So Gong Dong Tofu And Barbeque

I rarely write reviews and perhaps this one can be deemed unfair but I have to say my peace. My friend and I attempted to come for dinner one Saturday night and walked in 30 min before closing to which the hosted denied us seating as the kitchen was closed. Ok… ate elsewhere. Then tonight tried again since I was in the mood for spicy broth noodle soup. Arrived around 8:32 when their sign says closed at 9:30. Early enough this time? NOPE! Kitchen closed. Really? No more attempts. Btw, summit Thai was awesome.

Pretty great bibimbap and lucky for them, there is no competition nearby which is why I ended up trying this unassuming little restaurant in a strip mall. Get the stone skillet– forms a delicious rice crust that you mix all together with fresh veggies and meat.
Skip the seafood pancake unless you don’t have access to a Korean mom or grandma who will make this for you for free and with TONS of seafood. I do have a mom who makes this by the stack so I felt pretty jipped both times I’ve ordered it. Flavor is not bad but seafood is stingy.
Now let’s talk about the spicy chicken. It comes sizzling on a skillet and covered with cheese. The «very spicy» is a challenge and will have your tongue and stomach battling it out. Your stomach wants more but your tongue is crying for mercy. It is addictive stuff. If you happen to do take out, don’t waste that awesome sauce. Mix it up with some shredded chicken and make a quesadilla. I did and I wasn’t sorry.
I much prefer the Korean bbq spots in flushing or k town with the table bbq but this place has been a great addition to the area!
They need to add dukbokghee to the menu!

I love this place. Service is fast, food is good!
Love their rice and how they add quinoa to it. I can eat three bowls of it.
Their kimchi is always perfectly– not too raw or fermented.
The tofu soup is my staple dish especially on a cold winter day.
Seafood pancake is delicious. Bulgogi and bi bam bap are pretty good and portions are decent too!
Love that they provide the hot tea where many places just serve water.
And it’s also baby friendly!

Been here about 3 times and the food is always delicious. I get the same thing every time-​forget what it’s called but I get it on a hot stone and the rice gets nice and crispy. The free appetizers are a nice touch,

We ordered the tofu kimchi soup, tofu seafood, and chicken galbi. YUMMY! wanna go back to try their other dishes so i can give a 5 star review. Their banchan is average but still tastes great. Only complaint is that your clothes will smell/​stink for about 24 hours so if you care about smelling like food, leave your jacket in the car. LOL Great hostess and service staff were friendly. Fairly large portions too. They don’t skimp.

The food deserves 4 stars but the slow service brings the overall rating down to a 3. Manage your expectations and you’ll be ok…

Best thing about living in New Jersey is the abundance of Korean restaurants!
We usually come here when we’re visiting the in laws. It’s a small restaurant but we never have to wait even though the restaurant is always packed. The food always comes out quick and they do a good job at refilling the ban Chan and waters.
Must get the seafood bimbimbap!

Friendly service, good food, and large portions. Loved It. Also the Egg Drop Soup should get 5 stars on its own.

I’m usually wary of places that seem ‘overhyped’ by its popularity, but SGD has earned its rightful place as one of the top soondubu restaurants in the area.
One thing that I love about SGD is that they serve their rice in the stone bowls. I’m a fan of the crispy rice that I have to scrape off the sides of the stone bowls. Usually most of the soondubu restaurants in the area serve their rice in hot metal bowls so I never get this ‘old-​school’ style anymore. Thanks SGD for being different!
We tried the seafood pancake which is easily the best in the area. Holds together well but is incredibly fluffy. Some seafood pancakes are too rubbery/​dense but SGD’s version features really light batter.
We didn’t try the kalbi this time, but saw others order it and the portion is large compared SGD’s competitors.
Some downsides: no reservations during weekend dinner, no lunch pricing on weekends, and no crabmeat soondubu. Also we went at 11 am (opening time) but they were not ready to serve us, saying that we would have to wait 15 mins for the rice to be ready. But other than that everything else was good.

Awesome to have found a soondubu joint in the area. Although we expected more from this place, it wasn’t so bad. The pajun was too soggy and fell apart at every bite. The soondubu was good, but the tofu wasn’t as silky as I hoped it would be. However, the flavor was okay. I’d be back if I was hankering for a nice hot meal.

Was on my way to 5 Guys next door when I walked by and thought… burger… healthy (ish)… burger… healthy…
Ended up coming in to SGD and ordered the bibimbap.
Service was nice, but for whatever reason the day I chose ended up being a packed night for the restaurant. I was one of 3 tables at 6:30pm and then the place ended up getting more and more tables. I guess people don’t feel like cooking on rainy days?
The banchan (side dishes) were pretty good… all my personal favorites were more or less represented.
Bibimbap was fine, nothing to write home about, but it was pretty fresh and good. What I was mentally craving was the egg… that would have brought it home for me…
I wish I had ordered the dumpling soondubu or the jigae soondubu… the other tables ordered it and it looked really, really tasty. Another time!
3.5−4 Stars, but rounding up since there are no halfsies on Unilocal

I really enjoyed my meal here. It was my first time having Korean food and I was not disappointed. They started me off with and assortment of seasoned vegetables and white fish, which was rather tasty; then I had the Bibimbap w/​beef which the waitress very kindly mix for me. The meal was deliciously satisfying without that oh I’m stuffed feeling. I will be back!

