Young's Korean - Rochester

Young's is my favorite Korean in the area. Everything is always so fresh and delicious. By far the best banchan, I can't get enough of the spicy cucumbers. They still require advanced reservations, which means no spontaneous trips, but if you plan ahead, the food never disappoints. Favorites include the tteokbokki, japchae and fried chicken.

Everyone said this place has the best banchan and they were right. Everything else was delicious, too. They currently require reservations, so be sure to call ahead. I had dinner on a Friday and it was fairly busy but service didn 't lag. We actually received our dishes really quickly. We split a kimchi jeon (pancake), fried mandu (dumplings), and the banchan, of course. The jeon was huge and so perfectly crispy with lots of scallions and kimchi inside. The mandu were perfect (four for an appetizer order). I got the bulgogi ddukbaigi and my friend got the dolsot bibimbap. Both came out sizzling and smelled amazing. They tasted even better. The bulgogi ddukbaigi is sitting in the marinade/sauce rather than being dry over rice like regular bulgogi. It comes with a side of white rice. I really loved everything here and will return again to try more off their menu. One of the best Korean meals I 've had in Rochester!

Young 's used to be my favorite Korean restaurant in town, but not so much anymore. I don 't have a problem with the food, I think it 's probably the most authentic and least Westernized of the 3 Korean restaurants in Rochester (and the best ban chan). I do however have a problem with their service. I have never been turned away from a restaurant as many times before than at Young 's. We walk into the restaurant at 7:15 pm, thinking we would have plenty of time since their documented closing time is 8 pm. But nope, kitchen is closing soon. Like others have mentioned, they have a relatively new reservation system. But usually when i 'm grabbing Korean food it 's pretty spontaneous and not something i 'm planning days or even hours ahead. These service issues were present before the pandemic, but they have gotten worse. I 'm not sure if they are just severely understaffed and overworked, but it 's almost like they don 't want the business. I should not get the sense that I am inconveniencing them every time I set foot in the restaurant. I will probably not be back.

The service was not ideal- we felt very rushed to order even though we were a big group of like 10 people. We were also eventually asked to leave after about an hour because they were closing for a bit? It was strange. The portions were small for the cost especially the ttukbokki. Flavors weren't bad- also if I remember correctly there is some portion added on if you pay with credit so bring cash if you wanna avoid paying an extra few bucks (on top of the already relatively expensive food).

This is probably the best Korean food you're gonna get in the area. A lot of the negative reviews seem to nust be mad about the new reservation system, but honestly... just call ahead. It's not that hard. This place looks like it's being run by a small family so you're obviously not gonna be getting the same service you'll be getting at a massive chain with a whole corporate side and everything... but in exchange you get way better food than you would get at one of those chains! The people running this place probably just want people to reserve spots so that they could better manage their work/life balance. Just like the rest of us! So yeah... if you show up at 7:15PM when they display everywhere that they close at 8, you're gonna get turned away! Because they don't want to work later to cook for and clean up after you just like you probably don't wanr to work later at YOUR job. They want to close on time and get to enjoying their personal time like the rest of us TL;DR the food is amazing and most of the negative reviews are just people complaining about not being treated like Kings/Queens when they waltz in with no reservation and generally being inconsiderate of the workers.