Grilled fish restaurant in Yeouido for weekend family lunch sets

I was looking for a good lunch spot in Yeouido and ended up at Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang Yeouido, a place also known as one of Lee Yeongja's recommended restaurants. Grilling fish at home always makes the whole place smell and the cleanup is such a hassle, so I mostly eat grilled fish out — this is the place I come to when I'm craving a properly grilled fish.

Where is Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang Yeouido, and is parking free?

📍 Basement 1F, Lotte Castle Ivy, 86 Gukjegeumyung-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea ⏰ Hours 11:00–21:30, break time 15:00–17:00 🅿️ Free parking available at Lotte Castle Ivy

To find Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang Yeouido, walk 408m from Exit 2 of Saetgang Station. It's on the basement level of Lotte Castle Ivy, a mixed-use building, right next to the famous Gayang Kalguksu that always has a line out the door. If you're driving, use the Lotte Castle Ivy underground parking lot and register for free parking yourself when you leave.

Inside the Yeouido dining room: spacious, and full of families on weekends

The Yeouido branch of Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang has such a huge, comfortable dining room that it would also work well for a group lunch from the office. I visited on a weekend and there were a lot of families eating together. Grilled fish really does seem to be a dish that adults love.

There's a huge wood-fired oven toward the back of the restaurant. They grill the fish in it, and it looks like the jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) and pizza are also cooked in there.

What's on the free self bar? Three trips for the tteokbokki

Another great thing about Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang is the free self-serve bar.

You get a set of basic side dishes, and if you run out you can refill them yourself.

On top of the side dishes, there's also nurungji (scorched rice) and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), and the tteokbokki in particular was way better than I expected. It tasted better than what I've had at plenty of dedicated tteokbokki places, so I actually went back for more three times that day, haha. The rice cakes were smooth and the sauce had soaked in nicely — way tastier than I'd ever expect from a self bar at a grilled fish restaurant.

Mackerel and Spanish mackerel sets grilled in a 500-degree oven

We ordered the mackerel and the mackerel pike. ✔️ Grilled mackerel set ₩13,500 ✔️ Grilled mackerel pike set ₩16,500 For reference, the fish isn't served whole — you get half a fish per portion.

Look at the size of that mackerel pike — totally extra-large. Isn't that a size you could only really pull off with a wood-fired oven? Even as a half portion, there's clearly nothing lacking here.

The mackerel is smaller compared to the mackerel pike. But it's grilled to such a nice golden brown that just looking at the photo makes me hungry again.

Grilled Spanish mackerel set, 16,500 won: the filling choice

Mackerel pike is known for its thick, soft, mild flesh. If you find picking bones out of fish annoying and want a generous portion, the grilled mackerel pike is exactly right. Honestly, the reason a lot of guys don't love grilled fish is that there's so little actual meat for the effort, lol. The mackerel pike is big enough that you can fill your mouth with fish generously.

Grilled mackerel set, 13,500 won: crisp outside, tender inside

The mackerel had that distinctive rich, savory mackerel flavor I love. Grilled at 500 degrees in the wood-fired oven, it comes out crisp on the outside and tender inside — honestly on a completely different level from anything pan-fried. It has just the right amount of oiliness, and eating it with rice was an explosion of umami — it really lived up to its status as the signature dish.

I've tried the mackerel pike and the atka mackerel here before too, but for me the mackerel is still the tastiest. I'd definitely recommend the signature grilled mackerel at Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang.

Side dishes at Hwadeogeuro Gan: lettuce, ssamjang and fish wraps

Hwagango (short for Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang) also gives you lettuce and ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste dip), so you can wrap the grilled fish and eat it like a lettuce wrap. The fish must be pretty big if you're wrapping it up like this, right? Haha.

The ssamjang in particular was delicious — less salty than the usual version, so it wasn't heavy at all. It's made with mashed tofu mixed in, giving it a clean, refined taste.

The basic side dishes were exactly the kind that pair well with Korean food — doenjang soup (soybean paste soup), japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), musaengchae (spicy radish salad), radish kimchi, deodeok muchim (seasoned mountain root), and more, all going nicely with grilled fish. Everyone loves japchae regardless of age. It really seemed like a meal that would satisfy the whole family.

Maybe we were both just really craving grilled fish? Either way, it was a satisfying meal at Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang Yeouido.

(Want to see my bone-picking skills? Haha.)

After finishing the grilled fish, we even had sungnyung (scorched rice tea) to close things out. The warm sungnyung left the mouth feeling refreshed.

Worth it for a family meal or a Yeouido office lunch?

Grilling fish at home is such a hassle, so the biggest advantage of Hwadeogeuro Gan Godeungeo Bansang is being able to comfortably enjoy oven-grilled fish without worrying about the smell taking over your kitchen.

The dining room is big enough to work for a group lunch from the office, and it was also a good spot for a weekend family meal. If you like grilled fish like mackerel or mackerel pike, it's worth a visit at least once. Next time I come back, I'll definitely be ordering the grilled mackerel again — along with plenty more of that self-bar tteokbokki.