Kum Gang San

This was an awesome place for lunch and dinner when it was open. I reminisce about NYC every now and then from when I used to live there. This place was my favorite spot to meet with friends and host lunches for business meetings. Their staff were all friendly and welcoming, also very helpful with menu selections. My favorite thing to ask for as soon as I sat down was hot tea (tasted like oolong tea but had a toasted flavor). I hope they re-​open, I’d like to come back and have KBBQ or Bi Bim Bap when I visit.

I’ve been to lunches and dinners at Kum Gang San for more than a decade, so imagine my dismay when I walked by there today (2 March 2015) and there was a sign on the door handle saying, «CLOSED» and the windows/​door were covered with that soapy stuff so you can’t see inside.
The quality of the ambience had been declining a bit in the past year, but the food was still good. This was my go-​to place for small or large parties when we felt like some K-​food.
I will certainly miss it. Now I have to find a replacement!

This is now my go-​to K-​Town BBQ place. I have been to most of the others and they just don’t compare. Its very kitchey, but you expect that at an authentic K BBQ place. I find the staff to be very nice as compared to the rudeness of the place across the street and the food is better here.
I also love the korean sticky rice desserts, which seem light and healthy. I stop by on my way home and pick up a container way too often!

I miss living nearby and getting bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes). After a day of art museums, I was so glad to stop here for a takeout meal of bindaetteok, noodles, and beer. That’s my kind of good comfort food.

Haven’t had the chance to eat at the restaurant upstairs yet. I got take-​out from the first floor buffet for lunch the other day and pretty much everything was good. Sometimes the hot items can get pretty dry at buffets like this but everything here was still fresh and delicious.
Very similar to what Woorjip has to offer but I thought they had a better variety and more interesting options (Octopus, conch, etc.). Still love Woorjip though!

A total rip off at 60 dollars a head.
Having lived in Korea and eaten the cuisine for over a decade I can attest that their meat is among the worst quality.
The service was satisfactory, but the quantity of food was also subpar especially when you consider the price tag. With the number of readily available alternatives in NYC. I will never go back.

My first time here and I was confused looking in from the outside. The first floor is like a takeout/​mini market. The second floor is where people dine. The night I came, there was live music. It was interesting where the two people were playing their instruments. One is a piano and I think the other one is a cello but not sure.
The food was good. I tried the bibimbap. I asked for more of the red sauce to mix it with. The tofu soup wasn’t bad either. The kalbi had good flavor. The flavor wasn’t as strong as some places I’ve been to but it’s not bad.

Unreal! It’s all over for KGS now because they made the wrong critic angry with terrible service and a new practice of including a tip on the bill that totaled 20% on top of tax. So to be clear, the practice of adding a service fee to a large party is reasonable but this was not a large party. The service was less than stellar so I generally will tip pretax as a comment at 20%. In this case I felt it was rushed and not great and they placed this amount on the bill with no notice
Don’t go here until they change, it’s over KGS is out of my regular visits for now.

My wife came here to pick up some take out. While waiting for food some metal pole with lots of sharp edges fell down and made a big cut across my wife’s face close to her eye. On top of that they messed up the take out order leaving all the sauces for the bi bim bap.
How careless can the waiters be especially if they are customers down stairs. Create a rail or at least move people out of the area below the piano/​instrument place or do whatever they are doing during non work hours without customers.
If my wife was another inch or two away she could have been killed! How irresponsible of the restaurant.

