Nowon Seaport

It's rare that I say that a place has better mains than appetizers, but based on my limited experience at Nowon, that's what I would say. The crispy shrimp burger was delicious! It was a fat patty packed with shrimp, no fillers, with great crispy texture and flavor. It was $26, which is on the high side. We got curry tater tots as the included side, which were a bit too subtly flavored for me. In comparison, the shrimp mandu appetizer ($17 for 4 dumplings) was both too expensive and not great. The shrimp filling had too much non-shrimp filler -- I couldn't even tell it was shrimp. The eggplant toast was good -- very nice and savory -- but it was also $15 for 4 bites, which felt quite steep. Lastly the General Lee's chicken was $20, quite expensive, and quite sweet. I believe it's breast meat, so it's not as tender as I imagine the chicken sandwich is (it uses thigh meat). Overall there were some good items, but the prices are steep for what you get. Great ambience and service.

AMAZING food here! We tried the 5 course tasting menu and we really enjoyed everything. I loved the texture of the chopped cheese rice cakes, the tater tots were flavorful and well seasoned too, and the chicken had a nice spice to it. Would definitely come back here and get the same thing—definitely on the more expensive end, but very worth it in my opinion. Atmosphere was cool and the table was comfortable.

We tried the Chop Cheese Rice Cake and the Legendary Cheese Burger—both were fairly good. As a Korean, I was curious to see how well this place fused Korean and American flavors. I enjoyed the crunch of the garlic on the rice cake and appreciated the mild, milky flavor that wasn’t too spicy. The cheeseburger came on a nice buttery bun with well-seasoned meat and good cheese, but I was hoping for more kimchi. It mostly just tasted like a regular cheeseburger, which was a bit of a letdown. At $26, the burger wasn’t cheap, but considering the quality of the furniture (just look at the legs of those wooden chairs), the price didn’t feel too unreasonable. The atmosphere was lively, and I liked the Korean-inspired decor. That said, I wish there was more thought put into the music—it seemed like the owner is a fan of ’90s rap, which didn’t quite match the vibe. I even overheard people at another table commenting on it. For my non-alcoholic drink, I had the “Respect Your Elders,” which had a nice yuzu flavor I really enjoyed. Overall, a decent spot—some hits, some misses, but worth a try.

SERVICE: The service as far as the server was really lame. Our server took our order and then we never heard from her again until the end. It was 5pm so not busy. The only reason why this review is getting away with 4 stars is because of Sara. Not sure if she was a busser or some sort of assistant server, but Sara was amazing. Every single time a drink was empty she refilled it within 10 seconds. Everytime a plate was empty she was there to collect within the minute. She deserves a promotion to a server. Without Sara and her busser team this place is screwed. Advice to management, kick all the servers out, promote half the busser team to servers and half as bussers, maybe rotate them, and watch labor go down while customer service soar sky high. Watching the servers work vs Sarah and her team, this should be a no brainer. FOOD: As is the case with most new and trendy places in boston these days they look better than they taste. The chopped cheese tokboki was pretty good. The generals chicken good. The Burger sadly soso, the bread was cold/hard while the sauce barely noticeable. Dumplings and corn sadly nothing to write home about. Probably would give a 2 if it wasn’t for the things stated at the too.

Not sure what it is about Seaport’s Asian fusion spots, but even this NYC transplant was a tad disappointing. Stopped by for dinner during their opening week. In NY, Nowon earned a lot of love for its smash burgers, and the Korean influences made it sound even more enticing. At first, though, nothing about the vibe felt particularly Korean. More of a Hong Kong bar feel—red neon lights, dark and loud—aesthetic more in line with Seaport Asian fusion spots like Empire or Mr. H than anything uniquely Korean. The menu had some tweaks from their NY locations. One thing that stood out was the “Mixtape” option—a tasting menu (for two or more) that lets you try a couple of their most popular dishes. We opted for the basic E.P. Mixtape, which came with five plates. Fun concept, but it leaned a little carb-heavy by the end. The first two dishes were just fine. Black Sesame caesar salad barely registered any black sesame at all. Mostly just a standard caesar with extra-crunchy garlic panko. General Lee’s chicken was probably the biggest miss. It was mostly breast meat—dry, stringy, over-fried. The honey-gochujang glaze came thick, sticky, and almost syrupy. Couldn’t tell what separated this from a generic General Tso’s other than the name. Thankfully, the last three plates were great. Chopped Cheese rice cakes were slightly crisped on the edges with a chewy core, like a pan-fried tteok. The sauce had real character: beefy, tangy, with just a touch of heat from jalapeño. Gave off rosé tteokbokki(Korean-Italian fusion) vibes. Honey Garlic Butter Tots were unexpectedly nostalgic (for me). The garlic-butter base was solid, but it was the seaweed and sesame dusting that made them addictive—crispy, salty-sweet, umami-rich (almost like a Kim bugak). The Legendary Burger was a great smash burger. Good char, well-toasted bun, not overly greasy. However, I expected bolder acidity or kimchi-forward flavors, and got only the faintest hint—maybe one diluted piece in the half of the burger. Maybe a good stop for burgers, tots, and rice cakes, but otherwise, I wouldn’t come back.

Unexpectedly everything was pretty good! Especially the toppoki, the cheese made the spice mild a way. It was crowed and a little noisy but I still loved the vibe. Drinks were very tasty.

Great food, cool vibes! Our waiter Martin was super accommodating and explained the menu very well. I recommend doing the “mixtape” to try multiple popular dishes on the menu. Definitely the best bang for your buck. Loved the black truffle Caesar salad and the chopped cheese rice cakes. Legendary cheeseburger had kimchi and was quite delicious. Would definitely eat here again!

Food was pretty good, loved the chopped cheese rice cakes and definitely recommend them! Service was amazing and everyone was very friendly and helpful. The tables were pretty close together though and it was pretty loud, would come back to celebrate another birthday.