Gogi Nori Premium Sushi & KBBQ

Several weeks after 7 Japanese BBQ & Yakitori Bar opened in December 2024, we visited the Irvine restaurant – a former Islands, heavily renovated – and weren’t particularly impressed: The one-stop destination for all-you-can-eat Japanese grilled meats and sushi was still experimenting with its name, menu, and pricing, foundational issues that clouded the business until its closure in January 2026. Soon thereafter, temporary signs went up heralding the impending arrival of Gogi Nori Premium Sushi & KBBQ, which soft opened in mid-March 2026.

Despite the shift from Japanese to Korean BBQ, Gogi Nori has a lot in common with its predecessor. A large dining room with capacity for over 165 people is decorated primarily with large silver tubes that vent tabletop grills, rows of dark wood tables, and darker chairs, now preceded by an entryway full of redemption machines and multiple Korean soju and beer posters. Gogi has replaced 7’s wire-topped BBQ grills with curved metal plates, and each table now receives a collection of banchan side dishes that look Korean but taste like Chinese approximations. Thankfully, these little dishes were the weakest parts of an otherwise impressive experience.

Depending on when they visit, guests can choose from lunch ($30 sushi or BBQ, $35 for both), premium ($50 for either, $58 both), or supreme ($75 both) AYCE tiers, prices establishing Gogi Nori as a direct rival to nearby and recently opened Chubby Cattle BBQ, but with a different balance: more items to choose from, less emphasis on high-end proteins. Unlike 7, which used iPad-based menus, Gogi Nori depends upon your smartphone for menu displays and ordering – a process that wasn’t fully baked on our early visit, requiring us to visit separate pages to preview the menu and order dishes; in some cases (such as “Garssi” sushi or certain plates without photos), we had to guess what items were supposed to be, or what portion sizes would be like.

Gogi Nori’s highest-end “supreme” menu includes a collection of special one-per-person items such as lobster tail or a lobster cut roll, prime wood-aged galbi, prime hand-cut short ribs, various carpaccios (tuna, salmon, yellowtail), bluefin tuna, and blue crab rolls. Step down to “premium” and there are still multiple hand rolls, cut rolls, nigiri sushi, and Korean BBQ cuts – pretty much every grillable Korean meat or basic seafood item you can imagine – but the bluefin tuna, carpaccios, blue crab rolls, and most riceless rolls are sold a la carte. The lunch menu cuts the choices further and removes all of the a la carte options. Beyond meats, seafood, and sushi, everyone gets access to a range of basic Korean appetizers, including rice, fries, Korean fried chicken, cheese sticks, and noodles, as well as a substantial DIY packaged ramyun bar with hot water dispensers. Whether you’re paying $30 for lunch or $75 for dinner, it’s hard to imagine cooking up your own bowl of Shin Ramyun or Buldak here, but they’re options.

Also unlike 7, which served only “okay” food by our standards, most of the (many) items we sampled at Gogi Nori were actually pretty good – some even approached greatness. Gogi Nori’s service was also substantially better, even in its early days, and we were generally impressed by the pacing of dish deliveries after placing smartphone orders. That having been said, the combined BBQ and sushi prices are now higher than 7’s, which struck us as a deterrent for repeat customers. Even with Gogi Nori’s improvements, we suspect its pricing will present similar challenges, though it’s worth considering that one could easily pay as much for an omakase sushi experience or lobster and steak dinner elsewhere as a full Gogi meal with much greater menu diversity and AYCE flexibility.