Korean barbeque, Vandy and Pacific!

sje wrote: [quote=qtrain]I had lunch at Noona on Saturday, and they've rearranged the main dining area, removing half the tables and adding a new bar.

Not making money?

I'm renovating my shop a bit now too, does that mean I'm broke? Really, how do you figure? :roll:
I figured the shift from restaurant to bar/restaurant might indicate that the old formula wasn't profitable enough. Sounds like that was the plan all along, though.

That eyeroll emoticon is obnoxious.

I saw the revised menu yesterday afternoon as well. In fact I was going to get a burger but it was after 3 p.m. and the kitchen was closed (I think). Let me know when you go.

alafairnadia wrote:

the bar is huge - I thought they were going for more of a lounge thing rather than straight-up bar, but I guess not.

There's a downstairs lounge space which, according to Toli is going to open "next week"... since last June.

had dinner there the other night.

i think the bar looks great -- even though it means fewer tables, to me it makes the space more inviting. before, i often felt lost in a sea of empty tables, wondering why the were empty, wondering if anyone besides the waitstaff ever sat at the bar. (no, in my experience.)

i had two of the small plates -- the mung bean pancake and the fried ?whitefish? -- which was plenty for dinner. there were some things i was sorry to see gone from the menu, but that fish was INCREDIBLE: buttery, tender, perfectly crisp, maybe the best thing i've ever had there.

i am, however, shocked and pissed to see that they now charge for panchan. it's only $2, but really. poor form. i guess i could see selling it as bar food to those who are only drinking, but it should still be complimentary with a meal. like a basket of chips at a mexican place. in fact, i'm sure they charge enough for liquor to offer it free to drinkers, too. (our waitress was great, though, and brought us a dish of kimchee to go with our meals. she, too, seemed to think it was silly to charge for it.)

Taking away the free panchan was idiotic. Now that my mouth isn't coated in spices and vinegar I am starting to notice that food doesn't taste as good as it used to. Add to that the higher beer prices and I am not getting drunk enough either. Noona was doing so well for me but now it's time to look elsewhere for dinner.

Innocent X wrote: I finally made it to this joint this past weekend. I like the layout and the bar though it was a bit hot inside on Friday night. And the food was pretty good. I liked the short ribs and the wings and the beef and pork shumai. Shrimp shumai was crap though. So not great food but good. Good beer selection. That white beer with the owl on it on tap is worth the price of admission. They didn't have pork or bulgogi though. Weird. Service is a bit sketchy and the bartender was playing terrible music. But worth another meal.

I was there on friday, also, and my understanding is that the chef was out, so toly was cooking. which explained why some of the stuff ruled and some was a little ... off. also, I thought I saw a guy eating bulgogi at the bar, but maybe I'm just plain wrong.

Toli cooking so yummy, i want my pork toli bulgogi !!!!!!!

Went to check out Noo Na last night. The food was pretty good but not great. I asked for some kimchee, then found out when they brought me the check that they charged me $3 for it. First panchan and now $3 kimchee. That just does not seem right in a Korean restaurant.

There were two waitresses and one was being trained, so it was kind of weird having both of them hover around us when taking our order. But they were friendly and the vibe was cool.

Good beer and liquor selection. I tried the white ale with the owl (on tap now) and it was indeed excellent! (Thanks for the tip, Innocent X.)

Will probably go there occasionally but won't be a regualr place for us. Still a good option to have in the neighborhood.

Think we're going to like PH!

nary a clue! I'd ask, next time, though. I usually order the panchan - a few of the korean restaurants in midtown (in the 40s and 50s - obvi not ktown) also charge for it, so I guess I'm a little more used to seeing a $2 panchan charge. it comes with kimchi so that's my supply. but you should be able to at least get free refills, or free kimchi or something at noona. kimchi enhances so many of their dishes that it's really sad to make people wonder if they should order a dish at that price.

I'd guess the removal of rice cakes is either due to a supply issue (whoops, forgot to order rice cakes!) or a cook issue (what? rice cakes go in that? who knew?!). again, i'd ask. I asked why our pajun was the thickness of a big mac and found out that toly was cooking.

I do wish, though, and I will talk to toly about this next time I see him so please don't think I'm just 'complaining on the board', that they would decide the direction they want to go: restaurant or bar. obviously, there are places like beast, that choose to be both a really good restaurant and a really fun bar, and then there are places like soda, that are bars that serve food - they are NOT restaurants. where is noona heading? I only wonder because of this: my friend and I devoured the mung bean cake and the dumplings we got. we destroyed our panchan. but the pajun (again, thickness of a big mac) we each ate once slice of ... maybe 1/7th of the entire thing was consumed. we were CLEARLY not okay with it. I asked why it was so fucked up and the bartender just grinned and told me that toly was cooking. okay. that's nice. it's still fucked up. but they didn't remove it from our bill or offer us any sort of "we're sorry" type thing. which, again, would happen in a restaurant. anyway, like I said, I'll bring it up to toly next time I see him - not accusatory, just questioning, because they really need to focus on what it is they're going for. korean pub or korean restaurant with a lounge.

well, you're chatty. I'd just bring it up. like "hey, I have a question. what's with the charge for kimchi?" and give the person an out, especially if you're embarrassed, like "were you guys throwing tons away that folks weren't eating or something?" frankly, that's my assumption as to the charge. if it isn't that, I'd love to hear the reason. and, of course, next time I see toly I'll ask him myself. but right now I'm more concerned about service/quality oriented issues, because that'll determine how I treat the place and what I order. if it's going to be more like soda ("you can get a great burger here!") then I'm going to stop ordering things that need a light touch, like pajun, and I'm going to be wary of ordering the blatantly korean things - maybe I'll just get a few sliders, ya know? if it's going to be a restaurant, then I think they need to run it like a restaurant and ask their customers when they reject 6/7ths of a dish "was something wrong?" and pull it from their bill. or give them a glass of wine, or something to placate the person.

(the pajun didn't taste bad, it was just a load of bricks - three bites and I felt like I'd eaten a big mac)

went there on wednesday and asked sue the bartender about the $2 charge also. she shrugged. nonetheless we ordered it and ate it and got the pajun also which was way too soggy and not crispy enough...oh well.