Did you even go to Seoul if you didn’t eat BBQ? While Korean BBQ has made its way around the world, it’s so much better and cheaper from the source (almost all of the restaurants listed below averaged US$20-35 per person including drinks!). We love it so much we’ve had it 3 nights in a row in a single weekend. The best restaurants will specialize in either pork or beef (not both), and offer their own homemade banchan (side dishes) and condiments. You can find BBQ restaurants all over Seoul, but these are my favorites.
Note: every spot in this list is written as the name on Google Maps so you can look it up to save to your own maps, but is linked to the Korean Naver Maps for directions.
Pigbar
Favorite Pork BBQ in Seoul
This hidden gem in Hongdae is my favorite Korean BBQ spot as everything was just SO GOOD, including super crispy pork belly and flavorful and crispy pig skin all cooked over charcoal, paired with unique condiments that included anchovy sauce, mushroom-wasabi sauce and homemade ssamjang. I have yet to find better samgyeopsal (pork belly) in Seoul! They also serve bubbling hot cheese corn to dip your meat in, along with sundubu and seafood ramyun for a spicy side.
Sancheong Charcoal Garden Euljiro
Favorite Black Pork BBQ in Seoul
Tucked down an alleyway near Euljiro’s beer alley is this spot for black pork from Jirisan Mountain, a prized breed known for its superior flavor. This place is a vibe, with its spacious dining room with high ceilings and a neon lit butcher counter where you can watch them prepare all the meat with the pig carcasses behind them. You sit around a charcoal BBQ pit (as pictured at the top of this post) to enjoy salted black pork and gochujang glazed pork belly, both of which are cooked in front of you.
The only downside is that other cuts of meat like pork jowls, cheeks and outer skirts need to be cooked on your own, but everything here was really delicious and highly recommended (don’t miss the kimchi fried rice!). You can join the virtual wait list on Catchtable starting from 3PM each day. For our party of 10, we joined the wait list at 4:30PM for a 5:45PM table, so plan accordingly.
Chungkiwa Town
Favorite Beef BBQ in Seoul
This chain of Korean BBQ restaurants inspired by LA Koreatown has locations all across Seoul. Some of the best banchan including spicy marinated raw crabs and a potato/corn/shredded shrimp salad to go with high quality cuts of beef like tender galbi and steak, all grilled over charcoal. Go for a birthday and they will bring out a cart with a delicious, rich seaweed soup for good luck and birthday hats/scepters for the whole group.
Yeoungcheon Yeonghwa
Premium Hanwoo Beef beloved by K-pop Idols
If you want to ball out on the Korean version of wagyu at the same place as Blackpink and BTS, this popular spot in Gangnam is the place to visit. You can see all the celebrity signatures on the walls while you wait to sit down for their melt-in-your-mouth hanwoo beef paired with a wide range of banchan. I recommend focusing your ordering to their premium sirloin and sirloin cuts, along with the bulgogi stew. Skip the beef tartare (I found it lackluster compared to other restaurants) and the chewier beef rib meat and focus on the good stuff for the best experience.
Legendary Ribs 전설의우대갈비
Massive Galbi in a Private Room
This chain specializes in woodae galbi, a long cut of bone-in short rib taken from the middle 3 ribs of a cow, resulting in most tender and marbled part of the ribs. Every table has their own private room with comfortable booth seating, where someone will help cook your meat for you and instruct you on how to eat the ribs with a variety of condiments for maximum enjoyment. The banchan are more simple here, so definitely add their spicy nangmyeon as a perfect pair to the rich meat.
You can also check out Mongtan for a similar experience but with the addition of fried rice cooked with your short rib. This was on our list to try but we got their too late to join the wait list 🥲
Saemaeul Sikdang
Late Night KBBQ
Solid traditional pork BBQ in Hongdae that’s open until 4AM. Self-service so you will have to cook for yourself and also fetch additional kimchi, perilla leaves, lettuce, etc. from their self-service counter, but this is a great spot for an easy, tasty late night meal
