Buddha BBeeQ

I went here because I was craving Korean food and was too lazy to go downtown, big mistake.
Got the K Bbeeq and the slices were so thin it was just disappointing. I’m not surprised that this place is closed.

This review is for lunch specials only as that’s all I’ve ever had. Priced $ 7.50-$ 9.50. This place is owned by a mom and son, both of whom are very nice. They were hit hard by the 2^nd ave subway dig, lost a lot of business as many small business owners along 2^nd ave. Often understaffed they can be slow. The lunch specials that I have had have been good, in particular I love the lunch salads. They are packed with a nice assortment of veggies and you choose the protein. The lunch rice bowls are good, not a huge portion, just the right amount of food. My two favorite of the lunch bowls are the Korean beef bowl, and the Vietnamese rice bowl. I usually order a side of kimchi with everything. Because they are understaffed, order at the counter, pay and take a seat, if u sit and expect table service you’ll be sitting for a while, mom is taking orders then cooking the food… she’s busy!

Ordered the noodles with chicken and peanut sauce. Tasted pretty bad, like they just got some stale noodles, dry chicken strips and peanut butter and threw it together. Definitely not fresh and not remotely good.

Ive been ordering from here for months now maybe 4−5x/ month and today i ordered my usual P1. K BBeQ just to get HALF of the usual portion for the same price. I thought there was mistake and they thought I had ordered the lunch portion, so I gave them a call and explained I PAID for the DINNER portion and I got only half of it. The owner happened to answer the phone and told me thats the way it is, that they just decided to change their portion and this is what it is now. I got HALF the food I typically get and a lot of rude attitude from the owner. I am infuriated and honest frustrated to see a good business have such poor business ethic and costumer service. Its save to say I will not be ordering from here anymore.

Used to order from this place once or twice weekly, never again. The young woman cashier began yelling at an elderly woman for no reason, and my husband pulled out his phone to record the incident, upon which the woman turned on him and physically assaulted him, and attempted to smash his phone. No wonder why this place doesn’t do table service, they have a complete inability to professionally deal with customers. Beware. I’ll take my money elsewhere.

My opinion of the food is pretty on par with other reviews and that’s where my star rating comes from, so I’ll skip that and just use this to post an alert. I ordered some take-​out from them a few days ago, which I picked up myself, and the total came to just over $ 40. This morning the charge was posted to my checking account — for $ 6 more than the amount of the check. Someone at the restaurant helped themselves to a six dollar tip on a pickup order. I’ve initiated a dispute with my bank. If you use a credit/​debit card to pay for your order, be sure to keep a copy of the receipt. I won’t be ordering from them again.

Absolutely love this place! Been there a couple of times, the menu is exciting and refreshing, the staff is attentive and polite and willing to make honest suggestions, and food is fresh and full of flavor. When I’m in the UES I am here. Have introduced multiple friends to the place and they have fallen in love, as well. Have only ever dined in– atmosphere is relaxed with no music and calm lighting perfect for a date or conversation. Will be going back again soon.

My favorite lunch spot, it’s kind of small but what it’s lacking in size it makes up for in quality, the Korean style short rib is out of this world melt in your mouth delicious. The regular Korean beef is amazing, the Asian tea is also top notch. This place never lets me down. You should eat here

I have been conning here for nearly 4 years. This is a small place so don’t expect to come with 6 people and get a seat. The most I have gone with was 4 and we were lucky we could get a table. I’d say this is the perfect place to order from our go with one other person.
The woman who is always there is so sweet and friendly.
The foods is very comforting and delicious. Order the dumplings. These are Among the best appetizers I’ve had and are very satisfying. They are also really big too.

This is straight up the best asian fusion food I’ve had in my life (and I reaaally rarely enjoy asian fusion food).
The place is very small, clean and tidy. Foodwise– the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken is delicious and the Chili Peanut Noodles are mouth watering.
Don’t come here expecting some super authentic Korean food (seriously, with dishes like Hawaiian BBQ Chicken what do you expect?). But if you’re feeling some asian fusion, this place cannot be beat.

Limited seating but fresh, hot, healthy, crisp, refreshing food in what seemed to be 10 minutes or less!

The basil tofu egg rolls were absolutely delicious. Just the right amount of basil without being overpowering. Since I’m a vegetarian, it was great that you could get every dish made with tofu.
I also have the peanut chili noodles and they were just the right amount of spicy.
The only reason I don’t give this a five star review is because the service was a little slow and not as attentive as we would’ve liked.

