So Gong Dong

This is my new favorite korean spot. I had the soondubu jjigae seafood ramen and my bf had seafood bibimbap on a hotstone plate. Omggg it was so good. Even the side dishes were all on point. As soon we walked in, we were greeted, seated and given water and the menu. The servers were always around and very attentive. When the food came out, they kindly checked our side dishes once awhile and refilled our drinks politely throughout the meal. The atmosphere is cute! Very simple and clean with korean accents on their wall and lighting.
Definitely coming here again to try more things off the menu. I love how its located in a plaza so parking is great. And if you’re going up or down rt70, its near an easy access to u-​turn when going home.
I’ve read some other reviews here about the spice level and I do somewhat agree. I ordered a #3 regular spicy but it wasn’t as spicy as I was used to. That’s not the restaurant’s fault so if you’re into spicy go up a level and try that.
Other than that, I highly recommend the food and service here. Will come back soon (:

Price was ok. $ 11.95 for soon Dubu (soft tofu) but the fast service is what we liked most. We were in a hurry and they accommodated the speedy service. It felt like it was just as fast as fast food restaurant. I had the soft tofu hot pot soup ordered to mild spicy #2 and ordered a plain hot pot rice which was good. I love the noo roong ji (which is the browned/​seared rice at the bottom of the hot bowl.) mmm mm good.

Ventured into So Gong Dong on a caprice for lunch. Decided to mix it up and why not some Korean?
So Gong Dong is very nice inside, especially considering its location in a pedestrian strip mall. The interior is decorated very nicely with Korea Shoji screens, cool wallpaper, and tile floors. The lighting was good also and the restaurant seemed spotlessly clean.
My review is for lunch only and So Gong Dong does have a lunch special menu but it is pretty small. I took the easy route and ordered the Bulgogi lunch box. This was very reasonable at $ 7.00 and came with and appetizer of Miso soup and a pickled cabbage side dish. The lunch box itself came with rice, a generous portion of Chicken Bulgogi, pickled vegetables and a thin rice cake side. I wasn’t a fan of rice cake thing but the pickled vegetables were good. I used to work with a large Korean company and I know Korean’s like their heat or spice in some foods. My Bulgogi was very good and packed a nice punch. My forehead was body were sweating! It wasn’t unbearable spice; it just crept up on me. If you like spicy, this is the place for you.
The people that waited on me were extremely friendly and pleasant. Tea is also included in the lunch price. For $ 7.00 it was a great value. In all honesty, although I love all kinds of Asian foods, Korean is not my favorite. I don’t think I will be putting So Gong Dong on my regular Cherry Hill/​Marlton lunch rotation but it was a nice and spicy change of pace.
3.5 Unilocal stars for lunch.

This place was amazing. The food and service was on point. My only complaint was their spiciness rating. I ordered like a 3 stars and it was no where near spicy. I guess it’s leveled down to suit the general population.

After living in NJ for a 1.5 years, we can finally say that we’ve found a legit Korean restaurant w/​amazing banchan and food! HOORAY!!!
Clean and modern décor. Not stinky or smokey like typical Korean restaurants w/​BBQ. This place doesn’t do BBQ grills, btw and I’m A-​OK with that. The menu is straightforward and easy to depict. Only thing I wish they had was mackerel fish. That’s our J A M. But it’s okay because everything else was yummy.
SERVICE — A+ — friendly & fast! They were all very attentive.
FOOD — the banchan is all around DELICIOUS! Love love love the pickled radish and cucumber kimchi. Never had a refreshing cabbage slaw like theirs before, yum.
For lunch, we ordered:
Kimchi Pancakes — delicious, crunchy, good amount of kimchi, and the dipping sauce was out of this world! It was the perfect blend of sweet, salty, sour. Need to figure out how to make this sauce ASAP.
Kalbi + Soondubu lunch combo — the server cuts the meat off of the bones for you with a pair of scissors… talk about service. The meat was tender and flavorful. Can definitely taste their distinctive marinade. The soondubu was delightful. Silken tofu with a beef and kimchi broth. YUM.
Hubby and I definitely left happy and satisfied. I definitely recommend you guys come try out this place. We are so happy to have finally found a delicious Korean spot. It is very reminiscent of BCD Tofu house chain, if yall are familiar with that restaurant. We love BCD tofu house. This place is also a chain, but nothing wrong with that b/​c their food and flavors are on point. Will definitely come back.

So dang good So Gong Dong! Even though it’s a chain, we thoroughly enjoyed our meal here. It was the lure of soft tofu hot pot that initially called out to us… And it was good. I appreciated a 4 in spice level (out of 5) actually had some heat to it. The stone bowl rice includes quinoa I think. Healthier but it does change the taste obviously. But it was the jap chae and seafood pancake & endless banchan that won us over in the end.
Lunch specials were reasonable & we fed 2 big people and a little guy who eats like a big guy for $ 40 with lots of leftovers to spare!

