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I have flown to NY just to eat here...

5 Posted on 05 / 21 / 2013

It's one of those gems I go to anytime I visit NYC. I order the Emperor's Tasting Menu Prix Fixe. I wish something like this was in Toronto. It's delicious and I LOVE the space. The last time I flew to NYC was for my birthday a couple years ago. I spent 24 hours in NYC with the main purpose to eat at HanGawi. I hope they are maintaining their awesome for when I visit again. I've been a few times already...

Pros: food and drink, atmosphere and service, location
Cons: i wish there was a HanGawi in Toronto

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downhill

3 Posted on 10 / 16 / 2012

Hangawi used to be my favorite restaurant. The last couple times I've been there the food has been ok, not amazing like it used to be. Same price though.

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Fake Korean

2 Posted on 11 / 25 / 2011

This place was a great disappointment as a dinner destination for my family. I've eaten in hundreds of Korean restaurants both in the states and in Korea including Korean vegetarian restaurants. Most of the vegetarian places in Korea are Buddhist restaurants with a wide variety of seasonal vegetables. A typical place would have a number of wild greens (mountain greens), various root plants, and a many styles of mushrooms with rice and beans. The typical Korean meal will have many small dishes with a wide variety of tastes from bitter to sweet, hot and spicy with a highly balanced styles. Hangawi, seductive to the average Westerner because of its decor, is a total fake! The food is bland, fried and not prepared with any sense of the depth of style in Korean cooking. This place lacks the total essence of spices, variety, and healthy cooking. I shake my head in disbelief that the place even failed at making a good bowl of rice! The desert ended up being an off-the-shelf, low quality American pudding. Shame, Shame, Shame. There are many good Korean restaurants on 32nd Street in NYC providing a wide variety of styles. Without hesitation I can say this is the worst Korean place I've eaten in.

Cons: Bad food, No flavors, Not Korean

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awesome korean joint

5 Posted on 08 / 13 / 2011

nice ambiance, feels so zen in there. customers are required to remove their shoes before going in, staff are quite friendly, food is awesome!! they've got organic juices and wine as well, only thing is that its a little expensive, but this is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in NY

Pros: awesome food, nice ambiance, friendly staff
Cons: price is a little high

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Delicious and unique dining experience

4 Posted on 07 / 25 / 2011

I recently went here with a friend. The ambiance is very nice. You're required to take off your shoes before being seated a low, traditional table. If you have any sort of leg problem the low seated tables might not work for you. We started with the spicy kimchi pancakes and veg dumplings. Both were very tasty. For main courses we had the avocado bowl and the spicy rice cakes. Both were excellent. The ginger tea is fantastic too. I would recommend both the wine sampler and the saki sampler. The service is good but could be improved a little (they're very nice but a little slow). The price is a bit high, more along the lines of fine dining prices.

Pros: atmostphere, yummy, good drinks
Cons: price, slow service

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excellent!

5 Posted on 06 / 06 / 2011

this place is amazing. i've been raving about it for years. the food is all out-of-this-world great! my favorite was a dish in the clay pot with rice and veggies. so good! the service was great. my only problem is i can't convince my parents to come back because they don't like sitting on the floor. but it wouldn't be the same if we were at tables. i really love this place.

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Try the Stone Bowl

5 Posted on 06 / 02 / 2011

A vegetarian friend recommended this restaurant, and I have been back multiple times since. Everything I've tried on the menu has been delicious. I particularly like the avocado stone bowl, though the spicy rice cakes and seasonal pumpkin pancakes are also excellent. The only downside is that it is pricey (though maybe not for NYC).

Pros: excellent food, healthy cuisine
Cons: expensive

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A wonderful experience from start to finish

5 Posted on 12 / 04 / 2010

I discovered Hangawi completely by accident by wandering in off the street when visiting a client in NYC one day. As the token vegetarian, I was scanning meals on the doors of each restaurant to make sure I had a meal to eat. This one fit the bill, and I didn't even know what wonders I would discover inside! The decor takes you away from being in a city, with the traditional custom of removing your shoes at the door. Once inside, you are lead to sit at a table where your legs disappear under the floor. I loved it here so much I have been back another time with my husband so he could believe what I was gushing about - and now he's a believer!!

The food choices are comprised of many root and mushroom vegetables. I like the stone pot meals cooked with some kim chee. We ordered the prix fixe meal which came with multiple rounds of wonderful flavors. In addition we chose to have a pot of some barely alcoholic drink. The price was about $70 pp at the end of the meal - which seemed very high priced to me (being NOT from NYC), but the experience was well worth it. I have also been here for lunch, and the price was much more reasonable during lunch hours.

I highly recommend this place for a unique vegan experience!! If you call ahead for reservations, try to get a table far away from the bathroom (which is located in the central area of the room).

Pros: delicious, unique, fun
Cons: expensive

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Delicious Food and Great Service

5 Posted on 12 / 01 / 2010

We love this restaurant. The food is fantastic, elegant, and beautifully plated. The service is warm without being too casual and formal without being pretentious. I would love to go there again and again and again.

Pros: excellent food, extensive menu, creative drinks

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one of the very best restaurants in NY

5 Posted on 08 / 14 / 2010

I can't say how much I love HanGawi. I crave it constantly and I go every time I am in town ... sometimes twice! The tofu stone bowl is out of this world and, unfortunately or fortunately, I get it every time I am there so I can't say much about the other main dishes. I love the hangawi salad and the stuffed shiitake mushrooms are so yummy. A beautiful restaurant with a fantastic atmosphere and very good service. One of the two best (vegan) restaurants in NY. Make sure you make a reservation.
Updated from previous review on Saturday August 14, 2010

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Great place for a date/meeting

4 Posted on 06 / 24 / 2010

Beautiful food. Very delicate. Expensive-ish. Worth it. Feels like you are in a fancy eating den in Korea.

