Daytime pizza pub in Isu: nacho cheese and 3 craft beers, Raymond

A few days ago I wanted a daytime beer, so on a bright sunny afternoon I visited Raymond Isu Branch, a pizza-and-beer spot newly opened at Isu Station. In short, both the pizza and the beer were satisfying, and I had a lovely daytime drink!

Raymond Isu Branch location, parking and hours

Raymond Isu Branch is at 33 Dongjak-daero 23-gil, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, on the 1st floor, and is open daily from 11:00 to 23:00 (last order 22:30). It's near Exit 9 of Isu Station (Lines 4 and 7), right across a small street from Isu Xi Apartments.

• Address: 33 Dongjak-daero 23-gil, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, 1st floor
• Hours: daily 11:00-23:00 (last order 22:30)
• Takeout, delivery, reservations, Wi-Fi, separate men's and women's restrooms, high chairs, group seating, simple pay available

If you're driving, there's no building parking lot, so I'd recommend using a nearby paid lot.

What kind of place is Raymond Isu Branch?

Raymond is a pizza-and-beer place already proven in Hongdae, and it has now opened a branch in Isu too. Another plus is that you can enjoy draft beers from Art Monster Brewery, which has won plenty of awards around the world.

The interior is decorated in a very American style. You can get pizza by the slice or as a whole pie, and each slice is so big that a man would be full after 2 slices and a woman after just 1.

At the self-service corner you can grab whatever seasonings and tissues you need, and I also liked that the beer is available for takeout, so you can enjoy it at home too.

Big American slice pizza like New York street pizza

The pizzas, Raymond Isu Branch's signature items, were all exactly the size I saw on my trip to America. Those American-sized pizzas where just one slice fills you up!

Honestly, the food that impressed me most on my New York trip was the giant street pizza, so being able to taste it in Korea is seriously exciting haha. I think my expectations were too high for New York's famous burgers and steaks, and I was pretty disappointed, but the street pizza opened my eyes, haha. It has that greasy, punchy American-pizza charm, a different vibe from Korean pizza.

Raymond Isu Branch menu and what I ordered

This is the Raymond Isu Branch menu. This time I ordered 1 slice of pepperoni pizza, 1 slice of Big Spicy Fusilli pizza, nacho cheese, and for beer the IPA, Vienna lager and peanut butter porter.

• Big Pepperoni pizza, 1 slice: ₩7,500
• Big Spicy Fusilli pizza, 1 slice: ₩8,900
• Nacho cheese: ₩9,900
• IPA: ₩8,500
• Vienna lager: ₩7,500
• Peanut butter porter: ₩7,900

In under 10 minutes after ordering, my pizzas, nacho cheese and all 3 beers had been served.

By the way, all the beers at Raymond Isu Branch are from the domestic Art Monster Brewery, which is famous for winning many awards at international beer competitions.

How do the Big Spicy Fusilli and pepperoni pizzas taste?

The slices at Raymond Isu Branch are so big you wonder if one piece should really be allowed to be this large, but luckily the dough is thin and crisp, so about 2 slices was just right for an adult man. If the dough had been thick, one slice would have left you ready to burst.

The Big Spicy Fusilli pizza has screw-shaped pasta on top, and its mild spiciness cut the richness nicely. It also made me think, wow, pasta and pizza go this well together. Any Korean would surely love it.

And the pepperoni pizza next to it was greasy and rich, just as I expected and exactly my style. Yes, this is how pepperoni pizza should be!! haha

Since the pizza is greasy, I rolled the slice up lengthwise and picked it up with a fork like this, which made it neat and easy to eat.

House-fried nacho cheese

The nacho cheese at Raymond Isu Branch isn't just store-bought nacho chips torn open and served. The nachos are freshly fried in-house, and their crunch was the charm.

So they were great as a crunchy snack to nibble on between bites of rich pizza. Even I think ordering pizza and nachos together was a really good choice!

The cheese is rich and American-style too, which I loved haha

Art Monster Vienna lager, IPA and peanut butter porter compared

Okay, now let's try the beers with all those awards at Raymond Isu Branch! From the left: Vienna lager, IPA and peanut butter porter.

• Vienna lager: a lager with rich malt aroma
• IPA: a style with plenty of fragrant hops
• Peanut butter porter: peanut butter and roasted malt well balanced, so it tastes almost like chocolate

When I tried Art Monster's beers in the past they didn't do much for me, but a few years later they're seriously delicious!! You can feel that with several years of experience their brewing skill has become more stable, and even if they're not top-tier yet, they hold their own against high-quality American craft beer.

In fact, beer brewed in Korea, if properly kept in the cold chain, can be drunk with the brewery's flavor intact, so it can taste better than imported American beer, and these beers were exactly like that. Totally satisfied!

Raymond Isu Branch daytime beer: final verdict

At Raymond Isu Branch you can taste that the beer is well kept, the prices are good, and the pizza quality is American-style too, so personally it was a spot perfectly to my taste. I'll have to go again next time haha