GunBae

Finally a decent Korean place downtown. I’ve been in this area for many year and have seen Korean restaurants come and go. This one is authentic and as good as any place up on 32^nd street in Korea Town. It’s not a quasi-​Korean/​Asian place, no fake sushi or modified Chinese. Good banchan (pre free apps), small but they filled the empties up on request. We had soup (kimchi jjigae and the soon dubu jjigae,) barbecue beef and pork (gal bee and dae ji) and kimchee fried rice. All were very very good and tasty. One of the great things is that they serve brown rice! Authentic places do not serve it as it is not authentic but it IS healthier than white rice and having the option is commendable.
It’s a little pricey but not more than the solid dinner places in Korea town like Dons Bolbam, or KangSuh. I noticed that a lot of the reviews have complaints about service but we had great service.

I love everything about this place! I love that I never have to wait for a table here, the waiters are so friendly and the food is consistently delicious. Love coming back here.

Only been here twice, but both times were very similar experiences.
First off they start you with this substantial sample appetizer type thing. I forget what they all were, but it included kimchi, some sort of pickled tomato (maybe) and randomly enough potato salad. All of the items were quite good, but I didn’t get why the potato salad was there. We even tried to order more of the green thing, and thought we did, instead the server came back with more potato salad. Wasn’t worth saying anything since more likely than not it would be very difficult. There were substantial language barriers.
Both times here, the service was odd, in addition to the above communication issue. Back in early August, we ordered appetizers and entrees and my friend’s entrée came out before her entrée. Lots of confusion when she asked for it to be returned until we received the appetizers. Then again this past December, the same thing happened to me and my wife. I’m not one to return things and make a big deal out of it, so we just ate the apps as we started our entrees. Still, been here twice and it happened both times, I’d assume it happens often. a bit ridiculous.
Even though appetizers and entrees were quite delicious, at this point I will stop and give GunBae the same respect the servers gave us. Servers, get off your phones. I’ve seen this at places before, but this may have been the worst. Servers, hostess — all just typing away. Here is how it works, those empty wine glasses that have been sitting there as the three of your congregate (not to talk to each other, but to each be on your phones), we really would like to get them filled. When it runs out again, chances are we may want the same. This also helps you as the tip is generally a function of the bill.
So even though we enjoyed the food, myself more than my wife, I’ll just jump on my phone instead of talking about it.

Order take out here on Friday. This place is packed, it took a very long time to get my food. Roughly 25mins minimum, if u wants to grab a quick lunch, this place is not for you.
My bi tang has very little meet. Jap Che taste good. Lotus in the side dish is the best!
It’s a little pricy for lunch take out.

Not a very good in making bibibamp, K-​town got better food.

Decent pricing considering it’s in the Tribeca area. Food was decent but not as good as places in Ktown area over on 32^nd street. I ordered a tofu bibimbap and it was pretty bland.
I did not try the bbq so I do not know if it may have been the better choice.

Decent Korean BBQ… we got their best cut, the Galbi, which was tender but still a bit too chewy.
The service was quite nice though, and took the time to barbecue the meat for us to just the level of rareness we wanted. They provided an extra re-​fill of a few of the banchan when they saw that we ran out. I’d say that the experience and service was much better than what you would get in K-​town.
Trendy ambience — and there is karaōke here. Would be fun to come with a group.

This is a great restaurant for everything from bbq to a la carte food!
Definitely recommend to come

I kept checking to see if I was in the right restaurant. Was this really the place with good Unilocal reviews? First there was a very loud table which made any conversation in the entire restaurant difficult. Second, between my dining companion and I, neither of us enjoyed the food. He had the wagyu beef fried rice and I had the bibimbap. We pretty much got expensive, not so tasty, rice. The table next to us had the bbq and that didn’t even smell good.
The last straw was that our waiter disappeared. Finally, the restaurant greeter noticed us looking around and got us our bill. Our plates were never cleared.
I wanted to like this addition to the neighborhood but obviously I was sorely disappointed.

