Jongno sushi restaurant with jumbo shrimp tempura: Choe Uyeong Sushiya

Today I'm sharing an honest review of a meal at Choe Uyeong Sushiya, a sushi restaurant near Jongak Station in Jongno — starting with the fresh specialty sushi set, then kaisendon, gunkan, jumbo shrimp tempura, and inari udon.

Choe Uyeong Sushiya

Where is Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch, and is there parking?

🏡 Address: 7 Jongno 5-gil, B1 Unit 104, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea ⏰ Hours: 11:00–21:30 🚗 Parking: Free 2-hour parking in the building's basement lot

Choe Uyeong Sushiya, a great date-night spot in Jongno, is a 2-minute walk from Jongak Station Exit 1, so it's close to the subway and had a spacious building lot, meaning I didn't need to worry about parking at all.

Inside Choe Uyeong Sushiya: partitioned tables and solo seats

Here's the interior of Choe Uyeong Sushiya, a well-loved sushi spot in Jongno. The whole space was clean and comfortable, and each table had its own partition, which made it a nice spot for a conversation on a date near Jongak Station.

Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch, a sushi place near Jongak Station, also has seats set up for solo diners. Jongno has a lot of academies — TOEIC prep, civil service exam prep, and so on — so there are plenty of people eating alone around here. It was great that they have separate solo seats so you can eat comfortably without feeling self-conscious :)

How to order and what is on the menu

Ordering at Choe Uyeong Sushiya was easy through the table-order tablet — you can look at photos of each dish and pick exactly what you want.

Here's the menu at Choe Uyeong Sushiya, a favorite date spot near Jongak. Being a proper sushi specialty restaurant, they had everything from fresh sushi sets to sashimi, kaisendon, gunkan, tempura, and udon — with a group, it's genuinely fun just picking what to order.

House-made soy sauce, rakkyo pickles and clear soup

Choe Uyeong Sushiya sets you up with house-made soy sauce, rakkyo (pickled shallots), and ginger. I can't eat ginger, so I kept cleansing my palate with the rakkyo in between bites haha.

They also serve a warm soup that goes really well alongside the sushi.

What is in the specialty sushi set?

🍽️ Specialty sushi set This is the signature dish at Choe Uyeong Sushiya. A variety of sushi arranged beautifully on one plate — it looked delicious just from the visual alone, and picking through each piece one by one, every one had a different taste and texture, which made it fun to work through haha.

The fish slices on top were nice and thick, so you could really feel the texture of the ingredients in each bite. If you're looking for a good sushi restaurant near Jongak Station, I'd recommend this as a date spot :)

Three gunkan and the mixed kaisendon

🍽️ Negitoro gunkan / Yukhoe (raw beef) gunkan / Monkfish liver gunkan Along with the sushi, we also ordered a few gunkan. The negitoro gunkan paired the nuttiness of tuna and scallion nicely, and the yukhoe gunkan had soft raw beef on top, giving it a distinctive flavor. The monkfish liver gunkan was soft with a rich, deep flavor — personally, this one stuck with me the most haha.

🍽️ Mixed kaisendon The mixed kaisendon came topped with a variety of seafood, so it was filling enough on its own as a full bowl. Getting to taste several kinds of seafood in one dish gave it a different kind of appeal from the sushi, and it was delicious.

Sides: jumbo shrimp tempura and inari udon

🍽️ Jumbo shrimp tempura For a side, we ordered the jumbo shrimp tempura. The batter was fried up crispy, with plump shrimp meat inside — it was delicious.

🍽️ Inari udon The second side dish we ordered was the inari udon. It was packed with fried tofu pouches (inari) and crab stick, giving the broth a deep, clean flavor — really good.

Is Choe Uyeong Sushiya worth a visit in Jongno?

That's my honest review of Choe Uyeong Sushiya Jongno Branch, a Japanese restaurant near Jongak Station. With everything from various sushi to gunkan, kaisendon, tempura, and udon, there was plenty to choose from, and with both partitioned tables and solo seats available, it works well whether you're on a date or eating alone. If you're near Jongak or Gwanghwamun stations looking for a good, fresh sushi place, give Choe Uyeong Sushiya, a favorite date-spot sushi restaurant in Jongno, a try :)