).
Look Insa, if you’re going to charge really high prices, you’d better have your shit together. There was literally nothing that we did here that we couldn’t have done in K-​town with less stress and frustration, and for less money. It’s a shame that the whole operation is so poorly managed, because the food is actually quite good! There is nothing about this business that is worth the two month reservation in advance. If you want the real Korean food/​karaōke experience, there are plenty of places that fit the bill in K-​Town or Flushing. Don’t waste your hard earned dollars here.

Delicious Korean food and cocktails in a huge space that made me think I walked into a bathhouse, with mysterious karoake rooms in the back. Needless to say, it was a fun night.
The vibe is completely different from Ktown in Manhattan. It’s slow-​paced, family/​group-​friendly, people talk at a normal volume, and no smokiness (amazing!). We were seated 30 min after our reservation and it took another 30 min to order (again, slow-​paced). A couple of cocktails help keep the h-​anger at bay. Apparently the NYT crew had about 10 maitais each, so naturally we had to order a few pitchers of that — it’s too good, dangerous stuff. I had a sip of a few other cocktails, all very good.
The food was impressive. The menu includes some lesser-​known Korean dishes and some more creative ones. My favorites were the fried chicken and soondae (not as scary as it sounds!). The seafood corndog sounds more interesting than it tastes, but you can’t really go wrong with deep-​frying. The bossam was also good, the meat was fatty and tender and it’s fun to play with your food. Kimchi bokkeumbap was heavy on the bacon. The bbq was pretty normal, except that the vent was through the bottom of the table. Mind-​blown. Nobody wants to smell like their last meal, so this is GREATLY appreciated.
They threw in a free hour of karoake because of our waiting situation — I think another round of maitais was needed but it was a nice gesture.

Me and my friend Nadia Z. arrived at the restaurant early than our other friend Jenn F. We walked inside the restaurant and the hostess informed that dinner starts at 5:30pm and was asked to wait in the bar area. Later on as we were waiting, the hostess was mumbling something that I have no clue what exactly she said but Jenn F. went over to the podium and told her our name. Okay we were the second people that came into the restaurant and was seated almost last as the hostess never even bother to take down our name… ugh! When we finally get a table, the server was going to put us on a table meant for 8 where there were plenty of emptied 4 seaters back the wall so I demand one for us which we did get one.
BBQ:
Samgyeopsal (Thick Sliced Pork Belly) $ 28 — the description clearly stated THICK sliced pork belly but hell no it was thin like BACON and I love the fatty part of the pork belly. I definitely didn’t taste it and that was such a disappointment =(
Yangnyum Gaibl (Marinated Beef Short Ribs) $ 35 — DAMN this was quite expensive and it isn’t Wagyu Beef
Haemul Pajeon (Seafood & Scallion Pancake) $ 17 — this was tasty like every other Korean style pancake
Oh yea don’t forget as Jenn F. mentioned 20% Admin Fee is added to the bill and no need to tip that’s how they get their customers.
Crossed this off my list and never returning! As I left half full and disappointment!

Oh Unilocal.I should have listened to you and not to Pete Wells.
Fine. Meh. Ho-​hum.
Is that really what you want to say about the new, hotly anticipated Korean bbq in your neighborhood? Just a sad disappointment, mainly due to an utter lack of reality in portions for price.
I’m fine with spending $ 30 for galbi, provided that it ends up being a heaping pile of glistening, chewy, sweet lusciousness. Remember steak-​ums? That’s what we got: 5 pieces of paper thin mystery meat tended by otherwise excellent waitstaff that burnt to a dry jerky like crisp by the time it was pulled from the grill. Too thin and barely enough for us each to have more than a tiny bite.
The non-​grilled pork belly dish was far more generous, EXCEPT for the sauce. This was a theme of the night… the grill squid and octopus seafood dish was served with about a tablespoon of sauce to split amongst 4 people. Why? Why not give enough to go around? If the protein is meant to serve a group where at least 2 of the 4 folks are fasting, why not at least give us enough sauce to make our minuscule bite exciting? In essence, it was just a piece of grilled squid, which again, given the quantity, we felt cheated having ordered.
The banchan was much glorified in a few reviews and well, again, soooo disappointing. Nothing unique, but also nothing that felt particularly palate-​pleasing or enlivening. I want my banchan to be a cozy welcome to a meal that promises nuanced, interesting flavors and dazzling piles of protein inviting you to dig in.
This was not our experience at Insa. Sigh. Guess we’ll need to continue to schelp to Koreatown or Flushing to get our K-​BBQ fix.

This is so awful I’m not even waiting to leave Insa write this.
Have you ever watched a snail cross the street? Service is even slower.
They’ll rush you though, so hurry up and cook that meat they haven’t brought you yet.
We had to cancel part of order because «we need the table.»
13 minutes.
That’s how long it takes to receive a scotch neat. You know, a drink that is a quick pour of one thing in a glass. Someone else at my table waited longer. My table isn’t half a mile from the bar.
Booked a karaōke room. Getting alcohol was a 45 minute wait. We ordered bottles and a pitcher. Over an hour later, pitcher still isn’t here.
Btw: kbbq is a communal dining experience but they only take 4 cards per table and aren’t totally sure where the nearest atm is. Make sure y’all have venmo I guess?
Where is my negative star option?

