Icheon Korean restaurant for marinated beef ribs: Neul Gogi Jip

Jurogue, eating record

A place I visited on a day off. We dropped our child at daycare together in the morning, spent a relaxed two hours at a café (two hours really flies by lol), picked up Dodam, and went here together.

We went for meat, but the table came loaded with far more side dishes than expected, so we got a proper Korean set meal too. It really made me think ribs should be eaten at a specialist restaurant, haha. The charcoal-grilled ribs were that good! We ordered bowls of rice too and left absolutely full after eating meat and rice together.

Getting to Neul Gogi Jip Icheon Main Branch and hours

We zoomed over by car. It is open from 11:00 AM to 9:30 PM.

This is what the exterior looks like.

It has serious meat-specialist vibes. Let’s go on in!

The parking area is this roomy. I do not think you need to worry about parking, haha.

Inside, with private rooms and stroller-friendly seating

The interior was neat like this. Every chair looked really comfortable, the tables were well spaced, and there were lots of them!

There were private dining rooms like this too. It seemed like you could have a private work dinner in one! We want to have our work dinner here too...

Each table had an extractor, which was great because there was not much smoke. The rooms would work for family gatherings, group get-togethers, or work dinners.

We brought a stroller, so we sat like this. They also have baby chairs, so it is a good option with a baby.

Korean dishes and rib options

The Korean set meals include a spicy pork ssambap (rice served with wrap vegetables) set and a marinated crab set, while the meat options include fresh beef ribs, marinated beef ribs, and pork ribs.

Meal dishes include soybean paste stew, mul naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles in broth), and bibim naengmyeon (spicy mixed cold noodles). The menu is divided into Korean dishes and meat dishes: the Korean section has things like a spicy pork and crab set, while the meat section has beef and pork ribs. The beef ribs come fresh or marinated.

A full spread of marinated beef ribs and marinated raw crab

We ordered the marinated beef ribs and marinated raw crab.

One unusual thing: they even served pH 7.4 alkaline water. It somehow had an impressive presence.

This was the self-service vegetable bar, with all kinds of wraps: perilla leaves, lettuce, cabbage, napa cabbage, and more. I do not think I have ever seen a barbecue place with this many wrap vegetables... Those meat-specialist vibes really were there. You could also refill kimchi, ssamjang (seasoned soybean dipping paste), garlic, and more here.

Our order arrives.

Side dishes filling the whole table: fried tofu in sauce, marinated raw crab, onions, japchae, and more.

This fried tofu in sauce was seriously delicious. I kept picking at it before the meat was cooked, lol.

And the marinated raw crab. We ordered extra, though it seemed to come as part of the basic spread too? The seasoning was sweet and tasty.

Then the marinated beef ribs arrived. The beef ribs looked gorgeous, heavily coated in a garlicky marinade—the kind of visual that looks delicious at first glance.

And the marinated raw crab too—the savory depth of its sauce was definitely on another level. Eat lots of onions with it.

The delicious fried tofu in sauce.

This looked a bit like jellyfish? It went well with the tangy sauce. The japchae was a great combination of glass noodles, onions, carrots, and vegetables.

This was tasty too. Shall we grill the meat?

At this great Icheon rib spot, they grilled it beautifully for us. Meat grilled over charcoal is honestly the kind of thing that cannot not be delicious, but it really was delicious.

It had a slightly chewy texture, which made every bite extra satisfying, and the marinade had soaked right in.

I ate it endlessly with onions.

When you want ribs and a Korean set meal together

If you want a proper Korean set meal and meat together, this is somewhere I definitely want to recommend. Neul Gogi Jip Icheon Main Branch was great for family gatherings and work dinners.

The large restaurant and spacious parking were a plus, and the private rooms made it nice for gatherings too! Above all, the ribs were so good that I could not stop eating them, haha. I want them again... rib love...

The crab was delicious too, so coming back just for a Korean set meal would probably be nice—but the meat was so good that I think I would still keep thinking about it, lol. There were also sooo many wrap vegetables, so we could make generous ssam wraps!