What happened to this place? I used to come here decades ago and this was the place I usually recommend for people who are unfamiliar with Korean food. I was really confused when I walked in and saw they converted the ground floor to Jan Chi Jan Chi — the take away version and luckily someone was at the door and told us to come in.
For 3 people, we ordered the BBQ combination platter with kalbi and bulgogi and an order of japchae and it was more than enough food. First the banchan comes out, everything was so meh. I rarely have Korean BBQ in the city anymore but the food standard was a bit unexpectable and also disappointing given that it is now a touristy place. Serve up good stuff!
It’s a bit sad to see places that have been around a long time probably struggling with such tough competition… but dunno they’re not helping themselves to get repeat customers if the quality of the food keeps going down. Sorry Kum Gang San, I won’t send out of town tourists your way anymore…

I’ve been here numerous occasions either during the wee hours after a night out in the city or during lunch and it always comes thru! During lunch hours on weekdays, they have lunchbox (i.e. Chicken Terayaki, Salmon Terayaki, etc) specials that usually consist of a few items placed into a partitioned box along with a salad, some noodles, rice or sushi rolls. The prices are usually much cheaper during lunch at around $ 12-​$ 14. As for dinnertime, the prices can be a bit high depending on what is ordered, but they serve your usual Korean foods like meats (Galbi, Bulgogi, etc) Ji Gaes and Bibimbaps.
Also, once you order your food, they bring out in my opinion some of the best Banchan (small complimentary) dishes around and you can always ask for a refill of them if you haven’t had enough. A few other great things about Kum Gang San is that they are open real late at night into the next morning and always have seating at any time of the day! The restaurant consists of a 1^st and 2^nd floor and the 2^nd floor is huge! On the 2^nd floor there sits a piano on top of a waterfall and during certain nights they’ll even have a live performer playing it!

I’d love to give a better review because I do really like the food, but I cannot support a business that employs slave labor. Staff are forced to «volunteer» to do hard manual labor during times that they are not scheduled to work. There are several extreme allegations of abuse and I hope that none of you will continue to support this business.
The allegations at the Flushing location are even worse.

Came here to eat with a friend.
The lower level has different takeout options while the upstairs has dining tables. The ambiance here is kind of strange and I’ve heard that the one in Queens is better.
Your entrée will come with a plethora of side dishes so there is no need to order additional ones, unless you can pack food away like a champion. Was it the best korean food I ever had? No. Was it the worst korean food I ever had? No.
Reasonable prices. Open 24/​7, too.

What a rip off for their buffet/​self serve hot foods. I got a small container of mostly just meat or seafood and it was already over 8 bucks. I’m never eating this kind of food around 34^st again. The food was mediocre too… like most buffets.

3.5 seem to be adequate.
I ordered a spicy marinated pork with raw tofu. I thought it was adequately cooked. However, I failed to notice any difference from all the other Korean place on that street. The server was very attentive with refilling side dishes and ice water.
I would say this should be better than some other places, but wouldn’t put this place on top of everything else (in fact, nothing’s on top in my book, sorry).

Even though Kum Gang San is the restaurant in K-​Town that I go to most often, I am only giving it 3 stars because the food is consistently mediocre.
Last time I went, I got the salmon terriyaki bento box and it was quite disappointing. The salmon was so hard and not well seasoned. I also did not touch any of the mini appetizers that they gave us because nothing interested me.
My favorite dish from Kum Gang San is the octopus bibimbap, but unless you are Superman, make sure you ask for it to be less spicy because I was tearing up with each bite.
Overall, I have never been really happy with the food here– it’s just meh.
The reason why I go here often, and will continue coming back, is because it’s very convenient for me, the menu is extensive, and the ambiance is fantastic. However, another downside is that they only have bathrooms in the basement and they are not nice. Prices are comparable with your average Korean restaurant, but lean a tad bit towards the pricier side.

