LeeLee C.
Yelp
I'm so happy with the lunch at 10 Butchers because of their flawless execution.
I thought I could be immune from waiting on a weekend lunch, I was wrong! When we arrived at 12:30pm, we were informed of a 30 minutes wait. Then after we waited about 15 minutes, they called me to inform me they have a table ready. But when we got inside, we still had to wait about 5 minutes before we were led to the table. However, we were led to a side room where it's more quiet and with less smokey air, I like it.
The restaurant was beautifully decorated. It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but their huge Christmas tree was already setup. They also have their cocktail samples in display near the entrance. They have a meat counter open for display and the meat was beautifully placed on a wooden plate waiting to be delivered to each table.
The menu was not overly complicated but it has a few interesting options for me. We started with a wagyu galbi mandoo appetizer, then as we were just eyeing for entrees, we couldn't resist ordering the bbq meat to try. We landed with #2 rib cap, #4 US wagyu chuck flap and #8 US Wagyu outside skirt. Their menu has a clear picture of the cow to show which part of the meat we were going to eat. The same goes for the pig but they only have pork belly and jowl. On the entrees, we picked short rib soup with rice cake (Ddukguk) and beef tendon soup with seaweed (Dogani Miyeokguk). Although our waitress suggested that we should order one more meat, we couldn't finish all the food! We left the Ddukguk almost untouched and had to pack it home.
Banchan was delivered first and we were impressed. With all our years of Korean dining experience, 10 Butchers banchans not only were the most dynamic, but also the most generous. We had green onion and onion salad with light soy sauce, egg and seafood cake, cold tofu, fish cake, purple yam mash, kimchi, cucumbers, pickled radish, pickled leaves, and many more. And we were even more pleased with their spectacular services. Without us asking, our waitress seamlessly brought in more banchan to replace the dishes that we finished while grilling meat for us.
Our selection of meat was beautifully presented on a wooden plate and brought to our table. Our waitress even held up the plate so we could take a nice picture of it. And ues, all meat was grilled for us. We didn't have to get our hands dirty or accidentally burn our meat. The metal plate was replaced after one round of grilling, which was for 2 kinds of meat. They also gave us mushroom and pepper complementing the meat. After grilling, each strip of meat was cut evenly into smaller sizes where each of us had 3 pieces. We were provided with 2 kinds of salt for seasoning, and a bowl of pickled water with apple and white radish. I'm not a sour food fan, so I skipped that bowl. Three pieces of meat was perfect for 3 bites, one bite of its authentic flavor, one bite with a dip in the white salt, and the last bite a dip on the pink salt. I honestly couldn't quite tell the differences among the meat but the cap seemed the most fattening to me. Each bite was fresh, soft and juicy. The extra meat that was not delivered to our plate was left on the grill with a separate metal stack holding it, so they don't get cooked too quickly. Eventually they got a bit dry as the heat from the metal burn plate got to them but nothing was wasted.
The beef tendon soup with seaweed was also filing and excellent. Our waitress split the soup for us into 2 bowls and each bowl was loaded with generous tendon pieces and seaweed. The soup was flavorful and rich with a slight texture of collagen.
At the end of the meal, a small free strawberry frozen yogurt was provided.
The women's bathroom deserves a small paragraph as each stall was stocked up with more than 5 rolls of toilet paper; it gives me a sense of care and security that the guests were taken care of in a well thought out manner. They even have lotion and floss laid out on a separate vanity area with a big mirror. I see staff member coming in to check on the bathroom condition, which is reassuring.
When I first entered the restaurant, I smelled the barbeque meat aroma and was worried about walking out smelling like a piece of the bbq meat myself. However, the way they design the grill let the smoke evaporate on the side of the grill so that the guests were not roasted with the extra aroma. I went home and I couldn't smell the meat smoke on myself, which is another nice surprise.
This is also the first time in a restaurant that I felt an automatic service fee should be added to the bill to award the flawless services the staff is providing to the guests, they sure earned it!
Total damage for the lunch was slightly over $300 just for food without any beverages, but we were all very satisfied. Strongly recommend!