Gan Hoo BBQ
Flushing is the NYC mecca for Chinese food. It’s at the end of the 7 train line heading east, and it takes about 40 minutes from Manhattan on weekends. Many restaurants and stalls only accept cash, so it’s quite different than being in Manhattan or Long Island City. My partner had a friend that wanted to meet in Flushing to try out Korean BBQ. I thought there would be several near Main Street, but it seems all the decent Korean BBQ places are least a mile east of the Main street subway station. Instead, I selected this “Gan Hoo” because I thought it was Korean BBQ, but I learned much later it’s really a Chinese interpretation of Korean BBQ. So how was it?
Ambiance
On entering the restaurant, they ask for guests to go to the second floor. The restaurant is through a door on the right. If you walk straight, you go into a vacant area that resembles the second story of a parking structure.
The interior has a very “Chinese” temple design. Booths are separated by Chinese looking wall partitions. Each table has its own BBQ unit. The vents worked pretty well for when we were there, so our clothes were not smelly at all.
The waiters (they’re Chinese) are not very fluent in English, so make sure to speak up loudly and slowly with the basic words. The service is pretty fast, and like Manhattan KBBQ, they do come around and help you cook your food at times
Food
The mango slushi tasted similar to the ones you can get at any boba drink place.
The banchan came with cold braised beef slices, spicy bean sprouts, and pickled cabbage. These are all things you’d find in Chinese cold appetizer dishes.
The condiments came with bean paste, raw garlic, and raw jalapeños.
The beef tongue combo ($36.99) came with several different slices and cuts of beef tongue. Generally, beef tongue has a distinct flavor and texture to it, but it’s always pretty good for pan frying or bbqing.
The meat lover’s stair combo ($79.99) came with American wagyu, snowflake beef, pork jowls, beef ribs, pork belly, chuck flap, altar beeef rips, chicken wings, garlic mussel, squid, garlic shrimp, spicy lamb, superior fatty beef, and a garlic mushroom platter. This combo also came with a basket of lettuce. The meats here were all pretty good and had good texture and consistencies. You may notice on the left side there is a trio of sauces. The top is similar to the a blend of cumin and pepper (similar to the seasoning they sprinkle on Chinese BBQ sticks), the middle is like a Chinese BBQ sauce (sa-cha sort of), and the bottom is like a garlic light soy sauce blend. I didn’t use the sauces all that much, but they definitely were very far from the traditional Korean flavors. We shared this combo with 3 people, and we were very satisfied at the end.
Final Verdict
What we ordered today for 3 people is pretty decent. The meat quality is all great, and there is a lot of variety offered in the combos. My one criticism is that don’t come here looking for Korean BBQ because you will be sorely disappointed. Instead if you’re open to a Chinese way of doing Korean BBQ, then it can be rather enjoyable.
Yelp Jabs
Giving a 2 star for horrible reservation service. Yelp reservation is invalid and nothing is posted for this, and none of the worker can advise how long wait is. This is bad for biz. Especially for the holidays. I’ve been waiting for an hour and a half and no one can advise how much longer the wait is. Overall it’s been almost 2 hours since I got here….
This is why I always encourage folks to eat during times that are not with the herd. We went to eat around 4:30 PM, and we were seated immediately as a party of 4.
This restaurant caters mainly to mandarin/Chinese speaking customers (not even Cantonese) and will pay more attention to them. Also if you’re a foreigner / white they will definitely come by to your table more often. My bf and I waited 15 minutes for a table and then 20 minutes before we were able to flag someone to take our order.
This Elitist lives in NYC and still hasn’t picked up on the right mannerisms. I almost always make sure I get the restaurant’s attention. Once you give them a very stern interaction, they will not ignore you. As far as service is concerned, they were a little quiet with me in the beginning, but eventually they opened up and were more interactive because I was initiated. Yeah, that’s not how it’s supposed to be, but you just adapt to your situation and not care what people think.