Ordered the kalbi and spicy tofu soup dish. Did now like the marinate for kalbi and the tofu dish had can clams. I measure all my korean restaurants with these two dishes, they’re my favorites. This place did not live up to my expectations. Atmosphere is good, looks like a high school and/​or college student spot. My wife and I went on a saturday night. Good experience but probably will not go back.

I dig the simple menu and how they do, indeed, keep your banchan dishes filled. I agree with another Unilocaler on how their kimchi is particularly good.
Level 5 (hottest) spicy clam soondubu hit the spot on a cold winter evening. Get the rice to acccompany – the crispy smoky bottom from the hot stone bowl is so good.
If you like and can usually handle heat, go level 5. It was perfect in a sense that it was spicy hot without feeling like I was at war with my stew. It was enjoyable.
I had enough to take home. Will come back when another hankering hits.
PS: be prepared for your sinuses to clear. ;)

Here again for the sixths time since opening. Still love the atmosphere and the foods. Excellent customer service as usual. This is an update review from my initial review. Still love this place. Unlimited refills on condiments are one of their exceptional services we received everytime we are here.

So happy that this place opened up nearby! I ordered takeout and waited no longer than 15 minutes for a HUGE bag of food. They offered me hot tea while I was waiting and everyone was super friendly.
The food itself was delicious. We got a kimchi scallion pancake, which was insanely big and so tasty. The beef bibimbap was also the perfect size and really good!
Definitely recommend this restaurant!

heck yea i’m a fan!
they may have a limited menu~ but what i really enjoy about this place is the service. the staff always attend to their customers with a smile~ and they always make you feel very welcome.
the food is solid! the seafood pajun is done very well! and free refills on the side dishes! i only wish they extend the lunch specials to the weekend too…
i have yet to try the kalbi but the portion looks mighty generous! that and the soodobu sound like the perfect winter grub combo. looking forward to it! yummm

Good soondubu and delicious banchan. I love the stone-​pot rice that comes with it, and making the soupy rice concoction (nurungji) afterwards. Over all, a satisfying, homestyle meal that has you leaving full and happy.
I’ve had both regular soondubu (served with rice) and ramen soondubu here. I definitely recommend sticking to the regular. The ramen continues to cook and soak in the soup so by the time you’re about halfway through your meal, the ramen has already turned into mush.

Seeing a soon doobu place let alone a Korean restaurant in South Jersey was welcoming. Especially after driving cross country from SoCal thru middle America (where people clump sushi and Chinese under one roof) I definitely craved some home cooking.
I had my doubts and I chuckled at first when I saw the restaurant initially but I was actually impressed.
Very traditional and taste was on par… They don’t skimp on banchan or the main dish (I ordered the mix tofu) decent portion size and service was attentive and good.
I’ll give it 4… just cause I have had so many in my lifetime and I have to reserve that for like mind blowing good ;)

We’ve been here twice and they serve solid beef short ribs and bibimbap. The ribs were a bit on the sweeter side compared to other places around the area. They do charge minimal $ for a hot stone with your bibimbap. The staff are prompt and will cut your meat if you ask. The menu is simple but serve a variety within each. We’ve also tried the pan-​fried dumplings, they were standard and nothing special. The restaurant itself is clean and you don’t carry the stench of food too much after your meal.

I moved to South Jersey last year and it’s been hard finding a decent to good Korean restaurant in our area. Very limited options in general.
One day, I heard from a friend about So Gong Dong which was a familiar name since it’s a franchise in multiple states.
Two of us went to check it out and I was surprised to see a noodle option with the soondubu (traditional Korean tofu soup). You can choose between rice, ramen, or kalgooksu noodles!!! I’ve been to many soondubu restaurants and never experienced these options so that was pretty interesting. I love spicy food but thought the levels of spice are a little higher than expected so I would recommend going slightly below than what you think you can handle. Luckily the food was pretty good too so I’ll definitely be coming back whenever I get my next craving for Korean food and don’t want to drive a far distance. The only thing I wanted to note here is that So Gong Dong is not your typical Korean BBQ restaurant with a large menu with variety of options. This restaurant generally specializes in tofu soup and dolsot bibimbap so if you’re looking for traditional Korean BBQ this place may not be the place to start off with.

