Joo Joo Restaurant & Karaoke

I’m not really sure why everybody is hating on this restaurant, but my experience was AMAZIING! I went in during lunch around 12:30 on a Friday and was greeted by the employees there very politely. I ordered the beef soon tofu which came with steamed rice. While I was waiting for my main dish to come, the server bought it out all these small plates with different kinds of Korean food, similar to what you would get as a sample. A few minutes later, the soon tofu came sizzling hot and honestly, it was delicious! While I was eating the soon tofu with the rice, I kept finishing the rice (I ordered extra rice since I eat a lot) and eventually ordered a total of 4 extra rice. The cool thing is, they didn’t even charge me for all those extra rice I ordered! It was a very reasonable price for very authentic Korean meal and I will definitely go back again if I had the chance!

Needed a Korean fix and not near NYC. Joo Joo is closer to my home than others so I gave it a try. They do all you can eat BBQ but have to have two. I opted for kimchi pork bolbogi. The selection of ban chan did the trick. Daikon is one of my favorites. 7 different selection all were fine. The main meal was fine but felt the cuts of meat were a little fatty. At times I was wondering if I was eating pork belly. Flavors were good and I would come back.

I love Korean food, I love this restaurant. I like the seafood pancake, it is really good. My boyfriend and I went there last week and were very satisfied. Price is a bit high, usually 60(including tips) for two person.

Last weekend was the second time I’ve eaten at this restaurant, and it has not disappointed me yet. First time I had the beef bulgogi and it came with 6 or 8 side dishes, and rice. Loved it! Very good. This second time I had the chicken teriyaki and that was also good, although I’m a big fan of korean barbecue.
When I talked with one of the employees, the claim was they make their own Gochujang, or Korean hot pepper paste. I believe some Koreans will add this into Bibimbap (another traditional dish), I put it over the rice and eat it that way. Very good stuff.
A most do on the Korean restaurant tour around St. Louis! Will be back again soon.

People there could not even understand what they serve from the menu. If they serve the wrong food, they just say their menu needs to be updated… how cunning is that? And no matter what terrible service you get you still need to pay tips, cuz they served you, even terribly served… disappointed about how they run their business…

Had another great meal at Joo Joo yesterday evening. I meant to update my review the last time we were here since our experience improved but forgot.
We started with the spicy rice cakes which came with a hard boiled egg that was absolutely delicious. My new favorite entrée is the beef tendon hot pot. I think it’s the number 48 on the menu.
We will definitely be back before you know it for more great food.

Service seems disorganized… I was in town for a short time and had been craving Korean food. I’ve been without for so long, my family decided to meet here before I left town. I arrived with my siblings and wasn’t offered a menu or service, but once my aunt and uncle arrived suddenly they’ve got attention to give.oook.
At first it seemed like a high school kid was going to be serving us, a classmate of my brother’s I believe. And he was helping us just fine until an older woman shooed him away to take over. That was awkward. And I believe there was a bit of a language gap with her so we just kind of went with things when she didn’t seem to understand some of our questions or we didn’t understand what she meant.
I don’t remember everything we had but there was definitely bulgolgi, bi bim bop. and I think one more dish that was OK. Everything else I forgot I didn’t really care for after trying a taste, and the one’s I do remember I think were a little bit bland and could have used more flavor.
They’re a bit pricey and I was disappointed with the dishes, and service definitely needs some work. I’d likely want to try Korean elsewhere before I return here again.

Tons of great side dishes. They are so yummy. I love the spicy octopus. OMG so so delicious and fresh.
The BBQ beef short rib is a must try. They marinated the beef in Korean sauce then BBQ. The flavor is incredibly good. Very impressive

The food was alright, a bit pricey but the portion was good.
I assume the waitresses are salaried staff because obviously they don’t give shit about providing good services in exchange for gratitude.
Anyway, there are plenty of Korean restaurants in town. I’ll go explore a bit before I decide to come back.

We went to Karaōke. When we entered the restaurant, waiter/​waitress just looked at us. Took about 3min to get hosted to Karaōke. We had fun. However, when we were about to pay for the Karaōke, they charged two times more than we did. They didn’t keep the time. They added one more hours to our bill. Gladly we didn’t pay for what they billed, but be careful if you want to go for Karaōke.

