276 5th Ave, New York, NY 10001
Every time I have Korean BBQ, I forget how much I love it. But it's really hard to eat in small groups of people but Holly and I were craving red meat and were in K-town already, so we figured we were up for the task. Dons Bogam Black is a bit away from the heart of K-town, on a quieter section of 5th Ave. It's sleeker and more upscale looking than some of the other K-town BBQ places but it's got the same kind of menu and frantic feel of the other BBQ places.
Like most places in K-town, the menu is extensive and overwhelming. Even though we were here for BBQ, I would have happily ordered 50 other dishes there like any of the stews, bibimbap, japchae, or beef tartar. They have a long list of meat, chicken, and seafood options for the BBQ but ordering them on their own can get quite expensive since a single dish can range from $30-45/plate or up to $95/plate for the wagyu version. They have a few platter options which is a great deal if you want to try a few things but don't want to spend hundred's of dollars. We got the 5 Variety of Beef Platter for Two ($82) which included rib eye steak, short ribs, marinated short ribs, skirt steak and beef brisket. They also have a great bar menu and we ordered the fried tiger shrimp ($16) as a way to offset all the meat we were eating. The BBQ platter came with a side of tofu stew which was great because I was really craving it and now I didn't have to order it separately.
As with a typical Korean experience, we got a nice line up of banchan - I don't remember all the different dishes that came it but it felt like a pretty standard line up. The waitress comes to your table with a cart and cuts up all the meat for our platter. She flips it on our BBQ for us - so we don't do any of the work which is kind of nice. The brisket came first and while good, Holly felt it had a bit more fat to it than she would like. I'm used to those cuts with other Asian dishes, so I didn't mind but I can see why people aren't into it. But after that, all the other cuts of beef were fantastic. Super tender and melt in your mouth. We got a few dipping sauces and small helping of salt which helped to season and flavor the beef. I've been trying to be more healthy but it's meals like this that make a realize that a good red meat dinner really hits the spot. I was also a huge fan of the tofu stew. I had a terrible cold and this really helped to open up my sinus' and was a perfect cozy winter time dish. During the whole meal, they never brought out our shrimp dish. I kept reminding them and finally our waitress came back but she had brought out raw shrimp for the BBQ - she totally got it mixed up. Sigh, luckily we were pretty stuffed from all the meat and I would have been ok if they didn't bring it out but it finally came out and I was really happy they did. It was 2 huge pieces of tiger shrimp, butterflied and lightly fried on the outside. It was the perfect texture and fantastic with the tartar sauce it came with. Clearly not healthy but still delicious.
I was close to giving this place 4.5 forks but the service was a bit off. We had to ask for certain things over and over again, which was really annoying. They were really nice but I hate repeating myself. The place was hopping when we left around 9ish - it was full of families and big groups and it was mostly Koreans which was a nice sign. I would definitely come back here, preferably with more people and go to town with the BBQ order. Or I could also see myself coming here and saddling up to the bar - they've got a solid bar menu with poke, beef tartar and the fried shrimp and some solid cocktails. If you're looking for a fun BBQ place that a little more luxurious but not super stuffy, I'd definitely add this to your list. Total bill: $88/pp with tax, tip and drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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