Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ
| Address: | 210 E Ohio St, Chicago, IL 60611, USA |
| Phone: | +1 312-266-8929 |
| Site: | gyu-kaku.com |
| Rating: | 4.4 |
| Working: | 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–10:30PM 11:30AM–11:30PM 11:30AM–11:30PM 11:30AM–9:30PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 5
PH
Phil Liu
Ive previously submitted a review of this restaurant on Monday, but I noticed that Gyu-Kaku has contacted Yelp to remove my review. I am more determined than ever to share my recent experience with all of my friends and colleagues, and fellow Yelpers considering Gyu-Kaku for your next restaurant experience. Ive never written a Yelp review, but my experience last Sunday has compelled me to inform my fellow Yelpers of what they can expect from Gyu-Kaku. First of all, Id like all of you to know that Ive been a loyal customer to Gyu-Kaku for the last 8 years. I have been an advocate of Gyu-Kaku to my friends and colleagues during that time. Last Sunday, my girlfriend and I went to Gyu-Kaku on Randolph at 6:30 pm after making a 7 pm reservation on Open table as wed do on a monthly basis. Upon arrival, the hostess (Amber) ignored my girlfriend and I for 5 minutes. Instead of checking us in, Amber was busy berating an Asian American customer regarding the importance of using the same profile name on Open table for every reservation. When she finally acknowledged me 5 minutes later, Amber reiterated her patronizing rant toward me, thinking I was the same Asian American customer she just finished talking to. I guess all Asians look alike to Amber. At 7:15 pm, I checked in with Amber again to understand if I should expect to be seated soon. After promising me that Im next on her list, Amber proceeded to seat two parties who missed their 6:30 pm and 6:15 pm reservations respectively. When I asked Amber for an explanation of her decision to not honor my 7pm reservation, she told me that she mistakened one of the Asian American parties for my party. Were now 40 minutes past our 7pm reservation. I was not happy with Ambers decision or explanation, so I asked for Ambers manager (Frank). When I explained the situation to Frank, he simply said they never had issues with customer check-in. When I asked him to explain why Amber never bothered to check each partys Opentable confirmation email, Frank told me to "shush, dont yell". I immediately left the restaurant after hearing Franks demand. I saw a comment by Eric Y from Gyu-Kaku regarding his companys committment to exceptial customer experience. My recent experience severely undermines the long-standing reputation the founders, management, and staff of Gyu-Kaku have worked so hard to establish. Throughout my interaction with Frank and Amber, they NEVER ONCE apologized for wasting our time at their restaurant. It is truly ironic that I became a subject of racial profiling at an Asian American owned restaurant. Because of Frank and Ambers attitude towards me and my girlfriend, I will never revisit a Gyu-Kaku location ever again. For those considering a visit to any Gyu-Kaku location, Id like all of you to factor my recent experience into your decision-making. For the record Frank, dont ever "shush" me or any customers. Youre not my parent nor my boss. Perhaps you can spend more effort in better managing your OpenTable reservations, and strengthen your restaurants operational efficiency to serve all customers in a timely fashion. Id encourage you to have a conversation with the original founders of Gyu-Kaku about your value proposition to the customer base, and the implication of your customer service philosophy for their business interests.
AL
Allegra Socki
Despite the absolutely wonderful service and great food, my only problem was the prices and lack of organization in the menu. My friend and I were under the impression that the happy hour specials would be less expensive than just ordering different plates off of the menu. We thought that the all-you-can-eat option would be cheaper, but DO NOT ORDER THAT unless you are actually able to eat everything. The fine print states that anything you order and DO NOT FINISH will be added to the bill! I will definitely order off the regular menu next time, to avoid the pressure of having to eat everything. Oh, thats another thing... we had maybe 3 or 4 different menus. Honestly, it was just a bit overwhelming. Our bill (for only 2 people) came back at over $70! Luckily our fantastic server came back and helped walk us through downloading the app and entering in promo codes to get a $10 discount. He also helped by splitting our checks and applying our discounts to each of the checks (one discount for mine, one for hers). What I anticipated as being a $20 meal ended up being over $30. My advice: If youre dining with one or two others, order off the regular menu unless you can eat everything you order. If youre dining in a group, be prepared to spend a lot, even if you only plan on eating a couple of dishes because the group bill adds up fast and there is a gratuity tip already applied to the bill (party over 5 or 6 I believe). TL;DR: Ended up paying more than I anticipated and the menu was overwhelming (not just the food, but the different types of meals and options).
TH
Thongsy Singvongsa
Excellent food, excellent service, and to top it off, excellent prices. After trying their BBQ items, I have been back here 4x in the last 2 weeks. Yes, I am addicted. The Kobe lunch set is awesome deliciously. For 11.95, you get 4oz of Kobe beef, salad, soup, and rice. This reminds me alot of the Korean bbqs but better. There are similar items that you would find at a Korean bbq restaurant though such as bibimbop, kimchee, soju, etc but I guess they are done with a Japanese twist. I especially love that my clothes dont reek of bbq when leaving. They have these special grills that have vents on the side so all of the fumes and smoke get sucked right from the grill and barely reaches the table. A HUGE POSITIVE upside. I seriously hope that their happy hour deals dont go away anytime soon. Happy Hour is daily from 11:30am-6pm and 10-close on weekends. A few of my favorite meat items are: yakishabu brisket, kobe beed, prime rib eye, and the rosu. And from the appetizers, the spicy tuna volcano is a must-try. Its spicy tuna topped on crunchy sushi rice drizzled with sauce....mmmm.
ST
Steve Alcorn
This bustling restaurant serves Japanese barbecue (essentially the same as Korean barbecue), and lots of it. You cook the meats and vegetables yourself on the grill in the center o the table. The combo meals are the best bet, because they let you try almost everything on the menu. We had the Samurai, which included three types of beef, chicken and shrimp. The toro beef was the best, although all were good. The meal also come with a tasty miso soup (lots of green onions in it, which I like), salad, a so-so tuna rice ball appetizer, and bibimbap served in a hot stone bowl. I love this type of bibimbap preparation, and usually order it at Korean restaurants rather than the barbecue, so it was nice to have it included. There were also vegetables for grilling, and a pouch of corn kernels. Dessert, too, was included, and consisted of graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate–a do-it-yourself s’mores kit! Service was fast and efficient. The place is pretty noisy, so eating on the sidewalk would be a nice option, when available.
MI
Mier Zhou
If I can give 0 star, I would! Trust me! This was the worst dining experience that I ever had in my whole life! After the diner, we checked the bill and figured that the waitress took the wrong order and offered us a much more expensive rib, which we couldnt really tell just by its looking. However, this wasnt the worst part! After we tried to talk to the waitress, she insisted that we were wrong and went to find the manager to deal with us when she stated at the first place that she would go find the CCTV record! Here came the manager with an incredible awful temper and unreasonable attitude and never came the CCTV record! It was such a scene! Ive never seen anyone in the service industry could provide any worse service! He didnt even want to listen to what we say! I highly recommend if you truly wanna eat at this place, check the bill and double check everything they offer, ask them to repeat if necessary because the music is so loud in there! Dont even try to argue with their management! Actually, just dont eat here!
