Magok Italian restaurant piri piri chicken family meal: Romaok Magok

It's not too hard for a restaurant to be good the second time you go — but keeping it up for a third visit? That's rare. Romaok Magok is exactly that kind of place. This time my wife, Hamin, and I stopped by for lunch after running around at Seoul Botanic Park for a while.

The hidden perk of this place is that it's within walking distance right when Hamin, having burned all his energy on the lawn at the botanic garden, starts yelling "Dad, I'm hungry" haha. This time I picked mostly dishes we hadn't tried in our first two visits.

Where Romaok Magok is and when it opens

• 📍 136 Magok Jungang-ro, 3F LG Art Center Seoul, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• 🚇 Indoor connection from Magoknaru Station Exits 3 & 4
• ⏹️ Hours daily 11:00–21:30 / break time 15:00–17:00
• ⏹️ Last order 14:00, 20:30
• ☑️ 2 hours free parking with purchase
• ☑️ Naver reservations available (recommended for weekends)
• ☑️ Tablet ordering at the table
• ☑️ Selected for 2025 Blue Ribbon

Walking from Seoul Botanic Park to Romaok Magok

It's a quick walk from Seoul Botanic Park to LG Art Center. No need to circle back to the car after a loop around the garden with a toddler — you can head straight to lunch, which makes it a great weekend combo. It's connected indoors to the station too, so getting there is easy even on bad-weather days.

What the dining room at Romaok Magok feels like

Even on a third visit, the high ceilings and arched structure still make me go 'wow' every time I walk in.

There's a long table by the window with candlesticks and objets on it, which gives the place the feel of some trattoria in Rome.

Wine bottles are lined up on the wall shelves, and through the floor-to-ceiling windows you can see the green view toward the botanic garden. Tables are spaced generously, so you don't have to worry about the neighboring table even with a kid in tow.

Ordering is simple — just use the tablet!

What we ordered at Romaok Magok and what it cost

• Pine nut caprese salad ₩17,000
• Piri piri chicken ₩31,000
• Mushroom truffle cream pasta ₩26,000

One salad, one main, one pasta for the three of us — a perfect combo for sharing.

How the food actually tasted

1. Green onion ciabatta served before the meal

One green onion ciabatta comes out per person.

Crispy outside, chewy inside, with a subtle green onion aroma coming through.

Dipped in olive oil, it's basically a dish on its own. Hamin made his disappear in two bites lol.

2. Pine nut caprese salad, 17,000 won

Cherry tomatoes and black tomatoes, arugula and frilled iceberg lettuce, topped with a round of pine nut fromage blanc.

Regular caprese uses mozzarella, but here it's fromage blanc made from pine nuts, which is much nuttier and softer.

The white balsamic gives it a bright tang that's perfect for waking up your appetite before the main. The tomatoes were sweet enough that Hamin kept picking them off too.

3. Piri piri chicken, 31,000 won

The star of this visit.

Grilled chicken thigh with piri piri sauce on top, corn purée underneath, and two dollops of white orange foam on the side.

This dish demands to be photographed. The chicken thigh is smoky and crisp outside, juicy inside. The piri piri sauce is a touch spicy, wrapped in sweetness from the corn purée, and the orange foam ties it all together with a bright finish at the end. Spice, sweetness, and tang all hit in one bite without any single note overpowering the others — great balance.

The broccolini on the side was grilled to a nice crunch too, great for eating between bites of the chicken. My wife said this was the best dish out of all three visits combined.

4. Mushroom truffle cream pasta, 26,000 won

Thick tube-shaped paccheri noodles.

It arrives with mushroom cream sauce generously topped with black truffle — the moment the plate lands on the table, the truffle aroma fills the air. The cream sauce packs neatly into the paccheri tubes, so every bite feels full.

Grana Padano cheese finishes it off with a salty note, and the mushroom aroma keeps the cream from feeling heavy. The noodles are thick and easy to cut, so I gave Hamin a few pieces — cream pasta never fails with kids, haha.

What three visits to Romaok Magok taught us

The biggest strength of Romaok is that even when we order different dishes every time, there's no dip in quality. You can tell effort went into every sauce, and the plating always looks like they cared.

That said, honestly, it's on the pricier side. Three dishes for three of us without drinks landed in the ₩70,000s. Still, when you factor in a garden walk plus a nice-atmosphere meal as a full day trip, the price feels justified.

What we liked

• ✅ Walking distance from Seoul Botanic Park and LG Art Center
• ✅ No dip in quality across three visits
• ✅ Piri piri chicken and truffle pasta are well executed
• ✅ Generous table spacing, easy with a kid
• ✅ 2 hours free parking

What could be better

• ❌ On the pricier side
• ❌ Weekend lunches may have a wait without a reservation

The verdict in one line

Play at the botanic garden, eat at Romaok. Our family's weekend formula, a go-to spot near Magoknaru.

• Taste: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
• Price: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
• Atmosphere: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
• Service: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

For the fourth visit I'm debating whether to order the squid ink scallops and mugwort tiramisu again, haha.