Sik Gaek

Tried for the first time of life!! very fun very cool! was very very good! Will come back again!

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I came here once before and had a good time with my cousins so I decided to bring my boyfriend, his sister and her boyfriend to try out what I thought was a place with good food & service. By the end of the night I regretted this so much.
Since there were only four of us we bought the smaller hotpot with beef and some seafood. At first our waitress didnt understand when we were asking what was inside of it (particularly the seafood as we were debating between 2 diff. pots) but that wasnt a big deal. They brought the food out a very long time afterwards, because instead of having it cook in front of us they brought it out fully cooked.
Having been there before I served everyone and gave the first scoop of noodles I saw to one person. That ended up being the ONLY noodles in the entire pot. Maybe 8 thick strands. It tasted extremely fishy (I know that its seafood but I’ve had it before and it was delicious) but this time there was even a random piece of fish that wasnt listed on the ingredients thrown in.
We also got a kimchi fried rice, this tasted good but half the dish was just cabbage. But no complaints on the taste.
By the time we were done we weren’t satisfied at all and so we got our check and paid. It was around $ 90 and we left a $ 10 tip, which is 11% Not the most generous but certainly nothing to cry about when you only had to tend to us twice. (Especially since you hear those horror stories of people leaving no tip). This was less than the SUGGESTED amount they put on the bottom, but I like I said we were still very hungry (something which is unheard of in these reviews) and had seen our waitress maybe twice. We actually saw the younger busboy way more and he was the most accommodating always refilling our water. SO long story short we pay and leave.
I had parked outside and we were all in the car, about to pull out when a strange man knocks at the back window. We open the car door and he squats down and gets in close. At this point I think we forgot something inside or didnt pay them, something outreageous. BUT he instead says oh your bill is this amount and down here it says you have to leave this amount of tip.
We reply it says «suggested tip, and you cant tell someone how much to tip». He then stays squatting next to the car, not leaving and repeating the same thing. At this point I pass five more dollars back and they give it to him. Once hes gone everything sets in.
BEFORE YOU GO HERE: consider this. If a strange man came to your car demanding money, thats robbery right? ESPECIALLY if you’ve never seen him before! This is by far the strangest thing thats ever happened to me at a restaurant. This waiter or manager, who wasnt even our waiter completely intruded and demanded the amount of tip they wanted. This is unacceptable and I was so mad.
The worst part is we had to go to the Wendys down the block right after because we were all still hungry! I cannot believe we paid more than $ 100 for fishy water with 8 pieces of noodles and to get harrassed in our own car.
Worst place I’ve ever been. And what sucks is that this was my second time there, so I had confidence that my friends would like it. Needless to say thanks for the horrible service, I actually appreciate it because you saved me wasting more money on future visits. I can take my business to Flushing and Bayside for way better food and service.

Fresh seafood! Great food! Reasonable price! love hangout here with friends! I moved to this neighborhood becoz of this place!

This is an amazing Korean restaurant. The food is so amazing. If you pay by cash, you will get 1 pancake for free. The service is great.

If you work for PETA, Sea Shepherd, or basically any animal treatment organization, DON’T walk inside. But if you are a culinary bad soul with a sin of desiring exotic food, like chef Anthony Bourdain, welcome to the Woodside inferno and try a half-​alive hot pot at Sik Gaek.
I started with a freshly cut octopus. Eating a wiggling octopus muscle was thought to be a challenge, but once the chopped muscle was inside the mouth, its suction was barely significant.
Then, a lobster was broken into halves and dropped in a boiling kimchi broth, and when its claw waggled and grabbed my watermelon soju, I questioned why on Earth I ordered a pot of alive sea creatures. But that was the account before the lobster turned heated in front of my eyes. Minutes later, the cooked lobster became lost inside my digestive system, with the clams, the prawns, and the squid. They are called seaFOOD afterall.
Overall, I had a nice dinner. The only EW factor was the clingy hot pot smell that follows me to the subway.

Arrived around 11 pm .they seated us right away. ordered the kimchi pancake .but the tofu jigae was on the weekday menu :(the server was kind enough to make an exception for me since I am vegetarian. loved the restaurant overall .the food is delicious

We came here for the spicy seafood hot pot, which we had high expectations with the high price tag ($ 99). The pot is huge and stuffed with an assortment of seafood. They had lobster, crab legs, blue crab, shrimp, abalone, clams, and mussels along with udon, mushrooms, and some veggies. The lobster came to our table still alive and moving in the pot. The flavor profile of the broth was on point and all the seafood tasted good. We ended up getting the fried rice with roe at the end which they cook inside your pot to let the rice soak up the flavor of the broth, and this was definitely worth the extra $ 5. Was it worth $ 99? Probably not, but I still really enjoyed everything and for the food alone, I’d rate this 4 stars.
But my god, the service was just awful. We were sitting in the corner by the entrance and the only time anybody came to our table was to grab a lobster out of the water tank next to us. We literally had to wave across the room at several waiters before one would respond. This happened all night, even when we were trying to order extra food and pay our bill!

