Gogi BiBimBap

In general this place has correctly been described as a fast casual Korean restaurant with a serving style very similar to that of Chipotle or Subway. You pick your ingredients, toss then in a bowl, and voila.
I really do like this place, but I feel like it is so uniformly outclassed by J KOGI that my rating had to reflect it. The best feature of Gogi compared to other places is the hot pot option for the food. Basically you can get your meal served in a super hot ceramic bowl. The food not only remains hot during your entire meal, but it also allows the food on the edge of the bowl to gain a kind of crispiness just not seen with other serving methods.
However, the overall quality and flavor of the food simply does not hold up to the comparable food at J KOGI. At J KOGI each individual component of the meals are independently seasoned and delicious in their own right. Their synergy when combined together is really a gustatory treat. The Gogi food is good too but the end product quite frankly disappointed me for what it was.
So if you are on the west end or interested in trying the hot pot give this place a whirl for above average fast causal at a good price.

This place is the Subway of Korean food. In a counter-​based assembly line, pick out the size bowl you want, select the protein (beef, pork, chicken, tofu), then select up to 5 vegetables to finish the process. My wife and I stopped here for a quick lunch and were satisfied, but not overwhelmed. The marinated meat was really good (I had the beef and she had the spicy pork), but the fact that none of the veggies you select get cooked in the bowl surprised us! This is a bibimbap resturant after all. After inquiring with the cashier it turns out that the ‘regular’ size doesn’t get cooked, and this would have been good to know before selecting raw onions and broccoli as two of my vegetables. You have to go for the bigger size (which goes by some Korean name that must mean hot or cooked), pay $ 2 more, and you can get it cooked.
Given the above rant, you’ll be surprised to hear that, based on how good the meat was, I will go back and try the cooked bowl.

Delicious I really enjoy the high quality food ! The owner is super friendly and this place makes all their own sauces. I loved the spicy hot sauce at the table just delicious. The mushrooms in my hot bowl were fresh and the food was just so tasty I could go there daily. Good value for great quality ! Very clean organized restaurant — keep up the great food!

This place really is as good as it gets for Korean American fusion. I normally go for the traditional Dol Sot bowl, or with chicken. The ingredients are super fresh, and everything I have tried on the menu is awesome. I encourage anyone not familiar with Korean food, or even if you have tried many authentic Korean dishes to sample this place. Go here…, unless you only eat hot dogs and chicken fingers, or are born without taste buds YOU WILL LOVE THIS PLACE

I’m a total fan! I travel to the richmond area on a weekly basis and I always try to visit Gogi at least once for lunch. This location actually has more options than the one on midlothian– spicy chicken for example.
I love how you can create a perfect blend of rice and your favorite raw veggies and top it off with delicious korean bbq meat and a sunny side up egg. Yummm!
I could live off Gogi BiBimBap!

This place is awesome! I was a little skeptical about a subway-​esque bibimbap place but wow do they deliver the goods! I had a regular bowl and you get, pick 5 veggies, an egg and your choice of meat. I got the beef bulgogi and it was seasoned well. Definetly a go to place for a quick meal!

I loved it here! I had it bookmarked on Unilocal for a long time and finally was in the neighborhood picking up a Freecycle goodie and decided to stop in. Walking up you could smell the deliciousness outside. Once inside — we were warmly greeted, and when we said we were new they kindly walked us through the menu. I had a cold bowl with beef and the hubs had a hot bowl with pork.
The flavors were perfect and just like I remembered eating at the table at my friend’s homes growing up. I was thrilled to see a orange drink I used to always grab as a kid when my mom took us to the Asian store, too.
This was my hubs first time eating bibimbap and he is a solid fan. I am happy to say we will definitely be back.

