Gogi The Korean Grillhouse — Restaurant in Aarhus Municipality

Based on the reviews of this place I had high hopes. I genuinely believe that anyone who’s claiming this is a good Korean bbq has never had it before. I’ve been all over the world and have had Korean bbq more times than I can count and this place is by far the worst. There’s so many things this place is lacking.

A water costs 40dkk (6.25$) for a bottle of water that was 330ml which is ONE GLASS of water. There’s no option to buy a pitcher of water even if you’re 4+ people. I asked if I was able to just get a glass of tap water instead and I got told no. So in a very HOT place where you’re sitting in front of a hot grill, sweating eating salty and spicy food, you have to pay 6.25$ PER GLASS OF WATER. It’s honestly outrageous.

You get served the smallest portions of meat at a time. You’re only allowed to order 2 portions at a time per person which they told us was 50g per portion. We were 3 people ordering 6 portions at a time which was only 4 small pieces of meat in total. We started asking if we could order more meat at a time since you have a 2 hour eating window, and the grills are honestly really slow cookers and they keep automatically lowering the heat of the grill so that everything cooks super slow.

Quality and variety is not good. If you’ve ever been to a Korean bbq before you’d know that even if you order the cheapest menu you still have 6-8 options of meat, if not more. We ended up choosing the 2nd grill menu + a vegetarian option. So not only can you barely order any meat at a time but the meat you DO get is 50% fat and inedible. The only good meat we got was the meat that you’re only allowed to order 1 time for free with your menu and then after that you have to pay extra to keep ordering that specific meat. The side dishes are decent at best. You can definitely tell they’re selling the absolute cheapest meats they could get their hands on. Even the chicken is weirdly mushy when you eat it. Cucumber and cabbage kimchi was probably some of the worst I’ve had as well. If you’re vegetarian do not even go here. The tofu you receive is dryer than the Sahara dessert and doesn’t even taste like something that’s edible at all. My friend ended up eating a few bites and then had to stop eating.

The service. The only reason this place is getting 2 stars is because we had some of the waiters be sweethearts. But even with that it was 50/50. There were 4 waiters in total and 2 of them seemed annoyed everytime we asked to order more stuff and also seemed annoyed when I simply asked for tap water just to rudely so “yeah, no”. 2 other waiters were sweet tho and came to check on us multiple times.

Overall would not recommend. It’s too expensive for something that’s such low quality and you’d get better food for your money close to anywhere else. We’re definitely not going to...

Visit date Dec 21st 2024

The restaurant Well decorated and tables are well placed and arranged. Everything looks nice and clean. We had an hour and half to finish our lunch and waited about 15 min. before we could place our order.

The service Service is friendly. Though there would be more sales, if the 3 waiting staff didn't forget to return to us to take more orders. We called 3 times, wasting too much time to order more drinks, each time they smiled and nodded, but never came to take the order.

The food We were really disappointed with the 2 kimchi we got, as it was absolutely tasteless, as if it was washed to get rid of the sauce and the taste, it was not spicy, sour nor salty, totally plain.... The bean sprouts had more taste.

About the salad....such a small issue, but affects our visit big time. I'm not new to Korean BBQ or Korean food, which is my top no. 3 favorite food. I have never visited a Korean BBQ that serves 1 piece of salad with 1 set of meat!!!!!!! We were a party of three and only got 1 bowl of salad and there were only 3 1/2 leafs of salad in the bowl. I asked to make sure, if it's true that this salad bowl was for 3 sets of BBQ and was told yes and if I would like more salad there will be an extra charge of 20kr. Korean BBQ is to be eaten with different kinds of salad, but since we are in Dk I don't mind that it's only 1 kind of salad, but 1 leaf for 200g meat is pathetic and totally disappointing! I understand if they give 10-15 pcs./set and if you want more there will be extra charge...but 1 pc. is a joke. I ordered 1 extra anyway and after 30 min. it never arrived.

The meat The pork neck was so thick, approx. 2cm thick 😳 If you grill a thick piece of meat in heat that is not high enough, your meat will be dry and hard, that was what happened to our pork neck... Other meats were extremely thin and looked like leftovers from trimming of meat. After visiting more than 100 Korean bbq I've never been served small pieces of meat before and there are good reasons why not to serve such a thin slice or too thick slice 🤷🏻

We can see that it was almost a full house and there are only 3 waiting staff and of course they can forget you and your orders. We can feel theirs stress level, poor thing. I owned restaurants and my companions were my previous employees and we feel their pain 😅 For us who work in the restaurant industry we can be a pain, as we expect certain standards in both food and service, but at the same time we are also forgiven, because we know the stress that comes with the job.

We love the concept and will definitely return, but it will be awhile before we're returning and hopefully they'll get it...

It’s amazing to finally see Korean food making its way to Aarhus!

Having lived in Korea for 4 years, I’d say this place comes the closest to an authentic taste experience I’ve had in Denmark, even comparing to the ones I’ve tried in Copenhagen. However, it also requires you to know how to enjoy, and what to order.

We arrived at 17:00 on a Sunday, and chose the social grilling menu 2.

⭐️ The good points:

• Overall the quality of the meat we chose was good (samgyeopsal, moksal gui, dakgalbi, LA galbi). Personally, I’d stick to the first two options as they are the most classic choices for KBBQ. • The appetizers were delicious, and the menu also came with a whole bowl of dolsot bibimbap pr. person. • For our table of 4, we had more than enough food. • Staff were friendly and attentive. We didn’t experience long waiting before getting a refill or ordering more drinks. • I loved the table grilling and being able to grill our own meat as it brought back memories of eating bbq in Seoul.

⚠️ Improvement points • Staff seem untrained. We were not introduced to the cuts of meat or how to grill, or enjoy the food. We were wondering if other tables, who have not tried KBBQ were introduced to how to eat, assembling the meat in a wrap of salad with kimchi and fried garlic and sauce. I think the lack of guidance can take away a lot from the experience. • We were the first time be served, but the restaurant ran out of several types of sodas, and also the mochi ice cream. It’s a shame that it’s these things that should always just be on stock that pulls down the experience • We were given Belgian waffle with ice cream as a dessert, which honestly, wasn’t very good and I’d be happy to forego it. • The 배추김치 (cabbage kimchi) was watery and a bit disappointing. Real OGs know how big of a difference good kimchi can make 😭 • Menu 1 doesn’t provide you with refillable salad, sauce and sides. I don’t think it would be worth it without a refill on those. • The menus are at the pricier end especially considering all of the above. At the same price level, you can go and have a 3-course menu where service seems a bit more refined

In general, I think I’d be happy if the menu was more simplified or rather than a set menu, you could order meat a la carte, while keeping appetizers optional, and sides and salad refillable for all menus.

However, I still think Gogi is worth a visit. It’s lovely seeing the restaurant diversifying the food scene in Aarhus. The improvement points above are luckily things I think are easy to work on, and I really hope for the restaurant to succeed...