Chon Ju Jip

I really wanted to try the galbi jjim from here, but they were sold out! I wasn’t sure what they were out of– the rice cake or beef… so we asked if they had galbi… They did, so we ordered the LA galbi and seafood casserole.
We were immediately served barley tea when we sat down and the complimentary side dishes shortly after ordering. The casserole is like a giant hot pot. There was mostly squid, a couple of mussels. a small piece of fish, and 2 shrimps. I wish there were more quantities in the variety of seafood that came with this dish. The flavor of the broth was a bit spicy and flavorful though. The galbi was very tasty and tender, but some pieces were really fatty.

Chon ju jip is the greatest Korean food restaurant!!! I am a Korean and when I want to eat Korean food, I usually visit this place. This is because taste is the best! Even I feel this restaurant is better than my mom’s cook. Kimchi jigae is really awesome. Also, waitresses are really kind of me! I strongly recommend this restaurant who wants to eat authentic Korean food!!! Chon ju jip is the best in San Diego!!!

Service was AWEFUL … We sat down before the other Korean people and they didn’t take out order first, oh because we are not Korean? So when the little dishes came out with kimchi and stuff … They said ran out of spinach … Really? That was a huge disappointment!!’ And then the food omg their steam pot sticker was gross, we didn’t eat it at all … Not my kind of place … I rather go Friend’s house

FINALLY! I found a Korean Restaurant that serves Galbi Jjim. I’ve only found Kalbi Stew around San Diego but never the Galbi Jjim. So glad that Tupac and I came here. Unfortunately, I didn’t try anything else but I will definitely return to give it a try. The Galbi Jjim was AMAZING and delicious. Full of flavor and the meat was so tender.
I noticed the other patrons eating dishes in a big stew bowl that was over a flame. That looked good too but it looked like it can feed about 4 people or more.
Complimentary barley tea is given to you right when you sit down and ban chan. YUMMY. I love the 10 dishes ban chan.
Overall a quaint hidden gem and highly recommended.

I came later in the evening when the college boys and business men were unwinding with a few drinks. The ladies were very nice and reminded me of aunties making sure I ate enough. The casseroles looked great but since it was just me, wasn’t worth trying. Got the combo. It was ok. Felt the meat was over marinated and came out salty. They gave me scissors, which I thought was nice… till I tried to use them. They were so dull, I was better off using teeth. The banchan were fine. I’d try this place again but with someone so there’s more options.

Very authentic fresh Korean specialties. I will be back to try the rest of the menu! Pork bone soup for two was amazing, it could probably feed four people with an extra entrée. The banchan was unique and fresh! Very good Kimchi! This place was recommended to me by a Korean friend and
is unlike most Korean restaurants I have tried in the area. It is not just another tofu soup house, but I am sure they also do that very well too! Everything felt more authentic with attention to detail and quality of ingredients.

Chon Ju Jip has filled a void in my heart. We were craving Korean food and I always wanted to try those large casserole dishes (inspired by kdramas). After scrolling through all the reviews the Gamja Tang seemed like the dish to try and it did not disappoint.
The Gamja Tang alone could probably satisfy 3 or 4 people. There’s a lot of meat in that dish. We also ordered the seafood pancake which only came with one small dish of the dipping. Pretty sure it was because we were only a party of two but something to be mindful of.
I definitely see myself coming here more often. I’m already salivating thinking about it.

Really great place for Korean food. 4 stars since service was kind of slow when I went. It’s not a huge place either so you may have to wait before being seated.
I had the spicy fish egg soup. LOADED with fish eggs and other goodies boy do they not skimp out! It was almost all fish egg with a little veggie and a small block of tofu. Definitely worth the price since the prices are around $ 12 – 16 a dish I would say.
Had a few bites of the other dishes like the spicy beef soup, spicy octopus, and bulgogi. All were tasty. Definitely be back for more.

