Review: Dae Ga

Restaurant Name: Dae Ga
Cuisine: Korean
Location: 2053 Lemoine Ave. Fort Lee, NJ
Price Range: $15 Buffet $12-$40 Dinner
Telephone: (201) 944-8699

Dae Ga is squeezed between a Citibank and a diner but, yet it has valet parking. The front door to Dae Ga leads you to believe that you're about to enter a PC Bang but once you go inside a overly done staircase leads you to the restaurant. These paradoxes humored me but didn't detract from my enjoyment of the place.

I have been to Dae Ga twice in the past month, once for dinner and once for lunch. At the dinner I had the bibimbab (a mixed rice meal with vegetables, beef, and a fried egg) and the table shared various orders of galbi. The bibimbab was good but not spectacular. The same can be said about the galbi. My biggest complain about the food would have to be the oi kimchi (cucumbers with kimchi). Oi kimchi is one of my favorite appetizers of all time and at Dae Ga they make it bland. The simple solution to this is to add some kimchi.

I went the following week with a couple of my friends to try out their lunch buffet. The buffet includes rice, fried dumplings, nengmyun (cold noodles), tofu, pork, beef, etc... They also brought a plate of galbi for the table. Although the food was good, I was most impressed with the service. One of our friends was late and in our infinite hunger we ate his serving of galbi. When he finally arrived, our waitress, like a good mother, brought him another serving, and playfully scolded us for eating his serving.

There is nothing about the food at Dae Ga that I find overly impressive. That being said, I did make three trips to the buffet and could barely walk when I was leaving the restaurant. The atmosphere is OK and the service is grand. If you're tired of diners and want to try something new, I would recommend Dae Ga.

Atmosphere: B
Food: B
Service: A
Overall Rating: B