This was my first time at Gogi BiBimBap but my second time trying Dol Sat, which is the hot bowl. For a faster food style restaurant, it is important to note that I felt the taste and experience was just as good as the sit down restaurant I’ve tried previously.
You order your food down the line much like Chipotle, first picking your choice of rice, then vegetables, and protein. I had white rice and beef with lettuce, zucchini, mushroom, cucumber, and radish. Honestly, I didn’t have a strategy here I just went with what I like :) Traditionally they make it with carrots and bean sprouts rather than cucumber and mushroom.
After you choose your ingredients they begin to heat your bowl with a fried egg on top. It’s then served to your table PIPING hot and you can add your sauce of preference. The sauce options are mild, spicy, and extra spicy. Once you sauce it up, mix it all together and enjoy! And I sure did enjoy!
I liked my experience here and the staff was knowledgable and helpful for first timers! I definitely recommend it.

Love this place! I’ve had a cold pot, hot pot, and kimbap (sushi), and enjoyed them all. The basic premise for the bibimbap is to pick a type of rice (white, brown, purple pearl), 5 vegetables, meat (5 – 6 options), and type of egg (fried or runny). I’d recommend the hot pot (dol sot) bibimbap over the cold — it comes out piping hot and blends the flavors better. Careful not to burn your mouth though, haha. I’ve tried bowls with spicy pork, bulgogi beef, and bulgogi chicken. Spicy pork is the best, but it can be pretty hot, so go with the beef if you can’t do that. The chicken wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as flavorful as the others. Definitely recommend Gogi! It’s one of my new go-to’s for a quick meal.
Plus they’re next door to Country Style Doughnuts, and what’s better than a doughnut after some delightful Korean food?

Thought I would finally get some delicious Korean food but was disappointed.
Pros:
Cheap price ($ 5 – 8)
Fast service (Chipotle style)
Clean interior (seemed new)
Cons :
Bad, horrible service (the girl kept talking to her coworker while I was trying to tell her what to put in my bowl! Rude!!)
Too much pepper on sprouts
Eggs were already made (thought it’d be made to order)
Eh, I won’t come back but if you never had Korean food, maybe you can give a shot. But I’m Korean and grew up eating Korean food so this wasn’t enough to earn my heart.

Enjoy this «Korean Chipotle».
Food is always fresh and provided quickly.
A great place for a quick lunch.

Rating this purely as a lunch/​take out option, absolutely a great value and taste for the price point! I will definitely try to sneak in another visit on my next trip down to Richmond!
The buffet style create your own bowl approach was new for Korean food for me. I’m used to the normal BBQ but I liked being able to pick and choose my veggies. The ingredients were fresh and the style of putting it together in a bimbimbap was creative and efficient for a takeout place.

Yayyyy, a decent quick Korean place in Richmond! Clean, polite and great service, and a good bang for the buck for some tasty noms.
We ordered the dolsot with purple rice, spicy chicken, and 5 veggies (see our pic!). The stone pot came out piping hot with a beautiful lil’ sunny side up egg. You’re supposed to mix everything together to eat it so we promptly did that and burned our mouths on the hot food, haha. The spicy chicken was thicker than what I’m used to from eating tons of Korean bbq, but that probably kept it moist and spicy. One of the best meals I’ve had all week!
Plenty of seating in a charming area. Can’t beat the location either — you can follow up with a dessert of Country Style doughnuts right next door or venture across the plaza for some gelato. Mhmmm, will be coming back.

Awesome little place that is growing. I was a bit worried that such a small place wouldn’t be able to sustain itself. The concept is great, and the service is fast and impeccable. This location even had a couple shelves with Korean items for sale. What else could you possibly need?
The idea is sort of like a Chipotle– there are a few different items you can get, some include choosing a base and then adding toppings. I got the rolls, beef and spicy pork. These rolls are just six bucks and they totally fill you up. I prefer the spicy pork because it has more flavor and a bit more moisture.
I liked it so much, I went again later that night to eat dinner with a friend. We got the boxes, and my my my, were they good. You get a heap of meat, your choice of rice, side dish of kimchi, and dumplings. My fave way to soend my money here.
If you chose a dish that needs to have something heated, they’ll even bring it out to you. For drinks, theu have th typical sodas and water, and they also have Korean can juices, which are TOTALLY awesome.
They even take phone orders. AND they take all major credit cards. What else can they do to make their service and quality better? I’ll tell you.
Nothing. Just stay on this high!