I’ve been disappointed by most Asian restaurants in San Diego. For the past 4 years, I thought I’d be doomed to mediocre Korean food. As I was eating Korean food for the first 19 years of my life, I was somewhat content with never eating it again, but recently I’ve been fiending it like a junkie fiends dope. Even then, I didn’t know where to get authentic Korean food, so I held off until I visited my mom back home.
My friend then told me Chon Ju Jip has great gamjatang, and I decided to tag along. I wasn’t really expecting much, but I had to try and see if I could find a Korean restaurant that was worthwhile. Sadly, they didn’t have any gamjatang, but they did have black goat stew, which is one of my favorite stews, so we ordered that, pig feet, and spicy skillet pork (not sure how it translates) instead.
The pig feet were the best pig feet I’ve had in America. Ever since I went to Korea, I felt let down by Korean style pig feet in America, too jelly-​like and rubbery. Not at this restaurant though. The black goat stew had the most tender goat meat I’ve ever had when trying this dish, and the pork was pretty great as well
I’d definitely come back to try their short rib stew and gamjatang. It’s been far too long since I’ve had great, authentic Korean food

Such a great place to get authentic Korean food. This place is a little bit hard to find, but it is in the Thai house plaza.
As soon as you walk in, you can smell the deliciousness. It is a relatively small place but when the restaurant is filled with Korean mothers laughing and enjoying their meal, you know it’s legit.
My friend and I ordered the pork bone casserole or the gamjatang. Almost every culture has its own version of bone soup but this version was great. The pork was falling off the bone and the broth had a very nice taste. It was peppery and a bit spicy. As a whole the soup, pork meat, and rice came together very well
The reason I’m taking stars off is because of the service and the dish we ordered was very good but not omg. My friend and I had to call over the waiters about 6 times because they were too busy playing with the children in the restaurant to get our check.
Overall I will be back to try the bibimbap. Definitely recommend this place for authentic Korean food.

This is the best Korean place in San Diego. And coming from a Korean, that means a lot! It’s affordable, hearth-​side Korean food that isn’t fancy, but delivers authenticity. A lot of Korean food uses fermented flavorings, so prepare yourself and your nose for some smells… but just remember, cheese is also a stinky food, but it’s awesome stuff, right?
I like their gabli tang (beef rib soup), chun guk jang (fermented soy bean soup, a bit stinky), and squid stir fry (really spicy, but you can ask for toned down spice).
If it’s your first time trying Korean food, I recommend the dolsot bibimbap which is a rice dish accompanied by various cooked vegetables and bulgogi meat in a stone pot (or dolsot). You mix it all together with some spicy fermented pepper paste and sesame oil. If you want to try alcohol, I recommend makguli. It’s a fermented rice drink with lots of probiotics. My favorite :)

service is terrible. The waitress threw a stack of napkins on our table after she sat us down. I didnt mind, because I do not expect 5 stars quality when I visit an Asian restaurant. We ordered two dishes: bibimbap & gamjatang (pork bone stew with potatoes). The bibimbap tasted alright, but I appreciated that they gave us a great portion of rice. I dislike bibimbap that has more rice than veggies and meat. This place gives a good balance of everything. The stew was the star of my meal. It was very well seasoned, the pork bones were tender and tasted buttery. I gave it a 3 stars because I have had better Korean food, but this place does serve pretty decent authentic Korean food.

Anyone looking for authentic korean food… this is the real deal it tasted like home i got their black goat casserole and it was so good. But be warned… for those who havent tried it or is new to korean food it is not recommended. It has a unique taste that is takes some getting used to if youre new or you dont like new flavors. I tool some of my friends and they werent ready for this. Luckily we order a side of their spicy shredded beef soup which they enjoyed. It had the perfect ratio of meat, vegetables, and noodles. The soup was very refreshing. We also ordered the spicy rice cake. It came with ramen which was nice and other than being slightly sweet it was very good!
I would definitely go again to try their other foods.

Great little Korean place. Very generous and incredible prices here. Loved they bring you out a free barley tea right away. Ordered the yook gae jang even though I wanted that smelt dish so bad. I was going through soup with drawl. Brought me out at least 10 dishes of ban chan. Ban chan was a great treat and getting sardines was a big plus.
Yook gae jang was pretty good. A little bland, but hit the spot with the heat and broth. They even asked me if I wanted more ban chan. This is a fun place. They’re incredibly generous to their customers. Make sure you tip extra for their generosity and sweet service. Drink your barley tea. It’s good for you.

