The Rocks

Had such a marvelous time with the food!!! The price is a bit steeper than most around the area, but the interior is very nice and the waiters seem pretty attentive, but could be better for sure. We had the Ssam Bap and we left so full and happy :)

I rarely write reviews for Korean places but this is by far one of the worst experiences on Broad Ave. As soon as you walk in, there’s no one to seat you until you actually walk into the restaurant towards the back where the kitchen is and they seat you. It’s just an awkward location. The servers are really nice and they give you an assortment of free appetizers but they taste BAD. Our entrees were both bad and overly priced. The kalbi jjim and the mandoo gook were a fail and extremely salty, you could just taste the MSG in it. We left feeling very disappointed. They gave us a free can of coke, so I gave it a star for effort.

Restaurant changed to traditional menu and waiter service. Prices are up. Décor is now very subpar to other restaurants in area. Food is same as before but feel like I’m overpaying now. Can’t recommend anymore.

Pretty cool place with a different concept from other Korean restaurants near my town. It is BYOB so you can even drink at this place which is awesome! You need to order the food at the counter and pay first and can have a sit and the server will bring your food to the table. No tip is needed so you can save few bucks for the tips which is also good point! 3 side dishes you can get from the station and you can eat as much as you want, just don’t waste and serve just enough amount you can eat. Their Gamjatang was pretty good but not their chulpan bokkeumbap. It was too blend and we had to just leave without finishing it.

Coming from someone who has eaten their way through Seoul, Korea, this is definitely the closest experience I’ve had to the real deal in all of palisades park. It’s funny because you wouldn’t expect it from the modern looking exterior and interior, but in my opinion the food tastes just like the meals I had in Seoul. First of all, their specialty is mixed dishes on iron skillets. If you have a big group they come as raw ingredients and then you mix them all up on the central skillet. Think meat, squid, glass noodles, and mushrooms all mixed up with spicy red sauce. It’s kind of like hot pot with pan frying instead of boiling I guess you could say. They also have a huge assortment of soups and stews; from pork to chicken to clam to everything in between. The combos are never random though, and every soup had a given Korean name. Another popular dish is bo ssam, which you might have seen up scale places like momofuku try to replicate. The one they serve at rocks is thin slices of pork doused in gochujang and then they give you separate lettuce, scallions, and bean paste for wrapping. Everything is super casual here and a welcome step away from the numerous kbbq joints in Bergen county. Come here with big groups to order a lot and get the full experience.

First of all, I was looking forward to this place because it is advertised as a restaurant that serves course menus. As soon as I walked into the place, I saw fans everywhere and this made the restaurant look less welcoming. As
I sat down and asked our server about the different options I have for the course menu, he had to go to his manager and ask about it. He came back and told us we had to call a day in advance and make reservations ahead of time. If this was the case, they had a misleading advertisement and I was very disappointed. Also, they brought out a sample of the goo jul pan, and it wasnt very delicious. My sister in law ordered a kalchi with radish but it was served with potatos instead and we werent told about it before it was served. We had to figure it out ourselves. Overall, the restaurant was very disorganized and the food was not good.

Loved it. We tried their squid fried rice and soup. It was very good, cheap, and they have very good side condiments. Convenient. BYOB. Also see my pics

The restaurant was recently renovated to look more modern, but along with that they also raised their prices. For those new to korean food, most dishes and stews wil range around $ 10 unless if youre ordering meat.
However, The Rocks offers the same foods other restaurants sell with higher prices. The food, although good, doesnt consitute the higher prices.
If you want good quality korean food, youre better off trying the other restaurants in the area where you can get the same food only cheaper

I dined here Saturday night with my parents and it just made me sad. What happened to you, The Rocks?!
Its no longer self serve (which I don’t mind) and I’m not sure if its still BYOB. They gave us a few complimentary apps to start in addition to the assortment of sides, which were def appreciated. The mustard sauce that came with the veggie wraps was EXTREMELY hot, it literally made me tear up. It was like eating a chunk of wasabi, man.
The biggest letdown was my spicy pork and bean sprout rice in stone bowl. There was probably zero salt in this dish. It tasted like straight up sesame oil. Plus there wasn’t much meat, which is standard I guess, but I expected more from this spot, both in quality and quantity. I literally had to request salt from the kitchen. My mom had this cold acorn jelly dish I’ve never had, and none of us liked it. What saved our meal was my dad’s spicy chicken and clams stew. Should’ve gone with my usuals :(

Self serve Korean restaurant which means no tip!

