Gogi Time

I have had good experiences at Gogi Time most of the time. I prefer not to sit in the restaurant and leave smelling like smoke, so my partner and I usually order takeout. The restaurant used to be a favorite, but I think the meat quality for the spicy pork has declined and that is the meal we order most so we don't go as frequently now.The one time I ate in the restaurant, service was attentive, but the table was still dirty when they seated us. The food was quite good though we did not cook anything ourselves. What the chef made was delicious.

Didn't get to take more photos bc we were just so hungry but such a fun n yum experience overall!! Definitely busy coming on a Friday night but got sat pretty quickly. The meats were all pretty good quality, though there wasn't a crazy variety to choose from. One of the best part was their buy 2 get 1 free Soju deal--yogurt is hands down the best flavor. The galbi and brisket is always a must but beef belly n sirloin were surprising also our tops for the night. Bonus points bc they had enoki mushrooms and onions. Loved the variety of banchan they had, even a few like the eggplant that weren't a typical side. Loved loved loved the music that was playing that night, really set up a lively ambient. They forgot a couple of our orders but never a big deal at all since u can always just add on. Not my favorite kbbq place in the bay but definitely worth a try!!

Service is currently horrible. We waited 30 mins past our reservation to even be spoken to. Which was 8pm. We weren't spoken to at all when we were seated until we had to ask to get served. By the time a server came back I'm assuming from her break, she didn't apologize for the wait. We ordered, still lacked the essentials. We had to ask for everything. After we ordered we weren't spoken to. No one checked on us until we brought it upon them that we haven't been properly served. They asked other people & served other people & never asked us once what we needed. The server was a young lady she was rude. One server wanted to make it right I wish we had her from the beginning. I would've enjoyed the experience. Im also not going to rate my experience because it was horrible.

The meat is pretty good and the price point is decent for the area! Those are the positives. The service is lacking - we ordered one bowl of rice five separate times and received...no rice. The tables around us did receive theirs though, which was confusing. Some of the fans don't work so it gets pretty smoky. Also, the bathrooms could use some TLC.

Gogi Time used to be my go-to KBBQ spot years ago, but my recent visit showed a noticeable decline in quality. It was quite disheartening to see the surrounding area--most nearby stores were closed, the parking lot was empty and littered with trash, and the restaurant itself had only two occupied tables. This was during a Saturday lunchtime, so I expected it to be busier, as it had been in the past.With so few customers, the service was excellent. I've read similar comments in reviews, and I can confirm that the staff were very attentive. Unlike other KBBQ places where you often need to call the staff for assistance, the service at Gogi Time was proactive and efficient.Unfortunately, the quality of their dishes has declined. While not terrible, it now feels like a low-tier, decent spot compared to before. Additionally, the price is hard to justify, especially considering there are other KBBQ places in the Bay Area that offer better quality food at a lower price point. What still makes Gogi Time stand out, and why it was my favorite years ago, is the variety of appetizers and sides they offer. The potatoes, in particular, remain my favorite--they're incredibly addictive.I hope Gogi Time can turn things around and regain its former glory. This place holds a lot of nostalgia for me, and I'll be rooting for them to succeed.

It's sad for me to see a place I used to excitedly go to as a teen to young adult change, but I guess that's a part of living. The staff is very nice and patient and the way the place is designed is pretty, but the quality of food and options aren't as good as they used to be. The Banchan is just not good; the fishcakes are weirdly soft, kimchi lacks flavor and they provide premeasured amounts of salt/sesame oil (which I imagine in a busy night would be annoying to keep requesting for). The rice was not cooked the way I like it, felt mushy and like too much water was used. I will note that many of the KBBQ have decided to stop offering more meat variety, so I won't dock them for that but it does make me sad the only KBBQ in Oakland that offered intestines no longer does that. The automatic service fee of 18% is convenient, but I imagine some people would not like that or may get confused and tip significantly more than they realize. On a positive side the soft tofu soup is pretty good and the galbi is nice and thick, although very fatty. It's still not terrible or was a bad experience but I don't think I'd come back, and that's sad for me to say. I would probably go to a different KBBQ nearby instead that has better quality meat and Banchan.