Huge space, delicious food and karaōke rooms.
Pros tips:
–This KBBQ will NOT leave you smelling like a greasy grill! Kudos to whomever designed the ventilation at Insa.
–They have nut-​milk cocktails… YEAHYUH!
–Two words: Kara-​okay! The rooms are discreetly connected to the restaurant. And the song list is pretty current!
I’m not a Korean BBQ connoisseur, but some food tips:
–Grilled fatty pork is tasty
–Grilled seafood is a bit tasteless, but a great option if you don’t want fatty meats
–Seafood pancake could have been better
–Skip the steamed dumplings, opt for fried
Tip is included under «Admin Fee» on the bill.
$ 60 an hour (per room) for karaōke.
Great service in the restaurant and karaōke rooms!

What Park Slope/​Gowanus needed was good Korean barbeque. Add on karaōke and I am sure people are lining up around the block to try this place out. I have to admit: I am a sucker for Korean barbeque and soju. Typically, we would have to go to K-​town in Manhattan or Queens to get some good Korean food.
I had high hopes that Insa would be the calling for Brooklyn. Although Insa did satisfy the need for Korean barbeque, it did not satiate my cravings. Insa had the fundamental Korean dishes that we wanted — japchae, bimbimbop, mandoo dumplings, spicy rice cakes, various meats/​seafood to grill on. The food was good but I would say some of these dishes have a modern take on the traditional Korean foods (e.g., Rice cakes had a drizzle of hot sauce and was crunchy).
As Insa is still new, several kinks that they could work on:
(1) Wait time — For a party of 6, we were told that it would take 1.5 — 2 hours. After 2.25 hours and not hearing from the restaurant, we went back to check on our status. After waiting a bit more, they were finally able to get us a table.
(2) Air ventilation — The restaurant was smoky mostly due to poor air ventilation as there are no air vents above the grills.
(3) Service — We did not know who our server was. There were several servers that delivered food or helped out at our table. This resulted in lack of accountability as we would ask servers for extra lettuce, hot sauce, or another drink and nothing would be delivered.
We didn’t check out the karaōke because they were booked out for the night. For future reference, book the room well in advance.

Korean BBQ in Brooklyn? Yeah buddy.
Another sign of change and gentrification in the area.
Went here for dinner on a Saturday night with a group of 6. The wait was 2 hours, so went to a few bars in the area to kill time. The wait is not their fault at all, it’s actually a sign that people are over going to Flushing Queens for KBBQ, about 45 –60 mins aways.
We had the following items:
Starters
Gogi Mandu — steamed dumplings
Haemul Pajeon — Seafood & Scallion Pancake
Tteokbokki — Spicy Rice Cakes, Fish Cakes, Soft Boiled Egg
Bibimbap — Vegetables over Rice, Gochujang Sauce, Fried Egg
Meats/​BBQ
Yangnyeom Galbi –Marinated Beef Short Ribs
Chadolbaegi — Thinly Sliced Beef Brisket
Ojingeo & Nakji — Cuttlefish & Octopus
My Drink
Tiger’s Whisker (Blanco Tequila, Ssamjang Agave, Green Salt, Citrus)
All of the food was great quality and in good size portions. My favorites were the dumplings, short rib, and brisket. The drink I had was very creative and delicious.
The service was fast and friendly. You can BBQ yourself or they can do it for you.
They also have a few karaōke rooms in the back and very modern wood work décor inside. I just wish the ventilation was a bit better, super smoky inside.
Final Verdict — great stuff if you don’t want to go to the Asian areas for KBBQ, as for me, I don’t mind making the trip out to Flushing or other areas. So after this fun outing, I will still be going to the Asian areas for my next KBB fix.

«What Gowanus really needs is a combination Korean BBQ/​karaōke spot,» is a thought I’d never had before. Luckily, the minds behind the Good Fork work differently.
There’s been a ton of buzz around Insa since it was announced (with a brief experimental residency at Threes Brewing across the street), and I can say it definitely lives up to the hype.
They have two entrances — one to the bar, and one to the main restaurant. The bar is cool, with a few booths, great lighting, and a super cool bartender named Andy. They have decidedly Asian-​inspired cocktails that I wouldn’t expect to find anywhere else in the area. They use ingredients like matcha tea, jujube, and coconut milk.
Once our table was ready (around 10 minutes on opening week), we walked into the main dining area, which was quite the trip. Assuming this space used to be a garage or warehouse, they really did a number to make it look inviting. High ceilings, skylight, long communal tables, and a giant kitchen off to the side. It really feels like a beer hall, but… y’know, Korean.
Our waitress Sonya was hilarious and made some great recommendations. Between three people, we had:
1) Pork/​beef/​chive dumplings — they come 7 to an order (weird) and we went with fried. Pretty damn good, especially with the sweet-​ish dipping sauce.
2) Japchae — a vegetarian noodle dish with egg. It had two types of noodles and a ton of veggies. Good for something light, but I don’t think I could’ve eaten a whole plate of it.
3) Blood sausage — great if you can stomach it, but probably better for sharing among more people. You can only have so much blood.
4) Cuttlefish and octopus for the grill. Great flavor, but in hindsight, we should’ve asked for it to be grilled longer for more char.
5) Tteokbokki — spicy rice «cake» with fish cakes and egg. This was probably my favorite dish. Very Korean, with a good balance of spicy and savory.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the karaōke. We didn’t sing any songs, but they have two room sizes. The smaller one can fit up to 10 people, and they charge by the hour for the room, rather than by the person by the hour, like many places in the city do. It’s $ 60/​hour for the small room and $ 160 for the large. Not bad if you can get a large group going.
Gowanus is definitely shaping up to be a wonderful area for extracurricular activities, and Insa is a very welcome addition to the neighborhood!