A date plan
Date · Koreatown · Romantic · $
A romantic evening rooted in the heart of K-town — starting with craft soju cocktails at a hip gastropub, moving into a dimly lit Korean-American small plates dinner, and finishing sweet with boozy ice cream and Korean desserts.
Koreatown · $$ · Korean restaurant · Gastropub
Barn Joo 35 is the kind of place that makes you feel cool just for walking in — all moody lighting, thoughtfully sourced Korean small plates, and soju cocktails that go down dangerously easy. Start with a glass of their yuzu soju spritz and let the energy of the room do its work. It's casual enough to keep things breezy but curated enough to signal that you actually put thought into this date.
~3 min walk (0.1 mi). From Barn Joo on 35th, stroll down to 32nd Street — the neon-lit main drag of Koreatown. Let the buzz of the street set the tone before ducking into Anytime Kitchen upstairs.
Koreatown · $$ · Korean restaurant · New American restaurant
Anytime Kitchen is the date-night sweet spot you didn't know K-town was hiding — dim lighting, Korean-American small plates meant for sharing, and a drink list that spans cocktails, soju, and makgeolli. Order the crispy rice dishes and whatever seasonal small plate the server is excited about; this is a grazing-and-lingering kind of dinner. The vibe sits somewhere between a downtown wine bar and a Seoul pojangmacha, and it absolutely works.
~5 min walk (0.2 mi). Anytime Kitchen is on the third floor, so you'll get a nice little moment of anticipation on the way up — use the elevator ride wisely. From there, Aubi & Ramsa is just a short walk up Broadway toward the Flatiron; note that it sits just at the edge of the K-town corridor, but the detour is absolutely worth it.
Koreatown · Ice cream shop · Dessert shop
Aubi & Ramsa is the perfect punctuation mark for a date night — a boutique ice cream shop where the scoops are spiked with spirits like champagne sorbet and espresso martini. It's playful, a little indulgent, and gives you both something fun to debate (espresso martini or champagne?). Think of it as dessert and a nightcap rolled into one very good scoop.