Gwacheon duck BBQ with buckwheat makguksu, 9-team wait: Deo Chadol

Deo Chadol, a Seoul Land-area restaurant worth the wait!

We went to Seoul Land with Chacha over the weekend — and when you're out with the kids for a weekend outing, you want a good meal to go with it, right? While looking for a restaurant with easy parking and good food, we found Deo Chadol!! Let me introduce this Seoul Land-area restaurant that was great for a family meal out. :)

Where is Deo Chadol in Gwacheon, and what are its hours?

📍 Ori Deo Chadol / Address: Gwacheon-dong 364-3, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do / Hours: 11:00–21:30 / Break time 15:00–17:00 / Parking available

It's close to Seoul Land and the Gwacheon Science Museum, so it's a good spot for a meal after an outing with the kids.

Saturday 6:15pm: 9 teams ahead, seated in 30 minutes

We arrived around 6:15pm on Saturday, and there were already customers waiting outside the restaurant.

You register for the waitlist at the entrance. You get a KakaoTalk notification so you can check your real-time waiting number. We waited by taking a walk around the area. :) The waiting area had tea to drink and air conditioning, so it was a comfortable wait!

Customers kept coming in nonstop.

Is Deo Chadol really worth the wait?

The waitlist grew to a total of 9 teams waiting. If you're visiting on a weekend evening, you should probably get there by 6pm to have a shorter wait!

After about a 30-minute wait, we finally got in!! Most of the other customers were families too. I guess it's easy to visit here because of the ample parking and seating space.

Deo Chadol, a celebrity-favorite restaurant. What caught my eye when we walked in was the wall by the entrance, completely covered in celebrity autographs. There were SO many!! (👀(👀

What a family of four ordered at Deo Chadol

Duck brisket BBQ (3 servings), grilled cheese, doenjang jjigae, rice, mul-makguksu. That's what our family of four ordered. We considered the good-value Deo Chadol course menu for a moment, but figured the kids probably couldn't handle the spicy jumulleok.

Duck brisket BBQ, 3 servings for 4 people

Deo Chadol's signature menu, duck brisket BBQ, is apparently made with domestic duck. It's sliced thin and grilled like chadol (beef brisket) — that's the whole point!

The minari (water celery), onion, and mushrooms that came with the duck brisket BBQ! And the grilled cheese we ordered as an add-on. I saw a lot of other tables eating it and it looked good, so we ordered it too, and the kids really loved it haha 👍

The special meat sauce, salt, and pepper — dipping the meat in these made it even tastier!

Once you put the duck brisket on the grill, it's thin meat so it cooks fast. That was great for eating with kids — we didn't have to wait long for meat, it just kept coming off the grill!!

The duck brisket, grilled golden brown, was clean-tasting and savory. It's delicious on its own, but eating it with the vegetables and sauces gave it a whole different feel! My favorite way was dipping it in the special meat sauce and wrapping it in pickled radish. :) 😋

Chacha also really enjoyed the duck brisket BBQ with the cheese.

Free refills on wrap vegetables and the self-serve bar

Wrapping the meat with minari and other vegetables in different ways was another kind of fun! I liked that there were so many ways to enjoy it.

If you run low on side dishes or wrap vegetables, you can grab more from the self-serve bar.

Doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), 4,000 won

A BBQ meal wouldn't be complete without doenjang jjigae, so we ordered that too.

It had a savory soybean paste base loaded with vegetables and tofu, which went great with the duck brisket BBQ. When we scooped out tofu from the jjigae for Chacha, she ate it right up. Later I was surprised to see her even mixing rice into it hahaha. A doenjang jjigae approved by Chacha herself! 👍👍👍

Buckwheat mul-makguksu (cold buckwheat noodles), 9,000 won

The dish you can't skip to finish the meal — buckwheat mul-makguksu (cold buckwheat noodles in broth)!

This Seoul Land-area restaurant, Deo Chadol, isn't just great for the meat — the side dishes are all delicious too! The buckwheat noodles in cool broth made for a clean, refreshing dish that was perfect for slurping down after the meat. One bite of the cool mul-makguksu and my palate felt completely refreshed! Mul-makguksu is totally my style 😍😍

Final verdict on Deo Chadol as a family dinner spot

We stopped by Deo Chadol after a weekend family outing to Seoul Land, and the meal was so satisfying that it wrapped up our day on a great note. The duck brisket BBQ isn't overly seasoned, so even families with young kids could enjoy the meal together, and there were plenty of side dishes to choose from depending on your taste.

It was also great that the restaurant is spacious with plenty of parking, making it easy to visit comfortably. Table turnover was fast, so the wait list moved quickly and we didn't end up waiting as long as expected!

The duck brisket BBQ we tried this time was so good that I'd love to try the course menu next time. If you're looking for a hearty meal after a trip to Seoul Land in Gwacheon, I recommend visiting Deo Chadol Gwacheon, where you can enjoy duck brisket BBQ!!! 🎀