Haenyeo

TL;DR: Haenyeo is one of the best Korean restaurants in NYC Went a couple of weeks ago with friends and had an amazing time. Vibes, food, ambiance: all immaculate. Featuring arguably the best galbi-jjim in NYC with cocktails rivaling the esteemed branches from Angel's Share (e.g, Double Chicken, Sip and Guzzle); to top it all off, the story of this restaurant--the pioneering mother-daughter duo who fought against all odds to make it as Korean proprietors back when Korean restaurants were reviewed as alien, the incredibly warm and hospitable maitre'd/husband, Terrence, with his screenwriting roots (the delightful easter eggs like the pseudo-movie posters in the basement attest to this first love--makes it impossible not to fall in love with this place.

Food is pretty tasty, some nice spins on Korean cuisine. Service is bad. We were in a cabin outside: took 40 minutes to get orders taken, hostess spilled two pints of beer over us and our starters, those weren't replaced for another 20 minutes, they can only split payment three ways and a different hostess got the amounts wrong (and took 15 minutes doing so) so I have two charges on my card (as yet unresolved) - I was visiting from abroad, so that's a real pain and given the option we'd have kept the first charge and sorted transfers between ourselves. They were apologetic and kindly gave us replacement starters and a free dessert, which is great, but we were there nearly four hours - I'd rather just not be covered in beer and only pay once for dinner that wraps up before midnight than have a free dessert. Probably just an off night etc but if you're going to go I'd at least insist on a seat inside so they don't forget about you.

the squid and the whale is my favorite cocktail ever. shoutout bernie!

Booked a table here for my birthday. Knew it would be cold outside so made sure it was for indoors but they still put us outside and said there was nothing they could do about it even though I saw free 2 tops. They also forgot one of the dishes we ordered and instead of re firing them they just brought the dishes out cold.

Everything about this was great. Our Waiter Jonathan was incredible throughout, as was every dish and drink. Ambience was perfect. Highly recommend -- one of best meals I've had in Brooklyn.

Pretty standard Korean food at a very high markup in a crowded space. Seems to kind of profit from being one of the few Korean options in the neighborhood.

Enjoyed this lovely restaurant and the service was impeccable. Started with the pajeon and japjae both of which were tasty but on the small side. Entrees included the tofu bibimbap, the squid bibimbap, the kalbi jiim, and the pork bulgogi. All the dishes were very good though the kalbi jiim was on the salty/fatty side. And the only banchan was kimchee, dried anchovies and marinate black beans. Everything was delicious but not a traditional Korean dining experience, if that's what you're seeking. Cocktails were very good.

We really liked the tofu bibimbap and scallion pancake. The service is very nice and friendly. Just wish they had more vegetarian menu options especially with protein like tofu.

Really liked this spot when it first opened. Really disappointed years later. We sat at 8:15 on a Saturday to find they were out of all the fish entrees and the only light beer on the menu because they "were really crowded earlier". It was everything we wanted to order so we left. When we told them why we were leaving three employees all just nodded their heads and said, "yeah". Rough for a self-proclaimed high end seafood restaurant. Not what it used to be I guess.