I’m not typically a fan of Korean food, but the person I am with loves it! So we came to this restaurant during our visit to San Diego. Let me say that the Bulgolgi meat was better than anything I’ve had in Toronto. Further, the person I came with loved all the dishes and they eat Korean food daily.
We ended up coming here twice on our 6 day trip. Would highly recommend if you love Korean food. If this is your first time experience, don’t expect a fancy restaurant — that is not the Korean way or style. Good service and good food is what you can expect.

It’s hard to find a good Korean place in SD. One day you go and it’s good, the next day you come back and it sucks plus a $ 25 credit card minimum, or just crazy bad customer service who tries to rush and get you out of there in like 5 minutes. Errhm, talking about Grandmas. I used to love grandmas and with all the things I mentioned I had to look for a new Kimchi soup tofu place…
Chon Ju Jip is very hidden. Probably one of the less popular option on Convoy for KBBQ. People tend to crowd towards Tofu House, Convoy Tofu House, Grandmas or the all you can eat BBQs. CJJ seemed very traditional. We came and there were 2 Korean moms cleaning the bean sprouts. It wasn’t packed so we sat at a booth. We got a combination of the Kalbi short ribs and the kimchi tofu soup and steamed dumplings. The kalbi short ribs were delicious (I don’t think you can mess up on it, all you need to buy is the sauce and marinate it overnight) and this is where Korean restros can mess up– the Kimchi tofu soup. Most of the time it’s too bland. CJJ kimchi tofu soup was not bland, it even have some fatty pork meat too. I was so sad that I saw pictures for a big hot pot of soup (called supreme casseroles– the gamjatang-​jeongol (pork) or the Hamul Jeongol (seafood) and dahkdoritang (chicken)) and didn’t know what it was and we didn’t get it…
I will definitely be back for the «supreme casseroles». Everybody and their mothers got it but us. We know next time!

I wish I was Korean! I grew up on the wrong food! Hahahaha
This is a nice little family run restaurant that does it right. Great service! Please come here and thank me later. The beef ribs were absolutely amazingly delicious and it came with large bowl of kimchi soup which was also fantastic (see my photos). Additionally, we got the steamed pot stickers. They were nice and girthy… lol. All of the food was purely sexual and perfect. It was cheap too and fed 2 of us beyond satisfaction.
A+++++
*Hats off to my little Viet sidekick girl who keeps enlightening me with the best asian food ever! Gracias!
I really enjoyed my Korean dining experience. Thank you.

Nestled in one of the less-​traveled corners of the Convoy area lies the unassuming Chon Ju Jip.
While good, it also happens to be relatively unremarkable relative to its many nearby competitors. The standard markers apply: the banchan was quite good, my date’s bibimbap was average, and my own deokbukki (rice cakes) was decent although the most interesting part of it was the fact that it strangely included ramen noodles. I wish I could say more, but, two weeks later, I’m struggling, which underlines its averageness.
Summary: I can’t even think of something funny to say.

Came here for an early Wednesday dinner and it was packed. Not sure if it was because it was Lunar New Year’s eve or it’s just really popular.
This place definitely has a small, homey, kind of vibe and they serve you cold barley tea, instead of water. The banchan dishes were excellent with the potato salad being a particular favorite of mine. For my dish, I went with the traditional bulgogi dolsot bibimbap. To my surprise, it didn’t come out in a stone bowl, but a sizzling plate instead.
At first I was overwhelmed with the amount of lettuce on top, but after mixing everything up and adding the sauce, it just kind of wilted away. I mainly giving this place three stars because there wasn’t a lot of bulgogi. (It was a lot of rice and lettuce.) I’ve had this dish at many other Korean restaurants in the area, and this was one of the saddest representations of bulgogi portion of dolsot bibimbap that I’ve had.
Overall, I felt that the service was friendly. Even though I came early, I can definitely see the parking lot being a problem. Perhaps street parking is your friend.

I really love their Kimchi. It’s «crunchy»!
Their Soon Tofu and Yook Gae Jang are delicious.
I must warn you… their restaurant is a little smelly.
According to my dining companion, he said that it is because they specialize in some fermented dish.