Chuncheon sushi buffet with sweet potato pizza and yakiudon: QooQoo

Back at QooQoo Chuncheon Branch for the first time since high school

This was my first visit to QooQoo in Chuncheon since high school. Back then I was pretty disappointed, so I'd stayed away ever since — but when my family wanted to go out for a buffet again, I found myself weighing Ashley versus QooQoo, and QooQoo won.

We went on a Thursday evening and got in without any wait at all — they sat the four of us at a roomy six-person table.

How to get to QooQoo Chuncheon Branch under the Two Top City CGV

QooQoo is on the basement level of the Two Top City CGV building — get off the elevator, turn right, and you'll spot the big sign right away.

When we visited, they were running an "Autumn Discount Party." We'd come with no real plan, so hearing about the discount was a nice surprise.

The moment we sat down, two of us bolted straight for the food — like they were about to clear out every last piece of sushi.

Is the food still fresh at a weekday dinner?

I worried that on a quiet Thursday night, turnover would be slow and the food wouldn't be as fresh. But contrary to my worries, everything at QooQoo Chuncheon was in great shape.

The dessert lineup was noticeably bigger than my last visit, which made me want to hurry through the meal to get to it. Eight flavors of gelato is genuinely serious — you can tell QooQoo has been putting real effort into dessert.

First plate at QooQoo Chuncheon: nothing but sushi

I don't really go for fried food or pizza at buffets, so my first plate was packed entirely with sushi. My top picks were fluke sushi and salmon sushi. I also always grab a taco wasabi gunkan (spicy tuna wasabi roll) at any sushi place, even though I'm not wild about it. I usually love the soy-marinated shrimp sushi too, but this time it was sweeter than I expected — not my thing, whether that's my tastes changing or the recipe itself.

Best dish of the night: sweet potato pizza, then yakiudon

For my second plate, it felt wrong to a buffet to load up on sushi alone, so I grabbed takoyaki, sweet potato pizza(?), and yakiudon (stir-fried udon) too. I'd said earlier I don't eat pizza, but the sweet potato got the better of me.

The sweet potato pizza, which I had zero expectations for, ended up being the best thing I ate all night — the sweetness of the sweet potato and the cheese were a perfect match. Yakiudon came in second. It was so good I forced my family to try it (gangmeok — forced feeding), but they weren't that into it, probably because they were already full. The takoyaki also surprised me — it looked like it might be dry and bland, but it was moist inside with real bites of octopus, and genuinely tasty.

Three plates is my personal limit, so I did feel a bit like I wasn't getting my money's worth — but my dad must have gone through eight plates or more. He'd more than made back the entrance fee, so I felt fine about it. Buffets tend to be heavy on greasy food, so I mostly stuck to sushi.

Finishing with marble ice cream and coffee

I hadn't noticed the marble ice cream on my last visit. As a kid, it was too pricey to even ask my parents for. Feeling like a millionaire reliving that childhood dream, I went ahead and polished off two bowls.

And of course, coffee to finish — the perfect palate cleanser. While my family was still eating, I poured myself a cup and went to sit down, only for my mom to snatch it away. I poured myself another, went back to grab dessert to share, and by the time I returned, my dad was already drinking it.

Is QooQoo Chuncheon better than it used to be?

It had been a while since our family ate out together. Everyone has such different tastes that picking a restaurant becomes exhausting, so we'd been eating out less and less. This time we landed on the buffet, QooQoo — and between the variety of food and desserts and the general feeling of "we're out for a proper meal," it turned into a small but genuinely happy dinner.

I was satisfied to see QooQoo has clearly improved from a few years back. The staff were kind and cleared empty plates from the table quickly, which made the whole meal easy and comfortable. It's not in the photos, but there's a playroom for kids too, so it'd be a good pick if you're bringing children along. I'll keep in mind that things might be different during busier hours, and plan to come back.