This is basically a Korean place with a bit of Asian fusion. They offer temaki (sushi-​like) rolls, salad bowls, and bbq plates. I tried the Korean flavor bbq plate with chicken and also the Teriyaki flavor bbq plate with beef. In terms of the meat, the chicken was slightly better than the beef because the beef was very dry. However, the Teriyaki flavor was much more flavorful than the Korean flavor. Overall though, the food was nothing special and tasted bland to me.
However, the biggest problem with the food here is that the portions are small. Their bbq plates are all around $ 11 to $ 14 for what amounts to a small plate of food.

My boyfriend and I are regulars here. We usually go at least once a week. The woman who owns the place is also the only waitress, the one answering phones, and taking care of takeout orders. She is so sweet and really cares about her customers. It is nice to go to a restaurant where they make you feel at home. The food is fantastic, with so much variety. I keep ordering different things and each time I get something new it becomes my favorite dish. Everything is that good! The scallion pancakes are my favorite appetizer. Everything is very reasonably priced. This tiny and quiet restaurant is wonderful for takeout, delivery, or dine-​in. Highly recommended.

Every time I go visit my boyfriend in the UES, we either eat here, get take out from here, or I see leftovers from here in his fridge. I usually put the prices of the dishes on my reviews, but since I’ve never paid at this establishment, I really don’t know how much anything costs. Lol… it’s great to be a girl sometimes…
Anyway, I was surprised to see this place rated 3.5 stars. I thought this would definitely be an average 4 star on Unilocal.In perusing the negative reviews, I think it’s important to clarify something. Y’all got to remember where y’all are and the type of food y’all are going to get. I’m not going to go to K-​town and expect to get the best Italian cuisine in my life and then gripe about it when my expectations aren’t met. That’s silliness. Similarly, y’all can’t go to the UES and expect to get the best Asian food of your life. Who lives in the UES? Huh? You tell me, America… Anyway, all the Asian establishments have an Americanized flavor to them. It’s not bad. One reviewer suggested separating Unilocal reviews for Asian food into two column: one for those who know real Asian food and the other for those who eat General Tsao. Well, I know real Asian food, but I also enjoy me some General Tsao’s Chicken every now and then. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
All that being said, let’s get to the review. I usually get the Thai noodles. It’s an Americanized twist to pad thai (which is funny because that’s Americanized already… ha), and I like it for what it is. It’s particularly delicious because of all the vegetables in the dish. Each time that I’ve eaten here (dine in or take out), the ingredients are fresh, and the food was always made-​to-​order. The K Rice is also tasty (again, because of the fresh vegetables/​ingredients). I do wish that there was more rice (which does come out a little harder than what you’d expect, but I like my rice a little hard… oh yeah). My boyfriend usually gets the Korean BBQ sauce with the K RIce instead of gochujiang (the red pepper paste). It gives it a sweeter flavor. I prefer spicy, so hand me the Sriracha/​hot sauce to completely adulterate a Korean signature dish (as I would at any Korean establishment).
Is this the best authentic Korean/​Thai/​Asian Fusion food that you’ll get in your entire life? No. But it’s a quaint little establishment in the UES serving delicious and fresh Americanized Asian Fusion by very lovely people who have been working at this establishment since it’s opening in 2007. The food is prepared when you order, and thus, will take maybe 5 – 10 more minutes than you expect; but when you go to pick up/​dine in, you’ll always be greeted with a kind smile from the lady at the counter. Seating is under 20 people, so they are not required to have a bathroom open to their customers. But if y’all ever get a chance, dine in and have a nice chat with the lady at the counter. It makes the experience much more familiar and unique, and that’s all that we really need to be sustained on — the familiarity and uniqueness of an experience/​place to make you feel like you have some sort of order or importance in a fast, harsh, uncaring city like New York.
Five stars because of fresh ingredients and lovely people… and to balance out all the naysayers who want authentic Asian food in the region of Manhattan that is inhabited by the whitest people of NYC.

