Sik Gaek Chun Ha
“They're also known for their live octopus – cut up and still moving/suctioning tentacles.”
“The watermelon soju consisted of a hallowed out watermelon filled with juice, ice and soju.”
“As a party of 4, we shared the seafood pancake & the $99 fresh octopus hot pot.”
Sik Gaek Chun Ha
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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holy shit we had a fun time here! yah, i know it's like 45min-1hr to get here from the city by subway/train. it's all the way up in flushing but trust me, it's worth the trek. i've driven farther for far weaker offerings here on the west coast and this place is well worth it.
we had a table booked for 7pm on a saturday night. my homegirl who now lives in NYC invited a couple of her homies to come join us for some drinkin' and eatin' and drinkin' and eatin' and they had no issues accommodating our gang of 9 at one long ass table.
they got there earlier than us so they started with an order of pajeon (didn't try but looked good). once we arrived, first thing we saw was live octopus (the waitress gave us a discount on this cause of our main course for some reason…whenever someone offers me a discount, well, i just roll with it) so you know we had to jump on that. the live octopus was fuckin' delicious. sure, there's a bit of wiggling in your mouth but that's how you know you had a great weekend! dip it in some seasoned sesame oil and you're in business.
one of my cousins with us has dietary restrictions and couldn't partake of the shell fish so we ordered some kbbq for her. we didn't want her to have to cook that shit by herself at the table so we had the kitchen staff take care of that. pork belly and kalbi that the waitress suggested were both fantastical. the pork had a good mix of fat and meat and the beef marinade was damn near up there with imo's secret home style flavor.
from the drink menu, we got several bottles of the flavored soju to turn up to. i offered the waiter a shot with us which he happily partook. next time he came around, he brought us a bottle (his treat) of one of the other flavors and we all did another shot (or was that 3?). super friendly staff (at a korean joint?! dafuq?!). everyone was helpful too. strange!
ok ok, saturday night's main event! the mothafuckin' emperor seafood hot pot. loaded with cherry stone clams, live abalone, blue crab, snow crab, mussels, prawns, sea snails, lobster, dukbokki, veg, kim chi, and broth. holy fuckin' moly. we had to get 2 orders of these. #savage. as this is bubbling away, the waiter comes back with shears and expertly starts breaking some of the more unruly seafood pieces down for us. all we really have to do is spit shells and keep eating. emperors indeed. we ate the fuck out of this dish BUT WAIT! there's more…
you goddam right there's more! if, at the end of this feast, you feel like that concentrated seafood broth is just wasted, fear not yelp nerd! our helpful waitress is back to assist. she ladles the rest of the broth into a side container and in the pot that we cooked the seafood in, she dumps rice, tobiko, nori, octopus, and makes the most wonderful fried rice (crispy on the bottom, kid!). spoon yourself up a heaping bowl (or however much you can still cram down your neck) and eat it with some of that broth. i was full to the point i wanted to puke and yet i still craved more of that rice. FML…
If you are wondering what seafood heaven looks like, this is the place to be!
Wow i have never seen such a humongous pot of seafood with clams bigger than my fists I'm not even joking!! For a group of 5 girls it was more than enough for us to devour. We came in on a Saturday at 730 people (was told they don't take reservation) got seated in about 20 mins- not bad.
We were so hungry and immediately ordered. We were served with 3 complimentary fried eggs for the table and the usually Korean appetizers. Everything we had here were ridiculously good. And no I was not drunk to say this.
Started with a plate of seafood pancakes to share. If you like crispy and crunchy stuff, this is by far the best pancake I've had. I assume it is deep fried but I can't be sure.
Next up with had to get the live octopus to try. I must say I was a bit grossed out by the way it moves in your mouth but the taste was so fresh! We went for the wasabi fresh flavor. They have 2 options
Next up the main course we devoured the pot of seafood. The guys would come and cut up the squid for you. So damn good. It has all types of seafood ranging from abalone to different types of clams, mussels, mini crabs, shrimp ,veggies, udon mushrooms, and a lobster on top. I may have missed a few things but that's the sum of it.
$99.99. It was the supreme empire one!
We were so full towards the end but really wanted to try their bi bim Bap / fried rice kinda thing. They made that in the pot where we just had the hotpot. Yum!! Overall great first experience. Price was so worth it. Came up to a total of $36 pp with tips. Could not be more satisfied.
My only complaint would be the place is a bit far and hard to get to. But I would trek all the way there again just for these yummy dishes!
I want to rate this place a 3.5 but 4 will do just nicely. For cold winter chills, this place has a nice rambunctious vibe to just sit and enjoy large quantities of seafood with friends and family. This Korean restaurant I believe this is the original establishment, while the other one is in Woodside.
