Koreander

Just want to preface this is not an attack on Koreander as the waiter and service was fantastic, and we overall had a great time! This is more so for the quality of the food. As a Korean I understand that it's difficult to capture the nuance of Korean food especially in a town that is not as well versed in Asian cuisine and so I was willing to be flexible and forget about "authenticity." I was just happy that there was a Korean establishment in town. However I can't help but feel sad about the food I received. I ordered the soft tofu stew and was disappointed to find an overabundance of carrots and pieces of squash in my stew which sweetened the stew to the point where I had to remove it and improvise with the kimchi they had to make the soup more properly "sour". (It would be like including honey or some sort of sweetener in a classic savory chicken soup) For the price of almost $20 I was a little disappointed that the food was made incorrectly and also did not have the right "soul" in it. I am all for chefs of all cultures learning to make Korean food but this felt like a serious lack of knowledge/interest and not the classic taste I was hoping for. I did not see a single Korean in the establishment. Again I had a great service experience overall but this saddened me as I was hoping to find a Korean food establishment closer to home, and not have to travel to Fort Lee/Pal Park. It makes me a little nervous that this may be a lot of people's only perception of Korean food.

Always been curious to try this place, the staff were so kind and welcoming. It is a casual setting and the food came out hot, fresh, and quickly. Hot pot for your entree is additional $2 but it keeps your meal cold your entire sitting! Strange to see reviews belly-aching about the portions… we both took home leftovers! Beef bugolgi was incredible, veggie dumpling (sorry if that’s not the exact name on the menu, I can’t recall) all tasted like you were having a home cooked meal. Staff was so sweet, came by frequently to ask how everything was and offer sauces and chitchat. Prices vary, it came to about $30 per person for an entree, appetizer, and soda for each of us. Totally worth it for the homestyle cooking atmosphere.

Very good Korean food here at Montclair. Been saving this place for a while and finally got a chance to visit. There is street parking only and inside can seat more or less 35 people. Service was quick and I see some ordering for pickups. For our dinner, I tried their pork belly and squid as thats usually my go to for korean rice bowls. The Pork Belly and Squid Dupbap was really flavorful and filling. The mixture was so good especially with good quality rice. You can actually have it served in a hot stone for an additional $2. The Manduguk was good too but I wished there was something like noodle in it lol not sure if you can request to add. The dumplings were also all vegetable. Would have been nice to have a meat one. For the banchan, by the way, others places probably would have more choices offered so the 3 that we had which was potatoes, kimchi and radish didnt seem like much. Still better than nothing but you know. Anyway, there really not a lot of Korean spots by Montclair i dont think, so Koreander is a good place to have some while around the area.