Came here for a Unilocal event on a Sunday night. Gunbae just opened early this summer and it’s great to see a Korean restaurant in the Tribeca/​downtown neighborhood (the only other one I know is BonChon on John St). The event was held on the bottom floor which has a bar and at least 4 karaōke rooms. The top floor was for regular diners and each table had a Korean BBQ grill. I really enjoyed the event because of the delicious Korean food and fun karaōke rooms. I tried everything that Gunbae served us including tofu, kale salad with lotus root, pork belly bbq, bulgogi, kim chee wagyu beef fried rice. The owner was a very friendly middle-​aged Korean man (Korean owner of a Korean restaurant is definitely a plus) who told me that the fried rice is a must try and I agree!
After grabbing food and a drink, I headed over to the biggest karaōke room, which could fit 15+ people (maybe more if you get closer together). I only saw Korean and English songs but the song selection was pretty good. Really recommend to Korean food lovers who spend time in Tribeca. This is also the only karaōke bar I know in the Tribeca/​downtown neighborhood even though a lot of Asians live here so if words spreads, they could get some good business!

Such pretty people in this restaurant. Truly a place to do some serious people watching at the bar (including the lovely bartenders), see and be seen. I love Korean BBQ– I was practically brought up on the stuff during my formative years in LA. So coming here was like coming home. The fire, the smoke, the smells of fresh meats being transformed into something exquisite on the grill– all highlights of my culinary life.
I came here for a Unilocal event and had an absolute blast. What I really enjoyed was the many karaōke rooms downstairs with the bar– right… out… side. We weren’t singing– it was Sunday night and we were grubbing and drinking (a lot) while watching the football game. It was like one of my best days in NYC.
So the food– wagyu beef kimchi fried rice, grilled pork belly, lightly seared bulgogi. There were vegetables too ;)… wonderful. It was all just wonderful. Who knew you could find such a hot spot in Tribeca.
Also spoke a bit with the owner who was making the rounds. Great guy– the type of proprietor you really want to support. And we will, because everything here made us very happy.

GunBae is legit. I didnt even know there was Karaōke/​Korean BBQ in Tribeca but behold, the one place to replace all of Ktown. The BBQ here was excellent, marinated steak and pork belly were out of this world. The bulgogi was avg, could use a bit more seasoning, but it was cooked very well. Their kale salad was an unexpected delight — super flavorful and actually made me enjoy kale for once. The kimchi wagyu beef fried rice, yes i said wagyu beef fried rice, is ⁶⁄₅ stars, it is INSANELY good. Seriously, you just have to get it to believe it. I had three plates of all of this ( Unilocal Elite event so it was buffet style).
There are about 4 or so? Karaōke rooms downstairs and the sizes range from comfortably fitting 5 – 20 people depending on the room. They also have a PS3 down there lol. This place is only 3 months old and their microphones are pretty amazing, high quality indeed (so you can actually hear yourself) and the sound system is fantastic — much better than anything in Ktown. If you live nearby and like anything in Ktown, come here instead. It is cleaner, classier and just way better in every way.
Random rumor I heard other people discussing: apparently the owner of Bonchon is a partner of Gunbae.

I came here for a Unilocal Elite event, and it was a true gem. Having a delicious Korean BBQ/​karaōke place outside of Ktown, let alone downtown, is something that has been needed for a while.
I got to try many different foods on the menu, and my number one favorite was the rib eye BBQ. It was so juicy, tender, and marinated very well. Out of this world delicious… I had three helpings. I would also highly recommend the pork belly BBQ and the kale & tofu salad (which has some type of delicious, unique dressing that’s soy but also slightly spicy). I’m not a huge kimchi person because it’s too spicy for me, but my roommate said it was the best kimchi fried rice he’s ever had.
The restaurant as a whole is a great spot. It’s casual but trendy with exposed brick. The top floor is a restaurant, and the bottom floor has a bar with karaōke rooms. There are three karaōke rooms in the back, which are all very large and have great sound quality. I would definitely go back.

Visiting the Wall St area for the weekend. Found this gem of a Korean restaurant on a side street. Great food, great service, great people, great experience. Did I mention it was great? ;)
Do yourself a favor and experience this place (it’s great…)

I’m really torn. While I am 5 stars of happy that there is a Korean BBQ joint in Tribeca, or anywhere below 14^th for that matter… I just… can’t with the food. Look, the beef is good but all the side dishes are just not enough. Not enough kimchi, not enough banchan, not enough options for sides. What kind of place calls themselves Korean without some dukkbooki or soondoobujigae?!
As the the prices, honestly, I’m fine paying more if it gets me what I want but Gunbae doesn’t. In Tribeca, would pay double to get some real, home-​style Korean dishes up in this place.
Gunbae… whether you want to believe it or not, there are Koreans in Tribeca, and they’re HUNGRY. Don’t try to fool me with your kimchi pancake that is literally the size of my hand.
Oh, and fix that broke a** tap situation in your downstairs bar. My beer tasted 1000 years old.

