Room bar near Seoul National Univ. Station: sashimi, jjamppong

Finding the 2nd-floor entrance to Tomo near Seoul National Univ. Station

Just a short walk from Seoul National Univ. Station, the Tomo sign comes into view 👀✨ It's on the 2nd floor of the building, so on a first visit you might walk right past the entrance haha 😆 Go in through the door under the sign and a staircase stretches upward 🪜 Climbing it already felt like heading toward some hidden hideout 🤭💗 The entrance is a little dim from the start, which really set the mood for a night out drinking 🍻✨

Open kitchen and a dark wood-toned interior

Right as you walk in, the open kitchen is the first thing you see, and watching the cooking in action was kind of fun to peek at haha. The lighting is dim overall with wood tones mixed in — exactly the kind of izakaya mood you want for a drink!

Further inside there are separate private rooms, which seemed great for visiting in a group or wanting to drink and chat quietly. Wine was displayed on one side too, and compared to a typical noisy bar it felt a lot cozier :)

Room layout and tablet ordering

The rooms line up on both sides of the hallway, so you barely run into other tables haha. Inside, the space was roomier than expected, and each table had a tablet so we could order comfortably right from our seats.

Best of all, once the door closes it becomes a completely independent space, which made it easy to chat with friends without worrying about anyone else — it seemed like it'd also work well for a date or a gathering! If you're looking for a room bar or a private izakaya near Seoul National Univ. Station, this is definitely a plus :)

Menu range and the ₩30,000 all-you-can-drink highball

Looking at the menu, there was everything from sashimi to soup dishes, pasta, and fried items — a really wide range. There's also a separate 2–3 person sashimi set, which looked convenient for anyone wanting to try several dishes together haha.

From soup-based anju (drinking snacks) like Nagasaki jjamppong and seafood jjamppong to chicken karaage and snow-cheese shrimp, there was plenty that paired well with drinks! There were quite a few highball options too, and a separate all-you-can-drink highball menu for ₩30,000! If you like highballs, that's a solid one to check out haha.

No need to flag down staff with a menu in hand — we could browse slowly in the room and order right away, which was convenient :)

Cheers first with draft beer

You can't skip a draft beer at an izakaya haha. The foam came up soft and fluffy, cooling just to look at! Sitting comfortably with friends in the private room and cheersing with draft beer really felt like the start of a proper drinking session haha. We sipped lightly while waiting for the food to arrive :)

Two-person sashimi + seafood jjamppong set

The visual alone was on point the moment it arrived haha. Blue crab, shrimp, squid, and mussels were all packed in generously — more filling than expected. The broth looked spicy just from the color, all deep red 🔥 Sipping draft beer then taking a hot spoonful of jjamppong broth was such a good combo haha. Fishing the seafood out was fun too, and it worked great as an anju to share among a group!

Aged sashimi, better with salt than soy sauce

A single plate arrived with several types of aged sashimi arranged beautifully, sliced thick so it was fun to pick through piece by piece haha. Sashimi usually gets dipped in soy sauce, but here it came with salt on the side! I tried a light dip and it turned out to be surprisingly good haha — a different feel from soy sauce that let the clean, mild flavor of the aged sashimi come through even more.

Personally, the salt-dipped combo stuck with me more than soy sauce ever did! If you go to Tomo, give it a try :)

Tako wasabi from the Naver reservation perk

With the reservation perk you could choose either a soup dish or tako wasabi, and since we'd already ordered the seafood jjamppong, we went with tako wasabi haha. Being a complimentary item, I expected a small portion, but the amount was more generous than expected — satisfying! The sharp wasabi kick and the crunchy texture were great, and with onion and gim (dried seaweed) on the side, it was the perfect match for draft beer haha. If you're visiting with a reservation, it's worth grabbing this perk too :)

Five charcoal-grilled skewers, added on

Rather than sticking to one dish, getting to taste several kinds in small portions made for a great drinking snack haha. Even after already eating the sashimi and seafood jjamppong, the smoky charcoal aroma hit differently and my chopsticks kept going back haha. If you like trying a variety of things, adding five charcoal skewers as an extra anju is worth it :)

In summary

Overall, the Seoul National Univ. Station branch of Tomo was a good spot for wanting a private drink 🍻✨ What I liked most was that the space being divided into rooms meant we could chat freely with friends without worrying about anyone around us haha. It seemed like a great place for gatherings or dates near Seoul National Univ. Station too 💛

The menu was varied enough — sashimi, soup dishes, charcoal grill, fried food, pasta — that it wouldn't be hard for a group with different tastes to pick something together! The aged sashimi + seafood jjamppong combo we had was satisfying, and dipping the aged sashimi lightly in salt was surprisingly memorable 🤤 We finished off strong with the extra five charcoal skewers haha.

There's also a menu perk you get with a Naver reservation, and the tako wasabi we chose was generous enough that it hardly felt like a freebie 👏🏻 If you like highballs, keep the ₩30,000 all-you-can-drink option in mind too 🍹

If you're looking for a private room bar near Seoul National Univ. Station, or want to enjoy a variety of anju while chatting comfortably with a group, this place is worth a visit 🥰 Ate well and had a refreshing drink to finish 🍻 Wrapped up a night of easy chatting with friends on a good note 💗✨