Quiet sashimi restaurant in Guro, Seoul: mineo à la carte with

A while back, I met up with a noona I'd recently gotten close to in the neighborhood, and we headed to Mulgogijari Guro Digital branch, a sashimi restaurant near Guro Digital Complex, for a proper catch-up over good food.

Restaurants and bars around Guro-digital-danji (구디) are usually packed with office dinners and gatherings, so they tend to be loud and hard to talk in — but Mulgogijari Guro Digital branch was clean and quiet, the perfect space for a relaxed conversation. If you know your way around good aged sashimi near Guro Digital Complex, this is a place worth checking out, so here's my honest review.

Getting there and the atmosphere

I got a little lost on the way there at first. Walking straight from Gudi's Kkalkkal-geori toward E-Mart and going into the passage inside the building (Kolon Science Valley 2), the restaurant appeared.

Stepping inside, my first thought was how spacious and clean it felt. The tables were spaced generously apart, and even without windows, the basement space didn't feel stuffy at all — it was actually quite comfortable.

Should you book ahead?

We reserved a table and went a bit early, but it looked like the place fills up with customers in the evening. If you're planning to go, I'd strongly recommend booking ahead through Naver Reservation.

Thoughtful service and a clean side-dish spread

This place is originally famous as an all-you-can-eat aged sashimi specialist, but since our goal was more about chatting over a glass of cheongha than eating our fill, we ordered from the à la carte menu.

When the sashimi came out, the staff kindly explained each type of fish one by one and told us which combinations tasted best, so we ate following their advice while chatting.

You know how at a typical sashimi restaurant, so many banchan (side dishes) come out before the main sashimi that you end up not focusing on the sashimi itself? (That's me — the person who fills up on side dishes.) At Mulgogijari Guro Digital branch, the banchan was clean and minimal, set up exactly to highlight the sashimi itself, and I loved that.

Starting with a warm, soft vegetable porridge, then hoe-muchim (spicy mixed sashimi salad), savory fritters, fresh sea squirt, and deeply flavorful grilled mushrooms — only the essentials came out, so I could eat cleanly and satisfyingly all the way through.

Discovering mineo sashimi — the chewiness is a work of art

The quality and texture of the main sashimi 👍 — because it goes through an aging process, the freshness of the fish really comes through, and the chewy texture that clings to your palate was outstanding.

What stuck with me most that day was the mineo (croaker) sashimi — this was actually my first time eating mineo raw, and I was genuinely surprised at how chewy and nutty it was.

For people like us who eat while quietly chatting, the à la carte portion is great, but if you love sashimi or eat a lot, ordering the all-you-can-eat aged sashimi course and eating your fill would be a much better choice — men, especially. (Most of the customers in the restaurant were actually men.)

Restaurant info summary

• Address: 55 Digital-ro 34-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul, B1F Kolon Science Valley 2 (enter from Kkalkkal-geori), South Korea
• Hours: 16:00–23:00 (last order 22:00) / Closed every Sunday
• Assorted aged sashimi all-you-can-eat (per person): ₩43,000
• Assorted aged sashimi à la carte (for 2–3): ₩64,000
• Parking: Building basement parking available (paid / first 60 min free, ₩2,000 per additional 60 min, ₩20,000 daily max)

Final thoughts and tips

Finding a spot in busy Guro-digital-danji that's this spacious and quiet, with such high-quality aged sashimi, made for a really satisfying day. By the way, the anju (drinking snacks) here are so good that the soju practically drinks itself.

Strongly recommend this if you're craving clean aged sashimi with a drink. If you're looking for a decent sashimi restaurant, an all-you-can-eat spot, or a place for a group gathering near Guro Digital Complex, definitely give this a try! I heard through the grapevine that this branch is supposedly even better than the others!!