Kun Jip

When we came in at 10:30 with a group of 10 people this is the only place that would harbor us. Food was, quote and quote from the owner, better than the kun jib in manhattan

Food is pretty solid. Service from the man (appears to be the manager; he’s constantly working) and one of the ladies who greets you with a big smile (she’s around the cash register; wonder if she’s the owner) has been good and consistent; regarding service from others, can’t really say with confidence. Anyways overall it’s been good.

Really worst service I’ve ever seen in New York!!! And we got five people the waitress made us to order at least five dishes! Never met this before.

Great people but the spicy tofu is bland :/
We did take out and I always love ban chan but my mom and I were kind of disappointed

Kun Jip provides pretty good Korean food especially at a very competitive price. I usually get the spicy tofu soup and their naengmyeon in the summer is one of the bests. There are a lot of side dishes and overall, service is very good. I do think this is one of the better Korean restaurants in Pal Park because it is consistent with how the food tastes and good service.

Love the foods, banchan, service, n price. We had the pork BBQ n it was tasty n generous portion. Also Sul long tang (ox tail soup) was delicious. Bibimbob was tasty but the quantity was small. Pajun (seafood pancake) was good.

Old school Korean restaurant that made me smile when I heard they were serving free dduk-​kuk on New Year’s Day. We missed the freebies, but came for dinner and were not disappointed. Dduk mandoo kuk and jaeyuk toobu kimchi were the two dishes we ordered and delicious flavors were overwhelming. Panchan a tad skimpy, but the broth of the Dduk mandoo kuk was flavorful and the mandoo filling tasted like it was homemade. Jaeyuk toobu kimchi was spot on with the flavors and spicy in a way that you wanted to eat more. Tofu was clean. Four nice-​sized slabs. There could have been more kimchi and less onions, but a minor gripe. Boricha, the barley tea that is served instead of ice water was particularly good. Usually, no one ever mentions something as lowly as hot water, but this goes back to the character of the restaurant as «old school.» Yes, it does help if you can speak Korean or go with friends who are fluent.
Plan to go back and try other menu items as this place reminds me of when I lived in Seoul in the 80s. And of course, look for me next New Year’s for the free dduk kuk.

I took my father to Kun Jip to try their breakfast menu items but we got there a few minutes after 10:30am so they gave us the lunch menu, which obviously has many more options at higher prices.
Both my father and I ordered the grilled mackerel/​soy bean paste stew combo. While the stew and the banchan (side dishes) were above average, the fish wasn’t as fresh as I had hoped. I am used to the mackerel being very fishy, but these were exceptionally fishy, to a point where I had to squeeze some lemons on it, something I never do on Korean food.
The service was excellent and prices are reasonable. I would try Kun Jip again but order a different dish the next time.

This review is strictly for their breakfast service. They have $ 7.95 morning specials until 10:30 AM, a fantastic deal. The portions are hearty and the taste is great. They usually give you a fried egg to go with your meal too (unless it’s towards the back end of the breakfast service and they run out). It’s one of our go-​to spot for Korean breakfast on weekends.

The food and service was good here. I went with my family and we each ordered something different. I got the bulgogi dolsot bibimbap and it was fantastic. I was a little worried about the raw egg on top because i mixed it into my rice and I don’t think it cooked through, but it was still very tasty and the bulgogi was moist and flavorful. The side dishes they brought were good but some were too salty. They were generous to us though because my dad told them that he loved the potatoes in soy sauce so they brought us like 5 plates of them. They seem eager to please (sometimes a little bit too eager, as the one lady kept hovering around my toddler son trying to talk to him while we were eating). It was pretty empty when we got there around 5:30 but it started filling up quickly about 30 minutes later. A good, satisfying Korean dinner overall.

this place claims to have no MSG in their food. i think it’s mostly true b/​c my stomach is sensitive to MSG and it wasn’t bothered the next day. they may use it or some other form of it but for the most part their food is clean.
we got there at 11:30 and it wasn’t that packed. it’s right across from the municipal complex. it was a decent size with a traditional korean design. we were seated right away and the service was pretty good throughout. they brought out new sides when we asked for it. the dishes were good as well. we got the yeol mool bibimbap ($ 9.95) and si lae gi soup ($ 8.95) which is basically a spinach type soup and nothing else in it so it wasn’t really worth it although it tasted good. we also got a fried fish and miso soup combo ($ 14.95). these are all lunch prices. the rice is the mixed grain kind, which i like.
overall, i would recommend this place.

