Gogi Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Columbus

There are very few authentically Korean restaurants in Columbus, and this is probably the most authentic. I lived in Korea for three years, and my wife is Korean, so I've been to a lot of Korean restaurants in the States and in Korea. I can say that the atmosphere and format (cooking your meat in the center of the table) is just like the majority of places I loved and frequented in Korea. The food is the same--of course, it's a little pricey here, because to take a fully authentic Korean experience and place it into another country will do that--it requires imported products, foods, and ingredients.

A couple of cultural notes: Koreans in general are highly efficient. You don't really have a single "server" in Korea, and they only come over when you call them over or press the service button located on the table. And that button, you will hear from anyone who has lived in Korea, is a godsend. There's no awkwardness when the server comes over to talk and you don't need anything, and you don't need to wait on them, sending off uncomfortable body signals to try and get them to notice you. In Korea, restaurant customers don't come in to befriend servers--they just want what they want, when they want it. You just. Push. A button. And it's amazing. Don't be afraid to be a little more assertive to politely flag your server down and ask them for something; it's not rude, it's expected.

Second, at authentic Korean BBQ restaurants, you cook your own meat in the center of your table, and share your side dishes and meat (your rice bowl is your own, of course). The beauty of Korean food is that you can mix anything with just about anything else, and it creates new and more interesting tastes. Because a lot of the servers in Korean restaurants may be at various stages on the cultural spectrum (they might have been born here, or came from Korea last month, or might even be from China or Japan), service expectations and procedures will vary. For example, Koreans don't drink NEARLY as much water as we do, and ice water isn't really a thing (they drink a lot of hot water, to warm the body and eat/drink slowly, instead of cold water to shove food in your mouth and wash it down). So, you may have a server that isn't as aware yet how much cold water Americans expect to go through in a single meal. And remember that it may also be the case that they are assigned to more tables than a server in a regular American restaurant might be.

TL;DR - This is perhaps the most authentic Korean restaurant experience you will find in Columbus; if you go with an open mind to new experiences and cultural differences, and you will...

THIS! Is either PURE EVIL or PURE disgusting? I ordered a cup of ice to go tonight. It at first came to me in a glass Which I think I wasn't clear enough that I wanted it to go, so I said : my mistake can I have it in a to-go cup? So it was given to me in this small to-go cup with a lid on it from Our server. He said it was all they had and I was like: "no that's perfect thank you". So I and my friend leave and I'm eating my ice it's dark so I'm not looking into my cup or anything bc it's just supposed to be ice! I finish eating my cup of ice and when I get back home and turn the car light in there is a foreign object at the bottom of my cup. I thought it was a caterpillar that weirdly got in possibly while driving but NO it's much worse. It's a false eyelash!! I'm so sick to my stomach and beyond furious and grieved!! How can you miss this as the person getting my ice??? How? This was not mixed in with the ice. This is stuck at the bottom of the cup. I tilt my cup and it doesn't fall out. So it didn't get into my mouth while eating the ice but it is at the bottom of the cup still. I see it's wet because of the ice that was on top. This is glued to the bottom its so stuck. Some one better pray for mercy because intentional or not this is horrible for a business to be this negligent.

I love chewing ice this is disgusting. I'm so sad and furious. Why, whould you all do this?? The waiters and the staff that served and helped us seemed so nice. This grieves my heart. I'm disgustingly upset I don't ever want to feel this violated by a restaurant ever again. I'm in so much shock...

I'm Korean and when Gogi first opened it blew up! It was the hottest spot in Columbus it seemed. The wait was out the door most nights. Fast forward to today and the meat is good but, just good. The banchans (side dishes) are tiny but, plentiful. It's not spectacular or something you'd write home to your family in Korea about.

Here's my issue. They started to "cheap out" in the parts that make the experience vivrant and special. Their soups have been watered down. Doenjjang jjigea is a very heavy and dense soup and could almost be called a stew. It's a fermented soybean soup like a miso but, much heavier with more ingredients. It should not taste like a spicy tomato soup. Their lettuce wraps were wilted, a little old, and very stalky. We ordered a kimchi pancake which was a thick as a sheet cake. As a heads up, they are normally pancake thickness.

All-in-all the flavors aren't there anymore and you can walk in anytime of the week and they aren't over flowing anymore. Most of us Koreans have stopped going. You'll see a few of us unhappy as hell trying to give them a second chance but, we can't overlook the loss of our flavors, loss of our scene, and truly the loss of our food. That's what made this restaurant special for all nationalities because it was true to it's roots.

To the restaurant: bring that magic back you had when you first opened. I and the rest of the community would appreciate it and come back. Other than that, I'll go back to my staple...