It was kind of pricey but it was one of the few places that offered karaōke and good korean food! I love the grill with the beef! Everything was good! Was there with friends and they also had yogurt saki as well. They were very nice and helpful everyone was.

Back again and kid 2 had the kalbi. Not surprisingly, she loved it and plowed through the entire order with just a single bite for me and one for the wife.
The wife had a bi bim bop variant and it wasn’t that good. Who knew a Korean restaurant could produce a flavorless entrée?!?
I grabbed the baby octopus and had them throttle back the heat a little. I like spicy but if Korean people considers something spicy then I need it dialed back a little to enjoy.
Baby octopus was amazing. Slightly chewy but not overly so. Slightly briny but not overly so. Great flavor all around. Add in some scallions, white onions, zucchini and carrots and it comes across as a pretty healthy dish that is packed with flavor.
Radish ban chan variants were the favorites this time around although the sweet black beans were well received too.
No dessert this time as Silky’s Frozen Custard is just down the road… but that’s another review.

I love this place. Food is extremely good and the staff is very friendly. Although there is a language barrier. I’ve been to this place about five times now and never been disappointed.
I always order Bulgogi Baekan sliced Korean marinated beef. But before the food they bring out all sorts of veggie side dishes including Kimchi, seaweed, tomatoes, carrots and white rice etc. Again the food is very good and the service is fast and friendly. Prices are very reasonable ($ 10-​$ 13) depending on what you order. They also offer group pricing as well up to $ 40 – 50 for TONS of food.
I love Korean food, it is the most authentic food I’ve had since I left Korea few years back. They’re open late every night and on the weekend they have karaōke.
They also offer self-​cooking options so that you can cook at the table. Some of the tables have built in stoves/​burners. The interior is somewhat dated and could use some help. BUT the food makes up for it which is most important.
My friend ordered seafood hot pot which she said was very good and flavorful. The food is not really spicy however you can ask them to make it even more mild (not recommended) I think you’ll lose flavor.
They also have a small selection of Korean beers and desserts. If you want some authentic Korean food I think this is the place to visit. It’s located next to Creve Coeur license bureau near at the intersection of Olive and fee fee road.
I hope you enjoy this place as much as I do.
Cheers.

Recently went for a friends birthday and it was probably the most enjoyable experience I’ve had at a Restaurant connected to a Karaōke Bar. Very authentic food that is served until late. Friendliest service and a memorable experience. I will come back for sure.

Top notch best authentic home — style Korean food in Missouri. The flavors, the quality, and the service perfects this restaurant. Definitely try the Korean BBQ Beef Ribs cooked on the stove with variety of side dishes and also can’t forget the korean Soju which pairs perfectly with the meal. MUST GO TO PLACE when in St. Louis! They also have Karaōke!

Décor is minimal. Owner and the waitresses are friendly. Ordered the spicy beef soup. Even though I dinned alone I was served 9 cold appetizers. The appetizers are standard Korean fair. Fresh but nothing out of ordinary. When the soup came is was delicious. Nothing beat good soup in a cold winter night. I’m a soup aficionado so believe me when I say it’s good. Order Bulgogi to go. 4 appetizers were included even for to-​go item. Lots of meat in the order and it tastes good, too. I’ll go back again if I’m near by.

It was fairly good. the meat itself was frozen but the side dishes were good. service wasn’t that good but i’m sure that will be fixed once the waiter gets more familiar with the job.

My colleague at work strongly recommended this place to me and I thought I should give it a try. The food was great. I took a seafood sun tofu and my friend took a chicken dish (both from the lunch menu). The food was delicious and it was a lot of food. The side dishes were just about okay (have had better side dishes at Korean places). The service was good and fast and good was yummy and the stoneware in which they serve food is so nice!