Really enjoyed my experience here. Came for lunch late Sunday afternoon. The staff was very attentive. I have the plum mojito it was good. Then we started with the vege dumplings also very good. My boyfriend got the brisket Korean bbq. The cooked it for us and it comes with a lot of little sides like kimchi, broccoli, pickles veggies and more. I got the hot stone bibimbap with tofu. It was very good I was impressed with the flavor and size of the dish. I took about half home. Place has a great décor too.

Finally a Korean restaurant in Tribeca. Awesome food!!! Best jap che and kimchi fried rice i ever had!!! Better than k town.
The bbq is awesome and tasty! Yum~~~
Why wait hours to eat korean bbq and kareoke in that stinky 32^nd st (i hate the garbage odor), when i can have both better and faster. thank you GunBae! I am definitely coming back!!!

Decided to give GunBae a second chance because it’s in the neighborhood, we came back to try the bar downstairs (no Karaōke, they have a separate bar downstairs). Usually Korean bars have yummy bar food and cheap drinks. Unfortunately here they have neither.
Cocktails are about $ 14, which is Okay given the location but very average. I was very disgruntled at the bar food menu — it has kimchi and seafood pancakes, calamari, fried dumplings (mandoo), spring rolls, and maybe one more item, that’s it. We got the kimchi pancake and fried mandoo. Kimchi pancake was just like last time, SMALL for $ 12 but tasted good. The fried mandoo, $ 11, was the worst mandoo I’ve ever had at any Korean establishment. The skin was stale and chewy, the inside was tasteless, they probably stored that in the freezer for too long. On top of that, the sauce came with it was horrible, it practically tasted like sugar water, completely inedible and made the mandoo even worse when dipped in. I am officially done with this place.

New shiny chic rustic Korean resto in downtown, yay!!! just opened so I think need some time to settle and make some adjustments and improvements. However, overall it has a lot of potential.
Food — we went for lunch, lunch menu was basically similar to dinner but smaller portion n cheaper. their food was prepared well, presented nicely, good ingredients, however, a bit salty. We ordered bibimbap stone pot and spicy pork. the side dishes were typical Korean dishes, assortment of 5 – 6 ish, which is not too many but not too little either.
Someone mentioned re: sour kimchee, it’s fermented so sour, actually is really good for you, the very reason why kimchee is considered good fermented food.
Someone also mentioned re: greasy or fatty pork belly meat, well pork belly is suppose to have very high fat content, hence belly, you prob should have ordered something less fatty. However, Asian n Korean BBQ the premium bbqs are actually the ones with a lot of marbling which is not lean but fatty. of course the reason is a nice marbling just taste juicier/​preferred bc of the nice fat n meat balance.
Price point for lunch was not bad considering the area however, think to attract a lot of new BBQ ppl, by offering maybe better combo deals, around $ 15 range such as lung dish + few distinctive side dishes, such as egg
Service was fine no complaint there, place was clean n stylish. lunch cocktail, lychee belini was perfect at $ 6! make any meal scrumptious

GunBae doesn’t mean shoot your loved one, it means «Cheers!» in Korean.
I went here for Father’s day in a group of 5 and we had a blast both dining in the restaurant as well as singing our hearts out in karaōke.
Straight up: this is the PERFECT place to try out Korean food for the 1^st time. I have dined at many Korean restaurants, but I must say that the GunBae staff is exceptionally helpful, interactive and informative. Not to mention the food is awesome! I ordered the hot stone bibimbap which was great, but my favorite dish might’ve been the kale and sesame seed salad. Kimchi was on point, too. This was my dad’s first time having Korean and he was amazed.
Some advice: don’t stop at dinner, go downstairs and get the party started! They have many private karaōke rooms available, we rented the 5 person room for $ 50/​hr. There were plenty of songs to choose from and we had a great time. Most karaōke places I’ve been to are BYO, but I think this one is order-​in only. Thankfully, they have plenty of bottles of wine, soju, beer, and cocktails to choose from.
Awesome Korean food + karaōke in the same spot = guarantee for a good time. «Cheers» to GunBae for being the coolest Korean restaurant/​karaōke spot I’ve ever been to.