Showed up for dinner for a special occasion. Staff is very friendly and attentive, multiple people coming to check in on you. Corn cheese was amazing, unlike the competition they give you a ready to eat, won't take up grill real estate. The pork cuts were amazing, the beef cuts were delicious. The garlic fries were pretty good. On Thursday it was not too crowded, diverse music playing. Gratuity IS INCLUDED, however this place is quite innovative. In the past, I roasted a place for asking for a tip when service charges were already included. RESTAURANTS PAY ATTENTION AND LEARN FROM THESE FOLKS. In the service charge it's 16 % by default. Then when you sign the receipt their suggested check marks suggest: would you like to add 1% ? 2%? 3%? Other ? You get to add just to the 16 percent. This is how all restaurants that have included service fee should run it instead of another 15 % or whatever on top of the cost already included. Great place and great attention to detail, go grub there you won't regret it.

Dang, I had high hopes for this place because this used to be my friend's favorite kbbq spot in Oakland. Apparently new management took over and now it has declined based on other reviews I've seen. First red flag should've been that there were barely any people in at 6:45pm on a Saturday night. You would think that service should be attentive since the restaurant was not busy? Nope. We saw our server only 3 times (first to take our order, then to order our drinks and to tell her that some food items never came, then at the end of our meal.) We had to ask for our side dishes that never came more than once. Plus we had to go out of our way to flag down someone to order more food. If you're gonna limit only 4 meats and 2 appetizers per table per round, then they need to be more on top of checking in to see if we want to order more.The food was just ok. Not a lot of flavor for the meats, the "spicy" ones were not even spicy, and the portions were small. We ordered a top sirloin and they gave us 2 small slices for the 4 of us. We didn't even end up getting THREE items we had ordered. Shame. Then we told 2 different people that we were done and ready for our check. Wasn't until a THIRD person came over and finally we said, "We're just waiting for our check."Bathroom was also horribly managed. There's only two stalls and one of them straight up had the toilet tank cover on top of it. I used the bathroom when I first walked in, and then at the very end, and nothing changed. If it's out of service, close the door and put up a sign. You're better off going to another kbbq spot in Oakland than spending $50 here ($40 for AYCE then a mandatory 18% gratuity for everyone + tax). Sorry Gogi, but I won't be back.

I'm really sad to say that this place is not what it used to be. It was absolutely my favorite place to eat KBBQ at back in 2020-21 but the quality in food has gone down by so much and definitely is not worth $40 a person for AYCE. The only good thing about my visit was the attentive service from our waiter. The meat was lacking in quality, the sparkling lemonade was super sugary/sweet - it felt like drinking a really insane energy drink. The corn cheese just really had my friends and I speechless because why does it look like that? We still took a few bites out of it and it tasted just as bad as it looked. We tried ordering a lot of things like the rice cakes, radish paper, etc but it was "sold out" within an hour of opening and the restaurant only had one other party seated besides us. Not pictured was the Japchae that we ordered - it wasn't bad and we finished it all but it definitely wasn't the same as it was years ago too. Also ordered tofu soup but nothing was special/memorable about it (we didn't finish it). Probably won't ever come back here again - total was around $170 for 3 people and they automatically add gratuity.

Gogi Time has really gone down in quality, especially compared to when they were at the height of their popularity years ago. Five years ago, I would have given this a 4 star easily.Five of us came at around 6pm on Saturday night before a concert and easily got a table. There was confusion about the menu (apparently they had just updated) when we tried to order items like beef belly and the server said they don't have any. Then they realized we had an older copy of the menu and swapped with us for the new one. The new menus have fewer items and the quality of the meats, sides, and even banchan was not there.The nice thing was that they didn't limit us on the appetizers so we were able to order multiple each time. But the pancakes were soft, soup wasn't spicy, garlic was just dumped on the fries, etc. The kalbi and brisket were decent but all in all, for $39.99? Hard pass.