16 Best Restaurants In NYC's Koreatown

The first Korean businesses opened on 32nd Street in the 1980s. Back then, it was just a few Korean restaurants and a bookstore crowding into the historic Garment District; soon after, the original businesses' success attracted more Koreans to the area, coinciding with a rising Korean population in the wake of the Immigrant Act of 1965,  which lifted restrictions on immigration from Asian countries. Eventually, the stretch of 32nd Street between Madison Avenue and Broadway was so populated with Korean businesses that it earned the official nickname "Korea Way." NYC's K-Town was born.

These days, Koreatown is a tiny neighborhood all its own. It has expanded, stretching from 31st to 33rd between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, with a few restaurants spilling out onto the surrounding blocks. There are more than 100 Korean businesses on Korea Way alone, making it easy to get all the kimbap, bibimbap, budae jjigae, and tteokbokki your heart desires in a matter of a few steps. From traditional Korean cuisine to upscale Korean BBQ joints, bubble tea, cheesecakes, and fun, flirty soju bars, these are the spots you've got to hit if you want to truly experience the diversity of NYC's K-town.

Often named one of the city's best KBBQs, Baekjeong seemingly only attracts the rich and famous. A mere glimpse at its "hall of fame," displayed prominently both on the website and as you enter the restaurant, shows off stars from Chris Rock to Ed Sheeran — but the real testament to Baekjeong's quality is the number of influential chefs that have been documented visiting the Baekjeong grills, which includes David Chang, Jacques Pépin, Dominique Ansel, and the late, great Anthony Bourdain, among others.

It's hard to get a table at Baekjeong. Once you're in, it's chaotic: the music is loud, and the servers are rushing around in an intricately choreographed dance. This KBBQ haven has the experience down to a science. Before you even sit down, the servers have already arranged upwards of 10 tiny plates of sides at your table, poured eggs into one of the side compartments of the custom grill, layered corn and cheese in another side compartment, and made sure that the grill is clean and hot. At that point, it's up to you to order a meat combo, fast — the cooking has already begun.

Nubiani is one of the newest KBBQ places in Koreatown: it opened in the summer of 2022, and has quickly established itself as a respectable place to get some high-quality meat. The word "nubiani" roughly translates to cooking thinly-sliced meat over direct heat, a tradition that has been passed down since early nomadic Koreans in the Goguryeo era began eating maekjeok skewers, and has since transformed into the practice of Korean barbecue. 

There are a few appetizers and alternate meals that you can order at Nubiani, but it would be a shame to come here and not sample the KBBQ itself. The meat served here is selected with an eye toward the marbling of fat, and it's absolutely stunning. You can order a selection of beef or pork, but be prepared to pay staggering prices; the best beef package at this place goes for $255, at the time of publication, and contains boneless short ribs, rib eye, skirt steak, and seasoned and marinated short ribs. Wash the meal down with some of Nubiani's house-made refreshing, sour yuzu soft serve.

Woorijip is another spot serving up more traditional Korean fare. It's located in the center of 32nd Street, at the very heart of the neighborhood, and it's an absolute treat. The word "Woorijip" translates to "our home," and it appears that the restaurant aims to provide customers yearning for a return to Seoul a home away from home — and given that it has been in business since the early 2000s, you can tell that the community has accepted this gesture. 

Inside, prepackaged meals and sides are stacked in neat rows on racks lining the walls, with a few tables clustered in the front and the back where you can sit and eat your casual Korean home-cooked meal. The best part? There isn't a single dish that costs over $10 in the whole store. In fact, most options are less, at least at the time of publication. Plus, to ease any stressed-out buyers, there are signs hung up next to each stack of containers informing you when the dish was cooked, and when it will be discarded by. 

One Korean specialty that we need to highlighted is soju, an alcohol made from rice or sweet potatoes that is clear-colored, about half as alcoholic as vodka, and usually drunk straight. Food that is meant to be served with soju is called anju, which means you should get ready to both eat and drink heavily at these places.

