Date night Korean BBQ in Dal-dong, Ulsan: ogeopsal and ribs, Daewol

What kind of Korean BBQ restaurant is Daewol Charcoal Barbecue in Dal-dong, Ulsan?

I went to a barbecue restaurant in Dal-dong, Ulsan where stock simmers by day and meat gets sliced by night. It's Daewol Charcoal Barbecue, a Dal-dong favorite near Goodmorning Hospital in Nam-gu, Ulsan. They say it's a charcoal grill specialist that trims black pork brought up daily from Jirye in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang, and grills it over real charcoal. I went for dinner and came back very well fed 😋

Hours, parking and how to get there

6 Samsan-ro 122beon-gil, Nam-gu, Ulsan, closed every Sunday, open Monday through Saturday 10:00–22:00, with last order at 21:30.

For parking, use the Truparking Ulsan Dal-dong lot. It's 2 cars/3 hours support per table, and for lunch it's 1 car/1 hour support per table.

Ulsan Pay

Inside Daewol Charcoal Barbecue and the room for 20

Inside Daewol Charcoal Barbecue is spacious and had an overall pleasant vibe. No matter how delicious a place is, if the hygiene or cleanliness is lacking it makes you hesitant to come back — so I was glad they seem to pay close attention to hygiene management.

The room can apparently seat up to 20 people. Perfect if you're looking for a spot for a group gathering or a work dinner, right? (The room was full so I couldn't get a photo of it 🥲) Samsan means work dinners, and work dinners mean Samsan, don't they? If you're looking for a good spot in Dal-dong, Ulsan to visit as a group, this could be worth keeping in mind.

The main hall wasn't as noisy and bustling as a market either. Even people like me who don't love overly loud places could eat comfortably here. Good for family dinners out, and also good for eating meat on a date like I did.

They said they bring in Gimcheon Jirye black pork twice a week and don't use frozen meat. In particular, the fact that they only handle Gimcheon Jirye black pork gave off a real sense of pride in the meat, which raised my expectations even before eating haha. And I'll say upfront — once I actually tried it, I understood exactly why they note that. I felt like this was meat I could trust.

Review event

They also run a stamp card for regulars, which surprised me — I'd never seen a barbecue restaurant take care of regulars quite like this. If you live nearby, visiting often as your neighborhood barbecue spot and stacking up the stamps could really add up 👍🏻

What we ordered and what's on the self-serve side dish bar

• Black pork pork belly (ogeopsal)
• Marinated black pork ribs

Self-serve bar

The side dishes came out neatly arranged in a lineup that paired well with the meat. And once we ran low on anything, it was nice being able to just grab more from the self-serve bar.

Three servings of Jirye black pork ogeopsal: how thick is it?

This is the three servings of Jirye black pork pork belly I ordered at Daewol Charcoal Barbecue, a Nam-gu, Ulsan favorite. Even someone who doesn't know much about meat like me could tell the color was really good. Above all, the thick cut of the pork belly won me over right away 🙌🏻 It looked delicious even before grilling, and I wanted to cook it up and eat it right away 😋

The staff cut the meat into easy bite-sized pieces and grilled it up nice and golden 🤎 Maybe because the heat was strong, the meat cooked quickly too. Watching it cook to perfection made me want to dig in right away, you know that feeling?

I tried a piece of the thick-grilled pork belly~! With that thickness, the chewing texture was great from the first bite. You could really feel the signature chewiness of ogeopsal (pork belly). The ratio of lean meat to fat was just right too, so it wasn't greasy or tough. No gamey smell, tender bite, and a nutty flavor on top of that — I had no choice but to agree this is a real Dal-dong meat favorite 🥰

And unlike other barbecue restaurants, Daewol Charcoal Barbecue also serves banga leaf (Korean perilla-like herb), which was a special touch. I usually like banga leaf anyway, so I was curious what it would taste like and tried wrapping it in with my meat! Chewy black pork plus fragrant banga leaf had a different charm from the usual wraps I eat 👍🏻

Adding two servings of marinated black pork ribs, best eaten with rice

I just can't resist the ribs-and-rice combo 😋 It felt like a shame to stop at just the pork belly, so I added two more servings of marinated black pork ribs.

You know marinated ribs need your full attention while grilling, right! Look away for a second and it burns fast, so I flipped them diligently 😂 A little got a bit charred, but they still came out nicely golden and delicious.

The sweet marinade soaked right into the black pork ribs, delicious even on their own 👍🏻 With that sweet-and-salty charm, my chopsticks kept going back — the marinade paired so well with rice that it emptied a whole bowl in no time, a total rice thief. The pork belly was great, but the marinated ribs with rice were just as satisfying.

Is Daewol Charcoal Barbecue worth going back to?

Both the staff and the owner were so kind, which I really appreciated. Great meat as a given, plus this kind of kindness — that's probably why so many customers keep coming back. Having eaten well from the pork belly to the marinated ribs, I'd definitely go back to Daewol Charcoal Barbecue, a Dal-dong, Ulsan meat restaurant, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for good food in Ulsan 🙌🏻