Budget pasta & pizza set in Jeongbalsan, Ilsan: Garlic Cook & Story

⏰ Daily 11:00–21:00, last order 20:20

How do you find the parking and elevator for Garlic Cook & Story Western Dome?

For Garlic Cook & Story Western Dome (갈릭쿡앤스토리), park in the underground lot of the Western Dome building, then take the Building B Tower 3 elevators 6 or 7 up to the 2nd floor. For a first-timer, though, the route was pretty hard to figure out.

I went to Garlic Cook & Story Western Dome, which only exists in Ilsan. I used to live in Geumchon (금촌), so I came to Ilsan a lot back then. Was this building always here? It was my first time seeing it...

Anyway, you park in the building's underground lot, but.. it was way too confusing for someone going for the first time; Maybe because there's a Building A and a Building B, there are tons of elevators, but you need one specific elevator. And it was hot, and I had to wander around looking for it.. You have to find Building B Tower 3 elevators 6/7 and go to the 2nd floor. I finally found them after wandering, but I guess because the building has a wedding hall, the elevators were so slow that we ended up taking the stairs;;; Complicated, so complicated, hard..

What are the Saturday lunch wait and the atmosphere like?

I made a Naver reservation and went on a Saturday lunch. There were a lot of customers, but no wait. Tables opened up quickly, and the wait that formed later was only about one party.

We had a really hard time getting there; Thankfully the restaurant's air conditioning was blasting. It was Saturday lunchtime so it was super crowded 😵💫 The wait that formed later was maybe just one party? Tables seemed to open up fast, and the customers weren't young! I think we were the youngest ones.

They even brought water and vitamins to take after the meal, what a thoughtful touch! I've never seen that at a place like this 💫💫

Garlic Cook & Story menu and the Friends/Couples A Set price

At Garlic Cook & Story Western Dome, we ordered the Friends/Couples A Set, which comes with carbonara, aglio olio, gorgonzola pizza and 2 drinks, for ₩34,900. You order at a kiosk and can pay by card at your table.

This is the menu at Garlic Cook & Story, an Ilsan pasta spot. Just looking at the menu, it feels like the Western-style restaurants that 90s kids grew up with. They say the hamburg steak (Western-style minced beef patty) here is amazing..

You order at the kiosk, and being able to pay by card at your table was convenient 💳 I wanted the hamburg steak too, but we went with the great-value Friends/Couples A Set.

• Carbonara
• Aglio olio
• Gorgonzola pizza
• 2 drinks
• = ₩34,900

Isn't that really cheap for all this.. I'll definitely have to try the hamburg steak next time.

What's at the self-service corner?

Garlic Cook & Story Western Dome has a self-service corner where you can grab small plates, pickles and more. Small plates come to the table by default, so the corner seemed to be for taking extra plates when you need them.

I thought we had to get both the small plates and the pickles ourselves, but the small plates seem to come by default; I think they put the corner there for taking extra plates.

The hair ties, a must-have for women, are a nice touch too.

How did each dish in the A set taste?

Gorgonzola pizza

The gorgonzola pizza at Garlic Cook & Story is a thin-crust pizza with exactly the taste I remember from childhood. The key is dipping it generously in honey.

Since becoming an adult I rarely seem to eat gorgonzola. I don't know why.. it just happened, hmm. They said thin-crust pizza is best eaten fast, but I held back for the photo! Exactly the same taste I had as a kid. You know you have to dunk it in lots of honey to make it amazing, right? 🍯

Carbonara

The carbonara at Garlic Cook & Story tasted like the one I ate with my mom in elementary school, and the bacon pieces were bigger than at other places. The downside was that the strong air conditioning made it clump up and go cold quickly.

The carbonara also tastes just like the nostalgic carbonara I ate with my mom in elementary school ㅠ With the weather so hot, the restaurant's AC was blasting, so it clumped up and got cold fast, which was a shame.. The bacon pieces were bigger than at other places, too!

Aglio olio

The aglio olio at Garlic Cook & Story was fairly heavily seasoned for an aglio olio, so the first bite was quite salty. The garlic aroma wasn't strong, and I liked that it was very oily.

It was a bit heavily seasoned for an aglio olio. The first bite was so salty that I was surprised... The garlic aroma wasn't strong and I liked that it was really oily.

Is Garlic Cook & Story Western Dome good for a date?

Garlic Cook & Story Western Dome is good value, and you can follow the meal with a CGV movie, a walk around the nearby lake park or a stroll around Western Dome, so it's a recommendable date spot. It's open daily with no break time, so any time works.

Garlic Cook & Story is an Ilsan restaurant with really great value. After eating, you can catch a movie at CGV, take a walk at the lake park nearby, or just wander around the building, so I totally recommend it as a date course 🕊️ Since it's open every day with no break time, I think you can visit whenever you like.

Waiting and review perks

• Wait over 10 minutes: free drink
• Wait over 20 minutes: new-menu tasting ticket (same-day use)
• Write a Naver review: free salad

They give you a salad if you write a Naver review, so I think you can eat even more generously.

The downside: paying the bill

The most disappointing part of Garlic Cook & Story Western Dome was the payment. The staff member didn't know how to process it and kept going back and forth to ask the owner, and the space at the register was cramped, with another customer asking for parking registration at the same time, so it was stuffy and frustrating.

What annoyed me was the payment. The staff member didn't know how, so they kept running back and forth to ask the owner, while a customer from another table asked for parking registration, and the space in front was cramped and stuffy, argh so annoying. The owner was standing in front of the kitchen watching us, and if I were the owner I'd have just come out and explained it myself haha. After a tasty meal, my blood pressure really shot up at the checkout;

Still, the staff were kind to the very end 😊