Koreander Restaurant

I had the Bibimbap couple weeks ago.
Nice portion and delicious.

I took my wife and two of my grown children to Koreander on a recent Monday evening. The food was good but the service was not.
The food preparation was reasonably authentic (we are big fans of Korean food and some of us have spent time in Korea) and portion sizes were good, although the menu selection was a bit lacking. I would rate the food three stars.
Unfortunately, the service was one star. While our waitress was delightful, it took ages to get our food and our main courses came separately; mine first, then a 10 minute wait and two more and the final main course about 10 minutes later. What is most perplexing is that the restaurant was not busy, so it is not obvious why the service was so slow and disjointed.
Because the food was good and because there are no other Korean restaurants close by, we will probably return, but we will ask that all main courses be served at the same time.

Nice and simple family owned restaurant. Decent food and very friendly service.
Spice level was tailored to American taste buds as nothing was as spicy as I would have expected. Limited selection of pickled veggies (and lacking a bit of acidity) offerings before the meal. Seafood pancake was a bit underdone. But over all a good meal

Yummy food, great service and nice atmosphere… loved the spicey tofu soup, scallion pancake, bimbimbap

Came here for lunch on a weekend with a friend. Place was not overcrowded but not empty. I got the jaeyuk bokum which was very filling and, for the price, included a bento box with a small salad, some fried rice, tofu, veggies with a tiny bit of lo mein, and the pork itself with rice cakes. The pork’s tanginess and texture was nicely evened out by the salad, tofu, and other veggies. I felt like I was eating a nutritious, balanced (though large) meal!

We came to this restaurant on a Tuesday around 2:30pm. Benjamin, our waiter, was so inviting and told us to sit wherever we liked, since we were the only ones there. We ordered the grilled dumplings, but they were definitely fried but it was still very delicious. We ordered the short ribs and the spice and pork belly with kimchi white rice. Benjamin gave us complimentary pesto and seaweed soup. Everything was delicious and would definitely come back again maybe with a group of people. Thank you Benjamin for the great service ! And for also calling me beautiful lol ;)

Visiting family and had mummy Korean food. I enjoy it so much that I will be back with my family again.

This was the first time trying Korean cuisine, I had the chicken dobap and it was hands down one of the finest meal I’ve ever eaten. It has the perfect amount of spicyness and sweetness from the japchae
The food there doesn’t compare to the service. The second you walk in you are greeted by the owner/​chef and his wife very warmly and make you feel right at home. They attend to all your needs from when you walk in to when you’re finished with your meal.
I highly recommend that you stop by and have a bite you won’t regret it.

I’m Korean and crave Korean food when I’m at work. I was excited to see a Korean restaurant in this neighborhood. I ordered for take out. Menu was very limited. I was looking for a lunch menu, they didn’t have one. They charged me $ 13 for a takeout bi-​bim-​bap. I was desperate to try. I came back to my office and my bi-​bim-​bap is in a small container without my go-​chu-​jang (red spicy paste) and one ban-​chan (side small dish), which was just kim chee.
So bummed out right now I don’t have my spicy paste. I just paid for $ 13 for this small meal. I pay way less in the city during lunch and their bi-​bim-​bap is huge. THE PRICE IS TOO HIGH for the amount of food they give you. Talk about over-​charge. At least have a lunch menu, right?
Menu selection is very small-​they had tofu soup, but not the soft tofu soup which doesnt make sense. Korean restaurant without soft tofu soup? That’s strange.
I’m very sad it didn’t work out. I don’t think I can go back even if I wanted to.

My other half and I had been eager to try Koreander since we moved to the area this summer. Now that it’s open again («Under new management,» blares the sign outside), we were thrilled to go.
Bottom line: great food, mediocre service.
The menu is a little confusing. It’s mostly organized by main ingredient (beef, chicken, etc) rather than by dish type (appetizer, rice bowls, noodles, etc). We took a friend, and we had a mix of three dishes. We all agreed they were very good. My tofu chigae in particular was excellent — good kimchi, nice and spicy, and on par with the tofu chigae I’ve had in Koreatowns.
The service was well meaning but a little amateur. The server needed a few minutes to figure out where to seat our party of three in a half-​empty restaurant. We waited longer to order than I would’ve expected, and food took longer still to arrive.
The food was good enough that we’ll be back. It’s food worth waiting for.
(A humble suggestion to the new management: Different-​sized tables may help you seat more people… maybe more two-​tops that you can push together as needed.)

Being half Korean I like the fact that this is up the street from me (normally I go to Pal Park). The menu is a decent size and the selections are great. It’s nice that the new management took out the Japanese part of the menu (sushi) in order to focus on the Korean dishes. The banchan isn’t a full banchan, which I was a little bummed about, the kimchi could have a little more kick to it as it tastes a little on the bland side. The one big disappointment I had was when I ordered the kalbi. The price for the portion size we got was ridiculous. It mostly consisted of fat and bone. Like I said, I’m half Korean and grew up in a Korean influenced household, I know what kalbi is supposed to be. Other than that the rest of the food is decent and I would go back. But you won’t find me ordering the kalbi again.

