LET’S MEAT BBQ
ADDRESS: 307 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016
WEBSITE: https://www.letsmeatnyc.com/
Going to eat Korean BBQ with my parents is not an opportunity that comes around very often, so during our day trip to NYC, we planned to stop by Koreatown to visit a KBBQ spot. I had looked up KBBQ spots on Yelp a couple of days before we went out to the city to scope out what spots might be good. There was an AYCE place called Let’s Meat BBQ that sounded pretty good, with their menu options focusing primarily on beef, chicken, and pork. So as our day was winding down in the city, we made our way over to the restaurant for an early dinner before we took the train back to NJ.
We arrived right around 4:30PM and were able to get seated immediately. Even though it was late in the afternoon, the place was still probably around 70% full. The popularity sure does start shooting up as dinner approaches, since when we left only an hour later, there was already a line of people waiting going out the door. Come to think of it, I don’t know if I’ve ever been able to get immediately seated for KBBQ in general prior to this visit.
As I mentioned above, the menu options focused primarily on beef, chicken, and pork, coming by way of the “classic” selection. The seafood (shrimp, squid, octopus), NY strip steak, and offal (beef small intestine, beef entrails) were only available if you upgraded to their “signature” selection. The classic was priced at $42.99 per person while the signature was priced at $48.99. We decided to go with the classic selection, since everything that we were interested in was already in that option.
At this particular KBBQ spot, the waitstaff help cook the food for you, as opposed to you cooking it yourself. To a certain extent, I think this helps provide the restaurant with two benefits: 1) it ensures you’re not going to eat undercooked food on accident, and 2) it helps them pace out your meal to ensure you aren’t dragging out the time so they can get other people seated. I think I’ve been noticing this more lately at KBBQ spots I’ve been going to, unless it’s just chance that I’ve been going to these types of places as opposed to ones where you can cook for yourself.
Our waitress’s name was Jenny, and she did a really good job throughout our entire meal. She was very attentive when helping to cook our food and pace things out while moving around to different tables as well as answering questions that we had regarding the food when we were placing our order. She was very friendly throughout the whole time, and it was probably the best service I’ve had at an AYCE Korean BBQ restaurant to date.
We ended up sticking primarily with beef and pork for the meat selections, but we did want to diversify the flavors of the options. All in all, we ended up getting the thin-sliced beef brisket, flat iron steak, Berkshire pork belly, marinated pork short rib, and marinated thin-sliced beef ribeye. In addition to the assortment of banchan, we also decided to go with an order of the spicy tofu soup as well.
It didn’t take long for our first round of meats to hit the grill, starting off with the beef brisket and the flat iron steak, along with an accompaniment of vegetables. They provided some dipping sauces for the different meats, and my preferred one for the brisket was using the sesame oil + salt combination. Just the combination of the savory and umami flavors, along with the sesame, was just really satisfying.
The next round, which completed our initial order of food, was the marinated pork short rib and the Berkshire pork belly. I wasn’t expecting such thick cuts of the pork belly, but certainly no complaints here. The pork belly on its own didn’t end up having very much flavor, so it definitely needed to get complemented with one of the dipping sauces. The marinated pork short rib, on the other hand, was definitely able to stand out on its own. The marinade seemed like it was some sweet soy sauce base, perhaps with garlic and ginger. It definitely had a good amount of flavor for sure.
When Jenny came around to ask us if we wanted to put in any more food, we decided we had room for another two plates of meats. That was when we got a repeat of the thin-sliced beef brisket since everyone liked that, and also the marinated thin-sliced beef ribeye. The marinade used for the ribeye seemed like it was the same as the pork short rib, so this ended up reminding me of bulgogi. It was definitely really good and paired well with some of the white rice we had available at the table.
For a place that we decided to take the chance on based on reviews, Let’s Meat was a really solid choice and a great way for us to wrap up our day trip out to NYC. The menu selection of the available meats, along with the quality of the food that we got, was really good. There are certainly enough options between the beef, pork, and chicken to find something that you would be interested in. If you’re looking for great food and great service when it comes to KBBQ, definitely consider this popular spot in Koreatown.
Let’s now take a look at the Let’s Meat BBQ Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Thin-Sliced Beef Brisket **
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** Flat Iron Steak **
(Not pictured since I got too excited and ate it all before I remembered to take a photo.)
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** Marinated Pork Short Rib **
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** Berkshire Pork Belly **
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** Marinated Thin-Sliced Beef Ribeye **
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And finally, here are my rankings for Let’s Meat BBQ:
Food: 4.75 / 5
I really enjoyed all of the different beef and pork dishes that we selected. The quality of the meats were really good and I liked how there was a really solid variety of things to choose from, even within the “classic” AYCE level.
Atmosphere: 4.5 / 5
The dining space definitely runs really deep into the building, despite the small entrance from the exterior. The tables are pretty well spaced out and although it might get a bit loud at times, that seems par for the course relative to most KBBQ restaurants.
Service: 5 / 5
Our waitress Jenny was fantastic throughout the entire meal. She was very timely about coming back to our table to attend to cooking the food and really helped to pace out everything very well. She was friendly and seemed very enthusiastic about her job and helping out the diners overall.
Price: 4.5 / 5
I thought that for the quality of the food that you got in addition to the variety available, the $42 is something that I would pay again. Given that it is also in the middle of Manhattan, that possibly also had something to do with the slightly higher pricing.
Overall:
18.75 / 20
(94%)
Categories: New York, Restaurants
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