This was my first visit to Gogi BiBimBap and I will definitely be back! Not being super knowledgeable about Korean food, I asked the staff what they would recommend. They suggested the BiBimBap, a large bowl with rice, veggies and meat, topped with a egg… Kind of like a stir fry. I asked them to prepare it the traditional way, so mine had rice, lettuce, carrots, bean sprouts, zucchini, beef bulgogi, and topped with a fried egg. Then it was heated and the bowl was sizzling hot. If you want or are getting take out, you can choose to have yours cold. I recommend eating there and getting it hot. They have three sauces to add to your bowl… A mild one kind of like a1, a medium one like Sriracha, and a hot one. I mixed the mild and medium ones… Delish. They also have Korean sodas… The peach and orange drinks were yum.
Highly recommend you check out Gogi. Their food is delicious and the staff is friendly. Be sure to save room for dessert… Country Style Doughnuts is next door.
Cheers!

I’m a huge fan of Japanese food, but Korean isn’t something I have a lot of experience with. I’m also a huge fan of «build your own bowl» type places, like Chipotle. So when you tell me that there is a place right down the street that combines both into an inexpensive and fast meal, of course I’m going to try it.
–Food: So, how it works. You pick a bowl (hot or cold), pick a rice (white, brown, or purple), pick 5 vegetable ingredients ranging from things like cucumbers to carrots to mushrooms to about 20 other things, you pick a protein (beef, pork, chicken, tofu, spicy if you like), an egg type, and then they throw it all together with some seasonings and flair. All together, it’s called Bibimbap.
So far I’ve had two bowls from there, one cold and one hot (dol sot). My first bowl was white rice, beef, cucumbers, shitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, beat sprouts, onions, and a fried egg. This one was really good, and once you stir up the warm rice and protein, it isn’t cold so much as room temperature, and is delicious. The meat is BBQ’d and has a nice flavor to it.
The second time I ordered a hot bowl, which comes in exactly what it sounds like, a heated ceramic bowl. I ordered essentially the same thing just with spicy pork instead of beef and a sunny side egg instead of fried. If you’re on the fence about whether you should go hot or cold, go hot. It’s just exciting to watch your food cook and sizzle in front of you, and it’s only a couple dollars extra.
I also ordered an order of kimbap the first time, which seems like a sushi roll, just with Korean BBQ instead of fish. It was also really good, but I was too stuffed to comfortably eat it all.
The actual ingredients taste fresh and there are so many topping choices. There are also fusion type dishes that use these ingredients like tacos or sandwiches. I say I’ll try them, but the actual bowls are so damn delicious, I probably never will.
–Cost: The cold bowls are around $ 8 and the hot ones $ 10. Everything is really quite filling though, so $ 10 to fill you up is very fair. The cold bowl price is pretty comparable to a burrito bowl from Chipotle.
–Service: Everybody here is awesome. I know that’s a blanket statement, and perhaps because I’m in my mid-20’s, about where it seems like most of the staff is, but they all just seem like awesome people. The first time we ate there we didn’t exactly know how we were supposed to go about mixing a bowl of bibimbap, so the person gladly gave us a tutorial on when to add things, how much, and how to go about eating it to optimize deliciousness. Cool guys.
–Atmosphere: It’s a nice interior. Nothing note worthy, but very inviting and comfortable.
–Overall: Huge fan. Possibly one of my favorite places to grab a bite to eat now in the West End. Service is fast, food tastes great, it’s not quite fast food like McDonalds but it’s also not a high class sit down place. When people say it’s like a Korean BBQ Rice Bowl Chipotle, they’re spot on. If one opened in the business district where I work, I would undoubtedly be a regular. (Make it happen, Gogi!)
Gogi Bibimbap gets my full approval.