A hidden gem in palisades park! The food is great (not too salty or MSG-​y) & filling & AFFORDABLE. The interior is COZY & spacious & modern. The service is friendly & FAST. This place really deserves a bustling and crowded audience as it has done an amazing job putting together this restaurant and its unique concept! The Rocks has a self-​service concept in which you get your own side dishes and utensils (believe me it’s a lot more comfortable and fun than waiting for a server every time you drop a spoon), in this way, you DON’T pay tip, just the standard food prices (which are already cheaper than Korean food you’ll get anywhere else). Whether you’re a one man band or a party of 10, The Rocks can and will accommodate to making your dining experience fun, delicious and affordable! Go there today!

This place whack. For full-​service restaurant prices, you have to retrieve your own utensils, napkins, water, banchan, bowls, plates, etc. If I wanted to do all that work, I would of just stayed home and cooked. Dayum.
And the food is nothing special. The jukumi (baby octopus) was tough/​chewy as hei! The dwenjang jigae was pretty good. I guess.
Basically, for decent food and broke service, you are paying full price. Uhh, no thanks.

Food: dduk bok ki, donkatu and ban chan were great! Also, their Gam Ja Tang (Hae Jang Gook with bone) is very good. Definitely a good addition to the Pal Park Korean town. Korean cafeteria style food and other foods. Same owner as Han Sang restaurant.
Interior: 4 stars
Price: avg.

They advertise NO TIP, but IMO, you pay for the tips because the prices are $ 1 – 2 more expensive than I would expect. $ 12.99 for a bowl of SuJeBi (empty dumpling soup) is bit high, granted it’s a good portion. Upon walking in, I wanted to walk right back out because of how unwelcoming the place is. It’s dark, cold, and was not greeted by anyone. We went up to the cashier, ordered our food, paid, and walked back to our table with a number block. The food was OK, nothing spectacular. I like how I didn’t taste a lot of MSG. I just wished they had more selections for banchan (small side dishes). When we went, there was only 3 and the potato dish was undercooked.
Turn the lights up and bring the music down. Don’t need blasting Kpop especially on a Sunday afternoon.

Wanted to make a quick update as a request from the staff and owner. This place is BYOB but that does not count soju! No hard liquor please.
To all the people at The Rocks, thank you. You’re all very sweet. Especially the owner!

Love this place! It’s pretty new –according to Unilocal,it opened only 2 months ago which sounds accurate. And in the past two months I think I’ve gone at least 4 times… My friends and I would go nearly every Sunday for a quick, good meal.
Location: It’s all the way in the back of Rodeo Plaza, and from the street view, you can’t miss the sign for «The Rocks» because its sign is now bigger than the sign for the actual Plaza haha.
Food: The menu items have a pretty wide range of food: from bunshik (korean comfort food like ddukkbokki and donkatsu) to health foods (juks, etc) to barbeque (jaeyook dolpan, ojinguh dolpan). I think the taste of the food is very clean, simple, fresh. (The owner of Hansang on Bergen Blvd is also the owner of The Rocks and the food at Hansang is also well known to have authentic, clean, and simple Korean flavors)
Service: The interesting bit about this place. The concept of The Rocks is cafeteria style, so although the interior looks like its a restaurant, everything is actually self-​serve. The water, utensils, napkins, plates, banchan (side dishes) you all get for your own table. You order up front at the main register, you pay there, you take a number, and they deliver the food to you. Because its mainly self-​service, this means you don’t have to pay tip! This is awesome because you get restaurant quality food for a very good price (an entire plate of jaeyook bokkeum which is bbq spicy pork is only 10? crazy.) AND you don’t have to tip. so when you’re done eating, you’re good to go.
Interior: Very clean, nice décor, warm and friendly atmosphere. Modern feels.
Price: really good. don’t even worry about the money here. ($ 10 and up)

Unique in that you ordrer your food at the counter, grab your own sides dishes (only about 3 available), and you own silverware and dishes. Also, its byob. You do pretty much everything yourself so you don’t leave tip.
Had the ssam, chung gook jang soon doo boo, gook bap, and boodae jigae. Ssam was really good but my only complaint was that the greens they give you don’t have much variety. Mostly just green leaf and red leaf lettuce. Definitely need more variety.
The chung gook jang soon doo boo was pretty good and the boodae jigae was very tasty — but they didnt have real spam in there. It was almost like cold cut ham slices — very weird.
The gook bap was horrible — stay away from it. Broth was weak and the meat they had in there was so low quality.
Place still gets 4 stars. for fair pricing, mostly good tasting food, and byob.

You’ll find this new place inside rodeo plaza in the far back. It’s BYOB and they advertise as not needing to leave tip. You order at the counter; grab your own silverware and unlimited ban chan and the server brings you your food and cleans up afterwards.
The quality they use is legit; the ssam comes with gooooood veggies and the bibimbap pan is delicious. Love the boho décor and big tables to come with large group.