This was an amazing place. I am still savoring my visit.
For clearly non-​Korean patrons, the staff could not have been more polite and helpful. In particular, our waiter asked if we wanted more of the «condiments». Seeing as we had plenty (see below), I said I would just work my way around the table, but I did say that I really liked their kim-chee’d radish (daikon?). He promptly picked up the dish and refilled it as if there was no other way. I liked that.
My wife and I got the bulgogi-​style hotpot. We wanted to try the seafood pancake reviewers here praised, but the waiter warned us of the amount of food we would be getting. Note, that this is a per-​person price, so we got it for 2 people.
They brought us out 10 – 11 «condiments» and a small bowl of rice to sample as our hot pot was cooking (also on the table). The condiments were a few types of kimchee, some sorghum-​soaked beans, some daikon, seaweed, etc. We asked the proper way to eat the condiments (alone, with rice, with hotpot meal), and again we were treated very politely and warmly with the answer being ‘Koreans do it all differently, so you try things out”. There was so much food I didn’t even touch my rice, but my wife found it necessary to have the rice with the hotpot liquid.
I don’t know about their other dishes (see other reviews), but our bulgogi hotpot was mostly meat with some veggies and super thick noodles. At first I thought the noodles were tubers, but I am pretty sure they were made from dough. Good nonetheless. For our 2-​person, appeteizer-​less meal plus a large, large beer to split it cost around $ 50 (20% tip included) and we had easily enough food for two more people.
I definitely plan on going back. Lots more to try. I especially want to check out their egg-​covered rice, which I was told was a fan-​favorite.

So My wife and a bunch of my friends came here on a Sunday for lunch. We decied to do family style, and ordered 4 dishes:
1) Seafood Pancakes: This hands down was the best dish of our meal. The pancake was grilled/​baked to perfection with the light crisp texture on the outside, and ender/​soft inside. The size of seafood (real/​authentic) was really big which is great because you know you are not eating fake/​synthetic/​questionable seafood meat. This dish is so good that I could eat this as a meal in itself!
2) Spicy Samgyeopsal: This taste was very good only if you enjoy really spicy flavored food, but the amount of meat (Samgyeopsal) was lacking. In general If i come back I would not get this.
3) Bulgogi Dol Sot bibimbap: I personally did not taste this, but my wife and buddies killed this dish pretty quick so it must of have been pretty good. Next time I would definitely order this to taste it for myself.
4) Bodae jeegae: This taste is similar to all the others that I have tried in the east coast korean towns, which is a good thing because it is very hard to make this dish wrong. I would definitely get this again if I were back in St Louis.
Overall, I would definitely go back to this place because it seems very authentic, and the SEAFOOD PANCAKES were one of the best I have ever had! ENJOY!

Only came here for the food, and ordered 4 things here. Solid korean place, with mediocre prices, but the quality and quantity of food was good. I definitely recommend getting the appetizer squid pancake or what not, that thing was amazing. The rest of the food was extremely solid /​korean food, will definitely come back

Karaōke* here is cheaper than Koreana’s! That’s pretty much the reason why I came here last night… and that being said, this review is for the Karaōke portion of Joo Joo’s only. I did not partake of their food, although it smelled effing amazing when we stepped inside. I don’t really like Korean food in general but I’d probably go back and try one of the non-​spicy dishes, like bulgogi or something. I need some Koreans to school me on their food… as in what stuff is über spicy and what isn’t! (Maybe there are Korean dishes my stomach would get along with!)
But yeah, when you get inside, you tell the guy or lady at the front desk you want to do Karaōke (because yes, you do… you want to… the Karaōke commands youuuu!) and they take you back out through the door you came in through to a little hallway thing with various doors. It’s kind of weird at first, like you’re going to have a private dance at a strip club or something. Once you get your «room» the adorable and friendly girl will set you up with your Karaōke gear. Two mics, the books, and the programmer thingy. It’s basically the same exact books/​setup as Koreana’s if you’ve ever been there. You can also order food, but it sucks that they don’t have a button you can push to bring someone to your room so you don’t give up any precious Karaōke minutes looking for a server.
In terms of songs, I wish they had more variety and an easier selection method. The Karaōke places I went to in Sapporo totally kick this place out of the water but Japanese people also tend to obsess over the latest technology especially karaōke so not surprising there… also I think that the Asian-​style private-​room karaōke is less popular in the US or maybe just no one knows what the heck it is. A lot of my friends were like «wtf» when I explained the set-​up of Asian-​style karaōke to them. So yeah. Odd. They do, btw, have a book of «new» songs except that they’re about 3 years old… lol. At the other place I went to, they said they update the new songs every month or so, but I am not sure what is standard protocol at Joo Joo’s…it would be nice to have more newer songs but also I wish they had more oldies… mmm, Hall & Oates…
Like I said, cheaper by about $ 5 than Koreana so I will likely be back. You get charged by the hour. Last night I split it with my girlfriend and we paid $ 35 total. I forgot how long we were there though.
–footnotes–
*Karaōke = Japanese-​style as in not in front of a bunch of drunk strangers at a bar but rather in your own, private, comfy little closet of a room with microphones and a song chooser thingy. So if you get embarrassed like I do when it comes to singing in front of large (albeit drunken) crowds, you can come here to sing in peace. Although it can get noisy… and people may or may not hear you belting out your favorite hits of the ‘80s from the room next door… they need better acoustic padding/​thicker walls!