If I had to describe it, I guess I would liken it to a Korean Chipotle, only better.
DH and I were out running errands and wanted a quick bite. He had been here before and loved it. So I was anxious to give it a try. I ordered a regular bowl. With it, I had my choice of rice, up to 5 vegetables (there are tons to choose from, including Gwyneth’s favorite of kale), choice of a protein (I choose the beef), and to top it off, a fried or sunny side up egg (I chose sunny side up). Once it is assembled, it is dressed with their house sauces and served up with a smile.
It was a hearty serving and I had a tough time finishing it for lunch. There were three different house-​made sauces provided on the table (some hot, some not), but I did not think my bowl needed it. The beef was tender and full of flavor on its own.
Good food at a good price. I hope Gogi does well.
Afterwards, you can go next door to Country-​Style Donuts for dessert!

Okay, I’m in.
My wife suggested Gogi BiBimBap but I didn’t want to go because, when I go to a restaurant, I don’t want to make up my own recipes. I figure, if you want to open a restaurant, you (the owner and chef) should have a handle on some combinations of ingredients that express what you have to say. I’m flyin blind.
But I get it. When you choose your own combination of vegetables, rice, and meat you get to control the tastes and calories. (Hence, the popularity of Chipotle. I don’t like Chipotle for the same reason – too much participation [AND, because the seating was designed by someone who dislikes comfort].)
One suggestion for Gogi BiBimBap: For people who can’t be pleased by anything (me), make up a little suggestions menu with combinations that you (the owner and chef) think work particularly well and post them at the beginning of the line. That way, the nerd in front of me can choose white rice with sprouts, zucchini, and three types of onions – and I can choose #5 from the suggestions menu.
My wife had the regular version and I had the heated version. We both liked both – but I would go for the heated version again. It came to the table with steam rising from it and sizzling – more attention than I get from most of my Twitter posts.
Next trip: Figure out how to pronounce the name.

My first time in Gogi and of course… I did let them know it was my first time, so I asked how to order. I had to listen carefully as the noise level was somewhat high and for me, I had a difficult time understanding him as he had a heavy Koren Accent which did not help with the loud noise.
So, I started out with the White Rice as you have several to choose from. I did ask for the Cold dish as appose to the Hot dish. Since it was my first time in, I wanted to check them out. Once I got the hang of what it was all about, it reminded me of a Subway where you start with your Protien in which I chose Spicy Beef… than you can add the extras on top. Dumb me, I thought you could order as much as you wanted, however I did not see the sign which said, I had a limit of 5. He was gracious to let it slide since it was my First Time in. This said a lot to me, as he understood many may make mistakes and he was not going to ruine a Customer Experience by charging him/​her extra. At least, I know the next time.
I thought the food was excellent in Flavor. It was different, and of course, they have several sauces on the table for which you can add. I used a spoon and tasted each before adding ANY sauce on my food. I didn’t want to ruine it with something I did not like. I chose the Spicy/​Hot.
The ONLY drawback I had with the place… the Noise level was really high and it was difficult in understanding the person who was fixing my dish. There is a LOT of hard sound in the place with the TV going and people seem to be talking louder than normal to overcome the sounds.
I am looking forward in returning and trying one of their Hot Dishes. The place is very clean, and the food was very good… I am anxious to try the Chicken on my next trip soon… If you enjoy Korean Food, you will enjoy Gogi BiBimBap. A complex of many good flavors… :-)

Korean is the new Vietnamese. Might even be the new Chipotle. I’ve been dying to see what Gogi BiBimBap is all about, but never venture to the southside. Thank you for finally coming north of the river!
Got a bowl with brown rice, spicy pork, five vegetables and a runny egg. And it’s great! It could’ve been better, though. I wonder if it was a 90 instead of a 100 because I got it to go, or because the ingredients could’ve been fresher? I’m thinking it’s the latter, but I’m still satisfied. I see myself eating here often. Especially when the service is so nice.
Update: I went back the very next day, and I know what the not-​fresh thing is. It’s the bean sprouts. I like them raw, but they serve them par-​cooked. I just won’t get the bean sprouts anymore.