I don’t understand why there is so many bad reviews for the food… I find everything quite delightfully expect for the service…
Food:
When u eat at a Korean restaurant they always serve u little mini free apps before your entrees or the appetizer you order comes… I usually hate the kimchi or the little free apps they give… but this place got the best apps I ever tasted… They serve you six mini little side apps while you wait for your Oder and all was great…
I order my first ever clay hotpot rice called bi bimpo, served with octopus and hot Korean sauce… It was the best octopus dish I ever had… It was not rubbery. fully of flavor and I know for sure it was fresh and cooked perfectly… it was spicy which is a plus… defiantly love my spicy foods… Korean style rice cakes served with seafood with korean hot sauce were ok… i felt like they over powered the sauce too much… but the seafood was cooked perfectly again! and for appetizer i got dumplings… Ummm I so regret ordering this… it was just bland… u mean its heathy not too greasy for fried dumplings but I feel like it lacked flavor… and for eight filthy for only five dumplings… I don’t even think it was worth it when it was that bland… but love how it wasn’t soaked in oily…
Service:
Was disappointing… how can u make people wait to be waited on… It took him ten minutes to come over to our table and asked what would you like to drink… then after that I had difficulty looking at the menu… so I asked him can I have this… and he said buy that and that so then you can have that… in my mind I was like what the hell does that even mean… why can’t I just order exactly the stuff I wanted… Oh well… Every time I finished my glass of water or tea they do not quickly refill my cup… All the stuff I order was extremely hot or spicy so it would make sense I needed water over and over again… I almost got fed up to the point of getting my own water and severing myself… this place can be extremely busy so one of the main reason why the service is soo slow…
Décor:
Was pretty nice … The seats were comfortable. Lots of space I was not cramped at all… good amount of seatings as well… many people come here for dinner… there was people coming in and out of this place… This place is located in the second floor… the first floor looks like a fast food Korean store… but it was nice… everyone was happy and enjoying there dinner…
Ps: after your done with you meal they serve you plan frozen yogurt… I didn’t like it so much… but it was free!

Came with Hubby’s family. What was once the fanciest korean restaurant in k-​town is now split into a self serve area (similar to Woorijip down the street) on the ground floor, with the restaurant only on the 2^nd floor. Really kills any sort of atmosphere it had before.
We came for lunch. The majority of our party ordered the sulangtang (oxtail broth). This was surprisingly good! Flavorful with very tender meat inside. Hubby ordered a seafood dish. When it came out, they gave us the wrong dish. When we pointed it out to them and asked them to bring out the correct dish, the server said «this is already made.» Seriously?! Sigh.
Food was good, but ambiance was lacking, and service was EXTREMELY lacking. I wouldn’t come back.

A couple of friends swung by here since I insisted because KGS left a good memory in my head. I did them dirty and now my friends hate me. I kid, I kid… Jokes aside, the quality of the place has gone downhill and the service was subpar. My spicy cod soup was plentiful but i didn’t think it was anything special compared to a regular soondubu + seafood. My friend told me with her experiences over the years eating at KGS this was the worst visit aka the food standards plummeted. My buddy was hankering for kimchi fried rice and she swears she had it at KGS before so she just straight up asked the waitress for kimchi fried rice with beef. What came out? Orange colored fried rice and two bits of what looks like (and hopefully was) beef. Needless to say, she was extremely disappointed and was appalled at the bill for the fake kimchi fried rice, which is a whopping $ 12.95!
I get it, a restaurant wants to make money but seriously, put some effort in making sure your customers are happy should be your #1 priority. A happy customer is a returning customer. Will we be returning? Wethinks not.

This place was recommended to us by fellow Australian friends who dined here during their trip a month before ours. It’s a large place with 2 levels and is decked out probably better than most of the Korean eateries in K-​Town. We had ventured up and down 32^nd Street to check out what other establishments were popular and decided to go with Kum Gang San because it was busy but not overly so and we were in no mood to queue after a long day exploring the city.
There was 4 of us and we made the mistake of ordering a main each and also a plate of jap-​chae to share! We were stuffed and needed help crawling out of the place after our meal. My dish was the seafood and tofu spicy hotpot which was great despite the warm summer night. It is comfort food and it is dishes like this that you enjoy after a long day of travelling no matter how hot it is outside.
The bimbimbap looked and tasted a treat as well, definitely recommended especially as it came out piping hot!
The complimentary side dishes were good and they were happy to replenish the ones we devoured — like kim chi.
Service was friendly and although the staff don’t speak much English, they knew enough to get through the menu and drink requests. They threw in an extra bottle of soju for us which was nice of them as we weren’t really drink much?