Short answer: a bottle of soju costs ₩1,340–1,380 in a supermarket, ₩1,500–1,900 in a convenience store, and ₩5,000 ($3.68) in both of the restaurants below. It is the same bottle in all three. Below: why the restaurant charges so much more for that same bottle, and whether beer works the same way.
Why does the same bottle cost three different prices?
| Where you buy it | Soju, 360ml | USD | vs supermarket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supermarket | ₩1,340–1,380 | $0.99 | — |
| Convenience store | ₩1,500–1,900 | $1.10 | +11.9% to +41.8% |
| Restaurant — Gobongdang Euljiro (고봉당 을지로점) | ₩5,000 | $3.68 | +273.1% |
| Restaurant — Bongilcheon Dwaeji Busok (봉일천돼지부속) | ₩5,000 | $3.68 | +273.1% |
There is only one size to argue about, which is why a restaurant menu here does not print one. The official survey covers the three big brands — Chamisul Original, Chamisul Fresh and Chum-Churum — and all three are surveyed at 360ml. That is the bottle that arrives at your table too. Unlike grilled meat, there is no portion to check before you can compare: a bottle is a bottle.
The two restaurants are in different parts of Seoul — one in the downtown office district, one out in a residential neighbourhood — and they charge the same. That is worth knowing, because it is the opposite of what happens with food. Two grilled-pork restaurants a few minutes apart can differ by a third. Soju does not really do that.
The restaurant is not selling you the bottle. It is selling you the table, the grill, the side dishes that keep arriving and somewhere to sit for three hours, and drinks are where a good deal of that is collected. Knowing the shop price does not make the restaurant price unfair. It tells you which part of the bill is drink and which part is rent — and it tells you what you save by picking up a bottle at the convenience store on the way to a park instead.
Is beer the same comparison?
| Where you buy it | Beer, 500ml | USD | vs supermarket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supermarket (can) | ₩1,930 | $1.42 | — |
| Convenience store (can) | ₩2,800 | $2.06 | +45.1% |
| Restaurant (bottle) — Gobongdang Euljiro | ₩5,000 | $3.68 | +159.1% |
| Restaurant (bottle) — Bongilcheon Dwaeji Busok | ₩5,000 | $3.68 | +159.1% |
Beer needs one caveat that soju does not. The shop figure is a can and the restaurant figure is a bottle. They hold the same amount but they are not quite the same product, and a bottle usually costs a little more even in a shop. Read the beer gap as approximate. The soju gap is exact, because it is the identical bottle.
What we left out, and why
This is also where things get thrown away. The same survey lists six-can multipacks and craft beer, and one of the same menus lists a one-litre flavoured makgeolli at ₩10,000. None of those belong in the tables above. A six-pack set against a single bottle would have made the restaurant look cheap; a flavoured litre set against a plain 750ml bottle would have made it look outrageous. Both comparisons were available and both are wrong, so products are matched by name and size before anything is divided.
What this page cannot tell you
What this is not: the shop prices are a national survey, and the restaurant prices are two named restaurants with their menus attached. Soju does not vary much, but two menus are examples rather than an average. One of the two is a photograph of the menu board with a date on it; the other is the menu as the restaurant lists it online, which carries no date of its own — only the day we checked.
Shop prices: the Korea Consumer Agency Chamgagyeok survey, 7 August 2026. Restaurant prices: the menus of Gobongdang Euljiro, Bongilcheon Dwaeji Busok, both still listed at these prices on 23 August 2026. Converted at ₩1,359 = US$1, the Korea Eximbank dealing basis rate for 2 October 2026.
Bottom line. ₩1,340–1,380 in a supermarket, ₩1,500–1,900 at the convenience store on the corner, ₩5,000 once you sit down — and that last figure barely moves between neighbourhoods. If you want to judge whether a restaurant is expensive, the food is the better test: see what Korean BBQ costs in Seoul.