Octo
Octo is a Korean-Chinese restaurant that brings Chinese dishes developed in Korea. I visited South Korea back in the 2014s, and they definitely had their own spin on Chinese food, which is what attracted me to this restaurant. South Korea has its fair share of Chinese foods that are pretty similar, considered they have shared cultures. Located near Koreatown, we made a reservation for 5:30 PM on a Friday night very easily. When we arrived, we were seated in a booth that was definitely spacious and comfortable.
Here is an excerpt from their website:
OCTO, pronounced as [oak-toh], means “good soil” in both Korean and Chinese. We choose this name with aspiration that, much like the nurturing soil that fosters new life, we can play a vital role in the journey of our team members and guests, planting the seeds of growth and flourishing together from the moment they step into our restaurant.
We wanted to create a place that is more than a restaurant, a place where our guests can experience the memories with food from their childhood, their family rituals to Korean community, or a place where foodies explore the elevated authenticity Chinese dishes with Korean style.
Ambiance & Service
I’m assuming because we made a reservation, they seated us in a larger table meant for a party. They were playing Chinese music over the speakers. The entire interior was quite roomy and spacious.
The service was very speedy and almost hovering. It was a bit too attentive, but I appreciate the quickness of the whole entire dining experience.
Food
We ended up ordering the Half Duck Combo ($125) intended for 2-3 people.
The Pineapple Juice ($9) was mediocre. My partner said it was very light and watered down.
They gave a small pickled salad on the side to just sample. I’m not sure what vegetables they were, but one of them was definitely pickled radish.
The Cucumber Radish Salad was the small plate that we chose. It had marinated cucumber, radish, and garlic sauce.
The Half Peking Duck came pre-sliced with the normal condiments. They gave each of us our own hot case of wraps. The duck meat was quite delicious and not as greasy as our previous restaurant, Golden Wuish. Everything was quite good, but still not as good as what we had at Red Peony.
For the first main dish, we chose Hot Garlic Chicken, which was deep-fried chicken, leek, lettuce, and pepper. This was decent in that the chicken tasted decent, but they also gave some tortilla chips that was mixed with the pepper sauce.
For the second main dish, the Glazed Orange King Prawns (+$4) came with dried orange, crispy garlic, kale, chili, and Chinese yellow wine. The prawns were large and succulent and pretty good.
The final course was the Jajangmyeon came with pork, onion, bean paste sauce, and noodle. This was quite plentiful and also not too salty. It was pretty good.
Final Verdict
Octo is a no frills Korean restaurant with Chinese dishes. The peking duck was surprisingly pretty good. This would be a good place to bring a larger group, so that you can try out different dishes. . Everything was meant to be shared.
Yelp Jabs
Thought this is a Korean restaurant, turns out it’s not - they don’t provide kimchi. I am confused what kind of cuisine it is. It doesn’t seem like Chinese and it’s not Korean. It doesn’t have that creativity coming out of a fusion either. The taste is hanging and bland.
It’s a Korean Chinese restaurant. The flavors are very similar to what they serve in South Korean Chinese restaurants. The flavors are a hybrid of traditional Chinese and Korean cuisines.
I will say that it is a bit pricey, but normal for Manhattan.
Depending what you order, I think on average this restaurant will be much more reasonable. The $125 duck combo that we ordered was definitely satisfying and filling for us. If you do come with a more heavy appetite, you can always order a few more small plates.
We were underwhelmed by the highly regarded jajanymyeon.
There is only so much you can do with this dish. If you’re unfamiliar with this, it’s basically noodles in a black bean sauce. There are some variations where some modern restaurants add truffle oil or some other oil to it, but when taste is key, it still tastes like black bean sauce. The black bean sauce is very potent with the savory and salt, so it’s hard to really complement this differently.
Revisions
- Jan 17, 2025 - Initial revision.