Reviews
Overall rating 52 reviews
Our Story
Ate at this restaurant 2 yrs ago when it was Don e Don on Keeamoku and hubby and I tried it last week for an early lunch. Early bc we know how hard parking is on Sheriden and that there are just a half dozen parking spaces behind the restaurant in the communal parking lot.
Snagged the last space and entered through the back and was seated promptly with only one other booth occupied. Ordered the spicy ribs and bibim kooksoo for the hubby who has a low spice tolerance and pibim kooksoo tends to often be super spiced. The waitress was nice enough to check with the kitchen to see if it could be made very mild instead of just doing the normal shut down negative response that we Koreans are famous for lol.
Ribs came out sizzling for a good 5 minutes and the pibim kooksoo was pale in color but had a terrific and complex sauce with sesame oil and light vinegar and chili pepper sauce. He ate every last strand and loved his meal so I was happy and happy to take home my delicious and savory spicy ribs after eating half. We will be back again, and soon. The noodles are only available at lunch–one is like a hot kal kook soo and the other these cold spicy noodles. Do try this place. It is delish and the aunties are so very sweet and welcoming.
New Hyung Je Korean Restaurant
This has been my favorite Korean place growing up and most of the staff changed except a few I recognize. They are very welcoming and friendly! The meat has always been my favorite, cow tongue and kal-bi are my favorite 2 that I always order. Their side dishes aren't the same as before. I was truly disappointed about that. Prices are also very high BUT it is worth every penny for their meat. This is a very homey Korean restaurant that will always be my go-to Korean place.
New Hyung Je Korean Restaurant
Knocked off 2 stars before we even got seated. Called in at 5:50pm for a reservation. Asked if we could come in at 6:15. They said, "No, no, no. Come in 15 minutes." So we did. Exactly 15 minutes. Watched them seat Korean people, table after table. Two parties that got seated before us came after us. I literally saw them seat people who weren't even waiting outside. They just waltzed in and took our table that they server said was ours. Then they said they would seat us in the room on the left. Another game of musical chairs...moved us to another table that opened up because they wanted to keep the table in the room for a six top. Makes sense but messed up! This is the same owners as Don e Don when they were on Keeaumoku. Service was not like this. Maybe cause we were eating with my Korean friend. I give them one star for hustling. I see a couple of these women constantly moving. They are ridiculously short-handed. The busy, hustling server put the wrong dish in front of the wrong people. Our friend burned his finger badly, trying to move the dish. Tried to grab the wood that the cast iron pan was sitting on, and burned his finger. Most restaurants warn you that the pan is hot for liability reasons at the very least. I know, common sense, but it can happen if you're trying to move this hot dish that's not supposed to be in front of you. I thought the food was okay. My friend ordered the bulgogi. I liked it, didn't LOVE it, but was good. She thought it was meh. Hubby ordered the Salt Chicken. He really liked it. I thought it was meh. Friend who burned his finger ordered a Spicy Pork. Too spicy for me, but was good. I ordered the mandoo. They gave me seven huge mandoo. I love it when they serve handmade mandoo instead of frozen. For this, despite the fact that most of the food was okay, they got another star. When we were leaving, one of the ladies was really sweet and kept saying thank you. She was one of the ones working super hard. Sad. Really wanted to love it here.
New Hyung Je Korean Restaurant
I got beef brisket and outside skirt steak dinner option for lunch because you can get soybean paste soup and rice for free (the veggies ie potato and zucchini were cut larger than your avg KBBQ soybean paste soup veggies, but still decently good). You grill your own meat and the smell gets everywhere, but the meat was decently good quality. The ajummas change out the grill once it becomes burnt. They provide ssamjang, lettuce, jalapeño, onion, and garlic dipped in sesame seed oil with the meat.
Lunch in Honolulu, Hawaii...
They were out of LA kalbi, so I ordered bulgogi. It came on a sizzling platter with lots of onion slices. The white rice balanced out the tender, tasty beef! Yum!
LOCATION: right next to the original Million Restaurant on Sheridan Street
I suggested New Hyung Je – especially because it was a Sunday when metered street parking is free. There’s also a shared parking lot in the back of the building.
