I loved the whole expeience, the welcome tea, the food, how thoughtful they are with all the little details. Food was good but I think it should be 1 nodge less spicy. I would come back for sure. And the coffee they offered us at the door was so cute š
Aly burale
Amazing cozy spot with thoughtful decor and unique ambiance
Melanie Sola
I hardly ever leave a review but the customer service at this place is UNMATCHED! They made us feel so welcomed and they are so detailed oriented. Thank you so much for a wonderful dinner!
Keira Yee
great service! Kevin is so polite and kind. he deserves a raise. food was great! he also gave us a coin to try the coffee machine!
Kevin Wang
My favourite Korean restaurant
I really enjoy their banchanāitās fresh and flavorful. The Korean sausage and fish cake taste like home, and the kimchi is excellent. The marinated crab is tasty, and the rice wine pairs nicely. Service is warm and friendly.
Glen
The banchan is incredibly refreshing, the Korean sausage and fish cake are authentic and full of flavor, and the kimchi soup is hands down the best Iāve ever had. Service is excellentāwarm and attentive. I absolutely love this place
Sodanech Sea
The place is very cute. Nice cocktails, food is decent.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Stella Meng
If there were a 0-star rating, I would give it 0 for the food. This feels misleading to consumers.
The ź°ė¹ģ° (Galbijjim) only had ribs and no additional ingredients like pumpkin, which is typically included. The dish was served in under 10 minutes, raising concerns that it might have been taken directly from the freezer, microwaved, and served. Despite this, it is presented as fine dining.
The Army Stew (Budae Jjigae) used low-quality sausages, and the tofu was frozen. This suggests the dishes may not reflect authentic Korean food preparation.
Additionally, side dishes cost $1.50 extra, which might be acceptable if they were more diverse or higher quality. However, the side dishes included spicy potato salad, soybean paste with chili, and fish cakes, which are basic and inexpensive ingredients.
Food: 1
Jea Kim
Traditional Korean cuisine in a cozy yet elevated setting.
Came here for dinner on LNY. Expected the place to be busy, but there were only a handful of people. The ambiance and curated menu immediately brought to mind Somaek in Downtown, but with a stronger focus on authentic flavors. The menu was a mix of Korean classicsālike hearty Kalbi Jjim and kimbapāalongside bar fares such as fried chicken gizzards and grilled conch. Their eclectic offerings made it hard to define a single theme, but Bell 86ās versatility made it equally suited for a fun night out and even a date night.
Favorites: Kalbi Jjim, Grilled Chicken Gizzard. Marinated Raw Shrimp, Honeycomb Rice Wine Solid: Yun Ja Yook, Fried Chicken Gizzard, Grilled Conch Decent: Steamed Shrimp, Mung Bean Pancake, Kimbap
From the small plates and shareables, our favorites were the grilled chicken gizzard and marinated raw shrimp. The gizzards, in particular, took us by surpriseāweāve had plenty in Seoul, but the sheer quality here was exceptional, easily some of the best weāve ever had. With fall-apart tender beef, their signature Kalbi Jjim was another one of our favorites.
As a special LNY treat, we were served a complimentary bowl of Ddeokguk. We didnāt expect much at first, but the broth was surprisingly creamy and rich, with tender beef and dumplings that brought back nostalgic memories of the ones my grandmother used to make every year. On top of that, we also received a couple of free side dishes, which were on par with those from some of the better Korean restaurants Iāve visited in Seoul. Thoughtful touches like these made our evening more special.
For drinks, we went with the trendy honeycomb rice wine, and it was exactly what we hoped forānatural sweetness from the honey added a smooth, mellow depth.
The food menu at Bell 86 may not be overtly creative or inventive, but it offers rare and hard-to-find Korean dishes that set it apart from other restaurants in Boston. It certainly fills a niche Iāve long been searching for in the city, and Iām already looking forward to returning to try their unique lunch specials.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Banchan
Hyewon Lim
I ordered the Bulgogi combo, which came with perilla oil noodles. During lunchtime, they only offer one menu option, so if you want to try a variety of dishes, I recommend visiting later in the day. Overall, the experience was enjoyable, and the bulgogi tasted very close to the authentic version.
However, I found the prices to be higher than expected. While the pricing seems to position the restaurant as high-end, the service didnāt quite match that standard. The servers didnāt explain the dishes well, and the drinks and side dishes arrived noticeably later than the main course.
Arrived at 6:22 for a 6:15 reservation and the host told me heād given our table to another party because we were late. I asked isnāt there typically a 15 min grace period? He gave the nonsensical answer that someone had a 6:20 reservation and arrived before we did. What? So they booked the same table for 6:15 and 6:20? He said the wait for a table would be 15-20 min. I stood at the host stand calling my husband, who was parking, to tell him we need to go somewhere else, when suddenly the host said he could seat us. First strike: irritating customers with reservations before weād even sat down.
