Gyu Hito Japanese BBQ Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

Would not recommend going to Gyu Hito with so many other better JBBQ options nearby.

Not sure if this experience was a one-off bad one, or if the quality has declined over the years and this is the standard now. Switched management maybe? I remember coming here years ago when they first opened and thinking it was the best place ever, way better than Gyubee. However Gyubee has maintained it’s quality over the years and dare I say they have improved while Gyu Hito now falls short and sits in Gyubee’s shadow.

Our servers were nice and friendly, however they were inattentive. Empty water jug sat on the table for maybe 20 minutes with the cap flipped up to signify it was obviously empty. The servers took the dirty dishes away multiple times but did not touch the water. Had to personally flag servers down and ask to get it refilled. Even then, dirty dishes piled up for a long time on our table until they were cleared. (At Gyubee, it feels like they clear your empty plates the moment you put the meat on the grill and refill your water every time you take one sip. This is barely an exaggeration.)

Now I always give AYCE places slack for forgetting items on our orders so I don’t really care if they forget an item and we need to re-order it again. It happens, no big deal. The kicker here is one item we ordered on our first round, a single chicken karaage, got delivered to our table AFTER we received our dessert. We were sitting eating ice cream with an empty table with the grills off and this guy drops down a small, sad bowl of lukewarm uncrispy fried chicken. Given the fact that it was lukewarm I’m guessing it sat forgotten until the last minute. (Again, to compare to Gyubee, we haven’t had a single forgotten item at least the last 5 times we’ve been there.)

Now for what matters the most: the food. The meat quality was good, thankfully. Sides are standard. Honestly what you expect from a JBBQ AYCE place.

However, even then we could not fully enjoy the good quality meat because the grill was nowhere near hot enough to cook it properly, and yes we checked it was as high as you could set it. The paper thin cuts of meat still took around 1-2 minutes to cook and develop colour/char on the outside, however at that point they get a little tougher than they should be. The bigger cuts of meat like rib finger/steak were better because they could stand being cooked at a lower temperature for longer so we ate more of those. The seafood and anything on a metal container took forever to come to a boil and cook. Not sure if this was just our table grill or if it was the same for other guests.

I really wanted to enjoy my visit to Gyu Hito based on my previous stellar experience, however unfortunately this time it fell very short of my expectations. And it has disappointed me so much I don’t want to come back to test if it will get better. Why would I, when I know I will for sure have a great experience somewhere else? (I have a theory that I won’t test but maybe if you get the $140/person Wagyu set instead of the measly commoner normal $45/person dinner, you might get...

When I think of table bbq, the first place that comes to my mind is always Gyu Hito. This place is easily one of my fave restos in the GTA right now (top 5 for sure). I've never had a bad experience here. The service is always fantastic and food is SOO DAMN GOOD. Doesn't matter what server you get (I've tried to catch them slipping up but it's always consistent service).

Whenever there's a special celebration or occasion, this place is always on the list for consideration. It's THAT good in my eyes. The meat quality is incredible. The price blows Gyubee and Shinta out of the water. Food variety is pretty identical to Gyubee.

The boneless short rib is my fave cut. The variety of meats is endless. You can get thick OR thin cut pork belly. I like dunking my meat in a bunch of sauces (usually request for a big bowl of ssamjang from the server) and I like to wrap my meat in lettuce for some flavour change too. The lettuce is also super fresh. The water droplets are still on it from being washed! Last couple of times I've been requesting a bowl with a couple sticks of butter to slather the meat as it cooks.

Did I mention they change your grill MANY times during your dining session? WITHOUT BEING FLAGGED DOWN AND ASKED TOO.

I do wish they allowed you to have unlimited melonas hehe (small gripe). Maybe include more flavours than just coconut, mango, melon. Other then that, the creme brulee is nice.

I can't say enough good things about this place. It's always a great time bbq-ing with friends here, always packed inside the resto (there's an upstairs and a downstairs; the upstairs is pretty wide actually!) The washroom is fancy and modern (DUAL ACTION BLOWER AND HANDWASH IN THE TAP? NANIIIII?) Parking lot is a nightmare though. So be sure to park in the No Frills parking lot next door.

They include auto-gratuity/auto service charge on your bill for large groups but it's well deserved imo because of the great service.

It's best if you can make your reservations at least a week in advance! Although, we did make a last min call on a weekend night for my friend's bday dinner (which had like 15+ ppl) AND THEY STILL WERE ABLE TO ACCOMODATE US.

I've never felt rushed eating here at Gyu Hito. This resto is WAYYY more lenient w/ their last calls then Gyubee too. Gyubee is still super strict on their time limits and a lot of friends I talk to are STILL getting timed out of their meals at Gyubee which is a MAJOR turn-off and one of the biggest issues with Gyubee that I hear from a lot of ppl. It's actually one of the reasons my friends and I started going here more than Gyubee as well!

Mindblowing how consistent Gyu Hito has been all these years. Hasn't dropped the ball yet. Fingers crossed that continues forever! Plz don't drop your quality!

Come check this place out. You will...

it was my first time coming to Gyu Hito, but I’m accustomed to eating at Japanese/Korean grills. The atmosphere is nice, but where we were sat was underwhelming since they seem to have beautiful decor, but literally just in front of the entrance and felt the cold air.

Service also was unsatisfactory for some of their staff. Only one was very accommodating and kind. However, other waiters/waitresses were hard to come by despite us sat near the entrance of the restaurant. I even witnessed my boyfriend waving in front of the waiters only for them to wave back, but not accommodate us. We waited quite a while for our second to last and last order. We placed our order and 10 minutes later there was no food. The one waiter I called wasn’t helpful and said he’ll get our original waitress. Another 10 minutes came around no food and no waitress. So when she did come around and I explained that we haven’t gotten our food yet, she said she’ll check. She did come back in a timely later, but just said that it’ll be a minute. Obviously it wasn’t a minute. So while the other table was finished eating and onto dessert was when our food came. I am annoyed at this point because the food came late and the amount they gave us was doubled because both orders came at the same time instead of in different rounds. When I said we didn’t order this much, the waiter talked back and said we did. If only I could explain to him that the food he gave us were ordered individually - almost 20 minutes apart, but I held back as I was in a party. But for him to deny it right away is not very accommodating and honestly kind of rude. He ended take most of the food back since our hunger has surpassed, but left some so we could enjoy the last of our meal. Anyways, shout out to the one waitress who we sadly met at the end who got to us attentively and kindly. Others should learn from her.

Food was decent. Not the most mind blowing flavour wise. However there was variety.

Would I come back? Probably not. But if I do I hope the waiting staff are trained better and work on their...