Went to Joo Joo for the first time late on a Friday night w/​the hubby. The neon sign w/​their name out front is broken, so it only says Joo…:) The place is BRIGHT! It’s very sparse in the décor department… and it’s lit up w/​fluorescent lighting… it’s just horrible… but kinda funny. There are a couple of other large tables and they are loud and having a good time. Everyone in here also seems to be Korean which we take as a good sign. I wouldn’t want to eat Korean food in a place where Korean people don’t eat.
We were seated in a booth that had a grill built into the table, and given menus.
I have NEVER been to a Korean restaurant before… I will just throw that out there. I think I’ve had Korean food but it was at a party or something… so we’re pretty much going in blind here. Thank goodness for Unilocal for making us want to come here.
Our waitress was ADORABLE! She was young and energetic and explained everything to us. Hubby got a Korean beer which he says was just ok… and I wanted to try rice wine since I never have before. I asked our waitress and she says she’s a minor so she didn’t know what it tasted like either, so she went around asking everyone and I just thought, «what the Hell» and ordered it. I didn’t know that they just give you a whole bottle (which was plastic) and that it was 16.00…oh well… I kept it and to me it tasted just like what you’d think… rice water… not terrible, just rice water. Make sure to shake it up really well every time too.
We decided on the seafood pancake and the Bulgobi Baekban. They first bring out all sorts of veggies in little bowls (Kimchi) You can nibble on these or just add them to your dish when it comes. There are 2 types of radishes and both were delish! There was also seaweed, potatoes and carrots, potato salad, peppers, etc… We pretty much liked all of the bowls but the spicy radishes (which look like bean sprouts) are the best.
The seafood pancake is LARGE and was soooooo good! I have no idea what’s in it except for various fish. It’s like an egg batter type of pancake.
The Bulgobi Baekban is served in a cast iron cow on a wood plank (see photo) and it’s slices of marinated beef w/​onions and some veggies served with sticky rice. You can also mix the kimchee w/​it.
Our server was attentive and very nice… I which I got her name. The hostess, who seemed like the owner, was also very nice and helpful.
If we were closer, we’d eat here a lot. The food is good and inexpensive. We might take it to go though since the lighting is horrendous!!!
BTW…I also took my bottle of rice wine home to try again later. :)

I’m not a Korean food expert but I know what’s good, and Joo Joo is damn good!
Joo-​Joo is in the same plaza as Pita Plus. I came in for lunch and was surpised to see that we were the only ones there. They have a special lunch menu with about 10 choices on it. I went for the spicy pork & vegetable dish ($ 8) and my friend got the beef bulgogi ($ 9). Both were excellent. The pork had some great heat to it, while the beef was very tender and flavorful. Of course we got the standard Korean side items that came with the meal, such as kim chi, pickled radish, and seaweed (see attached photo). They were all pretty decent.
The prices were very reasonable and I took home plenty of pork for another meal. The woman serving us was kind and helpful. And the food came out in around 5 minutes! Good food, good service, and good prices. What more do you want?
I was disppointed that no one else came in while we were there. C’mon people, Joo Joo is a great lunch spot, so stop in and show some love.