Gumi restaurant with 5pm walk-in room seats: Irojeong loach soup

Since I was back at my parents' place, I took them out for a proper nourishing meal :) I'm not usually the type to seek out loach soup on my own, but my parents love it, and with the weather turning, I thought a warm bowl of it would do us all good. This time we visited Irojeong Geumosan Direct Branch!

Since it's a fairly new place, the whole restaurant felt really clean, and the menu was more varied than I expected — a good spot even to bring someone who doesn't usually eat loach soup.

Bottom line up front... I don't even like loach soup and I still ate it face-first hahaha.

Arriving at 5pm: is there a wait for a private room at Irojeong Geumosan?

Irojeong Geumosan Direct Branch has a break time, so we timed our visit for 5pm. We hadn't made a reservation, but the moment 5pm hit and we walked in, we were seated straight into a room. Not long after we sat down, though, other guests started streaming in until the place was nearly full! Clearly a lot of people bring their parents here. What I especially liked was that there's room seating.

When eating with my parents, I always want a quiet spot where we can talk comfortably, so having a room made it feel perfect for a family gathering, a parent's birthday, or just a regular meal. There were also baby chairs ready, so it looked easy to visit with kids too.

Irojeong's waiting café, kids' play area and free dessert snacks

On one side of Irojeong Geumosan Direct Branch there's a café space and a kids' play area for waiting guests — you could tell a lot of thought went into families visiting. And that café space turned out to be my parents' favorite part of the whole meal.

There's an area you can use after eating with tea and snacks laid out, plus healthy desserts like sujeonggwa (cinnamon-persimmon punch) and sweet pumpkin sikhye (rice drink).

My parents' generation loves this kind of thing haha. Getting to top off a meal with something sweet made me really glad I brought them along.

There was also a separate self-serve bar, neatly stocked with everything from thin noodles to Shine Muscat grapes and various side dishes. You could take as much as you wanted, which was great for mixing and matching.

Ordering three sanghwang mushroom loach soup sets with pork and an octopus pancake

We ordered three sanghwang mushroom loach soup sets with boiled pork, plus an octopus seafood pancake with a whole octopus on top.

Our sanghwang mushroom loach soup set first arrived as a generous full spread. I'd only been thinking about the loach soup, but the table was actually packed. Boiled pork, japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), salad, sweet potato fritters, loach fritters — every side dish was nicely plated and looked great too.

The boiled pork especially was soft and clean-tasting, a good bite before the soup, and the japchae wasn't over-seasoned, so my parents enjoyed it a lot.

The sweet potato fritters were crispy and sweet, so I kept reaching for more haha. And with the loach fritters on top of that, ordering just one set still got us a nice variety of food.

When I eat with my parents, they tend to prefer lots of small dishes over one big plate, and this hit that exactly.

How big is the loach soup and how rich is the broth, judged by a loach soup sceptic?

Finally, the three bowls of loach soup arrived. My first thought looking at the bowls was — wait, that's a lot? And yes, the portions really were generous.

It was big enough that two people could easily share one bowl, so if you don't eat much, splitting a bowl would be totally fine. Honestly, I don't usually go for loach soup because of its particular flavor, but this day genuinely surprised me. The broth was rich and thick, and once I mixed rice into it, it was way tastier than I expected.

I'd planned to only eat a little and let my parents have the rest, but at some point I realized I was the one eating the most hahaha. The broth was so rich it went perfectly with rice, and eating it hot really did feel like a proper nourishing meal. Even someone who doesn't usually eat loach soup enjoyed it this much — now I get why my parents love it.

The whole-octopus seafood pancake ordered as a side

And then the octopus seafood pancake we ordered as a side! The visual alone was shocking the second it arrived. True to its name, a whole octopus sat right on top! With the octopus laid across the pancake, it looked impressively hearty, and it was big enough for the whole family to share.

The outside was crispy and the inside chewy, and eating it together with the octopus gave it a great bite. I especially loved dipping it in chojang (vinegar-chili sauce) — crispy pancake, chewy octopus, a light dip of chojang, and honestly that combo was just amazing 😋

It paired better with the loach soup than I expected, too. A spoonful of hot, rich soup, then a crispy bite of the pancake — it just kept going. We ended up stuffed again that day haha.

Is Irojeong Geumosan a good spot to bring your parents?

Since it had been a while since I visited my parents and ate with them, the whole meal just felt extra good. Best of all, my dad said mid-meal that this would be a great spot for a gathering, and I felt weirdly proud haha. With the room seating, the variety of dishes, the clean interior, and even the waiting area, café, and kids' play space, it seemed like a comfortable place for families to visit.

When I'm eating with my parents, the food matters, but so does whether the older generation can eat comfortably in that atmosphere — and this place delivered on both. Even someone like me, who doesn't usually enjoy loach soup, ate it happily here, and this visit genuinely changed how I feel about it haha. A day of eating a good nourishing meal with my parents after a while, and leaving completely full!

If you're looking for a good loach soup restaurant in Gumi, a family dining spot to bring your parents, or a Korean restaurant with rooms, Irojeong Geumosan Direct Branch is worth a visit :) My family already said we should try other menu items next time haha.