I was so excited to try this place with my family after my dad couldn’t stop talking about it. We came around 445 on a Sunday and of course, it was empty. Our waiter was really nice, and the rest of the staff that waited on us were quiet, but also polite.
We ordered the seafood hotpot, kimchi pancake, japchae, and watermelon soju. The soju tasted watered down, and here was only a hint of watermelon. I didn’t particularly care for it and didn’t think it was worth the $ 20. The pancake was tasty, but not the best that I’ve tasted. The japchae lacked in noodles! It felt like we were all fighting to get some. I guess most people would like having more meat and veggies, but I love my carbs. The hotpot itself was the disappointment. While it was abundant in seafood, the broth was somewhat salty. They added a lot of shrimp and squid, and definitely not enough crab or lobster. It wasn’t as flavorful as I had hoped.
The neat thing about getting the hotpot is that when you are done, the waitress can take your leftovers and make either fried rice or noodles with it. We opted for the rice, which I thought tasted better than the hotpot itself.
Needless to say, our expectations weren’t met but at least we can say we’ve been!

This place is amazing. Yes the prices are high but the seafood was so fresh and so delicious. The watermelon soju was like watermelon juice but after a few I started to feel the alcohol. Luckily I came with a big group so the price didn’t really bother me. We had the big seafood hot pot, Sannakji, two watermelon soju and some scallion pancakes ended up paying $ 45 and was totally satisfied!

Craving for that seafood hot pot here.
You start off with the on the house Eggs, Rice Cakes, Kimchi, Cucumber & Carrots.
Assorted Seafood Hot Pot was our to go.
Huge.
Gigantic.
O M G.
FOOD COMA.
$ 99 gets you a lot and I mean a lot of food. Here is a list.
A Whole Lobster.
Abalone.
Clams.
Mussels.
Squid.
Crab.
Shrimp.
Mushrooms.
Udon.
Rice Cakes.
Bean Sprouts.
Vegetables.
Everything is packed into one pot. Man is that a delicious hot pot. Everything fresh. The soup stock is that good. Really good.
Between the two of us. We were able to finish all of it. MAJOR FOOD COMA!!!
Think we were done. NOPE!!!
We ordered rice to soak up and cook in that delicious extra soup stock. Oh boy that rice was amazing, delicious, and fragrant.
Unbuckle my belt now. My stomach is going to explode.

This place is not for the weak hearted or any PETA people.
We ordered Raw Octopus Sashimi at this place for my wife’s birthday. It is quite an experience to have when your food is being uncooperative and is fighting with you as you are trying to eat it.
We usually order the seafood hot pot dish. This dish is intended for a party of 4 to consume. How do we know? We ate half of it and threw out the rest of it.
If you have a birthday boy or girl in your party, the waiter/​waitress will surprise the special boy or girl with the gift of song. On my wife’s birthday, my wife warned me that if I were to mutter that her birthday was on the same day we were eating at this place, she would be collecting on my life insurance policy.

This place is amazing. The birthday girl was a little CRABby from our train BEERing late but once we got aCLAMated, she had a great time SHELLebrating! The beef short ribs were incredible. The shrimp were even better. I made a exception even though I’m SOJUish.
Come here! You won’t be DISHappointed.
I’m sorry.

Had the best experience here with friends. We ordered the steam pot and it was absolutely perfect. The lobsters were still alive and they slowly cook for a few minutes at the table. The seafood was fresh and very tasty. The broth made a really good soup. It was very filling. We also had the pancakes which were super yummy. We also had the rice that was cooked in the broth from the seafood. This was very delicious and tasted very similar to sushi as they used the sushi skin in the dish.
Even though the food was absolutely amazing, I would avoid the drinks as they are extremely weak. We had a lychee pitcher which was not strong at all and the watermelon sujo was also super weak. We could have done without the drinks.
Overall the service was great. All the workers greeted each guest in Korean upon entrance and exit. Our server was amazing. He was very attentive and made sure to cut open the shells of the crabs and lobsters so that it was easy to eat. There is also a buzzer at the table that you can push to signal your server and they would come right over when buzzed.
I had a great experience and I will definitely go back in the future.

Taste Good！ The workers here are nice and professional. We will come again.

Sik Gael Woodside is our must visit restaurant every time we visit NYC. And the only dish we would order is the seafood steam hotspot. It comes with a huge pot piled with all kinds of shell fishes… lobster, clams, snow crab legs, and mussels. It was more than enough to feed a party of four even there only two of us.

foor is good. I give the food for 4 stars. However, the restaurant decoration and location is meh. Minus 1 star.