Table servers were sweet and friendly. Complimentary kimbap and tea. Marinated crab was excellent, and served with gloves and wet wipes for the mess. Marinated shrimp was literally cut out of a bag that had been frozen and only partially thawed. Half of it came out into the bowl liquid and the other half came out as a block of marinade ice. The server said it was supposed to be frozen and kind of slushee-ish. We tapped the ice block and it did not turn into slush. It was frozen solid. Strike two. The server brought it back to the kitchen to presumably thaw. An espresso martini that we didnāt order mistakenly came to us. The cocktails we did order werenāt really cocktails. Lemon soju was literally soju with lemon slices in it. Yogurt soju was soju with Calpico, but yummy. Drink portions were generous, we expected each drink to be a typical cocktail glass but each was served in a carafe. The marinated shrimp dish reappeared and tasted lovely but was still very firm and cold. Also served with gloves and wipes which was thoughtful. Grilled kalbi presents on a bone that the server cuts at the table, but is in fact minced beef. Flavor was decent but very sweet, and the texture was like a meatball. Probably would be better to not present it being freshly cut off the bone. Strike three.
Shrimp meets potato was great. In the end, the servers were super sweet and lovely, the host probably shouldnāt be a host, the food was fair butā¦ thereās plenty of better Korean food around without the pretense.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Erika Takai
Ddak Kalbi was very juicy and flavorful! The cheese corn went well with everything else and service was great too. There were a lot of side dishes that filled us up.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Youlhee Choi
Super flavorful food and great service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Maya S
We came here for lunch, but unfortunately, the overall experience leaned heavily towards presentation over substance. The vibe felt a bit pretentious, and the food didnāt live up to expectations. After eating part of our meal, we decided to leave and continue lunch elsewhere.
The lunch menu was limited to a single optionābulgogiāand charged per person. They managed to overcomplicate what should have been a straightforward dish. All the ingredients were served raw on a hot plate, with a staff member dedicated to cooking the meat tableside. Despite the effort, the end result was no better than what youād find at most Korean restaurants. On top of that, they plated the food for you, and I ended up with a plate overloaded with onions, which I donāt eat.
While the banchans were bottomless, only the kimchi and potato stood out as decent. The restāincluding a sweet āteaā welcome drink and a noodle dishāmissed the mark entirely. The noodle sauce tasted oddly of stale seaweed and was overwhelmingly sweet, lacking any savory notes or depth. The tea had an artificial flavor with an overpowering cinnamon note that wasnāt pleasant. Fusion cuisine can be amazing, but this was fusion gone wrong.
At over $40 per person, the only item on the table remotely worth the price was a few overly sweet pieces of beef. Unfortunately, this is a place I wouldnāt return to.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 5
Yoojung Oh
amazing food and even better service. i definitely recommend this place!!
I loved the whole expeience, the welcome tea, the food, how thoughtful they are with all the little details. Food was good but I think it should be 1 nodge less spicy. I would come back for sure. And the coffee they offered us at the door was so cute š
Amazing cozy spot with thoughtful decor and unique ambiance
I hardly ever leave a review but the customer service at this place is UNMATCHED! They made us feel so welcomed and they are so detailed oriented. Thank you so much for a wonderful dinner!
great service! Kevin is so polite and kind. he deserves a raise. food was great! he also gave us a coin to try the coffee machine!
My favourite Korean restaurant
I really enjoy their banchanāitās fresh and flavorful. The Korean sausage and fish cake taste like home, and the kimchi is excellent. The marinated crab is tasty, and the rice wine pairs nicely. Service is warm and friendly.
The banchan is incredibly refreshing, the Korean sausage and fish cake are authentic and full of flavor, and the kimchi soup is hands down the best Iāve ever had. Service is excellentāwarm and attentive. I absolutely love this place
The place is very cute. Nice cocktails, food is decent.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
If there were a 0-star rating, I would give it 0 for the food. This feels misleading to consumers.
The ź°ė¹ģ° (Galbijjim) only had ribs and no additional ingredients like pumpkin, which is typically included. The dish was served in under 10 minutes, raising concerns that it might have been taken directly from the freezer, microwaved, and served. Despite this, it is presented as fine dining.
The Army Stew (Budae Jjigae) used low-quality sausages, and the tofu was frozen. This suggests the dishes may not reflect authentic Korean food preparation.
Additionally, side dishes cost $1.50 extra, which might be acceptable if they were more diverse or higher quality. However, the side dishes included spicy potato salad, soybean paste with chili, and fish cakes, which are basic and inexpensive ingredients.
Food: 1
Traditional Korean cuisine in a cozy yet elevated setting.
Came here for dinner on LNY. Expected the place to be busy, but there were only a handful of people. The ambiance and curated menu immediately brought to mind Somaek in Downtown, but with a stronger focus on authentic flavors. The menu was a mix of Korean classicsālike hearty Kalbi Jjim and kimbapāalongside bar fares such as fried chicken gizzards and grilled conch. Their eclectic offerings made it hard to define a single theme, but Bell 86ās versatility made it equally suited for a fun night out and even a date night.
