KOGI Korean BBQ — Restaurant in Tucson

Kogi is a surprising twist of combining Japanese and Korean dishes under the same roof. A quaint restaurant, the size and structure of the inside are reminiscent of some similarly laid out restaurants I've seen in Japan which I've noticed becoming more common here in the States. The food is phenomenal. If you're coming for your idea of what "Korean" or "Japanese" food is based on going to Americanized places, you may not get what you're expecting, because the items available are much closer to authentic. I had the Vegetable Yaki Soba, and my friend had the Beef Bulgogi Bibimbap. The Yakisoba was near perfection: a whisper of char on the vegetables, the noodles were excellently springy and rich, and there was that exquisite light seasoning of flavor that's subtle, but perfect for a simple and freshly cooked dish. There was maybe a tablespoon more oil than I'm used to, but everyone's recipe is a little different, and it didn’t detract from the experience at all. My friend had too much food! So he wound up giving me some of his bowl, and the Bulgogi Bibimbap is an explosion of flavor: rich umami, salty, sweet, with a fragrance of garlic and onion that perfumed each bite. The vegetables were cool and refreshing, and the sides given paired beautifully with his bowl. I will say, unfortunately there seem to be only a couple of items on their menu for vegetarian and vegan options, but regardless the vegetarian item I had was delicious. The pricing of the dishes, considering how everything has changed in recent years, is decent. In the case of the yakisoba, you'll be paying more for the expertise in how to make it right rather than portion. But otherwise, it seemed to me that you pay for what you get. The Bibimbap was more expensive than my dish, but you get more food, more complexity, and more protein. To end this, I want to talk about the service. The server was friendly, but perhaps a bit short in her courtesy. I don’t mind it at all, as I could see she was clearly doing more than serving, like setting places and going to back of the house, etcetera. Plus, she was attentive and offered refills and sides at appropriately times. She reminded me a bit of an Aunty; She's there for you, but not for any bologna! I understand that her kind of attitude may be not what everyone else would prefer, which is the only reason why I detracted a star, but she was completely pleasant to...

I love Korean food and I've eaten at many restaurants in other states as well as all of the Korean places here in Tucson. I really love Kogi for a number of reasons, one being that the two elderly Korean women who own it and do all the cooking are incredibly skilled in the kitchen; the food is absolutely delicious! You can't get more authentic than having two Ummas (Korean for mamas), well, they're old enough that they're probably Halmonis (grandmothers) right there at the stove! They cook everything to order from scratch so it takes a little bit of time to get your food, but not very long at all. It's not fast food, that's for sure! They have all the dishes you would come to expect and want to eat at a Korean restaurant. If you're not familiar with Korean food, you can ask the server, Sunny, to explain dishes for you and she will. She is the only server, and though it's a small place and she's busy (she zips between tables like the Energizer Bunny), she will explain any of the dishes to you. The place is very small, and always has lots of people there because it is so good, and, there are always Koreans there eating when I'm there... that's always a good sign of a good restaurant! The menu is quite large and has plenty to choose from. They make all of their banchan (small side dishes, that come with each meal, of things like kimchi and various pickled and marinated veggies and seafood, and in some parts of the country, potato salad is a very popular one) in-house. By the way, those banchan, are brought to your table before your meal, with a container of rice, and there's no rules about how you eat them, but they are usually eating with your entree, and there are free refills, but they will not tell you that you have to just ask. I could go on and on about Korean food and culture here, but you can use Google to learn some things too, haha! If you want to go eat some really good Korean food made by lovely Korean Grandma's right there in the room cooking with you behind a small partition, then...

The food is really good and on par with Takimatsu in terms of taste and everything which was good.

The common theme seems to be with service being rather abrasive which was a common critique in the reviews as well. I didn't mind that the food took an hour to arrive because it was super busy, but we basically were alone the entire time and someone from the table had to flag help down for a drink refill and our waitress was rather pointed in pointing out one of the drinks didn't come with refills when no one had asked about it.

They were busy and told us to wait outside before which was understandable but it was just really abrasive and angry, and it ended up being at the end of the night, on top of things that were never added to the order and how it went, this place seems it's much better for a takeout order and to go. The server shoved the checks at everyone and was tossing things haphazardly like she was angry the whole night.

We don't need a lot, but usually staff will ask if you need a box, or come back once in a while to check on things, and that was not the case here.

I'd still recommend it for the food because it was really good but it's nicer eating at places where they don't seem like they're not wanting you to be there the entire time =O and our server pointing out they were closing soon when we'd had our food maybe 10 minutes after...