Kisa Restaurant is a cozy Korean gem that serves up generous portions of authentic dishes and nostalgic vibes, making every meal feel like a home-cooked experience.
"David JoonWoo Yun and Steve JaeWoo Choi (the duo behind the playful Noho restaurant C as in Charlie), along with Yong Min Kim, channel taxi driver restaurants of Korea, where affordability and speed are top priorities. As such, there is only one menu choice to make: What protein do you want (spicy pork or squid, etc.)? The rest is a set selection of banchan (refills welcome) like soy-marinated salmon, shredded radish with perilla, traditional Korean egg souffle with chives, and beef and radish soup. A full, and gloriously abundant meal runs $32 — a price, once not particularly noteworthy, but these days, worth celebrating. Finish the meal with a complimentary coffee, hot chocolate, or black bean latte from the machine on the way out." - Eater Staff
"Many restaurants incorrectly think that the best way to grab attention is through flashy ingredients like uni and caviar: Not so. Perhaps the most radical thing a hot new restaurant can do in the year 2024 is have a straightforward menu with a clear point of view. In the case of New York City’s Kisa, simplicity is its superpower. Here, David JoonWoo Yun and Steve JaeWoo Choi (two-thirds of the team behind the playful Noho restaurant C as in Charlie) along with Yong Min Kim intend to evoke the taxi driver restaurants of Korea, where affordability and speed are top priorities. And yet, while it’s possible to finish a meal in under an hour in the homey dining room on a Lower East Side corner, diners won’t feel part of any traffic rush as they dig into some of Manhattan’s most stellar Korean food outside of K-Town. Part of the efficiency is that there is only one menu choice to make: What protein do you want? The rest is a predetermined selection of banchan (refills welcome) like crispy jeon or shrimp cured in soy sauce, a mix of staples, and some lesser-seen Korean sides that rotate seasonally. A full and gloriously abundant meal runs $32 — a price once unnoteworthy, but these days worth celebrating. This is not a restaurant for the picky, but rather for those who have a healthy appreciation for the tyranny of choice. Finish the meal with a complimentary coffee, hot chocolate, or black bean latte from the machine on the way out, a small souvenir to celebrate money well spent. — Emma Orlow, Eater NY reporter" - Eater Staff
"Don’t spend half your meal trying to figure out what to order and how to split your check. Go to Kisa, a walk-in-only retro Korean diner on the Lower East Side where you choose from four combo sets, all of which cost $32 and come with soup, rice, and a buffet of bottomless sides. The bulgogi is slightly sweet and sliced into ribbons, and the spicy pork, with its crispy charred bits, is even better. Enjoy it alongside some kimchi and mung bean jelly in the packed room while groups pass around soju before hitting the coin-operated latte machine by the entrance." - willa moore, sonal shah, bryan kim, neha talreja, will hartman
"Opening: TBD From the people behind the Korean/Southern mashup C as in Charlie, Kisa is an upcoming LES spot modeled on kisa sikdang, Korean restaurants that have traditionally catered to taxi drivers. The place will have a retro feel, with vintage televisions and a coin-operated coffee machine, and the food will be homestyle, with plenty of accompanying sides." - bryan kim
"Kisa is an authentic Korean restaurant inspired by casual diners in Korea frequented by taxi and bus drivers. It features a retro decor with vintage televisions, wall-mounted fans, Korean calendars, and a coin-slot coffee machine. The menu is focused on four entrees: bulgogi, spicy pork, spicy squid, and bori bibimbap, complemented by seasonally rotating side dishes sourced directly from Korea. The restaurant aims to bring a slice of Korean culture to New York and offers a home-style meal experience." - Kevin Chau