Mackerel pressed sushi wins over a ginger-hater: Izakaya Goko

I was looking for a good-atmosphere izakaya near Gangnam Station and kept seeing great Kakao Map reviews for Izakaya Goko! I was curious about the flounder salt gimbap that's famous as Kang Min-kyung's recommended dish, and they also had mackerel pressed sushi, which I love, so I decided to go haha. We reserved and arrived around 4:30pm on a Sunday, and since it was so early we were basically the first customers. Let me give you an honest rundown of the menu, prices, seating, and everything we tried :)

Izakaya Goko near Sinnonhyeon Station — do you need a reservation?

Izakaya Goko was a great spot for a date in Gangnam followed by evening drinks. We visited around 4:30pm on a Sunday but reserved ahead just in case! If you specifically want private seating, I'd recommend booking in advance :) Even when we visited, most of the private seats were already reserved.

Mon–Fri 17:00 ~ 2:00 Sat–Sun 16:30 ~ 2:00

※ Hours or closed days may change, so it's worth checking before you visit!

Izakaya Goko is just 2 minutes from Sinnonhyeon Station! Being so close to the station made it really convenient to visit :)

Window, tachi, and private seats — the atmosphere

Once inside, there were more seating options than I expected! From tachi (counter) seats to private rooms to window seats, there was something for whoever you're visiting with haha. The private seats were mostly reserved, so we sat at a window seat with a view outside :)

The window seats had a really great atmosphere too! They had the window open, and the cool autumn air paired perfectly with the cozy space — it felt like a great date spot near Gangnam Station haha.

Why the owner's service stood out

Something that stuck with me as much as the food was how kind the owner was! From the moment we walked in he greeted us with such bright energy that it lifted our mood too haha. When the dishes came out, he didn't just set them down — he explained the order to eat them in and how to enjoy each one properly. That's when I thought, 'ah, so this is why the Kakao Map reviews are this good' haha.

Izakaya Goko menu and prices

Looking at the menu, there were way more options than I expected!

I assumed sashimi and yakitori were the main focus, but they also had nabe (hot pot), fried dishes, noodles, and even pasta. The signature menu prices were:

• Goko aged sashimi (2 people) ₩45,000
• Goko aged sashimi (3–4 people) ₩82,000
• Flounder sio sanhap ₩35,000
• Saba bo-zushi (mackerel pressed sushi) ₩27,000
• Goma saba ₩25,000
• Futomaki ₩30,000
• Goko 7-piece yakitori ₩25,000
• Goko 5-piece yakitori ₩19,000
• Full moon tsukune ₩6,000
• Aburi sawara platter ₩39,000
• Mizutaki ₩30,000
• Goko sukiyaki ₩33,000
• Kai nabe ₩27,000
• Seafood yaki udon ₩21,000
• Spinach pasta ₩21,000
• White ragu pasta ₩21,000
• Chicken nanban ₩20,000
• Kaki fry (oyster fry) ₩17,000
• Assorted croquettes ₩17,000

and more :) They also had a wide range of sake, so if you like drinking, picking sake to go with the food looks like it'd be fun too haha.

What we ordered

We ordered the flounder sio sanhap for ₩35,000, saba bo-zushi (mackerel pressed sushi) for ₩27,000, yakitori for ₩19,000, and drinks! I ordered the flounder because it's famously Kang Min-kyung's recommended dish, and the mackerel sushi was something I already loved haha.

The starter snack

After ordering, they brought out a starter snack first :) It was like a sweet popcorn-style cracker — I had one without thinking much of it and kept reaching for more lol. It was good enough that I wanted to ask where they buy it haha. Since we were almost the first customers, they let us know ahead of time that the sashimi wasn't fully prepped yet so food might take a bit. If they hadn't said anything, I might have thought 'huh, this is taking a while,' but because they explained it kindly beforehand, the wait didn't feel long at all :) This kind of small touch made me feel the service was really good!

Flounder sio sanhap ₩35,000: how to eat it, and the honest taste

After about 10 minutes, the flounder dish arrived first! My first thought when I saw it was 'this is so pretty!!' haha.

Thin, long slices of flounder were arranged in a circle on the plate, almost like a blooming flower :) It was gorgeous for photos too haha. As the owner set it down, he explained exactly how to eat it, step by step!

You dip the flounder in soy sauce, then roll rice wrapped in seaweed and place it on top, wrap it with aged kimchi, and finish with a light touch of salt haha. The seaweed itself isn't seasoned, so it's fine to use a generous amount of salt :)

The eating method itself was really unique! Usually with sushi, the rice itself is seasoned.

But with this dish, the rice isn't heavily seasoned, so personally it felt a bit like just putting flounder on plain rice. I think the amount of rice being a little much added to that feeling too! I had high expectations since it's such a famous dish, but honestly I preferred just eating the flounder on its own lol. That said, the flounder itself was definitely delicious. The sashimi was fresh, and above all it was thick, so you really got that springy texture when you bit into it haha.

Saba bo-zushi ₩27,000: how it won over a ginger-hater

And then came the dish I was really looking forward to — saba bo-zushi, mackerel pressed sushi! To cut to the conclusion, this was my absolute favorite of everything we ate that day lol.

Thick-cut mackerel sat on top, lightly seared on the surface. Inside there was a bit of wasabi and ginger — and honestly, I really dislike ginger. So at first I considered picking it out before eating. But I figured I'd try the first bite as it was, and wow, turns out you should NOT skip the ginger here!! The first bite hit with the sweet, savory richness of the thick mackerel. Then toward the end, a hint of ginger flavor rose up and perfectly cut through the slight fishy smell mackerel can have. It matched so, so well!!

It wasn't like the mackerel and ginger were separate flavors — they felt connected as one dish from the very first bite haha. Eating it, I thought, 'ah… so this is what flavor harmony means?' It made me realize chefs aren't celebrated for nothing.

And what surprised me was that even though I normally dislike ginger, the ginger here was genuinely delicious! It wasn't the kind with a strong, sharp ginger flavor — it had a mellow, slightly sweet quality.

By the end, I was deliberately piling ginger onto the flounder too, not just the mackerel sushi lol. I really felt like this place knows how to cook haha.

Yakitori ₩19,000: the dish we disagreed on

Last came the yakitori! Various parts of the chicken were grilled on skewers and served on one plate, laid over a bed of cabbage. On the side was a pollock roe mayo sauce for dipping :)

My boyfriend and I had completely different opinions on this one lol. To me, it felt a bit under-seasoned overall. The chicken skewers themselves weren't strongly seasoned, and the mayo sauce that came with it wasn't as salty as I expected either. So for my taste, it leaned toward 'dipping plain chicken skewers into mayonnaise…?' haha. I tend to like my food a bit more heavily seasoned, so that probably factored in. My boyfriend, on the other hand, said 'the seasoning is just right?' and ate it happily lol. He even said the yakitori was the best dish we ordered that day! So if you like lighter, more delicate flavors, you'll probably lean closer to his opinion than mine :)

Would I go back, and who I'd recommend it to

Izakaya Goko has it all — kind service, a great atmosphere, and delicious food — so I'm planning to go back again :) Next time I'll definitely order the mackerel pressed sushi again, and try some of the other dishes I missed this time haha.

Visit time: Around 4:30pm on a Sunday Reservation: Reserved ahead Seating: Tachi seats / window seats / private seats, etc. Wait: None, since we visited early Best dish: Mackerel pressed sushi Would return: Yes!! Recommended for: Dates near Gangnam Station, anyone looking for a great-atmosphere izakaya :)