So Gong Dong Tofu & BBQ

This is a newer and pretty good valued Korean place that specializes in soondubu-​jjigae or soft tofu stew. Dinner is only $ 10.99 and includes a variety of banchan (6). Wife had mixed (seafood and beef) soondubu-​jjigae with ramen option. I had beef soondubu-​jjigae with the stone rice bowl option (which comes with a raw egg to go into the stew). The servings came out quite quickly and were sizzling hot stews. They must have a bunch of base stock ready to go at all times. I was thinking what a nightmare and liability it would be if a server ever spilled one of those and for that reason I would not recommend bringing any young kids here, just saying.
They have 5 spiciness levels and #3 regular was just fine for us, and I really would not have wanted jalapenos added to get to #4 level. The stew warms you up and would be a particularly good meal in fall or winter. Our dinner was quite adequate, but with the banchan and tofu based meal, it still felt to me more like a vegetarian meal and not one where you feel stuffed. It would make a particularly nice meal if you wanted just a lighter touch for lunch or dinner. The place is casual and can get quite loud.

Love the tofu here, i always get spicy mix of seafood and beef and the seafood pancake. Its a bit costly ($ 11 – 12). Their service is always on par and you can order unlimited sides without feeling like youre asking too much. Theyre generous about it. Its always crowded during the weekends as expected.
Note the parking here sucks though

Love this place. Great food super friendly staff. Go at least once a month. Nothing like it

Awesome food… super clean and spacious… service is the best anyone will find in Korean restaurant. Simple menu, reasonable price, attentive staff, rice is super perfect, can eat with rice noodle or ramen depending on your preference. A ton of tofu in the soup.
One.suggestion would be to put a tad more seafood, beef or clam… whatever type of tofu soup, may seem skimpy but big enough portion. Maybe becausema lunch menu? I couldn’t finish all, nor the rice. My husband who usually finishes my bowl of rice didn’t want extra. he had plenty so it’s a good portion size. Side dishes are clean and plenty and DELISH! Definitely will be back with kids… gotta try the seafood pancake and bibimbop.

The place is very busy. But the wait is not bad at all. Easy for us it’s just me and my cousin so table will be faster. Menu doesn’t have that choice but for me it’s a good thing simple menu and good food equals happy clients!
Me and my cousin had been craving for some ramen. Both of us were visiting for our cousins wedding and were kinda getting tired of the same food around. So decided to go to the closest place where we can get some ramen instead of burger, fries, and salad! And this is the closest place where they have the dinner rehearsal.
Easy to order you can choose of of the ingredients whatever you like. Then you can choose the level of spicy and then the last part is if you want ramen or other stuff. No this so special about the ramen that we have but all I can say is that the noodles is good and if you like spicy food this is one good for you. You’ll shed sweat after having this one! One thing that I like about the place is that they offer free hot tea and service was fast! And unlimited side!
Prize is perfect and location is at a plaza so while you go shop around or getting some spa hit this place before heading home!

Best place to go on a cold, rainy day. Tofu soup (soondubu) is one of my favorite soup food item to get when I’m feeling cold, sick, or sad. And this is my favorite place to go get it from near the Chicago area.
Lunch special runs on weekdays until 3 PM and it’s $ 1 cheaper than dinner price. My go to orders for this place are either the seafood or mixed tofu soup, regular spicy, with the hot stone rice bowl. If I’m feeling adventurous, I would bump up the spicy level to spicy but regular is just perfect for me.
Their banchan (side dishes) are always consistent and delicious. They consist of a salad, pickled cucumbers, kimchi, bean sprout, pickled daikon, and the fish cake. Don’t be afraid to ask for more if you run out of these items!
I also love their tea here! I want to say it’s barley tea and it’s oh so delicious!

The Order:
Soon-​Dubu Mixed (Beef and Seafood), Very Spicy, No Rice
The Cost:
$ 9.99+tax
The Review:
OMG, this is the best Soon-​Dubu I have ever had. And the large portions of Bön Chon are very spicy and tasty. Don’t be afraid to ask for more, because they will bring it out to you. Get the mixed or seafood version of the soup, because it has an anchovy broth versus beef. I come here at least 1 – 2 times a week for lunch, and I just love this place.
I rarely give 5 stars on Unilocal,but this place definitely deserves it.

Service and food has really gotten better over the year. They are very generous with side dish portions and super attentive to customers even though it gets really busy all the time. I honestly come here for the side dishes because they’re so good and complimentary to the soondubu.
Right when I sat down, my server brought me both hot tea AND ice water even though I didn’t ask for both. That’s really attentive of them because at all other restaurants I always have to ask for cold water.
One star off is for the eggs for the soondubu because they never cook all the way at this restaurant (I think because the eggs come out cold?) so I don’t add it to my soup. I don’t like undercooked eggs since it changes the broth.
I always get seafood soondubu and they have increased the amount of seafood in it.

