First Look at the Now Open Food Gallery 32 (aka The Korean FoodParc?)

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At long last, Food Gallery 32, the Koreatown food court is open for business. As with most openings of this scale, there’s a lot still being worked out and finishing touches being made, but all things considered, the slow, snow-laden week is probably a good time for them to get started.

I stopped in on Tuesday to finally get a good look at the place, check it out after the jump.

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The main attraction is clearly the seven food stalls or ‘corners’ on the main floor. These include Boon Sik House, Pastelo, Hanok and Jin Jja Roo specializing in various Korean and Korean fusion fare, O-de-ppang serving Japanese Deppan-yaki, Big Bowl serving noodles and of course, the NYC Cravings’ brick and mortar space, Bian Dang.

All seven opened this week, with the Red Mango still in progress and more spaces to be opened in coming weeks on the top floor.

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As soon as you enter the ‘gallery’ there is a counter for ordering food. Menus for each of the vendors rotate on screens behind them just a little too fast and most people will end up walking to the back to check out what each place is all about first.

The thing is, you’ll still have to go back to the main counter to order. Logistically, I suspect this ordering system will cause some trouble once they start to draw a crowd. Customers will enter right into the ordering lines, have to cut through or around them to get to the actual vending stations to see what they want and then head back to the doorway to stand in line to order. These guys could probably have taken a page from FoodParc and made a more streamlined ordering process a priority. Not being able to order directly is a little counter-intuitive and will probably cause some confusion.

Independent of the long-term issues, word from some of the vendors is that the staff working the counters are still a little green and have been fumbling some of the orders sent to them.

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Once you’ve ordered, you’ll get a buzzer from each of the places you ordered from which will vibrate when you’re food is ready. At that point, you’ll hang out in the big open space in the middle of the main floor waiting for your order. I’m hoping that at some point they put in some sort of standing bench where customers can put down the items they’ve already received. Yesterday, I ordered from two vendors (more on the food next week) and had about five minutes waiting with my tray before my other order was done. Standing around there seemed sort of goofy.
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Once you’ve got your food, you can eat in the mezzanine section up the stairs or, eventually on the top floor, once it’s open.

Clearly, two days in is no time to judge any restaurant, much less a collection of restaurants that all have to work together. We’ll give it time and hope that the slow week allows them some breathing room to get things fixed up before the real lunch rush hits.

Food Gallery 32, 11 W. 32nd Street (btw. 5th and B’way).

13 Comments

  • reminds me of the food courts you’d find in shopping malls in Korea. Will def be visiting soon!

  • Wha? No foods review yet. Oh well. An initial food reviews would be welcome.

  • Another Korean ordering clusterfuck … between this and the chicken joints it’s easier to get a handjob than a lunch on 32nd St.

  • Backwards cafeteria, not quite ready for prime time. The pork cutlet from Pastelo is truly awful.

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    Went yesterday for dinner. The space is nice and clean.

    What we ordered:
    Dduk bbok gee (tube rice cakes in spicy sauce) from Boon Sik House
    Jja Jjang Myun (noodles with black bean sauce) from Jin Jja Roo
    Fried chicken over rice from NYC Cravings

    You get separate buzzers for each vendor. First order up was the jja jjang myun. It was obviously premade, the noodles were soft and the sauce wasn’t the best. But it was decent.

    Next came the fried chicken. This was made to order and was the best out of the three dishes. Never had it from the truck so can’t compare.

    Last was the dduk bbok gee from Book Shik House. This was the worst dish. Noodles were very soft, sauce was too sweet. Strangely enough, even though the vat of this was sitting there premade, this order took the longest. Maybe because this vendor was the most busiest?

    Would try to come back but not sure I would order anything besides the fried chicken again.

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    We ordered the fried chicken and pork chop dishes from Bian Dang and the kimchi pancake from Hanok. The fried chicken was really good, the pork chop was ok (both tasted like how it is from the truck), and the kimchi pancake had good texture but needed more kimchi taste/spice. Overall it was nice to be able to enjoy the food indoors, but definitely some growing pains to work out in regards to the ordering system and the inexperienced cashiers (how could you somehow forget to add tax?). The decor looks almost exactly like Rice to Riches (orange & brown with quotes on the wall).

  • Thanks for the initial review and photos! Agree that there might be issues with ordering when it gets busy, but putting that aside for now: this week, stop by the 3rd floor to get free crepes, for the lucky few (unofficial deal, but I was told it’ll happen until Monday): http://nychar.blogspot.com/2011/01/nychar-review-new-ktown-food-court.html

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