Family meal with spice-level choice at Jimidang, a Goyang restaurant

These days when I eat out with family, I care about the food, but I also naturally end up checking whether it's a comfortable place for my parents. This time I went with my parents and even my grandmother — four of us — to Jimidang Ilsan Main Branch (지미당 일산본점).

Spoiler up front: after the meal, my dad said, "Let's come back here next time!" haha. The food was really generous and delicious, but honestly what stuck with me most was how kindly the staff and the owner treated my family. It left me in a great mood.☺️

Why it was great to bring my parents

My mom has some mobility issues and finds it hard to walk or move around on her own. When we eat out as a family, that's something I subtly worry about. But at Jimidang, before we even asked, they brought a cushion so my mom could sit comfortably and kept checking in on her the whole time.

The owner was really kind, and the staff welcomed us warmly from the moment we walked in, so the impression was good even before the meal started. These things might seem like small details, but when you're visiting with parents or grandparents, they really make a difference.🥹

A generous 4-person set for four people

Since there were four of us, we ordered the 4-person set. It wasn't just the main dish — it came with everything from buckwheat pancake (memil-jeon) to gondeure rice (gondeure-bap, rice with dried wild greens), so the table filled up fast.

Two plates of buckwheat pancake

The first thing that caught my eye was the buckwheat pancake! It comes out huge, and the staff explained we could just cut it up like a pizza.

Once it was cut, it was easy to pick up piece by piece — light but chewy, so we kept reaching for it even before the main dish arrived. And this wasn't just one plate but two! Even with four of us, we never felt like there wasn't enough — it was genuinely generous.

Plenty of gondeure rice too!

And something I really liked was the gondeure rice. It comes in two large bowls, meant to be split two ways each, which was perfect for four people. There was a subtle gondeure aroma, and the rice itself was mild, which paired really well with the spicy main dish. Later on, I ended up mixing the gondeure rice into the leftover sauce over and over...😂

You can choose your spice level 🌶️

The main dish let you choose your spice level, and it was easy to pick because the levels were compared clearly.

• About Shin Ramyun level
• About Buldak level
• About Yeopddeok level

That's roughly the idea. Since we were visiting with my parents and grandmother, we of course ordered the mildest level, around Shin Ramyun spiciness.

But! If you're not great with spicy food, even the mildest level might feel a bit spicy. We were eating and going, "Oh? This is spicier than I expected?" haha. But it wasn't just heat — the sauce had a rich, deep flavor, so we kept eating anyway.

Mix the sauce into your gondeure rice

The main dish comes out in a big pan, and the portion is huge right from the start. There's plenty of bean sprouts, and a generous pile of shredded green onion on top, so mixing it all together gave a nice crunchy texture too. Above all, the meat was really tender. It wasn't dry or tough at all — it came apart easily, so my parents ate it comfortably too.

And the sauce... honestly, totally my type.❤️🔥 Spicy with savory depth, so I kept repeating the loop: eat meat → eat bean sprouts → mix gondeure rice into the sauce... over and over haha.

We also added glass noodles through a review event, and since the sauce soaked into the noodles so well, that disappeared fast too. If you like glass noodles, I'd recommend adding them as a topping!

The cool dongchimi combo is great too

At the start, chilled dongchimi broth comes out along with the side dishes. Since the main dish is spicy, taking a cool sip of dongchimi in between cleanses your palate and the combo works really well. Especially if, like us, even the mildest level felt a bit spicy, the dongchimi will be a welcome relief haha.

A Goyang family meal that satisfied my parents too

This visit to Jimidang Ilsan Main Branch had great food, but what stuck with me most was that the whole family got to eat comfortably. We ordered just one 4-person set, and between the main dish, two plates of buckwheat pancake, and the gondeure rice, the portions were truly generous. The spicy, deep sauce, tender meat, bean sprouts, shredded green onion, and mild gondeure rice all went together so well. They even brought four neatly prepared ice cups along with our drinks — such a nice touch...

Above all, thanks to the owner and staff who noticed my mom and brought a cushion right away and stayed kind throughout the meal, the whole family left in a great mood.☺️ In the end, even my dad — the pickiest eater in the family (?) — finished everything and said let's come again. Success haha.

If you're looking for somewhere to take your parents in Goyang, or a Goyang family restaurant where you can eat generously together, I'd recommend Jimidang Ilsan Main Branch. My family will probably be back again.🫶 Cleaned our plates today too!