J KOGI

Food is still damn good. Had JKOGI when it first opened up when it was only a window in the wall. Came a long way since then. Love their pork kimbap
Keep it up guys

Pumped that downtown/​eastern side of RVA has an Asian bowl place especially one with Korean kimchi playing a central role.
The dude working the counter was patient and helpful with all my questions. Basically you can order an Asian sandwich or build your own bowl choosing type of rice, veggies, sauce, and your «protein.» I built a bowl and it was tasty and filling, however I will caution that unless you choose an explicitly spicy sauce, all of the sauces either are labeled as or are sweet as I found out. This was the only bummer since I’m not a big sweet sauces or super sweet things in general kinda guy.
They also have beer and soju. The décor is industrial chic with chalkboard menus and murals plus lots of metal and wood. The place was mostly empty at noon on a Saturday so I say get in there and try this place so it sticks around!

This place is great.
Nice little joint with great Korean style rice bowls.

The quality of the food varies with every visit. I’ve had a really good shrimp roll previously, but the one I got Saturday had rice that was actually crunchy. I’ll give it another go at some point, as I’m not ready to give up on this place yet.
What’s with the new ultra hipster feel inside the restaurant? Not sure why Richmond/​VCU area is so obsessed with this trend. Next thing you know, they’re gonna start serving PBR and playing vinyl.

I must say this place has changed so much since its opening last year – all which are great changes, they brought in new dining tables, comfy chairs, and the décor makes it feel very modern and hip.
The menu is simple to read and makes ordering easy. If you have any questions the people in the front of the house are very knowledgeable and will help you pick out the best meal.
The food is awesome, very tasty and fresh. I was able to talk to the manager and he said they make all of their food fresh and nothing is store bought. The food quality is superb and I give a lot of respect to them because preparing Korean food takes a lot of time. I would know because I’m Korean and my mother always slaves away when preparing Korean food.
The kimchi is bomb, I love the fresh kimchi – that they also make in house. It isn’t fermented long which i love because it isn’t sour but that’s my preference .
Overall the food is great and I would recommend the katsu because it’s delicious.

I experienced bad customer service today. Food is pricey compare to its quality.
When I tried to redeem the 10% coupon through Unilocal after I purchased my food, they told me «it’s only 10%» just come back later… They made it sound like a few bucks was worth nothing. I told them 10% is none of your business and to not treat future customers like this.
But it’s okay because i will never go there again even though i love Korean food.
Also, i asked for the bibimbap sauce on the side separately. But i could NOT find any sauce when i arrived at home. I had to eat it without sauce.
In addition, they said it would take 5 mins when i called for an order to go. But when I arrived, I needed to wait 10 more mins while it was snowing.
Overall, I was disappointed with their service and I DO NOT recommend this place to my friends as a Korean. There are much better Korean restaurants out there.

This is an update.
Recently, I ordered a delivery bowl from J Kogi since I was really craving it. It was a pretty slow Wednesday night, and most of VCU’s campus was gone. My food came about 25 minutes after submitting the order through Unilocal’s Eat24 — which was a pretty short wait! I was super excited for my food, however it was really disappointing.
I had the Bulgogi bowl with No Spicy No Cry sauce with all of the vegetables plus a fried egg ontop of kimchi bacon fried rice. The meat was nice and hot… but that was the only thing that was hot. My egg was obviously pre-​made and then refrigerated. The vegetable sides were fine as always. But my rice was cold as if it was just taken out of the refrigerator.
This really killed my experience with J Kogi, especially since a lot of people I know rave about it. I will eventually give it another chance, though not for a good while.

I went to J KOGI for lunch. The restaurant was busy around prime lunch hours. Costumers customize their own bowl with protein, a base, vegetables, and sauces. I had a customized bowl with bulgogi ribeye, kimchi bacon fried rice, different vegetables, and sweet honey mayo (FWA). It’s an upcharge for certain premium items like kimchi bacon fried rice. J KOGI kimchi is spicy but not overwhelming. The bowl was delicious and filling. Everything blended very well together. It took about 30 minutes for my meal to come out (takeout). It’s best to call ahead if you’re in a rush. The restaurant is small with limited seating. Staff was friendly during check out. There’s street parking for customers (hit & miss during prime lunch/​dinner). J KOGI is a good choice for customized Korean style bowls. I give J KOGI a 4.5 rating.

