Don Don

We decided Don Don because we’ve really been enjoying Chef Sungchul Shim’s restaurants, including Mari and Gui. I made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Friday just a few days ahead, and it was fairly easy. Located very close to Bryant Park, it’s along the way from Valerie, and it can be easily missed. It’s pretty discreet until you take a look at the front window.

Ambiance & Service

Upon entering, it reminded me of when I was in the South Korea malls where they had a ton of little stools and electric BBQs. People would just congregate, drink, and eat a lot of BBQ things. The atmosphere definitely feels like that as the seats are pretty close together, and the crowd noise can get a little loud.

What is interesting is the the tables are actually an induction top, and they place the grill right in the center. This is actually kind of cool because it heats up really quickly, and during the day, they can also serve lunch items on it without wasting space for the grill. The grill itself has a metal grill tray, so that they can put meat on it when it no longer needs to be cooked.

Be forewarned that the ventilation in the restaurant is not good, so the smoke can be pretty bad. Do not wear your good clothes if you do not want them to smell. If you do decide to bring a jacket, luckily your stool has an opening that you can stick them into, so that those clothes can avoid the smoke. Note that your shirt, no matter what you do, will have the smell. The little vents above the food seem like they’d work, but they just don’t suck the air with enough strength unfortunately.

The service was very fluid and fast. Our server frequently checked on our meat and cooked for us. There were times I wanted to just grab the tongs and cook, but it’s nice to have someone else cook for us (which is typical in NYC Korea restaurants)

When you pay, they bring the card reader, and the tip is calculated pre-tax.

Food

The Bong Bong (left - $4) tasted like a light, carbonated grape drink with little grapes in it. It’s pretty good, though I was disappointed in how small the can was.

The Milkis (right - $4) was a carbonated, sugary soft drink with a light milk taste. It reminded me a bit of Yakult but less sour and more bubbly.

We ordered the “Chef’s Feast”, was which $79 per person. The Chef’s Feast comes with a glutton of things, and would be great for a party for sure.

We received banchan, which included radish and napa cabbage kimchi.

The meat included:

• Pork Loin
• Jowl
• Iberico Secreto
• 14 day dry-aged belly - they also bring this attached to 2 ribs, and they cook the rib for you too.
• 14 day dry-aged marinated collar

I can’t remember exactly all the textures because everything was so good. I really enjoyed the Iberico and the dry-aged belly because they both have very nice flavors. Keep in mind the meat is unflavored, so you can dip into the condiment tray that they give you. There’s raw salt, bean paste, and a soy-like sauce. I asked for sesame oil on the side, which also helped give the meat some flavor. You can also wrap the meat with ssam vegetables which included cabbage and lettuce.

Not pictured:

• Korean traditional pancake
• Kimchi stew - this was pretty decent. I wished the kimchi was more fermented.
• Soondubu stew - this was subpar. I’d probably get the doenjang (soybean) soup instead.
• Bibim noodles - cold noodles with chili in it. This was very flavorful with the marinated collar.

The Corn Cheese also came on the side, and this was devoured immediately. It’s so easy to make, but it’s so good.

The Egg Souffle was partially eaten before I took this picture. The souffle, like most KBBQ places, was also pretty good and eaten real fast.

The Strawberry Soft Serve ice cream was the night cap. This was good in that it wasn’t too sweet though the strawberry flavor was very subtle which makes me think it had some unnatural flavoring in it.

Final Verdict

For the price and if you love pork, this place is good for the money and value, especially if you plan to devour a lot of meat. It’s not far from the Theater District, so it can be a good place to go to either before or after theater. This would be a restaurant that we’d like to come back again with friends, if we’re in the area looking for a combination of theater and Korean BBQ.

Yelp Jabs

the manager kinda ignored me when i walked in NGL i was kinda upset about that but i guess it was just really busy

It’s funny when Yelp Elitists expect the attention from the manager instead of the host.

Also, the heat source for the grill is induction, so it didn’t have the same char that you would get from coal or gas, and the two forms of pork belly actually got taken to the back kitchen to be seared and then got finished on the table grill.

On the contrary, the char doesn’t have much to do with gas or induction. If it was coal and cooked on an open grill, it will give the meat some of that coal flavor, which is not great for you if taken in excess. However, they cook the meat on a closed plate. So whether if it’s gas or induction, it will heat up the plate as usual, and you will get the same char since the meat is sitting in the same pan. The longer the meat cooks in the pan of its own oil, the more char it will get. The reason the meat was taken back to the kitchen is because the pork belly was very thick. They wanted it to cook fully before serving it.

Revisions

1. Apr 4, 2025 - Initial revision.