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It's a slippery slide down for Momofuku. Maybe it's the opening of Ko that has resulted in David Chang losing sight of Noodle Bar, but the combination of rude service, subpar food, and sous chefs with hubris beyond their skill level has turned this into a must miss. On a recent visit, the shrimp was served mostly uncooked, but the server insisted (after consulting with the higher power behind the stove) that that was how they were supposed to be served - despite the fact that my neighbour had the same dish, fully cooked. So one of the two must have been cooked wrong, no? Even the broth seems to have slid, it's less tasty and more salty than on previous visits. Although I still love those buns. Someone please tell me where to find them NOT at Noodle Bar, because I won't be returning there anytime soon.

I used to go to Noodle Bar often. The service has been getting progressively worse and the food less interesting. The prices on the other hand, have been going consistently up. Servers are blatantly rude. Some of the best things on the menu have been removed - kimchi strew, for example and replaced with boring substitutes - beef tongue. Maybe now that they've opened Ko, they're ignoring Noodle Bar. Maybe they just take their good press for granted and have gotten lazy. But to be honest, there are only so many pork buns one can eat, so if they don't start getting their act together, it isn't worth eating here anymore. $16 (up $2 since January) for noodles that aren't even made on the premises is annoying enough, but when the waitstaff has the bad energy they do, forget it.

The food here is good for the most part however the rude servers are sure to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Mr. Chang seems to think that his tasty noodles and hit or miss other dishes will shine through his obnoxious staff. From the host to the pushy service this place is not worth its weight in rice flour...

i always have a great experience at momofuku noodle bar. amazing dishes and great prices...

I don't mind crowded. I don't mind expensive. I can even overlook a couple of dishes that miss the mark. But inedible is intolerable! First, the good: The smoked duck appetizer is awesome! The tongue is pretty good - worth ordering once. The sweetbreads are breaded and fried beautifully, but the dipping sauce was overpowering and just entirely mismatched. At first, we thought they must have brought the wrong sauce. The dish made no sense such a shame. The kimchee stew was overpriced, but a great dish nonetheless. The prawns were improperly balanced, and the dish was a little confused, but it was so rich, the faults were easily forgiven. And now the bad: The steambuns were not good at all. Left them half eaten on the plate. So sad. The octopus was ridiculously bad a simple concept that tasted as though they put in extra effort to screw it up! The chicken wings were juicy but flavorless they claimed "smoked," but ours must have missed the smoker. Now the awful: The momofuko ramen would have been fine if it had omitted the dessicated pork belly pieces. We both spit them out thinking we had accidentally ingested pieces of burnt cotton. And the duck confit was almost as dry. We made a joke of hunting for the foie gras that was advertised to have come with the dish. Am I glad I went? Sure, to remind myself how bogus hype is. Sigh. And the irony is that David Chang is known for his pork. And every dish with pork remained uneaten, with half masticated pieces wrapped in napkins on the table. Were we all punked?

With all the hype, and with nobody on line to get in, we decided to eat here on a Friday evening. Even though there was no line we still had to wait 10 minutes to be seated because, as the hostess said, "it would be easier for us if you sat at the counter" even though there were 2 seats available at a table. When we sat at the "wrong" 2 counter seats we were asked to move because "it is easier for us if you sit in these seats." While we know that all businesses do things to make it easier for themselves and to maximize profit, there is a way to present it so that you don't feel like you've disturbed them or put them out of their way. The food was average and to make it more affordable and because the portions are pretty big - we shared one order of buns and one ramen so at least we didn't feel ripped off at the end.

If you're a magazine editor, or one of the mindless flock that come here because it's always in magazines, then this place is amazing. Prepare to be surrounded by other people "in the know." For the rest of us, this place does not live up to the hype. Prepare to wait in line to eat boiled pork fat put into an Asian taco. Then that's followed up by boring, unremarkable ramen. This place is not recommended, with either a good publicist or friends in the magazine business.