OK. This place brought decent dish to me, but there was an issue that I didn’t quite like how they handled the problem.
I went to this place because I was badly craving spicy pork with tofu and kimchi (it is one dish with all there). They had it so I ordered it in a lightening second. Then the server came back to me, saying the chef refused to serve this dish because their kimchi today is not in good quality. So up to this point I totally understood that the chef was very thoughtful about the food they serve. As an alternative I decided to go with regular spicy pork. Then the server said spicy pork is only served as combo with korean miso soup. I didn’t want to have the soup so asked the server if I could just have the spicy port especially since they couldn’t offer what I originally asked. Then the server passed me the chef’s word that eating soup is my choice, but the dish should still be ordered as combo only.
I don’t want to be a mean customer but I was a little perplexed because it was ok to not serve the food that’s on the menu, but not ok to modify the menu to make up for their problems/​mistakes. Btw the food was ok, and the service was a little more attentive than average korean restaurants.

I LOVE bossam — it’s one of my favorite Korean dishes. It’s hard to find a restaurant that will serve it with raw oysters during the summer (which is completely reasonable — oysters spoil mad quickly and it’s not worth the risk of food poisoning), so most places just provide the pork, pickled cabbage leaves, and turnip kimchi. It sounds like a pretty weird mix, right? WRONG.
The pork is actually boiled, which makes it super tender and almost gelatinous. I know this isn’t making it sound any better, but I swear it’s delicious. Kun Jip does a pretty good job — they even serve the pork on top of a warmer that’s heated by a little portable fire. Fancy!

Tried this place with my parents for some nengmyun on a hot hot day. Their air conditioning was not working well. There were even some customers who came in and left because it was so hot.
The food was okay. The nengmyun is essentially the same as yoochun down the street, even the bowls have yoochun nengmyun written on it. The banchan (side dishes) were okay as well.
The boy waiter that we had, had no idea what he was talking about. We had ordered a nakji bokeum and asked for the rice that comes with it, just one bowl, we didnt even ask for two. He said that it would be $ 2. I was like. umm, really?! I continued to ask him how it was an extra charge for rice when we ordered a main entrée dish; that was until a waitress walking by profusely apologized and said the boy waiter did not know what he was talking about and gave us the free rice that came with our entrée. The waitress, as overly nice as she was, was SO nice and SOO attentive to the point, where it was like leave us alone so that we can eat.
Overall, the whole experience was just okay. I probably will not go back here, there are other places that have better food and are a better overall experience, especially w/​their servers and air conditioning!

Hello, worst service ever. Stuck us in the corner and forgot about the four of us. I had to get up to ask for let’s see… everything; utensils, to take our order, get the leftovers wrapped up, get our checks. So annoying. I wish I hadn’t been a bartender and hard wired to give 20% minimum.

All the side dishes are so tasty and I had some really good samgyetang here for lunch with my family. All around clean, delicious food. No complaints here.

I’m going to stick my neck out, go against the crowd, and give this place high marks.
Many of you may be familiar with Kun Jip in Manhattan K-​town. It’s one of the most famous Korean restaurants in NYC and the one in Pallisades Park, NJ is indeed its sister restaurant. However, rumors have it that the quality of the food in NJ far exceeds the one in Manhattan.
Kun Jip literally means «Big House» in Korean, but depending on the context, it could mean the household of the eldest male in the family. Although I digress a bit, understanding the meaning of foreign terminology helps one remember the foreigns words… or at the least, a description that will help one track down the name if one forgets. In this case, I feel it’s clearly worth my effort to help you remember this place.
The best thing about Kun Jip are the side dishes («banchan»). They are unreal. I could eat this and plain white rice. That’s how much I like it. This is about as close as it is going to get to homemade food in Korea. Nothing that I ate here contains excessive amounts of salt, sugar, and MSG and the warm side dishes are freshly prepared.
I noted that the Korean pancakes, which were complimentary, were grilled minutes before on a frying pan prior to serving. I told the server that it must be my lucky day and she responded the cook will grill the pancakes when a customer places an order so that it would come out warm and freshly prepared.
I was floored.
On a second visit, I noted that my grilled mushrooms (banchan) was warm and freshly prepared. Apparently, the server was not lying. I have yet to see a Korean restaurant in the US that constantly churns out freshly prepared «banchan». This makes the side dishes taste astronomically better and is a feat worthy of mentioning.
As for the main dishes, whatever I have tried whether it be the hot and spicy buckwheat noodles (choon chun mat gook soo) or the fermented soy bean paste and vegetable stew (dwen jang jie gae), it was absolutely phenomenal. I’d say that this restaurant easily beats most of Korean restaurants that serve identical dishes in Korea.
While those who are acclimated to MSG may find Kun Jip unappealing, I’m in absolute love with this place because the great taste comes from fresh and natural ingredients and good ‘olé momma-​like cooking skills.
I will vouch that this restaurant is the best Korean restaurant that I ate in the US. If you are in NJ and like Korean food, DEFINITELY stop by this place.