Heard this place has really good soon dooboo so I came to check it out.
We all ordered mixed soon dooboo (mixed meat and seafood), spicy #4 and seafood pahjeun.
Everything was so good. Perfectly spicy soon dooboo with a lot of seafood and meat. There’s clams, shrimp, beef, oyster. Had a great seafood flavor. The pahjeun was seasoned really nicely and was crispy on both sides.
The food came out super fast and super hot. The banchan is also really good. The gutjori (type of kimchi) and the cucumber kimchi was my favorite!
The food is amazing, the service is awesome too. The servers are very attentive and basically refill water before we asked even though it was pretty busy.
Highly recommend to anyone that is looking for a good soon dooboo place. Seems like this place is common on the east coast, mostly New Jersey and New York. So glad there’s one of these here now :)

Very good tofu to place to warm belly in cold winter months. I tried the bibimbap for first time without the stone bowl and it was not good.
Come here for tofu and the rest of entrees can be hit or miss.
Overall pretty quick service and good tofu!

Was really feeling some soon doo bu (hot tofu soup) so I made the trip from lombard to so gong dong. I’ve heard of this place since I was living in New Jersey when I was young. I was a fan of the mixed soon doo bu but the hae mool pa jun (sea food pancake) had a lot more flour-​i-​ness to it. But knowing the area for the lack of korean food (good places at least) around Chicago, I think this is one of the more legitimate places I’ve been to. Would go again.

This is my 2^nd time here. I really enjoyed my first time here. This time was disappointing. I came with my parents. The waiter that seated us gave my parents hot tea and just gave me a cup of water without asking me. Like, excuse me??? Is it because I’m a «child»? Do I look like a kid to you? What, kids can’t enjoy hot tea? Wow. Kinda pissed me off. He should’ve asked us what we wanted to drink instead of just making assumptions. Then he asked us what we wanted, and all 3 of us wanted soondubu. He asked us how spicy we wanted, and I, still pissed, requested mine to be spicy. Well, it wasn’t spicy at all & I normally enjoy my food spicy. Slightly disappointed.

Luckily my +1, who suggested So Gong Dong, is a versed Foodie, because my Korean food experience had been limited to BBQ!
His go-​to is the Mixed (beef + seafood) Soondubu with the hot stone rice bowl ($ 11), so I went with the same. I ordered mine Regular Spicy.
It’s a different way of eating than I’m used to: chopsticks are pretty much only for the sides! You use your spoon to scoop rice from the stone bowl and into your personal bowl. Then you use the spoon to scoop out a partial spoonful of rice, scoop up some of the food in the tofu pot, and eat.
It was pretty good — I like the soft tofu — but there wasn’t ANY spice to my dish. I also thought there would be more beef and seafood. I got 2 little mussels, 1 shrimp (not prawn with head like he did, or a baby octopus.), and 3 small pieces of beef. Thank goodness for the egg! The sides were tasty, and the rice was awesome!
I’m not sure if the quantity was typical, but it was a healthy meal for what turned out to be about $ 15 (w/​tip) apiece.
Service was sporadic, but I guess that’s typical. We DID get water refills without asking, extra napkins, and tea for the leftover rice stuck in the hot stone pot.
The bathroom was clean. There was even a little sign by the door saying that, if you use a paper towel to hold the handle, there’s a bin outside the door. :)
I’d return, but would order the seafood bowl and ensure it’s spicy next time!

Looking for some new dining experiences and adventure, we set out to try a cuisine we have never tasted. Korean BBQ. You might ask what can a gluten-​free vegetarian can eat at a Korean barbecue? I asked myself the same question, checked my trusty Unilocal app, and headed to Glenview to visit this recommended restaurant.
After being warmly greeted upon entering, we noticed that the entire restaurant was filled with local Korean diners. We knew that the food must be excellent. The restaurant wasn’t too loud, but it was crowded. The Décor is clean and modern and you can tell care was a priority for all employees. We quickly told the waiter that we had never eaten Korean food, and, told him about our dietary restrictions. With a happy tone, he pointed us towards a perfect dish composed of rice and vegetables served on a really really hot stone plate. I mean really hot, so don’t bring a curious child that might reach out and touch it. The food we ate was all amazingly fresh, delicious, and flavorful. They load your table with a great assortment of complimentary appetizers. Each time the dish ran low, it was refilled. The same can be said about our water glasses. The tea was tasty. They don’t serve alcohol. The entire experience was fabulous and fun. We left knowing we’d return and questioned why have we not explored further into different cuisines? The adventure will continue. Thanks So Gong Dong! If you’re looking to try something new, don’t hesitate! I wish Unilocal would allow half-​star additions because this restaurant was a 4.5 :-)

This place has really good sundubu — spicy tofu soup. They have different kinds of the soup — I usually get a mixed one with beef and seafood together. Spicy level — Medium is fine for me. The spiciest is not unbearably spicy, so if you want to be adventurous, you should be aight.
The hot stone rice that it comes with was undercooked on this particular day, but still edible. We came a little early for lunch — probably around 11am, so I’m guessing the rice just wasn’t fully cooked yet and they wanted to serve it to the customers anyway. Still, I enjoyed my meal.
If you want, they pour hot tea into your rice bowl to make a soupy rice. I don’t usually do that. I like to let my rice sit and get crispy on the bottom.
Service was very attentive and polite. Overall a very pleasant dining experience!

