Rengaya Casual Dining — Restaurant in Sydney

I’ve been a regular at this Japanese BBQ place for over 10 visits, and I've recommended it to friends and colleagues because I've always had a great experience. Unfortunately, my visit last night (January 16th) was extremely disappointing.

While the food quality is usually top-notch, most of the meat I ordered last night had way too much salt on it this time. It wasn’t a huge issue, but the real problem was the service, which was beyond frustrating. The waiter named Kei (as per the waitress who processed our payment), completely ruined the night with his attitude.

From the moment he began serving us, he seemed extremely disinterested and unenthusiastic. Whenever he brought out food, he gave off an aura of impatience. As our table became a little crowded, he simply handed us plates and walked away without offering to clear any space or assist. Again, I tried not to let this bother me.

Things escalated around 9:10 p.m., while we were still eating and in the middle of an important conversation. Kei came over and asked if he could take our plates—despite most of them being nearly full. Assuming they were closing soon, I started gathering the plates/stacking meat together to return them to him. However, he came back just five minutes later to ask again if he could take the remaining plates. I refused as they all had meat on them, but then he moved only about a meter away and stood there, staring at us and our food with a trolley.

At this point, I was fed up and asked him to leave us alone. He responded by saying, "You’ve already reached your time limit." I asked him, “Are you telling us we need to leave now?” and he confirmed that we did. I then asked him to get his manager if that was the case. Finally, he walked away without a word.

What frustrated me most was his approach. There were still multiple tables in the restaurant, and if we had indeed reached a time limit, a simple heads-up beforehand would have been appreciated. A courteous “You have about 10 minutes left” would have been enough for us to finish up and leave on our own terms. Instead, his pushy behaviour—collecting plates prematurely and then glaring at us from such a close distance—was unprofessional and frankly disrespectful.

I’ve had great experiences here in the past, which is why I’ve continued to return. But after this incident, I’m not sure I’ll be coming back anytime soon. A bad experience with service can leave a lasting impression, and unfortunately, that was the...

My husband and I booked on opening night to try this restaurant. The staff are friendly and greet you upon entering. The dining space is open and airy, it's basically the same layout as before if you've been here when it used to be Ginza yakiniku. The buffet menu is on a tablet that you use to order. We were allowed 2h dining but the timer on the tablet was only set to 77 minutes when we opened it, not sure why. However the tablet is very efficient because you don't have to constantly call the waiter for attention. They should probably update all the menu items with photos asap. Our water was also topped up very frequently, so the staff are quite attentive.

The beef is very rich, so you're probably not going to be able to stomach too much of it. Although it's nothing compared to the North Sydney Rengaya which uses higher grade marbled wagyu. The ox tongue is good, the best cut is the 'today's wagyu'. They should offer an option without seasoning for people who prefer it plain (they currently have salt & pepper or BBQ option). The chicken is good, and the pork sausage as well. The okonomiyaki tasted good, but doesn't have enough cabbage and ended up tasting more like takoyaki on a stick, which is fine if you like takoyaki. There is a BBQ seafood section - prawns are large and fresh, so are the scallops, very good; wasn't blown away by the squid. There are a nice selection of entrees as well as very fresh salads to choose from. I'm a bit disappointed they charge $2 for mesh change, they should at least allocate one free mesh change for each session I think considering they are charging $88 per head. We paid $2.50 for the ponzu radish sauce which was pretty nice as well. As the venue got busier the wait time for dishes became quite long because the kitchen was probably backed up with orders.

The dessert options, 2 out of 3 flavors of ice cream were sold out. Also it looks like they're planning to open a self serve fruits area? Might be more to come for Rengaya Casual Dining, so there are opportunities for improvement and innovation and will definitely come back at a later point to see what's new. Overall still a...

Rengaya serves authentic Japanese Yakiniku style buffet at emerald square plaza. Booking is highly recommended before turning up as Rengaya is one of the favourite bbq buffet restaurants at Burwood with the most affordable deal.

For Standard bbq adults costs $55 and premium bbq $95. Both child and seniors slightly cheaper. The premium you get on top of your stand are wagyu beef, seafood bbq, nigiri sushi & sashimi (drinks @ additional costs). Whichever package you choose, it’s controlled on the tablet so if you choose standard, the menu won’t show items from premium. Most food can be ordered via tablet, except meats, some deserts and fruit which can be self served in the main dining area.

Upon arrival there’s two types of seating, in the main dining area or in private room with sunken floor. For our reservation they gave us a private room that can accommodate approximately 10 people. The advantage of private room is it’s quieter and you can be as loud as you want. The disadvantage is the inconvenience getting in/out of the seat otherwise you need to send the person closest to the door to go grab food. The buffet starts at the time you receive the tablet, 90 minute time limit with 60 minute ordering time.

Service is very disappointing, dishes that you order from the tablet get served to your table between 10-30 minutes. I would recommend you to select serve now otherwise you won’t get your dishes until after 30mins. We ordered a lot of dishes at the beginning and it took ages to come. I would have preferred self service that way I’m not waiting and wasting time otherwise you’ll be eating meat the entire time. Drinks also took about 30 minutes to arrive, there’s just not enough bar tenders to keep up with the busy restaurant.

Overall, the food is quite good even for standard buffet. If you’re the person that needs wagyu and bbq seafood premium will be an extra $40 and 120 minutes dining including 75 minutes ordering. Up to you which package you choose but for me standard is more...