This is NYC Koreatown’s sister Kun Jip restaurant (or perhaps twin since they’re both in the same name as well). It is much less busy than the West 32^nd street location, but we also did not arrive until 9:30pm at night so that may have something to do with it.
Quality remains the same between the two, ‘cept they skimped me on my sweet cinnamon thingy at the end. We ordered their beef soondubu jigae in medium (spiciness) and it was too mild. I’d recommend going with the very spicy since that provided much more flavor. I highly recommend getting their combo and sharing between 2 people. Our soondubu was $ 12-​ish and the Kalbi combo with soondubu (albeit a smaller version) was only about $ 19 total. Oh, and the portions are grande!
Ban chans are quite good, but not as plentiful as some places I’ve been in NYC. It has been a while since I visited their twin restaurant, but I recall being served better options. Service is very friendly and you’ll always be greeted with a smile.

So I started going as soon as it opened with limited selection like Soondoboo and some other soup dishes… It was not great at all; the service was slow, food was blend, and it was not what I would expect from any normal Korean restaurants. And I was never big fan of Kun Jip franchise even the one in NYC. Their food quality was always sub par in my opinion to other great restaurants in the area…
Then it happened. BAM! They changed their menu and added on combo meals and quality dishes. Also, they have this awesome server who actually resembles my sister a LOT. scary very scary… but believes in customer service. I didn’t like my food and she replaced it for me without any questions. Her philosophy is «No restaurant should put their reputation over a one bad dish; it’s all about customer satisfaction». Thank you. thank you. and thank you!
Try their «Squid Dupbop — spicy squid over rice» on a hot stone bowl. This is pretty good along with their normal Bibimbop stuff. Their «Gamjatang — spicy vegetable soup with chunks of pork bones». It is not only delicious but big enough to share with 2 people. I normally get «Godeung and soup combo — pan seared mackerel». For $ 15.95, you get a big mackerel and soup to compliment your meal.
DO NOT ORDER: seafood bibimbop (this is made with white sauce and the seafood is frozen packs from supermarket), nakji bokeum (octopus stir fry which has more noodles than the actual meat) and agoojim (braise monkfish with bean sprouts has no taste, very bland).
When I’m low on cash, I usually get «Yeulmoo bibimbop combo — dried radish leaves in traditional korean spicy sauce and it comes with bean paste soup» for $ 10.95. It’s healthy, tasty and also easy on the wallet.
ENJOY!!!

The owner of NYC Ktown’s famed Kun Jip opened up shop in the Ktown of New Jersey. This location bears little resemblance to its Manhattan counterpart, save for its menu and the fact that it’s (almost) just as busy! The interior is designed much nicer than the one in Manhattan and there’s definitely a different vibe and customer base. (ie. In Manhattan, lots of young people. In the Palisades Park location, lots of older married couples.) However, like the Manhattan location, I still felt a little bit rushed throughout the meal, only because I saw there were so many people waiting on line to get seated. (If you’ve been to Korean restaurants in NJ, you know that there’s no such thing as a «wait list»; everyone expects to get seated right away.) The food was clean and simple; portions are nice and large. If you’re craving some jjigae or godunguh gui, this is the place to hit up!