This is my second review of anything on Unilocal,but this place (with «new management» and all) really made me take the effort to write one. It’s unfortunate, because I would love there to be a good Korean restaurant in this area. This is not it.
Bottom line, it was a disaster of an experience. Having eaten plenty of Korean food in my life and having a baseline expectation of what dining in a restaurant should be, this place hit all the lowest marks possible. The waiter (tall white gentleman), while very nice, was clueless. Couldn’t remember who got what, didn’t know how to pronounce many of the items. («LA Kalbi» refers to crosscut beef ribs and is a reference to Los Angeles. It’s not French «la kalbi»!)
An order of kalbi came out about 30 – 45 minutes before everything else! It was nothing to write home about and was sitting on a giant pile of onions. (Why so many onions? Perhaps to seem like a better value than it was?) Then dishes came out slowly, one by one, in random order. (Main dish, appetizer, side, main dish, main dish.) The final dish came out after another long delay. And it wasn’t fully cooked. One of our party also noted «the kalbi came with the spicy sauce on the side which is meant for ‘saam’ (lettuce wraps), but there was no lettuce.»
The table behind us waited almost as long as us, and never got their food. They complained and were told «it’s almost ready» and then told «another 20 minutes.» They stormed out.
We felt bad when people came in, because we knew they were in for a bad dining experience that night.
This place can’t possibly last if it continues to be run like this.
I had eaten here once before the «new management», and I don’t remember the service being this bad. Too bad the old management left!

One of the best Korean restaurants I’ve ever been! We enjoyed jeyookdeupbap (sautéed spicy pork over rice) the most because it tasted just like grandma’s home cooked Korean dish. Japchae (fried noodle) was also very good and we will be back for more shortly. Highly recommended!

This place has new management and a new chef as of September 12, 2015. They only kept the (catchy) restaurant name. We had not tried it prior to the new owners so can’t compare it but the current place is a solid 4 stars and hit 5 a couple times. Very attentive, kind wait staff — owner is the chef I think. He came out and discussed the menu. We ordered a handful of dishes (they have about 20, all Korean) and all well excellent and tasted fresh.
The portions are generous and the prices $ 8 — $ 13 range except a few pricier dishes at $ 16 — $ 23. I have no idea what one other reviewer was talking about when they said portions were slight and prices high as I was say the exact opposite. And it’s annoying because we want excellent family owned restaurants to do well here (we live around the corner). My photo of the Chicken Dup Bap, for example, was $ 9.95 and had plenty of white meat chicken, fresh salad, tasty noodles and rice for a hungry adult male. The Chapchae ‘sweet noodles’ with meat and veggies (we swapped the meat for tofu) was terrific and $ 10. The Ramyen ‘spicy noodle soup with rice cake’ was very good and $ 9 and 3 adults couldn’t finish. The Geu Mandu ‘grilled Korean veggie dumplings’ were $ 6 for 5 pieces and I would have ordered a second serving had we not filled up on the rest — delicious flavor without being greasy like many dumplings can be.
BYOB and a limited drink menu of soda (we got Pellegrino) as well as no dessert costs them a star. Off to a good start and a very welcome addition to the neighborhood. Will be back to try the other dishes.

Very satisfied with the food and service. We ordered food for pick up and were treated by the very friendly owners.
What we ate:
Spicy Pork w/​fried rice (excellent)
Kimchi Fried rice w/​chicken (excellent)
Large side of Kimchi.
Both dishes came with a small salad and small soup.
My bf and I live nearly 20 minutes away but it was so worth it. We stuffed our faces and still had food leftover. Will be returning!

This is our new sushi spot. Great service. Great food.
The sushi rolls are large portions. The soup tastes great. The kimchi is flavorful and in-​house.
The bubble tea is great. So far we’ve tried the Thai bubble tea and the green bubble tea.

This place is fast-​food asian food masked as a restaurant.
I ordered Babimpbap and pork katsu.
Pork Katus Dry and obviously from frozen. And the ba bim bap was alright. It’s really hard to mess that one up since ba bim bap is uncooked aside from the egg and pork.
And it’s expensive. $ 15 for ba bim bap. (it’s fried rice…) I wish there was a good korean place in montclair.

Service is always kind. They started serving sushi as a daily thing now. Their spicy salmon roll was amazing though; not too much rive and generously filled with salmon, spicy mayo, fish eggs, and tempura. I dont know what it is that ring me back to this place but i always come back regardless of how pricey things may be. Bubble tea isnt good but food was. I heard the worker taking reservations for the weekend so they probably are packed when it comeso to that time of the week. I occasionaly come 3 times a year

Is it common knowledge that Jobchae traditionally contains beef or other meats? The owner seems to think so, but my previous experience at another Korean restaurant suggested otherwise.
My recommendation: if you eat vegetarian, ask beforehand if the dish contains meat.
Certain menu items at Koreander do indicate that they contain meat. The Jobchae does not mention that it contains meat.

Having never had Korean food before, we had no clue what to expect. We asked the lady there to pick the most typical meal; 1 app, 2 entrees. The app was a Seafood Pancake and Bibimbap (wt beef) and a beef glass noodle stir-​fry. The seafood pancake tasted like potatoes with mostly squid; decent. It came with a flavored soy sauce which was good. The bibimbap had a nice presentation but was pretty bland but tasted healthy and with enough of the hot sauce and soy sauce it was definitely edible. The glass noodles and beef was nothing special, but good. All together it was a little over $ 40.
The place is cute and the staff was friendly. Seemed like it would be a good place to try Korean. Maybe we’ll give them another shot and try something else.

Decent bibimbap in this oddly placed, cash only, family owned spot.
I can only dine here with a set of head phones on, as the piped in Muzak is horrendous. A symphonic reworking of greenDay’s «good riddance» flows seamlessly into Whitney Huston’s «greatest love of all»… While my review is turning into more of an audio critique rather than gastronomic, the ambiance of this place does not sit right. The hallow sound of this music is far to loud for this small place… Perhaps if it were played lower it would serve as a background wallpaper. Instead, electronic guitar solos take center stage.
I’ve dined here 3 times and have always enjoyed the food, and it is certainly more accessible than heading to Palisades Park for my Kimchi fix.
This place is never busy and I wonder how long before it becomes a self serve yoghurt joint.