Pros: excellent food, friendly staff
Cons: pricey

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Amazing experience

5 Posted on 05 / 25 / 2010

Hangawi is one of the most beautiful restaurants you will find. Traditional decor and service make for a unique dining experience. The food is delicious, especially the appetizers. Very nice cocktails too. Great place to take someone to impress!

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Good but pricy

3 Posted on 05 / 16 / 2010

I love the decoration and tables. The ginger salad was magnificent. I like the spicy hot bowl rice. It was very tasty and indeed hot. Cons are the fact that he waiter was a bit hurried though with the service and if they could give some more reasonable prices, I would come here more often.

Pros: Food, Decoration
Cons: Service, Prices

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Can't wait to go back

5 Posted on 02 / 24 / 2010

My boyfriend and I loved this place! I was hesitant to go based on some reviews I read that the food was bland, but I didn't find that to be true at all. We ordered the pre fixe menu and it was an excellent value. It was several delicious courses, one more outstanding than the next.
The food vegetable based rather than centered around fake meat, which was a nice change. The taste of many of the dishes was light on the palate, but by no means bland.
We are literally waiting for the next warm day so we can take the path in and eat here again.

Pros: great food, attentive service, beautiful atmosphere

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wow.

5 Posted on 11 / 28 / 2008

the atmosphere is outstanding, details exquisite...food is creative, plated beautiful and very tasty...try the mountain root vegetables, they are incredible! a bit overpriced, but worth it. discretion between lunch hours online and at restaurant...we went there for lunch menu, but our waiter insisted we were there after lunch was over...

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Cool, unusual, delicious

5 Posted on 03 / 27 / 2008

For ambience and novelty-value alone, Hangawi stands apart. It's a completely different dining experience, with submerged seating (sans shoes). I found the prices to be low considering the atmosphere and the unusual nature of the food (vegan Korean joints aren't exactly common). All of the dishes were delicious, from the mushroom pancakes to the tofu stone pot. Their vegan cheesecake was also delectable. This is a great place to take a date or to simply eat healthy, tasty food in large portions.

Pros: Ambience, Prices, Unusual food

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some of the best vegan food in town

5 Posted on 02 / 10 / 2008

A meal at HanGawi is an utterly refreshing experience. Food is delicious, atmosphere is beautiful, service is perfect. It's not cheap, but for that special dinner this is absolutely beautiful.

Pros: delicious food, beautiful atmosphere, perfect service
Cons: it's not cheap

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So much Fun!!

5 Posted on 01 / 26 / 2008

I love Korean and this was truly a treat. I like how the restaurant was so traditional and authentic. Taking off my shoes kinda scared me at first but its actually really clean.. no foot fungus..j/k. I did not see Gwyneth Paltrow there but the food was so fab so I didn't notice. Totally go here if you are in NYC!! Rock on!

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wear nice socks!

5 Posted on 12 / 05 / 2007

This is a shoe's off hang your feet down into the floor place. Fun for large groups. Definitely go for the clay pot! Best thing on the menu.

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My favorit place

5 Posted on 09 / 12 / 2007

i luv this damn place. the food is great the service is excellent, and the atmosphere is really great. the only down fall is that there offiliated with Franchia. other than that this is the place to take a date or family members too. :)

Pros: The food is the best, the people are nice, its traditional
Cons: i don't work there

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Great Food, Poor Service

3 Posted on 06 / 06 / 2007

The food here is good, but the service was not the best. Additionally they will sit you right next to another table even if the whole place is empty. I do not know if that bothers you or not, but when we asked to be moved to another table they refused.

Pros: exellent food
Cons: poor service

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Korean Fine Dining at its Best!

5 Posted on 04 / 10 / 2007

excellent!! love the decor and authentic atmosphere.

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My best restaurant experience EVER!

5 Posted on 03 / 19 / 2007

HanGawi is too amazing for words. We had reservations for dinner on a Saturday evening, and our meal was out of this world. We both ordered the seven-course prix fixe Emperor's Meal with Steamboat Soup ($37.95 per person). We also ordered a bottle of delicious Korean raspberry wine. Each course was even more delicious and more beautifully presented than the previous one. Our waiter was friendly and sweet, and he took the time to explain the details and ingredients in each course to us. The flavors were all wonderful. There was not one dish that we did not absolutely love! Also, the visual presentation and carefully chosen contrasts of food temperatures and textures made for an all-around exquisite meal. I cannot wait to go back to HanGawi. I wish we lived more closely to it!

Pros: heavenly food, soothing interior, friendly waitstaff

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Yum!

5 Posted on 03 / 05 / 2007

My fiance took me here for my birthday. Lovely ambiance. The food was really great. You have to be willing to try different things. We chose the prix fixe option and ate some wonderful dishes we never would've picked on our own. Great for dates!

Pros: pretty, tasty, great service
Cons: lots of fried dishes

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Pretty sweet

4 Posted on 02 / 03 / 2007

I went here for my birthday with my family. The restaurant is really cool...you take off your shoes and sit at floor level (but with cut outs so it's okay for people with bad backs). The food was pretty good...particularly the mushroom dish. However, my brother was not particularly excited by root vegetables he'd never heard of. Although the food was good, it was hard to order without knowing what things were.

Pros: Atmosphere, different foods
Cons: Expensive, unappealing to picky eat

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Hangawi, NYC

4 Posted on 09 / 12 / 2006

Stylish Korean decor, relaxing atmo, interesting menu. I'd love to go back to check it out more. I'm sure anyone with a strict budget to manage to eat in less expensive places.

Pros: Nice decor, Interesting menu
Cons: Not for those on a budget