BANSANG

Obsessed with everything I ate tonight. Highly recommend the sunchoke and truffle, the galbi steak, and especially the kimchi fried rice!!! Actually I recommend everything. Just get everything.

Lovely, delicious anniversary dinner at BANSANG. The food was outstanding - every dish was balanced, flavorful, and well executed. Service was prompt and kind, and the portions were well sized. We started with the Miso Salmon Dip, the Charred Broccoli, and the Soy Glazed Potatoes. Salmon dip with the blini were a highlight, delicious cured fish flavor with the miso umami and fresh, warm blini. For the large plates we had the cod and galbi ribeye, both were fantastic. The cod melted in your mouth and paired perfectly with the rich buttery gochugang sauce. The galbi was tender and with the banchan made for some perfect bites. Finished it all off the banana milk ice cream for a wonderful meal. Overall, really enjoyed the flavors and textures on all the dishes. The portions were small but allowed us to try many different things without walking away bursting at the seams. Thanks BANSANG for a lovely evening.

I don’t usually like to leave bad reviews but I think it’s necessary because this place has so much hype. We were a group of two who came in right at open. I saw that there were a few reversions available online and decided to just walk in. The host told me that all the tables were reserved and that we’d have to sit at the bar. I know he’s lying but we just decide to sit at the bar. When we were walking out there was less than half the tables full with at least 3 2 top tables open the entire time. When I came here a year ago the food was pretty decent maybe like a 8/10. But this time the food was a solid 1/10. I wouldn’t even eat it if someone paid me to eat it. We got the uni toast, tuna tartar and soy sauce pasta. The toast in uni toast was over baked and hard as a rock. It was also cold as if they made it a while back and decided to serve it to us. The tuna tartar tasted like potato salad with tuna in it. The soy sauce pasta was so bland I didn’t know what I was eating. For the price point ($70 total for these 3 items) I expected the food to be spectacular and for the seafood to be fresh. This was not the case. I genuinely wonder if the head chief there tasted their own menu because it’s not up to par with what they are charging.

Solid spot. Came here for my birthday dinner on a Sunday night with reservations for two. Decor is modern, ambience is quiet, and there’s an open kitchen to see the chefs do their thing. There’s also bar seating and private seating if requested. One bathroom stall available for the whole restaurant though. Hostess and servers were friendly and attentive. Started off with the red monkey rice wine and lime yuzu mocktail - both enjoyable and worthy drinks. Appetizers we had were: oysters, tuna tartare, uni scallop toast, and tomato kimchi. To my surprise, the tuna tartare was my favorite in flavor and warm chips to pair. Uni toast comes in second but not as wow as I was hoping since it was my first uni since my pregnancy. For the large tapas, we had: mulhwe noodles, gochujang black cod, galbi ribeye, and Jang cream pasta. My first favorite is the mulhwe noodles; cold, refreshing and tasty. Second favorite would be the pasta; but I’m a pasta fan but the cream was delicious so easily won my taste buds. We end with the banana milk ice cream and willingly got a birthday pumpkin cake with banana milk ice cream on top too! Loved the ice cream as it came with a side of candied pistachios that went really well together. Overall, solid meal but a bit pricey for what we had. We spent over $365 including tips and tax for the meal for two. A spot to go to once but not outstanding enough for me to return again.

We were excited to try Bansang, as the concept of contemporary Korean tapas is unique and uncommon. However, the experience overall was underwhelming and while the food was tasty, it was not mind blowing. We tried the uni toast, steak tartare, gochujang cod, and kimchi fried rice. We were still hungry but decided to not order any more. Service is OK, but their setup is strange as it doesn’t seem that they have a dedicated host/ess. When we walked in, another couple was waiting ahead of us, and no one greeted us for a solid 5-10 minutes. Eventually one of the waiters that was actively serving tables came up to greet and seat us at ours. Not sure if this is their normal setup or if they were short staffed, but be aware that if you arrive at a busy time the staff might not be able to get to you right away- even if you have a reservation.