Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Edmonton

Came by one night for dinner with friends, and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. This is a chain restaurant specializing in the Japanese yakiniku dining experience, however, you do have to cook all the meats yourself. It's not an all you can eat restaurant, so to really get full, you end up having to order a lot of meat, or a lot of side dishes. Perhaps the restaurant was over hyped and I had very high expectations, but it definitely hasn't been something I've been craving or wanting to go back for.

First we started off with the Spicy Cold Tofu, Spicy Cabbage Salad, and Steamed Chili Dumplings. All three of these dishes pretty much had the same flavour profile topped with a lot of crunchy garlic. Although it was very tasty, I felt like we were eating the same dish over and over again.

Next up was the Fried Bacon Chips and Fried Chicken Karaage. Both dishes were nice and crispy. Fried to a perfect golden brown. Nothing bad to say about these dishes, but nothing that really impressed me either. We also tried the Shrimp Garlic Noodles that everyone has been raving about. Best dish of the night, but was still lacking in umami and garlic flavour.

We then moved onto the BBQ meats. We ordered the Harami Skirt Steak, Kalbi Short Rib, Toro Beef, Pork Toro, and Duck Breast. The meat was all well marinated and tender. However, because you are cooking it yourself, you have to be very attentive as all the cuts are very thin, and you risk overcooking them!

Lastly, we finished off with Taiyaki Pancake, and Frosty Tropic Sorbet. Be careful not to burn the Taiyaki pancake! You end up having to flip it every 10 seconds. Flavour was good and it came with a choice of green tea or black sesame ice cream. The sorbet was nice and refreshing. Great way to end the meal.

I did really like the ventilation system they have. You don't end up leaving smelling like BBQ meats all night! I would probably give this another try during their happy hour, but I just didn't feel like it was worth...

Was very excited to visit and was waiting since relocated to Edmonton 7 month ago, went for my birthday. First thing I ordered wasn't available .... Asahi 0.0 (but 100 alcohol versions available no big deal) drank Green fkn tea for my birthday, cute. Shortly after our server introduced himself , but he actually wasnt our main server instead an older fellow with bad odor and loose , dirty jeans (with all respect , ppl need jobs I understand) blue jeans in a Japanese restaurant. My brother and his fiancee were only able to order 2 drinks because of unattended service . Eventually considered desert, but after waiting for service my brother payed upfront and we were on our way.

Well 5he following day I phoned to ask if the have or serve non Alcoholic behareges .... reply was disappointing and disrespectful to non drinking clients . We are waiting for inventory? Would you operate without alcohol on site ? Would you operate without all ingredients on the menu? ...but because it's in low demand you ok to operate without something that you can buy across the street . Bad experience, bad odor sever serving raw meat with lose grey hair ... Unavailable items for no valuable reason , but food wasnt the problem everything around it . And 0 awareness as for a Birthday vibe. Would rather go to Boston Pizza or Spaghetti factory. Or maybe this is normal for downtown Edmonton, Jasper Ave , but upsetting to call the next day and no solution found , just an excuse. "Please visit us next time and we will make sure to have your favourite Nevarez off of our menu". I'll probably stop by to deliver my unhappiness in person as the reviews are often ignored by owners but if you are reading this , I would take a chance. Maybe different location and check if they have what you...

Two stars just because the food is decent. I’ve went a total of three times and two of those experiences have been pretty horrible. The first time we were rushed out of the restaurant after eating for less than an hour despite it being pretty much empty. I would understand if we were loitering but we were actively in the middle of our meals. The most recent time was the worst. We made a reservation for 7:30 and didn’t get to sit until 7:50. I completely understand it was busy, but the service was inexcusable. No one greeted us or the couple that had arrived even earlier despite there being workers at the front desk. However, the group of walk-ins were seated before either of us who had reservations. When we did finally get to sit we were led to a dingy corner near the supply closet. The table and utensils were sticky and hadn’t been cleaned properly. I was worried we wouldn’t be noticed and that was pretty much confirmed by our experience. Our server was friendly though and it wasn’t any fault of hers. It took 30 minutes for beer to come out which is pretty unreasonable. I also don’t understand the purpose of the robot waiter as it had to be personally led to our table by our server. Seems like a waste of money and a blatant attempt to steal jobs. The meat was fresh but too expensive for the portion size- it also seemed to take too long to prepare. The attitude of the restaurant just seems to be “I don’t care about your experience and whether or not you come again, we’ll still make money anyways”; which is fair enough if that’s what they want to do. But as a customer if you value your money and your time I wouldn’t choose...