Shinta Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Richmond Hill

This was perhaps my worst dining experiences for a typical Japanese or Korean BBQ.

I came here last week to celebrate a family member’s birthday. Upon arrival, it was funny that they only had the Wagyu menus on the table (and hid the lunch menu from us), which cost about 150 dollars per person. However, the place was somewhat oily and unhygienic (there was an aged oil grease and burnt meat bit on my table) - far from the average image of a fine-dining restaurant at that price range. I feel that even most family restaurants that serve cheap food care more about maintaining a clean and professional image than Shinta. I would definitely not trust the “high-quality” meat they serve like the wagyu on the “gold” menu. In addition, it was also very ridiculous to see they have Costco brands salt and peper all over the table (which were covered in grease 🤮)…I feel they could've at least kept those in standard shakers at least…as a chained, “upscale” restaurant. Extremely unprofessional.

We decided to get lunch AYCE, but the server "warned” (with an attitude) us that we could not order anything after an hour and a half, as the last call.

My mother and I then ordered all four available types of beef, pork belly, salad, and seafood. Ordering meat here is different from gyubee: you can't order them by pieces. Instead, you have to order everything in fixed quantities, so they can ensure to fill the guests up with cheaper quality meat and cuts by larger quantities. It is a sketchy business practice.

The pork was bland (unlike what you'd get from Korean BBQ places, like Daldongnae), and the beef was overly oily. The mixed seafood tasted like watery rubber, and my mom noticed they used frozen seafood without properly thawing it. The salad was ok - they used the kewpie sesame dressing from Costco, not a homemade sauce, which was funny (and again, unsightly, considering that they are a chained restaurant yet can’t even make their own dressing).

The only beef option was not as oily was the rib cut. But unlike other BBQ restaurants, they just gave us an entire plate of uncut slaps of beef (without any cutlery or scissors on the side like the Korean restaurants or any self-respecting restaurants that have damn knifes for guests). One of my family members could not eat any because they were too tough. It was absurd.

While eating and cooking the meat, one of the servers suddenly intruded on our table and snatched a plate that I was cooking away, leaving me completely speechless. At this point, I was extremely pissed and asked them what the heck was that extremely rude behaviour about. They told me it was a “mistake” that they served us the plate of beef that was “exclusive” to the dinner menu. First, it is an AYCE restaurant, and we paid dearly - that was just one single plate of what…six pieces of thinly sliced meat (which, to mind you - the beef was also bland, lmao). Second, the restaurant acted like they could just randomly take away meals from our table even if they are the one screwed up - that was very rude and uncalled for. No apology nor compensation was made either.

As we were about to wrap up our horrendous Shita experience, I ordered a Melona ice popsicle (as indicated on the menu). They told me they don't have it anymore - only some other random brand forward…well then don't put it on the menu. The server passed by and just threw a popsicle from his warm pocket on the table (it seemed that he was going around to ask people if they wanted that one). I was dying and laughing from crying at this point…like what…

Shita - 0/10 & my family and I would not visit again. I will tell my friends not to come either. I can do 20 times better BBQ at home with meat from Galleria, and salt, pepper and salad dressing from Costco, as well to end everything with proper melona ice cream bars without the risk of heart attacks because of overly fat cut of cheap meat, unhygienic restaurants and extremely unprofessional servers and costumer services. Seriously, I’m not sure why they have a 4.5 stars…Gyubee and Daldongnae are far...

This is a restaurant with terrible service! A few days ago, we invited friends to dine at this restaurant. The person in charge of seating was an Asian-looking man, approximately 1.6 meters tall, wearing black-framed glasses, and sporting curly hair. Since we arrived about ten minutes earlier than our reservation time, he asked us to wait. Unexpectedly, we ended up waiting for nearly half an hour, bored enough to tire our eyes from playing on our phones.

During this time, several groups of customers who arrived later than us were seated before us. He walked back and forth in front of us but completely ignored us. We asked about our seating status a few times, only to be coldly told to "continue waiting." As our reservation time passed, we couldn't bear it anymore and asked why later arrivals were prioritized. To our surprise, this gentleman became more impatient than us, immediately turning hostile. His overbearing attitude was entirely unprofessional for someone in the service industry.

Initially, we communicated with him in English, but when we switched to Mandarin, his attitude worsened, speaking in a heavily Cantonese-accented Mandarin. He arrogantly said, "If you want to eat at our restaurant, you must obediently follow my arrangements. If I tell you to wait, you wait. Where do you get the nerve to complain? This is just how our service is. If you’re unhappy, leave!"

This rude and arrogant service was a first for me, forming a sharp contrast with the restaurant's outward appearance. It’s shocking that such establishments exist in the service industry. Our experience far exceeded poor service—it left us feeling deeply discriminated against. The saddest part is that the person discriminating against us is also of Asian descent.

I advise anyone planning to dine at this restaurant to think twice. While it advertises itself as a Japanese BBQ restaurant, it shows no sign of Japanese-style hospitality. You spend your money there only to be treated with discrimination! Can you enjoy your meal under such conditions?

Lastly, I suggest that Chinese friends planning to visit this restaurant bring a Western friend along. If that’s not possible, make sure to speak English, French, or any other foreign language. Whatever you do, do not...

It was a very large birthday party that we were invited to, 19 people to be exact. We were told that this was a THE Japanese bbq that you want to go to. It was my first time, but I’m familiar with Chakos, Gyubee and the Korean Grill House. We had a reservation so we only waited about 5/6 mins before we were shown to our tables. We had our own room at the very back, which was great, but there was not enough room for everyone. They brought some extra chairs and we made do. Almost immediately when we sat down we were notified that we have an hour and a half dining time, which seemed more than enough time at the beginning. Once we started ordering we very quickly realized that an hour and a half was not enough. The food was coming in small quantities and they were forgetting a lot of items which seemed to be a consistent issue, eventually they just stopped bringing the things we ordered and would ignore us. 30 mins to our dining time being up, they came to us and said it’s last call, we ordered a ton of food and once again received maybe half of it. Shortly after that another waiter came by and asked us if we would like desert, we told her that we would like to wait a little as we are still cooking meat. She bluntly told us “now or never” so of course we went ahead and ordered thinking she would bring us the desert a little closer to when we were finished. A few seconds later, she comes up with a whole tray of soft serve ice creams. Not knowing what to do, we had to stop cooking and eat the ice creams before they would melt, which took away time from eating the food.

For a $1200 bill it was not worth it and I would never ever go back. I’m not saying the other locations aren’t amazing, just avoid this one at all costs… especially if you’re having a birthday with...