Italian restaurant in Magok for garlic scape linguine: Romaok Magok

Hi everyone! It had been a while since I got lunch with a close friend, and I was torn — meat felt too heavy for lunch, but Korean or Japanese food felt too predictable. So I ended up heading back to a Magoknaru Station favorite, Romaok Magok, for some Western food!

There are plenty of Western restaurants around, but finding a genuinely 'good' one is surprisingly hard, right?!?! This place is a real find I've visited more than twice now!!!

Where is Romaok Magok, and how do parking and hours work?

Romaok Magok at a glance

• Address: Romaok, 3rd floor, LG Art Center Seoul, 136 Magokjungang-ro, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Prices: Abalone Geou Pasta ₩26,000 / Eclipse Squid Ink Risotto ₩25,000
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:30, break time 15:00–17:00
• Amenities and services: Baby chairs, group seating, reservations, corkage (paid)
• Parking: 2 hours free, then ₩3,000 per additional 60 minutes

You can park in the LG Art Center's underground parking lot, so there's absolutely zero parking stress! (It's huge, too 👍)

Romaok sits on the 3rd floor of the Art Center building. Get off the elevator, walk straight to the right, and it's right in front of you — not hard to find at all!

Inside Romaok Magok: interior and window seats

The vibe here, though ㅠㅠㅠㅠ I visited during lunch hours, but I bet it's just as gorgeous at night 😍

There's group seating toward the back, and mostly 4-person tables. Even at lunchtime, tables were nearly full with blind dates, gatherings, and group meals! If you're planning to visit, I'd definitely recommend booking ahead.

The atmosphere is unreal.....Romaok Magok really gives off that medieval European vibe...💓

With a vibe like this, I can see why so many people bring dates here hahahaha

We'd booked ahead and were seated by the window, and since the weather was gorgeous, the sky through the floor-to-ceiling glass looked absolutely stunning ⛅️

The table was already set with plates, water glasses, and cutlery. You order using the tablet at the table.

Can you adjust the seasoning at Romaok Magok?

Since Romaok's menu is meant to be paired with wine, the seasoning tends to be on the stronger side by default. That's why you can choose a lighter seasoning option! Last time I visited with my kid, I ordered it lighter, and this time I went with the default seasoning — for my taste, the lighter version was just right (and even that wasn't bland at all!).

Romaok Magok menu and prices

Salads, pastas, risottos, steaks — Romaok has it all 🍽

Pre-meal bread and the abalone geou pasta (26,000 won)

Pre-meal bread served according to party size 🍞 There seemed to be scallion baked into it, and the scallion aroma was amazing.

Dip it generously in the olive oil

And here comes the first dish! The 'Abalone Geou Pasta' — kelp-steamed abalone, garlic scapes, chorizo, geou (abalone innard) sauce, and linguine. It had a signature mark on the menu so we ordered it, and it was so, so good 👍

An abalone pasta made with geou sauce simmered from abalone innards, broth, cream, butter, and more! The aroma was fantastic and you could really taste the rich, deep flavor of the innards.

After transferring the noodles to my plate, the served pasta dish still had glossy sauce left behind.

Dipping the leftover pre-meal bread in it was basically like eating pane carasau 👍

Look at how thick that abalone meat is!!!!! Even though it's steamed abalone with real thickness, it was so tender.

This was my first time having garlic scapes in a pasta, and the flavor didn't overpower things the way I expected — it actually paired really well with the geou sauce.

Eclipse squid ink risotto (25,000 won)

The second dish was the 'Eclipse Squid Ink Risotto' — grilled cuttlefish, squid ink sauce, dill oil, sun-dried tomato, and freshly harvested Sindongjin rice.

It's shaped like a coffin, very Dracula-coded haha. It felt a bit wasteful to mess up the shape...!!! But I scooped it right onto my plate anyway..!!

Dill oil and tomato were placed on top of the cuttlefish. The risotto was cooked to perfect doneness, and the cuttlefish had a nice, tender bite. Since dill oil isn't an ingredient I come across often, the aroma hit me pretty strongly ㅠㅠ

I liked eating the risotto together with the sun-dried tomato! The bright tomato flavor paired really well with it.

Business cards and toothpicks by the register. Even the toothpicks come in such fancy packaging. It really felt like they paid attention to every small detail 👍

Is Romaok Magok worth it? Final verdict

• Prices run a bit high, but the food quality matches it
• On a previous weekend lunch visit, the group seating seemed to be hosting a lot of large family gatherings
• Great food and a great atmosphere make it a solid pick for a blind date spot too
• Having baby chairs made it comfortable to dine with a young child
• All the staff were friendly