50-seat beef restaurant near Gongdeok Station, Seoul: Usijang Hoegwan

🐂 A visit to Usijang Hoegwan, a beef spot near Mapo Station

Living in the city, an old-school, nostalgic beef restaurant is genuinely hard to come by. Now that I'm past 40, places like this taste even better to me, and I find myself drawn to spots that feel warm and familiar from the moment you walk in. I'm the one in charge of picking company dinner spots, and whenever I choose a place with this kind of vibe, I always get feedback that it was a great choice. This time I was thrilled to discover a real neighborhood favorite near Mapo Station that locals genuinely swear by.

The place is called Usijang Hoegwan. It sits between Gongdeok and Mapo Stations, so it's easy to reach from either one, and with so many companies and large corporations nearby, it's a great place to unwind after a tough weekday with good beef and cheap soju.

Where is Usijang Hoegwan, and what are its hours and parking?

• Location: 1F, 15-10 Samgae-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Transit: Mapo Station (Line 5) Exit 3, 3-min walk (Dohwa-dong alley behind Garden Hotel) / Gongdeok Station (Lines 5, 6, Gyeongui-Jungang Line, AREX) Exit 8, 10-min walk / by village bus Mapo01, get off at 'S-Mart' stop, 2-min walk
• Hours: Daily 10:00–22:00 (break 15:00–17:00, last order 21:30, open year-round)
• Parking: dedicated spaces in front of and beside the restaurant (paid lot at Dohwa-dong Community Center when full)
• Amenities: takeout, group dining, Wi-Fi, waiting area, reservations, delivery available
• Seating: 50 seats total (group gatherings and company dinners in Mapo welcome)

Inside Usijang Hoegwan: a 50-seat old-school beef house

Usijang Hoegwan is easy to get to — just a 3-minute walk from Mapo Station Exit 3, into the alley behind Garden Hotel.

With 50 seats total, there's plenty of room for group dinners, and the spacious, comfortable layout made it easy to see why it's known as a go-to company dinner spot around Mapo and Gongdeok.

You can see signs of age everywhere, but that character seems to lift the overall atmosphere of the restaurant rather than detract from it.

Three things that set Usijang Hoegwan apart

1. One cow, four ways: grilled, sliced raw, boiled and simmered

The lineup lets you enjoy every part of the cow in one sitting — raw galbisal and assorted cuts grilled over charcoal, yuksashimi (raw beef sashimi) and yukhoe (raw beef) sliced from clean 1++ No.9 grade Gangwon-do hanwoo, gukbap and soups simmered for 12 hours, and a hearty assorted boiled beef dish.

2. The quality of the hanwoo beef

I ordered the assorted 3-person set (₩116,900), and the meat quality genuinely exceeded my expectations. They say they use kkurisal from 1++ No.9 grade hanwoo raised in clean areas of Gangwon-do, butchered and trimmed the same day — and both the yuksashimi and yukhoe tasted noticeably fresh.

3. Soups and stews simmered for 12 hours

The soup lineup is solid: clear Naju-style gomtang (bone broth soup), a rib soup with two whole large ribs, spicy beef intestine soup, and their signature raw clam beef gukbap. I tried the body-boosting rib soup included in the set — the ribs were so tender that the meat slid right off the bone with just a light nudge of my chopsticks. It had been a long time since I'd had rib soup this soft.

Usijang Hoegwan menu and prices at a glance

Hanwoo yuksashimi and yukhoe (raw beef)

• [Signature] Perilla leaf yukhoesashimi platter ₩55,000
• 1++ No.9 grade hanwoo yuksashimi ₩22,000
• Never-frozen 1++ yukhoe ₩22,000
• 1++ No.9 grade yukhoe bibimbap ₩13,000
• Hanwoo ox-bone traditional spicy pagaejang gukbap ₩9,900

Rice meals: gukbap and soups

• Naju-style clear gomtang gukbap ₩8,900
• Signature raw clam beef gukbap ₩14,000
• Grandmother Song Ok-sun's secret-recipe intestine soup ₩12,000
• Body-boosting rib soup (2 large ribs) ₩16,000

Grilled beef cuts

• [3 cuts on one plate] Assorted beef platter (700g) ₩79,800
• Nationwide-lowest-price raw beef galbisal 1kg ₩69,800

House specialties and side dishes

• [Most reordered] Usijang assorted boiled beef ₩55,000
• [Body-boosting] Beef nutrition hot pot ₩55,000
• [Natural collagen] Seasoned beef tendon (sseuji-muchim) ₩18,000
• Salted oyster and beef sashimi combo ₩12,000
• Addictive soy-marinated egg ₩4,000
• Chewy beef tendon (add to gukbap) ₩3,000

Set menus for groups

• 2-person set (half assorted platter + yukhoe or yuksashimi (medium) + meal) ₩73,900
• 3-person set (assorted platter + yukhoe or yuksashimi (large) + meal) ₩116,900
• 4-person set (assorted platter + boiled beef or hot pot + yukhoe or yuksashimi) ₩161,900
• 5-person set (assorted platter + boiled beef or hot pot + yukhoe or yuksashimi (large) + salted oyster) ₩211,900

What the assorted 3-person set (116,900 won) actually brings

I ordered the set with the assorted platter, yuksashimi (large), and a meal. The assorted platter came with three cuts on one plate — jingalbisal, seasoned LA galbi, and raw galbisal — so I could compare their different charms side by side.

For the meal included in the set, I chose the body-boosting rib soup, which looked hearty right away with a whole large rib sitting in the bowl. It had been simmered so thoroughly that the meat separated gently from the bone with just a light touch of chopsticks — the meat itself was satisfying, and the broth was deep and rich too.

The yukhoe that came with it was so tender and nutty that it tasted like something you'd pay ₩40,000 for at a specialty raw-beef restaurant.

Final verdict: is Usijang Hoegwan a good Mapo and Gongdeok company dinner venue?

Usijang Hoegwan is a place where you can enjoy all kinds of cuts from one cow — grilled, sliced, boiled, and stewed. The meat quality in the assorted 3-person set exceeded my expectations, and combined with a rib soup so tender the meat slid off the bone, it felt less like a flashy restaurant and more like a genuine neighborhood spot that wins on skill rather than décor. It's a comfortable place to visit around Mapo and Gongdeok whenever you're craving a beef dinner or a rich bowl of gukbap.