Love the food and service. Got free bottle and meat dish on the house! See try the grilled seafood course, it’s pricey but worth the money! Super fresh and cooked on the spot.

Great Korean Restaurant! The environment is a replica for the street food place at South Korea, very cultural and interesting. I did not get the hot pot, heard the hot pot was pretty good, will definitely try it someday. Their food is good in general, definitely give it a try!

Yes, 3-​stars. Don’t shoot me.
Honestly, I love the Sik Gaek chain but the Woodside one is definitely of lesser quality when compared with Chun Ha in Flushing (
).
The food, the service, the speed, the size, and the cleanliness are good but are all lacking when compared with its bigger brother. A lot of times, Woodside is out of things on the menu which is no fun. (Last time they had no watermelon for their watermelon soju.)
For me, SIk Gaek is an event — not something casual. With that being said, a drive out to Flushing is acceptable — especially if it yields happier times.

Finally! Bucket list item 68B, check! Live octopus has been consumed (really it’s dead but still thoroughly squirming and suction-​cups-​a-​sucking!). Listen, it doesn’t taste like much and you have chew it forever before you can swallow than vulcanized rubber-​like cephalopod mollusc. But it’s so cute when the cups attach to your lips! Fun!
This place is heavy on experience (like the octopus). Looks a little shabby but it’s clean. Seems a bit loud but not annoying. It’s popular but no so much that you have to line up for an hour. All around cool and fun and interactive.
The food is solid and pretty authentic Korean. Great place for fresh seafood, grilled or hot pot style at your table, to your liking. You can’t complain that someone overcooked your meat! A bit pricey but certainly worth the experience. We tried so many things because they had so many tempting items for the adventurous of palate. All good!
Note: they don’t kill you with spice but if you challenge them, they will make you sweat. You have been warned. Now go and enjoy this, mofo!

Possibly the best Korean restaurant in New York!
Cheap BBQ, Free toppokki, Friendly staff, Beer on the house for service!

The fired rice and pan cake is the best hot pot is too salty and the live octopus are really pricey

I learned a lesson here: There IS such a thing as too much octopus. Who knew?
And yeah, yeah, I know we kind of asked for it by ordering the live octopus hot pot, but I didn’t expect it to be one live octopus garnished with six more octopus (octopi?), topped with 10 more octopus tentacles, seasoned with 15 more octopus heads… You get my drift. Despite the hot post containing some vegetables and noodles, the octopus flavor (and texture) was overwhelming and canceled out everything else. Le sigh. We also split the Cinderella, which was a welcome change from Octopus Central, but still not that great overall.
So, in sum:
Pros: Huge portions, low prices, friendly staff, loads of octopus
Cons: Loads of octopus

Sik gaek is overall a really good experience. THE go to place for a nice balance of good food and alcohol. Be warned, it is a little pricey though and it’s up to the servers what type of music they want to play. Speaking of which, they’re generally very nice.

Terrible experience on first visit after the restau
Spicy pork order turned up as a mild cabbage garnished with pcs of pork, floating on a grease soup. Think twice before ordering from that nasty chef. Rip sik gaek star for service though

I tots agree with other reviewers about live octopus — second order, please!
Seeing octopus swimming in the tank right before it gets chopped and served to your table? Oh, way cool! Tentacles still moving around, suckers attaching inside your mouth. Man, this was pretty awesome. And deliciously fresh!
Rewind forward few weeks, someone said as we were describing the experience — «is it almost as french kiss?» Surely, so true!
In addition to two (!) orders of live, moving and escaping octopus, we had seafood variety platter — it was nice that server do all the grilling for you, so we could enjoy the company and drinks. Seafood pancake was soooo good, too — we ate it all. Yep.
*To my partner in crime and adventures large & small — a memory of your Happy Bday, my thank you for bringing me here!*

Sorry. This restaurant is SUCK.
Thank u guys for the experience wasting $ 80 for dirty and fake food (or trash).
I hope u guys will get same thing at other place with 3 hairs and different order cheaper than my charge.

My review disappeared, along with the pictures I posted for this Sik Gaek location.
First visit…
JANUARY 2015
It was early in the evening on a cold winter weeknight. We looked for parking for roughly 10 minutes before landing a spot a couple blocks away. When we entered, the booth seats were all taken, and the only table left was near the door. My hands were frozen so I decided to wait for an inner booth. We were seated about 15 mins thereafter.
We ordered the jookoomi bokeumbab (small octopus mixed with rice) and the seafood pancakes. They were both quite salty without much flavor otherwise. It’s like a boonshik place with more of an upbeat, drinking atmosphere. We ordered about 2 bottles of soju and some Coors Light. We barely finished our food and asked them to pack the remainder. There was nothing memorable about this place, other than that it’s crappier than the Flushing and Fort Lee (NJ) locations, the latter of which closed down years ago. It just gave me a dirty vibe — the bathroom was filthy.

