Cheongna family buffet restaurant, self-bar and parking: Jangsodam

These days, picking a place for a family meal out can be surprisingly stressful. Someone wants meat, someone else wants something different, and if parking is a hassle on top of that, you're tired before you even leave the house.

This time, while figuring out where to eat with family, I looked up good restaurants in Cheongna. That's how I ended up at Jangsodam, where you can eat eel and beef together and there's a whole self-bar to explore too.

Honestly, I went in thinking I was just there for the eel, but once I started eating, there turned out to be way more to try than I expected — browsing the self-bar ended up being half the fun. 😆

Which Cheongna Tower Dome parking lot to use for Jangsodam

For Jangsodam Cheongna Main Branch, you park at Cheongna Tower Dome parking lot and walk in. But the spot that came up on Naver search wasn't the actual place I needed to go, so I got lost once...ㅠㅠㅠ

There are two Cheongna Tower Dome parking lots!! The real one is the one closer to Jangsodam!! I asked them to fix this info on the way out!!

Still, since we drove, parking didn't end up being a big stress overall. When moving as a family, good parking matters just as much as good food. Especially with several people together, you can waste a lot of time hunting for a spot, but that day we walked straight in without worrying about it.

They also told me pets are allowed, so if you're looking for a dog-friendly place to eat out with your dog, this might be worth noting.

What the 39,000-won A Set includes: eel and beef, one after the other

Once seated, we ordered the A Set. It's ₩39,000 per person and comes with both eel and beef.

I love eel so I went in thinking it would be the main event, but being able to eat beef alongside it meant I didn't get tired of eating just one thing, which was great. Grilling eel, then grilling some beef, then back to eel — going back and forth like that, it disappeared faster than I expected. 😂

Free yukhoe, and marinated crab if you ask

Yukhoe (raw beef tartare) came included as a base item too. I didn't expect an eel restaurant to serve yukhoe, but nibbling a bit before the grilled meat actually paired surprisingly well.

If you ask the staff, they'll also bring out soy marinated crab or spicy marinated crab as a free extra, so we requested some and ate that too. Coming for eel and ending up with crab as well made me crave rice — it really felt like the menu had a lot of range.

What is on Jangsodam's self-bar?

Personally, the thing that stuck with me most that day was the self-bar. At first I figured eel and beef were the main event and the self-bar would just have basic side dishes or vegetables, right?

But once I actually went and looked, there was genuinely a lot of food. All kinds of vegetables, plus spaghetti, jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork), cheese tteok, fries, kimmari (fried seaweed rolls), japchae, sundae (blood sausage) — quite a variety.

While eating eel and beef, we'd go grab other food in between and eat that alongside, and doing it this way felt like constantly trying something new, which was fun. Especially when you're eating eel for a while, sometimes you crave something else in the middle.

At those moments, grabbing a bit of jeyuk bokkeum or japchae from the self-bar, then having some fries or kimmari, made it easy to keep switching things up. It felt less like a strict eel restaurant and more like a buffet built around eel with lots of other food alongside.

Finishing with Hangang ramyeon and ice cream

One thing I found surprisingly fun was the Hangang ramyeon — you can cook it yourself right there. Even after eating my fill of meat and eel, the smell of ramyeon made me want to cook up another bowl. 😂 After the ramyeon, I was completely full.

On top of that, there were drinks available, plus snacks and ice cream, so we could round things off with dessert too. I finished with ice cream, and after eating so many different things through the meal, capping it off with ice cream made it feel like a proper night out.

Why Jangsodam works when the family wants different things

What stood out most to me about Jangsodam this time was that it's not just a place to eat a lot of eel. I went looking for an all-you-can-eat eel buffet in Cheongna, Incheon, but between the eel and beef, the yukhoe, the crab, and the self-bar food, there were genuinely a lot of options.

Especially when going with family, everyone likes different food. Whoever likes eel eats eel, whoever likes beef eats beef, and in between you can grab jeyuk bokkeum, japchae, or spaghetti from the self-bar — so differing tastes didn't feel like a big deal.

If you're going with kids, there's fries, kimmari, cheese tteok, and sundae, plus snacks and ice cream for dessert, so it seemed like a solid spot for a family meal out.

It's great for a family meal like ours, but given the variety, it also seems worth considering for anyone looking for good restaurants in Cheongna for a work dinner or group gathering. When a lot of people get together, agreeing on one menu is surprisingly hard, but here you can eat eel and beef together and just grab whatever you want from the self-bar, which makes choosing easier.

Best of all, you can cook ramyeon partway through the meal, and with drinks, snacks, and ice cream on hand, even a longer meal wouldn't get boring. We also planned to just eat eel and leave, but ended up trying all kinds of self-bar food, having ramyeon, and finishing with ice cream. 😂

Is Jangsodam worth it for a family meal in Cheongna?

What I remember most about my visit to Jangsodam is going in for eel and coming out having eaten far more variety than expected. The A Set was ₩39,000 per person for eel and beef together, and on top of the base yukhoe, requesting some got us free soy and spicy marinated crab too.

On top of that, the self-bar had not just vegetables but jeyuk bokkeum, spaghetti, cheese tteok, fries, kimmari, japchae, sundae, and more, plus Hangang ramyeon, drinks, snacks, and ice cream — genuinely a lot to enjoy.

So if you're looking for an all-you-can-eat eel buffet in Cheongna, Incheon and want somewhere with more variety than just eel, this could be worth checking out. Just park at the Cheongna Tower Dome lot, and note that pets are allowed too, so it's worth keeping these details in mind before visiting.

We had a genuinely enjoyable time that day, eating comfortably with family, chatting, and having fun picking out different things to eat. If I'm ever looking for a place in Cheongna for a family gathering or work dinner again, this is one I'll think of when I'm craving eel.