# What to Order at Nowon

_Published 2026-07-13 on DinnerElite (https://dinnerelite.com/blog/what-to-order-at-nowon)._

Nowon is a Korean-American pocha in the East Village that runs on quality beef, craft beer, and '90s hip hop, and the order that made it famous is the Legendary Cheeseburger.

## What should you order at Nowon?

Order the Legendary Cheeseburger, add the chopped cheese rice cakes, and if the table wants the full tour, book straight into a Mixtape set. The Infatuation's Will Hartman scored Nowon an 8.2 in 2024, and the menu splits between burger-bar hits and Korean drinking food that rewards ordering wide.

1. **The Legendary Cheeseburger**. A double smashburger with kimchi special sauce and roasted kimchi, per Hartman's review. It is the dish that built the restaurant's name and it belongs on every table.

2. **Chopped cheese rice cakes**. The menu's clearest Korean-American mashup: the bodega chopped cheese reworked over chewy tteok.

3. **The Mixtape sets**. Two set meals per Hartman's review: the E.P. at $39 a person runs five dishes including a half cheeseburger each, and The Classic at $49 runs seven courses. The sets solve the ordering debate and read as the fuller picture of the kitchen.

4. **The truffle cheeseburger**. Listed at $27 in the review for the table that wants the burger in formal wear.

5. **Whatever the dry-aged special is**. Hartman's review flags a dry-aged steak burger good enough for The Infatuation's best-burger guide, and the beef program is the through-line of the menu.

## What should you skip at Nowon?

Skip treating it as only a burger stop. The burger earns the hype, but a table that orders nothing else misses the pocha half of the identity, the Korean drinking food and the sets that carry it. Reverse the mistake too: on a first visit, do not skip the burger for the sake of adventure.

## How do you get into Nowon?

Nowon accepts walk-ins but strongly encourages Resy reservations, per its site. Prime weekend slots go quickly, and groups of 7 to 12 skip the public books entirely by emailing the restaurant for the family-style Classic Mixtape dinner. Weeknights and bar seats are the realistic spontaneous plays.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a pocha?

A Korean pojangmacha, the tent bars and casual drinking spots of Seoul, translated here into a gastropub. Nowon calls itself New York's first Korean-American pocha, per its site, which explains the menu's beer-first, share-everything shape.

### How much does Nowon cost?

Casual-night pricing with a ceiling: the Mixtape sets run $39 to $49 a person per The Infatuation's 2024 review, the truffle burger sits at $27 per the same review, and a burger-and-beer visit lands well under that.

### Does Nowon take reservations?

Yes, on Resy, and its site strongly encourages them while still accepting walk-ins. Groups of 7 to 12 email the restaurant directly for the set-menu route.

Getting in is the harder half of the plan. DinnerElite tracks when Nowon releases reservations and how far ahead it books, and it emails you the moment a cancellation opens up. Start from [DinnerElite's Nowon page](/reservations/8541).