Han Joo

Groupon deal review!
For $ 49, we got a bibimbap, two meats, and pancake, plus 2 glasses of wine and pickled veggies. Previous reviews said it was not a lot of food; I’ve got a healthy appetite and I left fully content. Or is it contently full?
The pickled veggies were nice and a good variety: potatoes, sprouts, turnip, broccoli, and tomatoes. Sour. Fresh. Crispy. Sweet. Good.
We got the beef bibimbap which was good, but I’ve had better at other shops. Not to day it’s bad; it’s just not great.
The garlic pork belly was basically thick, uncured bacon. Two pieces. Didn’t seem like much, but it ended up being enough.
The Kalbi was the star for me. The sweet sauce paired perfectly with the meat and seared and caramelized nicely on the crystal grill.
The crystal grill was interesting, but I can’t say it enhanced the meal. Certainly didn’t detract.
Overall, I’m more than satisfied with my groupon and my meal.

This review is exclusively for the $ 49 Weekday Groupon deal for two people.
Quick takeaway: Deceitful deal, decent food, good service.
Let me preface this review to say that I rarely use Groupon deals, but one of my biggest pet peeves are businesses that take advantage of Groupon users by giving them product not worth the supposed «value». Han Joo took this practice to the next level by actually giving users less than what they actually paid for ($ 49).
The deal was supposed to include:
— Two glasses of house wine ($ 12 value)
— One pa-​jun pancake appetizer: choice of seafood, kimchi, or vegetable ($ 10 value)
— Two barbecue entrees ($ 40 value), such as fresh pork belly, short ribs, or sliced duck.
— One hot stone bibimbap tofu entrée ($ 15 value)
The only part of the «deal» we really received in its entire value were the two glasses of wine.
Our seafood pancake was good, but it contained absolutely no seafood (check out my picture).
For the barbecue entrees, we ordered galbi and pork belly. Supposedly, the $ 40 value was for one strip of galbi and two strips of pork belly. Really? Excuse my brashness, but what a load of bull. In what world is a $ 20 entrée of galbi equivalent to one tiny strip of meat? What made it worse was the couple who sat across from us, without the Groupon deal. They had decent sized entrees that came on a round plate.
The hot stone bibimbap was flavorless. I guess it’s worth $ 15. I don’t even know.
All in all, with tax and tip and the original Groupon price, we spent $ 57 on this meal. $ 57 for a meal that in reality should have cost, at MOST maybe $ 30.
The overall experience was so disappointing. It’s difficult because the food is decent, and the service was great. It’s too bad this business insists on lying and cheating their Groupon users.

Compared to Koreantown on 32^nd street and Northern Blvd, East Village doesn’t really have much Korean restaurants besides Han Joo. I had their seafood pancake, bibimbap, and seafood tofu soup. Like every Korean restaurant they first start off by giving you free side dishes. Han Joo only gave a few varieties and I’m use to Korean places where they give like over 6 different side dishes.
While waiting for our food we finished the side dishes. They clear the side dishes from the table. Usually at other Korean restaurants they ask if you want more. Minus a star here. The seafood pancake the sauce was delicious, but the seafood pancake itself I didn’t taste any seafood. It seem like it was just batter. The seafood tofu soup had a strong seafood smell and the bibimbap didn’t have a lot of different ingredients.