The Yook Chatswood — Restaurant in Sydney

Disappointing Mother’s Day Dinner Experience

I had dinner here with two friends to celebrate Mother’s Day. We booked a table and arrived on time. As expected, the restaurant was busy, and the manager informed us we had 90 minutes for our meal, which we understood due to the high volume of bookings.

We ordered meat, vegetables, and alcohol and started enjoying our Korean BBQ. The staff were friendly and attentive throughout, which we appreciated. However, the experience took a downturn when the manager came back twice — first telling us we had 15 minutes left, and again when there were 4 minutes remaining.

His tone and facial expression were cold and unwelcoming. There was no smile or warmth, which made us feel rushed and uncomfortable. The last 10 minutes were especially stressful — we had to hurry to finish our food and drinks, which really ruined the atmosphere.

We left exactly at the 90-minute mark and paid at the counter. When I said thank you, but the manager didn’t respond or even make eye contact. I understand the pressure of managing a full house, especially on a busy night like Mother’s Day, but the way it was handled made the whole experience feel tense and unpleasant.

90 minutes limit is not reasonable for a BBQ dinner, not like eating a ready-made food, it takes time to cook and cool down. Being rushed like that just isn't enjoyable. Unfortunately, I won’t...

Been on my list for a while and glad I managed to get a same day table for a Friday night. They don’t take online bookings for same day reservations so you’d have to call and reply to an automated SMS if they don’t pick up which was easy enough to do. They have a 90-minute sitting which is sufficient. The venue is flash, nice enough for a date but I’d say sit side-by-side cos it does get loud and also take the side where you can BBQ easily with your dominant hand. We ordered the Set B which was amazing and comprised of multiple dishes, each of them done perfectly. The seafood pancake was crisp and with just enough batter to hold all the seafood goodness together. The selection of BBQ meats was definitely a highlight and comprised of marinated chicken, beef and beef ribs. Special mention goes to the level of service. They recognised that the meat took a while to come out and apologised profusely, then needed reminding on the deep fried dumplings which they forgot about and a person who looked like he was the owner came to personally apologise and gave us free drinks to make up for it. Overall, a spectacular venue with excellent food and service. A bit on the pricey side but at least it’s this side of the bridge and you can park easily enough. Oh, and if you pay cash, you’d get a...

Hey, random question: Do you want to be able to cook the food that they bring you at Korean BBQ? Funny that…

After going to The Yook three times, I have to say that I find the food quite good. Unfortunately I've consistently found the service almost comically inadequite. I've resorted to fetching my own utensils, napkins and water on nearly every visit. For reasons passing understanding they just can't get the number of place settings correct given the number of humans using the table.

On our most recent visit the gas burner at which we were seated simply didn't function. Instead of being moved to one of the nearby empty tables, the coals were heated elsewhere and brought to us. This worked fine for most of the meal but toward the end we were unable to cook our food. Now given that missing utensils, drinks, plates and such arent noticed, we deemed the chances that anyone would notice or care to be fairly small. Instead resorted to taking some of the remaining food home to...