Gyu Gyu Hot Pot & Japanese Grill | Buffet — Restaurant in Markham

A little conflicted and genuinely disappointed by this place...

Came by because I saw there was a grand opening discount of 12% and have historically had great experiences with other popular hot pot and Kbbq places in the area. However, those two focuses (the advertised appeals of this restaurant), are the weakest parts of the experience. Especially given the price ($39.99 Mon-Thurs dinner, $42.99 weekends/holidays), I would expect MUCH better since other competitors for AYCE hot pot (Daimaru) and Kbbq (Gyubee) are around the same price.

The menu/ordering system takes a little getting used to, as the portions they give per serving are inconsistent and they don't tell you explicitly what items are meant for which side. However the items like pork belly, fish (salmon) fillet, and short ribs were shockingly bland - tasted like they were completely unseasoned. What was worse, was that the pork belly was extremely dry/tough, no matter how lightly we tried to cook it. The short ribs were relatively okay, but it seems fair to say the quality of meat across the board could use an improvement, especially for the price point.

For the hot pot side of things, we ordered the pork bone soup base, and my friend and I couldn't taste it. Again, meat quality (and soup flavour in this case) should be better given the price.

The reason I'm conflicted is that all other parts of the experience were great! The servers were nice, our orders of food arrived super fast, vegetables and fish tasted fresh (again, abeit bland), the create-your-own dipping sauce bar had a great selection, the tea jelly dessert options were limited but tasty, and even the prepared items we had like the Lychee Soda, Takoyaki, and Sesame Ball dessert were objectively tasty, but especially compared to the hot pot and Kbbq items...

Needless to say, since the place is new, the space is very clean and looks quite nice. An additional nice perk (again, causing my conflicted feelings), is that they also accept all major credit cards.

Although I did enjoy a lot of the periphery parts of the experience, the core hot pot and Kbbq experience needs to improve drastically if they have any hope to thrive. All in all, I don't plan to come back anytime soon and would rather go to a place for ONLY Kbbq/hot pot knowing that the food will be...

The environment is nice, and the service is good. The condiment area is clean — that’s about it.

As for the two beef options at lunch: the short ribs were too fatty and tough to chew after grilling. The worst, though, was the sliced beef — extremely fatty yet dry and tough, without any aroma. I have no idea how they managed to make beef that’s both greasy and dry at the same time.

When I first sat down, the beef came in a box; starting from the second round, it was just frozen beef rolls. The pork bone soup had a strong unpleasant smell and no real flavor.

After grilling once, the pan was already covered with black burnt residue by the second round.

At $27.99 for lunch, the meat quality is worlds apart from Daimaru‘s $26.99 lunch. For a BBQ and hotpot restaurant, if both the meat and the soup are bad — what’s left to eat?

Worried that my earlier opinion of the meat might have been biased, I came back for dinner. But the moment the top-grade marbled beef slices were served, they looked disappointing—and after tasting them, it was pure disappointment. Honestly, the meat quality at any hotpot restaurant in Markham is better than here. I sincerely hope the owner realizes this: if the quality of the meat doesn’t improve, this restaurant won’t last long—especially in Markham, where the economy is tough and competition in the hotpot and barbecue...

I was there For lunch today and I've been to a lot of hot pot and Korean barbeque and I must say it is very disappointing as probably the worst hot pot and Korean barbeque restaurant. I asked for hot tea. It took three waiter to understand what I was saying to them they kept bringing me a can herbal tea. There was not a lot of options for seafood. All they have is squid which is very tough and shrimp. I ordered the beef rib , It never came. I had to ask three Service people to ask what happened to my order and again they didn't understand what I was talking about. They finally sent a guy waiter and he brought it to us just when we were finished eating.. If you Are looking for a lot of options like shrimp or lobster ball, mussels lots of different vegetable They do not have this, so don't waste your time to come. I was very frustrated having to repeat myself three times to the waitress as none of them understood what I was asking and Finally, when they realize I was asking for hot tea, I was told they do not have hot tea. What kind of an Asian place does not serve hot tea!! To the owner, you can definitely do better, And hire people that can answer the customers question and...