gogi house review
Dawn Restaurant Reviewer
On Friday night, my husband, three of the four girlies and I had dinner at the Korean BBQ Restaurant Gogi House on Bouquet Canyon and Newhall Ranch Road. As some of you know, I have been on a crazy diet since February in which I eat for my blood type. For “O”s, this means no dairy, wheat (or anything with gluten) or corn. Corn, or corn products like corn syrup is in so many things that it makes eating anything processed difficult – not that we should be eating processed food anyhow. Gogi House is the perfect place to eat when you are avoiding dairy and gluten.
For $19.99 for adults and $9.99 to 14.99 per child, we got all you can eat Korean food. First a platter of traditional Korean appetizers was served including Kimchi, green salad and dressing and bean sprout salad along with other delicacies. Next, we had a choice of all, none or any combination of Korean pancakes, dumplings, white rice, friend rice, vegetable tempura or shrimp and veggie tempura. Also, as appetizers or with the main meal,we could have beef bibimbap, hot-stone bibimbap, miso soup, kalbi soup, korean miso soup, kimchi soup, and dumpling soup (with or without rice cake). “A” had the dumpling soup which she enjoyed and the rest of us had miso soup.
Then the fun began as the whole group was served meat and vegetables which we got to cook on a hot grill in the middle of the table.. For the beef offerings, Bulgogi was my favorite. Bulgogi is generally made from thin slices of prime rib, sirloin or other prime cuts of beef. The meat is then marinated with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, garlic, oil and other ingredients such as scallions or mushrooms. The meat tastes rather sweet, almost like teriyaki. Other beef options included steak, kalbi (short ribs), chasol beef and tongue. All the meat choices were served very think and took very little time to cook. Of the pork options, apple pork was my favorite although the spicy pork and pork belly were yummy as well. The garlic rosemary chicken was my favorite poultry option but the basil chicken and the spicy chicken were good as well. Even the kids enjoyed cooking over the bbq. The servers changed out the grill grate every so often to avoid, I believe, the charring that comes from food sticking to the grates. Above the tables were large fans that helped to suck the smoke up and out of the dining area.
The meal ended up costing about $100 for five of us. Gogi House is not the cheapest option in Santa Clarita but for a meal heavy on protein, it was worth it. The hands-on style of the meal kept the kids engaged and willing to try everything that they could cook. The fact that the place was filled with Korean patrons made us feel confident that the food was good, and possibly authentic.
I am generally going to rate restaurants I review to make it easier for readers to understand my overall opinion. I found a great restaurant rating system online at at Steve’s Gastronmic Home page. I have used some of Steve’s ideas and modified them for our area.
OUTSTANDING – Five Stars
These are outstanding or very good restaurants, characterized by at least one of the following: a world-class restaurant, one of the best restaurants of its category in the country, has at least one outstanding dish worth trying, in my opinion is very authentic for an ethnic restaurant, or very good for other cuisines.
EXCELLENT – Four Stars
Better than average for its category. Characterized by very flavorful and/or authentic food. One of the best in its category. For Chinese restaurants, would probably not serve authentic Chinese soup and would not serve things from the “Chinese menu” of a typical “Chinatown” restaurant, but may have dishes I like such as home style tofu or kung pao tofu. For Mexican restaurants, this is typically the highest score given to Americanized food, such as Tex-Mex, that I consider very good. Has at least one outstanding dish worth trying, but other things may be inconsistent.
GOOD – Three Stars
To earn a three-star rating it would have to be a place to which I could envision myself returning. This may not be my favorite restaurant in the world, but one in which I could find things I enjoy ordering on a routine or consistent basis. Generally these restaurants are free of any extremely negative experiences. These restaurants would be “average” if I took all eating places into account, including the national chains, fast food restaurants, Chinese buffet restaurants, truck stops, hospitals, school cafeterias, and any other type of place I could imagine. Although I have had my share of meals at all these types of places, my reviews are primarily for local independent restaurants (not chains). Thus an “average” score for all restaurants may appear at the bottom of the list of restaurants I review. I still consider 3 stars as a “good” score, however.
FAIR – Two Stars
I’m using this category for restaurants that provide good freshness, quality, temperature, etc., and do not give me a bad experience (such as making me sick or giving me a MSG reaction). However, they are not restaurants I recommend in terms of having really flavorful, authentic, or interesting food. In rare cases they are rated fair because I may have ordered an item which they do not prepare well, although I do try to ask what dishes they recommend, and I do tend to rate higher if I at least liked the soup.
POOR – One Star
I’m reserving this category for places in which I had a bad experience. I will have to say that if I get sick to my stomach, it rarely happens on my first visit, but after such an experience it earns a one-star rating forever. Asian restaurants with a one-star rating are usually ones that use too much MSG, with almost no possibility of finding anything without MSG. I do not review fast food chains, but if I did I would almost certainly give a one-star rating to franchises such as KFC and Long John Silver, since I can find anything in these restaurants worth ordering (either in terms of nutrition or flavor). The ratings are based strictly on food quality.
As for cost, prices are for each person, excluding tax and tip. The dinner menu is the primary rating factor, unless the restaurant does most of its business at lunch time. Usually I will use what I order as the basis of estimating the cost unless it is far out of range with most menu items. Prices include a drink such as tea, but not an alcoholic beverage. Prices do not include an appetizer or dessert, unless I think it is essential for the meal. Some examples might include sushi (two pieces) in a Japanese restaurant, a sopaipilla with spicy New Mexican food, or a salad with Italian food. I would not count the cost of an appetizer if I think the meal is sufficient by itself (this is all subjective, so if you are on a budget it is best not to take my word for it).
Category Dinner Lunch
$$$$ Over $24 Over $18
$$$ $16-$23 $13-$17
$$ $9-$15 $8-$12
$ $8 and under $7 and under
Gogi House
Cost – $$$
Overall Rating – 3-4 STARS