You think I’d tell you the best part of the night was watching everyone at my table squirm watching the live seafood cook away in the pot, but no. It was the place turning into a dance club when it was time to wish someone happy birthday. It was pretty damn hilarious.
That said, I had high hopes for this place, and while it was entertaining, the food was just a bit meh. Don’t get me wrong the hot pots are OK, but it seems that people come to Sik Gaek more for novelty than anything else.
With all the seafood in the hotpot, I expected the broth to be exceptional, but it was bland and a little gritty. Can’t help but think that the seafood could have been cleaned a little bit more.
It’s a great place to have a new/​different type of dining experience with friends, if you haven’t had hot pot before. But while it’s fun, you’ll be paying more for the experience than the food.

Came here for some sannakji moving octopus sashimi. They said they didn’t have any sannakji that day. This has happened 2 out of 2 visits. ???
The pajeon here is really good, but the regular seafood hot pot didn’t have much flavor other than salt, and too much salt for that matter.
I want to come back and really try the sannakji but i think the possibility of trekking all the way here and them «running out» of octo for the 3^rd time is just too frustrating to chance.

Like many others, I heard of this place from watching one of Anthony Bourdain’s shows. I was so excited to try it. It was just me and a friend, so we weren’t able to order too much food.
The toppogi and steamed egg appetizer that came with our meal was probably the best thing we had during this meal.
The spicy seafood soup was massive– it looked quite beautiful. But the soup was so bland– lacked any sort of depth and the quality of the seafood was low– it was full of squid legs and tasteless mussels (not even sure how that’s possible).
I left disappointed and wanting more…

What in the world were we thinking?! It was just an ordinary family dinner with the two kiddos and we went home with two buckets of food? My husband had the cravings for the seafood pot so we made a trip all the way out here for it. We always go to the Flushing location, but last night, we wanted to get it sooner that we decided on this spot so we didn’t have to travel as far.
As expected, we were seated, eggs were brought over and cooked promptly at the table. Ordered the Assorted Seafood Hot Pot, really desperate for their Octopus + Short Ribs Hot Pot but out of octopus for the night. Despite the warning of the portion we didn’t think twice, I guess we were the only crazy couple that would even think we could finish that pot… maybe with the two kids? Definitely NOT!
The pot got to the table and immediately the feeling of defeat sank in. Me and my husband looked at each other, shrugged, and started digging in. Our lobster was huge, and it literally grabbed a piece of mushroom and handed it to us while dying… I mean cooking in the boiling soup, HAHA. Humungo clams and mussels, Kaylen was so excited, she looooves shellfish but has never seen the size of these! From the mountain of calamari, jumbo shrimp, the abalone, down to the very bottom with the noodles and mixed vegetables, we were satisfied.
I’d say we did pretty well and finished half. While asking for the check, I was crossing my fingers hoping they would have containers for us to take the leftovers to go, and they did, yes! Instead of the usual rectangular shaped containers, the lady walks over with buckets??? NICE, perfect for stuff still inside the shells. For the amount and sizes of the seafood, the price – $ 79.99, was definitely a steal, especially when going out to eat.
Would we be back? Yes, cause we’re just that crazy… just kidding, I’m asking my sister and her family to tag along next time. Now, what should I do with the leftovers… possibly enough for a seafood pot for lunch later?

Sik Gaek has been a long-​standing Korean staple in Woodside, where you can only find about 2 Korean businesses. It is in an unlikely part which borders Sunnyside and Woodside, but it’s mainly in Woodside. I have probably passed this place a million times in my 20+ years in my neighborhood, but have always had skepticism about a restaurant with mirrors on the outside.
I came here with 3 family members for Christmas dinner and ordered the Assorted Seafood Hot Pot. My family is the kind that can munch but this was A LOT of food, you’d probably need about 6 – 7 people to share with. I can’t say I was blown away with the hot pot; it was definitely assorted, but fell short in quality. I thought it was a little difficult to mix in everything into the soup base, and the taste was average. By the time the soup was close to being dried up, none of us wanted anything with it anymore because it tasted bland. The crab was just there for flavoring because there wasn’t even a piece of meat in it, and the lobster was not all that great. The Seafood Pancake permitted one extra star because it was actually really delicious and crispy.
On top of that, service was available, but I didn’t think it was there. We weren’t even served banchans – not even one plate! We may have been placed in the corner but waiters kept coming to the table next to us, so they must’ve known we exist. We had to ask numerously for a number of things they automatically gave other tables: bins, water refills, napkins (there were only 2 on our table), and forks. It wasn’t very busy for one of the few restaurants opened in the area that day, but service could’ve made this experience a lot better.