Gyuzou Yakiniku Premium Buffet — Restaurant in Sydney

I have quite a few things to about my experience at Gyuzou Yakiniku.

Initially, a booking for 10 was made for the 19th October at 6pm requiring a $20 deposit per person. As one person couldn't attend, thankfully the deposit for that person wasn't forfeited which was just added to the bill which is a positive.

They gave us 3 grills for the 9 of us which was amazing as we had opportunities to cook plenty of meat without feeling restricted in any way. The gas cooker flame was plentiful strong and the meats cooked fast which is a huge positive but it also highlighted a main issue which will be mentioned before.

The meat quality was amazing and I highly recommend the Wagyu Chuck Tail Flap MB 8-9 as it just melts in your mouth. All the other side dishes, sushi and sashimi were of very good quality.

Price was $82.99 if paid by cash which is a noticeable discount compared to the full price. Dining time was 100 minutes (80 minutes ordering time + 20 minutes eating) which is slightly different to other Yakinikus I've been to (60 minutes ordering and 30 minutes cooking)

That was the list of the positives and now the negative which is a big deal partially cancels out a few positives. The main issue we had was the speed of service from when we ordered to when we received our items. Understandably, some items are quicker to fulfill/serve such as sides/sauces and ice cream so I'm not taking those into consideration. On average, it took 5 minutes from ordering to receiving the items which is longer than desired but there were periods of times when we had to wait up to 10 minutes for our meats to arrive which is unacceptable especially with the imposed time limit. I've been able to order twice as more at other Yakinikus despite only having 60 minutes compared to the amount of items I could receive in 80 minutes here. Due to the wait times, we finished everything on the table and was waiting more than we'd have to usually.

Another issue is portion sizes we received even though we've explicitly requested larger amounts. Once we knew that a single serving wasn't sufficient I tried to order 5x the quantity knowing with confidence I can eat it. We only received at most double the quantity. This could've been resolved if the staff communicated with us which I could declare I'm able to finish to it.

Combined with the wait times and portion sizes, I didn't walk out full as I'd expect myself to be at other buffets/yakiniku and felt that I couldn't make my money's worth especially when paying $82.99 per person.

I'm hoping this is a one off underwhelming experience as there are a lot of pros but have no incentive to return back to Gyuzou. I'm happy to speak with management to see if we can work out an arrangement and an incentive to give this place another try. If I'm satisfied, I'm happy to redact/update my review and bump it up to 5/5.

At this point in time, I do NOT recommend going here due to the poor service speed alone. If it was a once off, then it'll be a gamble for you guys since it could go...

Yakinuku Gyuzhou is a BBQ offering high quality Korean and Japanese food in the heart of the CBD, off Sussex St towards the entrance to Darling Habour.

Arrive to the restaurant, and you’ll be met with friendly staff who are ensuring a safe and seamless Covid Safety check in. Show staff that you’ve checked in via your Service NSW app, have your temperature tested and you are taken to your table by the mask wearing staff. Surfaces have been disinfected before your visit and plates and cutlery are brought out when you sit.

Normally using a touch screen to order your menu, for the moment they are using a great system – ordering via your mobile and a QR code reader. This means less hands touching surfaces. Everything has been uploaded on different tabs from meat to seafood, sushi, sashimi, sides, desserts or drink. We love Korean and Japanese and BBQ is one of our favourite ways to dine out for you have the opportunity to try as much as you please during the 100 minute dining experience (provided you eat what you order – to avoid wastage, or you will be charged). The food comes out so fast, it’s really only necessary to order as you need or want it. Make sure you bring your appetite for there is at least 115 dishes to choose from. The banquet costs $78.80 per person .

The menu does have a number of extremely varied and fine cuts or 9+ Wagyu beef which you cook to your preference on the tabletop bbq in front of you. They provide you with a number of condiments which you can use as a dipping sauce to enhance the natural flavour of the meat. Although the high quality meat on offer needs nothing more added to it. We tried the Wagyu beef rib, beef tongue, oyster blade, Wagyu tri tip (our favourite) and the Wagyu outside skirt as well as flap meat. Other meats are also available like chicken, pork sausage, pork belly and more.

Seafood is also included in the menu, from mussels, to squid, prawns and scallop. We also ordered some delicious salmon sashimi as well. They’ve also got excellent and super fresh sushi.

There were some amazing side dishes to be selected, from chicken, beef and salmon don, udon, gyoza, pancakes, takoyaki and more. Some crispy lotus root chips are also great for snacking, as are the chili and regular fried chicken pieces.

The food was outstanding and with so much variety, it is a great venue for any occasion. The restaurant is spacious and room for large groups. They also sell beers, wines, soju and sake to complement your meal. Hopefully you can pay a...

I'm a regular customer of this restaurant but I have decided not going there anymore after a bad service from my last visit (4 Oct 2023), and it was not my first bad experience. As a PhD in a field of service management, I would like to advise the management of this restaurant about their service failure.

We are usually a group of 2 or 3 men. In most cases, they let us sit in the bad table on the first floor, especially one in the corner which is hard to access due to other tables. Also, the seat (bench) is high and table is low. But that is okay if they are not willing to fix it and as long as the food is served right. But they never do it right. We see other tables (easy access, bigger group) are served right but we just wait while we have nothing to eat on our table and our food is staying at the counter, waiting to be served. They serve simple ones such as salad or ice cream very quickly, but meat or hot food takes too long to be served. After 10 minutes of waiting with a "foodless table", I complained about serving nothing to a waiter and then food began to be served, but we felt waitresses were treating us badly with intention. They literally threw dishes on our table when serving. This could be misunderstanding of ours, but at least you should train your staff how to serve.

And when served, the meat portion is too small. Ordering 1 portion or 5 portions of wagyu does not make big difference in size. And especially when we order Karubi in recent visits, we sometimes get "white" karubi which is only fat in 2nd or 3rd Karubi order. (First order we always get good one) Guys, you are the restaurant asking $76 cash per person and you should not serve meat in such quality.

I don't care about a few mistakes (such as 1-2 menu not served until the end or wrong food served) because we are all humans. But seat arrangement, Serving priority, and the quality and portion of the meat are not human errors. It is a failure of service management or even intentional misconduct. Our recent visit was 4 Oct 2023 and under the name of Alan Cho, so you can verify that we were genuine customers and this review is also genuine. Hope this review helps you to level up your...