Favorites: Kalbi Jjim, Grilled Chicken Gizzard. Marinated Raw Shrimp, Honeycomb Rice Wine
Solid: Yun Ja Yook, Fried Chicken Gizzard, Grilled Conch
Decent: Steamed Shrimp, Mung Bean Pancake, Kimbap
From the small plates and shareables, our favorites were the grilled chicken gizzard and marinated raw shrimp. The gizzards, in particular, took us by surpriseāweāve had plenty in Seoul, but the sheer quality here was exceptional, easily some of the best weāve ever had. With fall-apart tender beef, their signature Kalbi Jjim was another one of our favorites.
As a special LNY treat, we were served a complimentary bowl of Ddeokguk. We didnāt expect much at first, but the broth was surprisingly creamy and rich, with tender beef and dumplings that brought back nostalgic memories of the ones my grandmother used to make every year. On top of that, we also received a couple of free side dishes, which were on par with those from some of the better Korean restaurants Iāve visited in Seoul. Thoughtful touches like these made our evening more special.
For drinks, we went with the trendy honeycomb rice wine, and it was exactly what we hoped forānatural sweetness from the honey added a smooth, mellow depth.
The food menu at Bell 86 may not be overtly creative or inventive, but it offers rare and hard-to-find Korean dishes that set it apart from other restaurants in Boston. It certainly fills a niche Iāve long been searching for in the city, and Iām already looking forward to returning to try their unique lunch specials.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Banchan
I ordered the Bulgogi combo, which came with perilla oil noodles. During lunchtime, they only offer one menu option, so if you want to try a variety of dishes, I recommend visiting later in the day. Overall, the experience was enjoyable, and the bulgogi tasted very close to the authentic version.
However, I found the prices to be higher than expected. While the pricing seems to position the restaurant as high-end, the service didnāt quite match that standard. The servers didnāt explain the dishes well, and the drinks and side dishes arrived noticeably later than the main course.
Restaurantji Recommends
Arrived at 6:22 for a 6:15 reservation and the host told me heād given our table to another party because we were late. I asked isnāt there typically a 15 min grace period? He gave the nonsensical answer that someone had a 6:20 reservation and arrived before we did. What? So they booked the same table for 6:15 and 6:20? He said the wait for a table would be 15-20 min. I stood at the host stand calling my husband, who was parking, to tell him we need to go somewhere else, when suddenly the host said he could seat us. First strike: irritating customers with reservations before weād even sat down.
Table servers were sweet and friendly. Complimentary kimbap and tea. Marinated crab was excellent, and served with gloves and wet wipes for the mess. Marinated shrimp was literally cut out of a bag that had been frozen and only partially thawed. Half of it came out into the bowl liquid and the other half came out as a block of marinade ice. The server said it was supposed to be frozen and kind of slushee-ish. We tapped the ice block and it did not turn into slush. It was frozen solid. Strike two. The server brought it back to the kitchen to presumably thaw. An espresso martini that we didnāt order mistakenly came to us. The cocktails we did order werenāt really cocktails. Lemon soju was literally soju with lemon slices in it. Yogurt soju was soju with Calpico, but yummy. Drink portions were generous, we expected each drink to be a typical cocktail glass but each was served in a carafe.
The marinated shrimp dish reappeared and tasted lovely but was still very firm and cold. Also served with gloves and wipes which was thoughtful.
Grilled kalbi presents on a bone that the server cuts at the table, but is in fact minced beef. Flavor was decent but very sweet, and the texture was like a meatball. Probably would be better to not present it being freshly cut off the bone. Strike three.
Shrimp meets potato was great.
In the end, the servers were super sweet and lovely, the host probably shouldnāt be a host, the food was fair butā¦ thereās plenty of better Korean food around without the pretense.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Ddak Kalbi was very juicy and flavorful! The cheese corn went well with everything else and service was great too. There were a lot of side dishes that filled us up.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Super flavorful food and great service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We came here for lunch, but unfortunately, the overall experience leaned heavily towards presentation over substance. The vibe felt a bit pretentious, and the food didnāt live up to expectations. After eating part of our meal, we decided to leave and continue lunch elsewhere.
The lunch menu was limited to a single optionābulgogiāand charged per person. They managed to overcomplicate what should have been a straightforward dish. All the ingredients were served raw on a hot plate, with a staff member dedicated to cooking the meat tableside. Despite the effort, the end result was no better than what youād find at most Korean restaurants. On top of that, they plated the food for you, and I ended up with a plate overloaded with onions, which I donāt eat.
While the banchans were bottomless, only the kimchi and potato stood out as decent. The restāincluding a sweet āteaā welcome drink and a noodle dishāmissed the mark entirely. The noodle sauce tasted oddly of stale seaweed and was overwhelmingly sweet, lacking any savory notes or depth. The tea had an artificial flavor with an overpowering cinnamon note that wasnāt pleasant. Fusion cuisine can be amazing, but this was fusion gone wrong.
At over $40 per person, the only item on the table remotely worth the price was a few overly sweet pieces of beef. Unfortunately, this is a place I wouldnāt return to.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 5
amazing food and even better service.
i definitely recommend this place!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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