Not bad at all!
I always have such a hard time finding some great food in this area and I’m so glad my parents discovered this place. Compared to Korean food in Queens, it’s definitely not as good, but still a good contender should that craving hit.
We had the bimbimbap (get the hot plate) and the soon du bu. Both were delicious. I love soon du bu and maybe i’m biased to BCD, but they still make the best soon du bu. This place had a good replica, but still not as good. We also had the short ribs which were delicious and was a good size for one order. 4 of us shared that as an appetizer.
All in all, still some great korean food for the area. While it may not be the best I ever had, for this location, i’ll take it!

The farther you venture into the Jerseyian wilderness, the less likely you are to find legit Korean food.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t satisfy a Korean food craving. So Gong Dong is best known in Palisades Park (closer to the city), but has opened a location in the last year in East Hanover (farther west). It’s convenient for people living around here, but I’m sure the Pal Park folks will not find the quality or ambiance on par with what they are used to.
I was actually craving bibim naengmyun today (90 degree weather!!) and thought just maybe they might have it as a special. Alas, noodle-​wise, their specials only included jap chae. We ended up getting bibimbap, which by the way is served on a stone plate rather than a bowl, the jap chae and the soondubu to share. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the soondubu. Unlike most places, you can have it with noodles instead of rice, and they have two types: ramen or Kalguksu (flat noodles). I had a hunch that they would use packaged, store-​bought ramen, so I tried the Kalguksu instead. They must have put several fistfuls of noodles in the tofu broth, but it was delicious! I recommend «regular spicy» even for hardcore spice lovers. If it’s too spicy, it’s not as flavorful.

This is an easy and different Korean place for people in the East Hanover, Florham Park, and Livingston areas.
As is traditional, the table is served a range of appetizers; an assortment of kimchi, pickled radish (2 types), fish cakes, and spiced, pickled zucchini. (See photo)
For the main course I ordered the short ribs. These were served on a sizzling plate and cut with a scissor in front of me into portions I would pick up with my hands. The food was nicely seasoned Korean style (I believe it was Allspice and sugar) and a generous portion for $ 18.99 and served with rice (see photo). Apparently the rice here is served with quinoa, but I couldn’t sense it; just seemed like sticky rice.
My 20 yr old ordered the Soondubu Jjigae Seafood, and my wife ordered the Soondubu Jjigae Beef (see photos). These are spicy stews served with your choice of noodle, in your choice of 6 levels of spiciness. Huge portions.
We liked the food and the service. It’s convenient for those shopping at the adjoining strip mall, and worth a trip for those interested in something different from the other food in the area. This will be in our mix moving forward

we usually make two trips here every time we visit jersey. it’s been nice because we don’t have to drive out to pal park to get some yummy soondubu from sogongdong, which is my fave. I think the flavors in their soondubu is actually better than the pal park site. I always get medium spicy and it’s always spicier than anticipated, still good. their portions of
meat are pretty generous. it comes out cooked on a bed of onions. their kimchi cucumber side dish is my favorite among their side dishes.
we always get seated quickly, can’t complain about the service, and the food is always fantastic. can’t wait to go back!
just keep in mind, like with most Korean restaurants, you’re going to leave with a happy belly but stinky clothes! :)

Sorry but this place did not leave up to recommendations. The kalbi, a Korean staple and favorite, wasn’t cooked properly. They didn’t render the fat from the short ribs well so it was chewy, and the meat itself was a bit undercooked. Though I like my steaks med rare, kalbi should be cooked med/​med well, to ensure that the fat is on the crispy side and the meat seared but not burnt. Plus, even though it was cooked in the kitchen, my clothes smelled of the bbq even after I left.
The tofu stew was bland, even when we ordered it spicy. Didn’t have a deep lush flavor either. It wasn’t a horrible experience but would rather go elsewhere.

Update: came here again planning to order rice with the soon doobu and bibimbap on hot stone. Well worth it and knocks up the rating one star!
Tip– the bibimbap is NOM.

Food:
Side dishes– They only gave us 5 side dishes for 4 people. Even though they’re free to refill, I have never seen a Korean restaurant so stingy. Usually we get around 8 – 10 for 4 people, if not more. By having us ask for it, it makes us feel like we are asking for too much. It gives a much better impression when they offer many side dishes instead.
Seafood pancake– I’d give this a ⁴⁄₅. It wasn’t outstanding, but it did satisfy my craving. It was on the doughier side; not crunchy, but still quite good. But the amount the seafood in the pancake wasn’t that much either.
Seafood soondubu– This was pretty good overall but I could tell the seafood was from a frozen package. It didn’t taste fresh and the clams still had sand in it. The amount of seafood in this wasn’t that much either. The rice in the stone pot was good though (which is an additional charge).
The kalbi we got was delicious, but I was disappointed that we weren’t able to cook it at our table. It came out cooked already.

Greeted right away once coming in, very friendly staff. Only problem I had with this place was how my seafood tofu soup tasted like wet pepper flakes no flavor at all, a noticeable hole in my pancake that looked as if a piece of shrimp use to be there, and finally, the chicken galbi’s hot oil was flying onto my brother’s arm and face.
I’m familiar with Korean food and know how to cook Korean dishes. But of course you wanna enjoy and have someone cook for you once in awhile you know? Very disappointed with the taste of the food. I think I prefer the food from the restaurants in Hmart.
How the oil was repeatedly flying at my brother wasn’t the employees fault, but it just fueled how upset I was already after eating the seafood pancake and seafood tofu soup. Seafood pancake was OK, I thought it was very plain and overpriced at 13 bucks. Seeing how there were barely any seafood in it. Tofu soup was just overly seasoned with the pepper flakes so it just tasted like im sipping pepper flaked soup lol
Overally, the employees are very nice but the food quality was not what I am used to having in other restaurants I’ve been around the states. Nice people though!