As a Korean looking for good Korean food in my neighborhood, I really wanted to like this place but was sorely disappointed. We ordered K Rice (per reviews) and their version of Kimbap.
The entire meal was so bland, dry and flavorless. Honestly, the rice in both the K Rice and the roll was hard — as though it had been refrigerated and then thawed out, not like it had been undercooked. And the food was so dry and bland, I brought it home, took gochujang (red pepper paste), mixed it with soy sauce and sesame oil, and then tossed the rice in the mix, and then had to microwave it (to soften the rice a bit). Even then, it wasn’t good, but it was too late to order anything else.
Based on other reviews, maybe I went there on an off night. Whatever the case might be, the portion size was ridiculously small, the food was flavorless, it tasted refrigerated and recooked and overall, I don’t think I’ll ever eat here or order from here again.

In my opinion, this is the only good Korean food on the Upper East Side (not that there’s that many options!). I pretty much order from here every Friday, and that loyalty should tell you everything you need to know about the food quality.
I usually stick to the K Rice (their version of Bi Bim Bap) with tofu. It’s delicious – the tofu comes grilled and the chili paste isn’t too spicy. The K Rice comes with steamed vegetables like mushrooms, sprouts, (possibly zucchini) and lettuce over a bed of rice. It’s really really delicious and feels alllllmost healthy ;)
I have also ordered the mango ginger smoothie in the past, which is AMAZING. I don’t often come across a smoothie that I love, but this one is it! It is sweet with just a hint of heat from the ginger.
My only gripe with this place is that it’s sometimes closed down at random times when it says on grubhub that it’s open. Not sure if this is the store’s fault or something is wrong with the website.
Do try this place though, you won’t regret it!

Awful. I was really hoping to like the food here, but hope only goes so far. Tried the peanut noodles that everyone raves about – completely bland. The bastardized bulgogi is equally tasteless. The only dish that was edible was the scallion pancakes.
Unilocal reviewers, you’ve steered me well over the years, but this restaurant is making me lose faith in you. Perhaps Unilocal should implement a new policy for Asian restaurants – one section of reviews for people who actually know Asian food. Another section of reviews for people who like General Tso’s chicken

When Buddha BBeeQ opened around five years ago we were one of their first customers and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write a review of this terrific little place for Korean/​Fusion food. Even though the restaurant is tiny and not really a sit-​down meal destination when you eat here you’re treated great and it’s actually a nicely decorated spot. Simple and clean. Also, when ordering delivery it’s brought to your door pretty quickly. We have never had a bad meal here, and it’s good to see it has survived the 2^nd Ave subway construction so far.
I guess you can call the food served here Korean bbq/​Hawaiian bbq/​Thai fusion. Does that even make any sense? I don’t know, but they do serve up very flavorful and fresh plates here, so whatever they are doing works for me.
Some of my favorite dishes —
The BBeeQ Dumplings which comes as two large handkerchief sized, crispy, airy pockets topped with mango sauce and filled with a choice of meats or veggies. I usually get the chicken or spicy curry potato.
Hawaiian BBeeQ served with steamed rice & Asian style salad. I usually get the grilled chicken and it comes with a light soy based sauce that has the flavor of sweet fresh pineapples. This and the Teriyaki BBeeQ with chicken that comes with a terrific tangy and lightly spicy teriyaki sauce.
Toasted Peanut Noodles which is cold vermicelli with thai chillies, ginger and a creamy peanut sauce. It comes topped with beansprouts, carrots, onions, toasted peanuts & scallions. Again, I usually order it with grilled chicken.
The Thai cabbage salad is also very good, as are the rice plates and BBeeQ rolls. Pretty much everything here is pretty tasty!
They even serve some beers (Kirin, Kirin Light, Sapporo, Singha Thai, Singha Light, Guinness, Stella Artois, Heineken) and a selection of a half dozen types of sake. It’s actually a nice place to take a date as the ambiance at night is dim and candle lit even though it can feel a little cramped. The portions are generous and the prices are not too bad either. Most of the locals order take out or delivery as it seats maybe 20 people tops. This is a different kind of place for some unique and interesting taste twists on traditional Korean/​Asian fusion type plates.

Ok, this place is small. Like others mentioned, it seems they do most of their business in delivery — also, no bathroom.
Also, I’ve sat on more comfortable seats in Zen-do’s.
Enough complaining! The food is definitely Korean-​fusion BBQ but was DAMN good! Very simple: shredded meat, rice, vegetables. Cheap. Fast and efficient service.
Bookmarked it in case I’m in need of delivery when on the UES.