Excited to have a new Korean place in town. This byob’s menu includes all the standards but is pretty small. They were extremely accommodating to our large party of almost 20 people; waters were constantly refilled and the manager came out to ask us how our meal was.
The meal started off on a shaky foot. We tried to order two staples: chap chae and spicy chicken bulgolgi, but they were all out. Disappointed, we swapped with cold noodle soup and regular chicken bulgogi to respectively replace those dishes. In addition, we ordered kimchi pancake to start, as well as pork bibimbop, mushroom and seafood soon dubu.
The banchan was more limited than at Dolsot House (on the opposite end of Rt 70) but the quality was there. The kimchi tastes pretty fresh and has a good kick. They also automatically refill the small dishes as you finish them!
The pancake didn’t blow us away. We’ve been searching for a seriously crunchy one and have yet to find it. We ordered Level 5 spiciness for our soon dubus, and they were pretty hot! The flavor was out of control, in a good way. For the mushroom one, I had wished for a variety of shrooms but found only shiitake. The crusty hot stone dish rice on the bibimbop was delicious though there could have been more/​bigger pieces of pork in it. The regular chicken bulgogi had a very sweet flavor to it that I didn’t really enjoy; it made me wish for the unavailable spicy version even more. The sides of rice came in hot stone bowls, which we were excited about, but found that the bottom stuck to the bowl instead of having a great crust to it.
One special we were excited for was the cold noodle soup since it’s not available everywhere. Pro tip: add several drops of the accompanying mustard into the icy broth. It cuts the sweetness of it. For me, their particular broth was a bit too vinegar-​y.

Ten of us were heading back to Philly after a day at Six Flags, and our friend recommended this place to us. Menu is limited to four categories (soondubu, bibimbap, Korean BBQ and dumplings/​pancakes), but I liked that there were lots of varieties of soondubu and bibimbap! I got the beef and seafood soondubu with kalguksu (flat knife-​cut noodles) — yep, this place gives you options (kalguksu and ramen) other than the usual rice that comes with soondubu! Not that there’s anything wrong with rice, but I was excited to try something new (plus, I looove noodles). The noodles were perfectly chewy and the stew was delicious, but I do wish there was more seafood! But overall, the portions are big for what you’re paying (I don’t remember exactly how much — but it was a good deal), and they’re really generous with refilling the banchan which was some of the best I’ve ever had. Some of my friends got the bibimbap on the hot stone plate, and that looked amazing as well.
The servers and owner were all really nice. And they let us use up to six credit cards! The place got pretty packed soon after we arrived so I’m glad we made a reservation.
My only gripe is that they didn’t give us eggs to drop into the stew, so I’m not sure if that’s just not included (which would be a little odd) or if the kitchen just forgot?

We stopped into SGD DUBU or So Gong Dong — Tofu & BBQ tonight. It’s in the space formerly occupied by Sengyo. The space has been renovated and is beautiful, open and bright. Service was good and tea and five assorted banchan were brought to the table. All delicious dishes and a great start to the meal.
The very limited menu has four basic sections Soonddubu (or soft tofu stew), Bi Bim Bap (mixed rice) Korean BBQ which is really just versions of bulgogi (grilled, marinated meat) and a Special section that consists of Korean savory pancake (jeon, chon, buchimgae, jijimgae, or jijim), Japchae (noodles) or pan-​fried dumpling.
Most of the dishes offer meat, seafood or vegetarian options and we ordered the Seafood Soondubu Jigae with Hot Stone Bowl Rice and the Clam Soondubu with Kalguksu or Korean wheat noodles. Ramen-​style noodles and Hot Stone Bowl Rice are the other two choices for accompaniments.
The Seafood Soondubu unfortunately did not look as sumptuous as the picture and it did not have a lot of seafood in it but it was brought with a raw egg to crack into the sizzling, bubbling broth. It was in a bowl about ½ smaller than my Soondubu with Clams. The Hot Stone Rice was brought in a blazing hot dolsot or stone bowl and for some reason, they have mixed quinoa in with the rice. Not bad, but not very traditional and to me, it was an odd addition.
My Soondubu was good, had plenty of soft tofu and about 5 small clams in the shell. I had requested «Korean Spicy» out of the 5 levels of spiciness and it was not anywhere near as spicy hot as I expected and I would rate it a 2 out of 5 for spice.
The dinner bill for two was $ 25 so it was very reasonable and for what we had — it would have been a great lunch. I think it would be a great option for a quick, reasonable lunch or dinner but it will not likely be a frequent destination due to the limited menu and the discrepancy between the advertised dish and the actual dish which is unfortunate albeit tasty.

Wonderful Korean spot! Clean, comfortable and inexpensive! We went there for dinner last night and had tofu with seafood, seafood pancake and BBQ short ribs. And free side dish through the whole time. Very nice service. Will come back again!

Love love love this place! I ordered the chicken bibimbop, and beef dumplings. The dumplings were full of flavor and came with a light dipping sauce. So good! The chicken bibimbop came with egg drop soup, and I ordered the meal in a regular bowl which came piled high with cold veggies and a side of white rice. I recommend ordering it in the hot bowl, but both are delicious. The veggies all tasted so fresh and flavorful! Excellent food overall!
As for the service, it was average — but the staff made up for it. They were all very kind and sweet, and even laughed at all of our cheesy jokes. And they had a few jokes up their sleeves too! I would go back to this place just to see the staff, they were so sweet!
Its tough to find a Korean BBQ restaurant that sits well in your stomach and leaves you satisfied without feeling bloated. This place definitely left us very satisfied, but not at all bloated. Authentic Korean cuisine, excellent price point, and an awesome staff. Love it, good luck to them and I hope they succeed!