Pocha 32 is named for the fact that it's located on 32nd Street and offers food-cart-inspired fare. Once you escape the street and head upstairs to its large dining room, you find yourself transported — the dark walls are covered in messages written in colorful marker, and the ceiling is obscured by a net hanging with string lights and the colorful discarded caps of bottles drunk by previous customers. This place has wonderful food — its budae jjigae is a popular nightcap — but it is also notable for its inventive, large cocktails. One of the best things to order here is an extremely Instagram-able cocktail made with soju and served in a hollowed-out watermelon.

Osamil is another gastropub serving street-food-style anju and inventive cocktails. Each section of Osamil's menu comes with a slogan: for shareable bites, which include wings and squid fries, the menu states simply, "Fingers were made before forks and hands before knives." Despite the invitation to use your hands, the food here is not casual, and dishes are served with a real eye for presentation. 

For example, the beef tartare, or yukhoe, is served in a ball on top of thin sticks of Korean pear arranged in a tic-tac-toe board, with the yolk of a quail egg still in its shell on top. The effect is stunning. Fans also love the Osamil burger, which is made with a half pound of beef and adorned with kimchi bacon jam. 

The drinks menu here is run with a sense of humor with drinks named things like "Cold A** Martini" and "Good Drank." The drinks match the energy of the food presentation: Several drinks are served with flowers floating in them, and they have delicate colors and Korean-palate-inspired flavor combos. You can also get half a dozen oysters for $9 only here at happy hour (at the time of publication), which happens from Monday to Thursday, 5-7 p.m.

Turntable Chicken is a minichain with three locations within the same tiny microneighborhood! Each location has its own vibe. At the Turntable Chicken Jazz location, the decor features hundreds of shelved vinyl records, while the Turntable Chicken Rock location has glossy images of rock and roll greats like the Who and Elvis Presley lining the walls. The Turntable Chicken LP & Karaoke spot hosts vintage stereo equipment. At all three locations, there is a performance space available where DJs can spin actual vinyl — or where you can step up to do some karaoke yourself.

At all the Turntable Chicken locations, you can always order some of the more classic Korean dishes, like spicy rice cakes or kimchi fried rice. The real draw, though, is the Korean fried chicken: You can order wings or thighs with soy garlic sauce or hot and spicy sauce (warning, they're not messing around with the spice!), or a mix of half and half. Huge oysters are also available at a fabulous price.

Although Koreatown originally only hosted Korean restaurants, it has started to attract businesses and customers from many different Asian cultures. These days, K-Town has become much more diverse than it used to be, with a few really great non-Korean restaurants.

That leads us to the first of our non-Korean offerings, Dim Sum Palace. There are seven Dim Sum Palace locations spread throughout the city, one of which can be found on K-Town's 33rd Street. This Cantonese mini-chain serves Hong Kong-style dim sum all day long. 

Inside, pale yellow walls and warm candle-like chandeliers throw a pleasant, elegant light over the meal. Unlike the 200-seat restaurant that the minichain recently opened in Chinatown, the K-Town location serves far fewer customers at a time — but it's also open late at night, closing at 1:30 a.m. on weekend nights. So, the next time you're stumbling home from late-night karaoke, consider stopping for some perfect steamed pork buns on your way.

Our last non-Korean hot spot is Keki, a pan-East Asian bakery that draws its main inspo from Japanese and Taiwanese pastries. The owners are said to be inspired by travels throughout Asia and wanted to bring the pastries they tried on their trips back to NYC. The food scene is better for it. 

This shop's most popular offering, the Original Bouncy Cheesecake, is made based on a recipe hailing from Osaka, Japan, and delivers on the promise in its name: the cake is so light and fluffy that if you hit it, it will indeed bounce. Keki also has an Ube-flavored bouncy cheesecake, which has a brilliant purple color, and a series of what it calls "Fancy" cheesecakes, which can feed more people and are sold frozen. Although there's currently no indoor seating at Keki, these modern cakes are great to take home and share with friends and fam.