Very solid soondubu (Korean tofu soup) place in the Chicagoland area. I came by with a friend for a quick lunch (they have awesome lunch specials) and tried the combination soondubu with beef and seafood. Really really yummy!
The prices are fair, the soup is customizable and super flavorful (I opted for a 3 on the spice chart and I thought it was fine), and there are tons of really good side dishes that they’ll refill for you. Also if you get your rice in a hot stone bowl, they’ll pour barley tea over the crusty bits at the bottom which makes a really awesome post tofu-​soup dish. We both left very full and happy. Come here if you’re looking for something more authentic in terms of Korean food!

SGD Dubu, thank you for always serving quality food on every visit. Perfect place to warm up your stomach with something hot and spicy on a cold winter night.
Best soondubu in the Chicago area as far as I’m concerned.
And a Korean restaurant that refills your water? And replenishes your side dishes? Before you even ask the staff to do it, even when the restaurant is busy & packed… Whaaaaat?!?
I’ll give them the extra star for that kind of service.
SGD Tofu & BBQ, please don’t ever change. You’re perfect the way you are.

More like 3.5.
The place was packed for a Sunday lunch. my bro and I both got something from the soon dubu menu.
Step 1 — pick your protein (I got seafood).
Step 2 — Pick the spice level (I got regular).
Step 3 — Pick your side (I got rice in the stone pot)
My test for soondubu is getting the seafood version to see how it compares with places I have had NYC. It was only okay. When it came out, I didn’t see any seafood and I thought there was a mistake. I found 2 shrimp and 4 clams in the dish… not too much :((no mussels/​squid as well). However the tofu was pretty good and my dish came with a raw egg that i can drop into my pot (yaay!). There is a huge difference in spice level from the regular spice (level 3) to level 4 spice which my brother got. I wonder if there is something in between 3 – 4.
my brother got the pork with the noodles (not ramen) with level 4 spice. it’s a lot of food which he struggled to finish since it was rather spicy.
the panchan was decent too and you can ask for more if you like something in particular.
Over all, I guess I would go again to try out other items since it is the only place that has soon dubu menu that this i think.

My friend discovered So Gong Dong Tofu & BBQ and insisted this place offered one of the best tasting soondubu she had ever tried. So one day when I was in the area, three of my friends and I decided to see what all the hype was about. The restaurant is located inside a strip mall so parking in readily available. When we arrived, the restaurant was extremely busy. We had to wait about 20 mins for a table.
My friends are always ordering with their tummies, so here is the massive amount of food we tried:
Seafood Pancake: crispy pancake filled with a variety of seafood and scallions. The pancake had a good ratio of seafood and scallions to pancake ratio. It was light and full of flavor. My only gripe was the pancake was not fried enough for that crispy exterior. It also fell apart every time someone tried to grab a piece.
Soondubu Jjigae: we ordered three different types of soondubu, but I ordered my soondubu with dumplings and kalguksu noodles in the hot spicy level. This was probably one of the biggest bowl of soondubu I had ever eaten (extremely great price for what you get). Everything about this soondubu was perfection: the broth was full of flavor, the noodles had a good chew, and the tofu was soft and silky.
Beef Short Ribs: marinated short ribs in a Korean house sauce. The short ribs was marinated well and the cook was good. The short ribs also had a slight char on the edges which gave them a good smokey flavor.
Chicken Galbi: diced chicken in a spicy Korean sauce. The chicken was still tender and moist and the sauce gave it a good kick, but this dish just didn’t stand out to me.
This place definitely gives you a good bang for your buck. The entrees are bigger than most Korean places I had eaten at. The service here is also impeccable. It seemed like they could read our minds, they would refill our water glasses to bringing us napkins without asking. If you are in the area, don’t hesitate to stop in. A steaming hot bowl of soondubu is the answer to your hungry tummy.

I came here for lunch on a weekday around 1pm and there was a short wait. My friend and I both ordered the beef bibimbap. While we waited, we ate the banchan which was pretty good. They came out with two orders of the soondubu and we were both confused so we had to tell them what we ordered again. They felt really bad and kept assuring us that our food would be out soon. It wasn’t a long wait at all. I thought the bibimbap was good, but not the best I’ve ever had. I thought the beef could use more flavor.
Even though there was a mix-​up, the servers were really nice. I want to come back and try their soondubu and other dishes.