We ordered the seafood hot pot($$$), where there was a variety of steam seafood being infused by boiling broth underneath the seafood. When I said variety, I mean the cast of the Little Mermaid from, "Under the Sea scene," were taken from the ocean and they are now on the table. Oh what poor unfortunate souls. The seafood was overall average, there some seafood that were overcooked and become tasteless, while other part of the seafood galore was fantastic. It was like playing heads or tails with your taste buds. However, the broth was overall my favorite part of it. With the flavors of the sea being brewed it was a symphony of the sea with every spoonful. Beside the hot pot, we also order live cut up octopus, which was an interesting situation. If you do not like squishy texture or food that fights back……..please don't order it, it may not be worth the price or your mouth. As for the drinks the watermelon soju was very refreshing and made the meal very sweet. Overall, if you have a big group who are not afraid of seeing live seafood being cooked, please come and try this place out.
Went as a group of 3 at around 7:30PM on a Monday. Has a classic Korean drinking place kind of vibe. We ordered a yogurt soju and the Empire Seafood Hot Pot.
The yogurt soju was good and strong. But because we didn't finish it that quickly, all the ice melted and that sucked.
The banchan (side dishes) are a little lacking, but it's probably because it's a divey-like place. It was a couple of slices of cucumber & carrots with soy bean paste, steamed egg, and ddeokbokki (spicy rice cake). They also fry eggs for you in person – that was cute. The ddeokbokki was really spicy but good. Wish it had been heated up though.
The hot pot was huge and looked overwhelming for three girls, but we did a fair share of damage and I'm wondering if it really would be enough for 4-6 people. Maybe if you also ordered something else, it would be enough?
The waiter also cuts all the seafood and stuff for you to make the lobster/crab/squid easy to eat.
It also gets REALLY salty near the end after the broth really cooks down, so that was a bummer because it was kind of inedible. We only ordered one order of rice to make the fried rice but two would have been a good amount for the 3 of us. The rice was so good – it gets really crispy on the bottom and you get to scrape it off.
The hot pot was $100 in itself, so it would make more sense to go with more people. Also, go with more people because I think it would also be nice to not have JUST the hot pot to eat the entire time and be able to order other dishes. We wanted to try the pumpkin dish but it was huge and more than $30 and we knew we would just have a lot of leftovers.
I honestly just want to go back and just have the rice…
The food was great! I loved the drinking and chill atmosphere. They have bells to call servers when you need anything. I forgot my portable battery and they were willing to charge my phone for me as well. We got one of the seafood pot dish which I thought was pricey at first but after getting it, the amt of seafood it had made it worth the price. The servers are friendly and do their jobs. I love their pants too!
Came across this restaurant by accident. After walking around looking for a restaurant that makes bibambap. We settled for Korean BBQ and I'm already making plans on returning. One thing to know: when you get seated eggs will be made at your table as soon as you sit down. Just like other Korean spots you receive small dishes to share. The kimchi here was superb here.
Maybe because it was a really busy Saturday night we did not cook the meat ourselves. But that was ok for the group I was with because we were staving.
I was a bit shy but I should have asked for more.
I highly recommend the short ribs. We received a small cast iron skillets containing the short ribs and sautéed onions. Yum yum! Warning: if you order the spicy marinated pork prepare to cry. It was super spicy but seasoned so well I couldn't stop eating it.
The decor is super punk rock with dollars on the wall.
Stumbled in with friends since we had to wait for a spot at Flower nearby. This is a very dope but slightly pricy restaurant. The decor was the first thing I noticed, very funky with the newspaper articles lining the hall and the wooden tables were the food is prepared in front of you. Other thing was the mixture of trendy Koreans out on a Saturday night and friendly families enjoying themselves.
Now for the food, the live octopus was tasty even though I kept fumbling with the chopsticks trying to eat it. I'll humbly take the L for that one lol. Eggs made two different ways, one like a omelet style and the other whipped with sesame oil, the whipped eggs were clutch along with the half shell oysters. The group I was with had a game going where every 5 minutes we had to do a shot of Soju. By the time we left I was stuffed and faded.
We had a incredible time, and I'm glad I got to visit my old hood again to try wonderful freshly prepared food.
I've been wanting to go here for a really long time with my boyfriend, but we wanted to get more people to go with us because based on pictures, it's a lot of food! But you see, most of our friends either don't like spicy food or seafood… So we decided to go just ourselves. We went around 5PM on Saturday and it was pretty empty. Soon after we got our food, it started getting filled.
We shared the smaller seafood hot pot ($59.99). We also wanted to try the raw octopus but it had a pretty steep pricetag ($30) and they only had one size. Too much octopus for us.
When our server brought our food, it was glowing. It smelled so appetizing and plus it was aesthetically pleasing. Beautiful arrangement. There were a combination of mussels and clams, both large and small, octopus, shrimp, crab, plenty of vegetables, udon and rice cakes. Unfortunately, some of the mussels were not opening and the two large clams were overcooked. Like severely overcooked, to the point I was chewing on plastic. I would say scoop the seafood out as soon as you can otherwise its going to overcook because its still cooking while you eat.
We ordered the roe fried rice at the end. They cook it in front of you along with some of the leftover soup! We pretty much ate all the seafood and had some vegetables left in the pot. I was too full to eat the fried rice, only took a bite and we ordered only one portion. My boyfriend had some and took the rest to go.
It's pretty worth it to come and have a small seafood hot pot a dish to share as well with a group of 4 friends. Between two people, this was pretty filling but soooo good. They have very friendly and attentive staff and great atmosphere.