I gotta be honest. I’m pretty underwhelmed. Maybe I was expecting more considering past reviews. Or maybe I’m spoiled having grown up in Koreatown. But this place doesn’t cut it.
Richmond can be pretty disappointing in terms of ethnic food so I was hoping this place would work out. I would compare J Kogi to a Korean Chipotle. Nice portions, fresh ingredients but ultimately unauthentic. I got a ‘build your own bowl’ with Bulgogi, sticky rice, kimchi, pickled radish, and cabbage. The rice wasn’t cooked (it was crunchy) which is very concerning considering this is a Korean restaurant. However, the Bulgogi was pretty tasty I just wish they gave me more.
I like the idea having a Korean spot in RVA so I’ll probably give this place another shot. I like the idea just not the application.

The bowl was large and flavorful. All the veggies added variety. Cheap, health (ish) and filling. I got the no spicy no cry sauce and it was a little overwhelmingly spicy for me. Next time I’m going to ask for the sauce on the side so I can control how much goes into my food. I would also come again to try the other sauces, which seem yummy as well.
The restaurant has a hipster, modern feel with very Richmond-​esque art on the walls. Delivery boys come in and out of the store to pick up orders.

Love the environment here. It’s a nice Korean quick service restaurant. So happy to see Milkis here as it is one of my favorite Korean soda drinks.
I ordered the spicy tuna and pork belly ssam kimbap with white radish cubes. The flavors were on point but there was way too much rice in the kimbap.
I would come here again to try their bibimbap and wings. Until next time Richmond.

Originally starting as a take out stand alone venue, this business deserves the bigger, cooler, artsy sit-​down venue that they recently moved into. Who would have known that late night, deliver to your door Korean BBQ would be a profitable pursuit? The owners of JKOGI. Big ups to the owners of this fine establishment. They are the definition the young and successful entrepreneurs of Richmond. I’ve probably tried everything at JKogi, from their kimbaps (sushi style) to their bibimbaps (rice/​noodle/​salad bowls.) Hands down the best place to grab late night food that leaves you FULL.
They offer 4 types of sauces that have super cute names and each are obviously super tasty: Tae Yang, Dont Katsu, FWA, No Spicy No cry
New to Jkogi? Try either the spam kimbap or spicy tuna kimbap as an appetizer. Then try the bulgogi bowl as a main.

PROS:
+ Online ordering, pretty fast service
+ Convenient street parking
+ Friendly service
CONS:
— SO. SALTY. Sodium bomb
I ordered from the Unilocal app to get myself some late night food on a Thursday night around 10:30PM. It’s great to have a late night option — J Kogi is open until midnight on weekdays and until 3AM on Fri-​Sat, which is much appreciated. Service was pretty quick — my food was ready for pickup within 15 minutes of me placing my online order.
I ordered the BULGOGI KIM BAP with a side of kim chi and the «No Spicy, No Cry» hot sauce. Unfortunately I was pretty disappointed in the food. It was so, so, so salty. Bulgogi is supposed to have a slightly sweet taste from the marinade and the bulgogi in this kim bap not only did not have a sweet component at all, it was salty to the point of tasting like jerky in both salt content and texture (it was pretty dry). The meat to veggie/​rice ratio was heavy on the meat, which would have been fine and worth my money had it not been such a sodium bomb. I couldn’t even use the spicy sauce because it added more salt to the meal and the whole thing left me so super thirsty. The kimchi is also saltier than average. I’d be willing to come back and try other things on the menu, but I am certainly wary of how salty the meal might be for other items.

I wanted to give two stars for the food but i am giving four because of the excellent service and effort. Compared to Korean restaurants in Nova, the kimbap is $ 1 – 2 more expensive here.
My sis and I ordered the shrimp tempura kimbap. Not bad! It just lacked flavor near the end so I definitely recommend dipping sauce. The rice can use more sesame oil and the fish cake needs more soy sauce. Also the egg was overcooked. I look forward to trying the other varieties.
The chicken katsu bowl was bleh. The chicken was tough. Probably because it was overcooked and it can probably use more egg for batter. The rice and kimchi was my favorite.
Lastly, the greatest disappointment of all, was the thuckboki. Ordered one per person and we both couldn’t eat it. Weird smell and weird taste. It needs more red pepper paste and sugar. Please leave out the carrots, it ruins the base.
My review was critical because I am Korean and I make really good Korean food. However, if Jkogi is successful to its targeted audience, then I’m happy for the business.

So I finally decided to give this place a shot tonight, I had the bulgogi ribeye bowl. Now this is my second time coming here this week. The first time I didn’t know what to expect so the lady at the counter was nice enough to assist me in choosing. Ended up with the bulgogi ribeye bowl with all of the veggies. Now since this is my second trip I learned what worked for me…
1. Get the veggies on the side because the portions are pretty good so I ended up having left overs and heated up veggies are no good.
2. The purple cabbage is weird, eh so I passed on it.
That’s pretty much it. Oh yeah this was my first time having kimchi, not sure how I feel about it yet.
So thumbs up to this place.