A new Korean barbecue concept is taking shape inside downtown Milwaukee's former Starlight Room space, with co-developers David Knight Johnson and Brian Lee aiming for a January 2027 opening at 275 W. Wisconsin Ave. GogiHaus Korean BBQ will fill the ground-floor spot with 37 grill-equipped tables, a single $35-per-person pricing tier for its full core menu, and a soft serve ice cream station to close out the meal.
The project is a dream years in the making for Johnson and Lee, longtime friends who bonded over travel and hospitality experience, according to OnMilwaukee. The pair visited Berlin and Munich together at age 18, a trip that helped shape the restaurant's name: gogi is the Korean word for meat, and haus borrows the German spelling of house, per the same account. That German influence carries into the menu, too, with GogiHaus planning to pour German beers on tap alongside its tabletop spread.
A Fine-Casual Take on All-You-Can-Eat
Johnson, who will serve as GogiHaus managing partner, has described the restaurant as fine casual, arguing that all-you-can-eat dining and a premium experience aren't mutually exclusive. The core menu will include chicken, pork, and marinated beef varieties along with thinly sliced brisket, banchan, and appetizers, the report notes. Diners looking to upgrade can add specialty meats, including wagyu, on top of the flat-rate menu rather than moving through separate pricing tiers — a structure GogiHaus is explicitly avoiding.
Johnson brings a civil engineering background to the venture, along with prior restaurant experience co-owning Ono Sushi in Kenosha with his in-laws. Lee's résumé leans further into fine dining: he has worked at Chicago sushi restaurants including Juno and Mako, the latter a Michelin-starred omakase spot led by Chef B.K. Park that earned its star in September 2019, according to the MICHELIN Guide.
Retrofitting a Downtown Space for 37 Grills
Feeding smoke away from 37 active tabletop grills is no small feat inside a downtown building, and GogiHaus is installing custom air purification and ventilation equipment directly into its dining room buildout to manage it, per OnMilwaukee. The restaurant is also investing in its sound system as part of the build-out. Milwaukee firm RINKA, known for designing The Couture — Wisconsin's tallest residential tower — is handling the interior design, according to The Daily Reporter.
The space itself has a layered history. It previously housed an Applebee's before being converted into the Starlight Room, an event venue with capacity for 150 standing or 85 seated guests and street-level garage doors opening onto West Wisconsin Avenue, according to Urban Milwaukee. That flexible layout previously hosted private gatherings and municipal open houses before GogiHaus's arrival.
Anchoring an Award-Winning Food Hub
GogiHaus will sit adjacent to 3rd Street Market Hall, within walking distance of the Wisconsin Center District and downtown's other entertainment venues. The market hall opened in January 2022 as a cornerstone of The Avenue, the multi-million-dollar redevelopment that converted the former Shops of Grand Avenue mall into office, residential, and dining space, Urban Milwaukee has reported. USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice awards named 3rd Street Market Hall the second-best food hall in the country in 2025, a ranking that underscores the foot traffic GogiHaus stands to inherit.
Downtown Milwaukee has largely lacked an elevated, non-tiered tabletop Korean barbecue option up to now. Modern Korean cuisine in the city center has mostly meant kitchen-prepared, non-grill concepts like Char'd, which opened in the Historic Third Ward in May 2018. Meanwhile, chain tabletop grilling has already found an audience in the suburbs, with KPOT Korean BBQ & Hot Pot opening in Greenfield — a sign of regional appetite for the format that GogiHaus is now betting will translate downtown.
With construction underway and a January 2027 target date, questions remain about how quickly the buildout will progress, what liquor license approvals will look like, and whether the fixed $35 pricing model can hold up against rising food costs over time.
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