Yeonnam-dong restaurant for a friends’ pasta dinner: Hey Joji

I visited Hey Joji (헤이죠지), a popular spot in Yeonnam-dong.

I went for a get-together with a friend, and this Yeonnam-dong pasta place had an atmospheric interior that felt like an American home-style restaurant. It was a great space for talking.

Hey Joji location and hours

For navigation, use Hey Joji, 1F, 42-24 Donggyo-ro 46-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul.

By public transit, it is within walking distance of Exit 3 of Hongik University Station, served by Line 2, the Airport Railroad, and the Gyeongui–Jungang Line. Parking is unavailable, so I used a nearby public parking lot.

It is open daily from 12:00 to 21:00, with last orders at 20:00. I heard it is open throughout Lunar New Year, too~!

A comfortable space for a Yeonnam-dong dinner gathering

I had a dinner gathering in Yeonnam-dong. After taking photos, trying claw machines, and wandering around on our date, my friend and I settled in for a meal, and it was easy to talk comfortably. The tables at Hey Joji are well separated and roomy, which is nice for pasta in Yeonnam-dong.

Many date-focused places in Yeonnam-dong have small tables or dim lighting, but Hey Joji also has proper meal options like pasta and risotto.

The warm interior makes it a fitting choice for a friends’ get-together or a Yeonnam-dong food-date spot. The menu is filling enough for chatting over a meal with friends, and the route works conveniently for a date before or after eating, too.

An American home-style atmosphere and QR ordering

Looking at the information on its detail page, Hey Joji is an American home-style restaurant concept in Yeonnam-dong. There are cute little decorative pieces, and the overall mood feels both exotic and warm.

The menu is nicely straightforward whether you are meeting friends, dining as a couple, or going on a blind date.

You order at the table with a QR code. Naver Place also explains the menu well, and since everyone can view it on their own phone, it is an easy way to choose.

As an American home-style restaurant, it had a varied selection that works well for a meal: pasta, risotto, French fries, and sweet potato fries as sides. I love seafood, and there were pasta dishes with seafood too; the sauces and toppings paired well in both the pasta and risotto.

Both the dishes and the plates had that photogenic, aesthetic feel, so they were great for pictures and for leaving friends with photos from the get-together.

Pasta and risotto shared with a friend

• Garlic Squid Oil Pasta
• Bocconcini Tomato Pasta
• Jambalaya Risotto
• Sweet Potato Fries

With two pastas, one risotto, and a side, it was a nice spread to share with a friend. The Bocconcini Tomato Pasta was an easy, reliable choice if you like tomato pasta.

The cheese added a richer note to the characteristic sweet-and-tangy tomato sauce, and there was plenty of sauce, so it stayed tasty to the end. The cheese seemed to soften the acidity of the tomatoes, making the pairing work really well.

The jambalaya risotto combined jambalaya’s signature spicy, salty flavor with a thick, creamy risotto. While the tomato pasta had a bright tomato taste, the jambalaya risotto was richer and more punchy, so the combination worked well. The Garlic Squid Oil Pasta was savory too, and sharing several dishes with my friend was delicious.

Sweet-and-salty sweet potato fries

I was so glad we ordered the sweet potato fries—they are the kind of flavor I would think of as a snack even on an ordinary day. The crisp-fried sweet potatoes were finished with savory seasoning, making a lovely sweet-and-salty combination.

Hey Joji does not have a separate break time, so it is also nice for meeting up during that awkward gap between lunch and dinner in Yeonnam-dong.