Gyubee Japanese Grill (Bloor) — Restaurant in Toronto

We came to Gyubee Bloor yesterday on Saturday to eat good food. It was a birthday celebration.

Gyubee Bloor felt like a smaller sized restaurant, due to the fact that the entrance and the first half of the seating are all kind of squished together down a hallway type scenario. There's more seating space in the back (it opens up a bit more). The washrooms are also down a very thin hallway, each having their own washroom stall/room. The washrooms themselves are very cramped, every necessary item is just packed in.

My friends and I have never been to a Gyubee before, so we relied on my sister who knew how to order and what was good to eat (and learned from her).

We basically ended up ordering every meat option on the menu, excluding beef tongue (the All Day menu). We also order a Yuzu Honey Sawa Pitcher ($16.00). My friend described it as a very good lemonade. The Yuzu Honey Sawa had just the right amount of sour and yuzu flavor, as well as that lightly sweet honey going on.

We also ordered some of the sides. Like, lettuce (to wrap the meat up), Umami Spinach, Umami, Bean Sprout, Takoyaki, Ssamjang, Nagoya Style Chicken Wings, Pumpkin Soup. For dessert we got 20 Creme Brulee, 3 Hokkaido Milk Pudding, and 2 Ice Cream Cup.

The kinds of meat we ordered were: Ribeye Steak, Prime Kalbi, Miso Marinated Steak, Hangar Steak, Marinated Kalbi (not the bone-in version), Miso Beef Brisket, Black Pepper Kalbi, Garlic Beef Brisket, Sweet Soy Beef Brisket, Pork Belly (thin cut version), Miso Pork Belly, Japanese Style Pork Sausage, Sausage, and Marinated Lamb. We also order a few more of certain meat options, specifically more pork belly and miso variants.

All of the meats very very delicious. Some were surprisingly chewy and not edible. Not too sure which ones are those, since after they cook, we couldn't really tell which one was which meat. The miso marinated meats were hella good. Actually, all of the marinated meats were so damn good.

The Pumpkin Soup soup was light, smooth, slightly creamy, and tasty. The Takoyaki didn't come out super hot, so nobody burned their tongue (good). Delicious as usual. The Nagoya Styled Chicken Wings were very interesting. They were surprisingly sweet. Like, sweeter than honey wings and honey BBQ ribs. I liked it, but it was a bit too sweet and rather heavy.

The lettuce was of great use to my sister and I. We used the lettuce to wrap our grilled meats to cut through the salt and oil. The Ssamjang is slightly spicy and has a hint of peanut flavor. It's also cold, so it's great to cool off very hot meats off the grill. However, if you leave your meat in the sauce for too long, it'll take on the very strong flavor of the sauce.

We found out that the creme brulee was made in house, since we did order 20 Creme Brulee. The creme brulee was smooth, rich and creamy. Sweet and had a rather addictive flavor. It's seriously one of the best Creme Brulee I have ever consumed. The Hokkaido Milk Pudding was good too. We think that the top might be yuzu, since it did taste slightly sour, but not lemon sour. There was only 2 ice cream flavors: chocolate and vanilla. My friends seemed to enjoy their mini Chapman's ice cream.

Overall, it was a very good experience. Pricey, yes. Marinated meats for a BBQ experience? Was much better than we expected. We were served by this waiter named Evelyn. She was kind and helpful. And she took our "20 Creme Brulee" order with practically a straight face (lmao).

There was a little mishap, where we were getting ready to eat desserts. I was still eating my pumpkin soup, spinach, and bean sprout salads, when another waiter came around and was packing it up to take it away. I had to be like "Wait a minute. I'm still eating those!" So she came back with fresh salads, and I was able to rescue my soup.

One grand thing to note (super important) is that we thought they bought their Creme Brulee from outside. They don't do that. They make all of their Creme Brulee in-house. So, that's why the Creme Brulee are so good.

Final note: Get the Miso marinated meats and the...

TLDR : We were nearly overcharged for about 2-3 extra people , they melted our ice cream cake due to bringing it out prematurely, a server made fun of me in front of other guests, and they isolated our birthday celebration of 25 to three separate tables and we were not able to interact with one another.

The Long Story Below :

Although I frequent Gyubee in Scarborough , I must say the bloor location is a major downgrade from the usual kindness and helpfulness that you’re used to from Gyubee.

I went there today to celebrate my friends birthday and we were a table of 25, when the reservation was made it was as though there was no problem seating 25 people, but upon arrival we were separated and isolated into 3 different tables all apart from each other, essentially turning a birthday celebration into three small dinner parties, completing throwing off the vibe of the entire night.

Throughout the entire night , we were not left alone by staff, essentially we felt as if we were being watched 24/7, not for hospitality reasons but because they felt as if we cannot be left unattended, which we found awkward and uncomfortable. Then , at one point I asked the server for clarification on which dish is beef and which is pork, seeing as how two guests at my table didn’t eat pork , and another didn’t eat meat in general, the server proceeded to answer my questions, but then shoved a plate of shrimp in my face asking me what it was, and when I proceeded to state that it was shrimp, the server went “at least you know that” shrugged his shoulders and walked away. I found it to be very disrespectful and uncalled for seeing as I was just asking a question.

We arrived at 8:00 o clock for our reservation, we were told we have a two hour seating limit which is standard , but they gave us our last call at a quarter after 9:00 pm, as well as brought out our dessert before we finished our barbecue, over-stacking our table to the point we had no space. To top it all off , they brought out the birthday cake for my friend alongside another persons cake without telling us that they were going to do so. They also refused to use our candles that we provided. To top it off they even refused us basic cutleries and utensils to eat the ice cream cake that by this point had melted due to them bringing it out prematurely.

To round off the night , we were rushed out of our seats due to last call, only to gather up all our cash to pay the single bill, which they would not budge on doing separate bills and said it was policy for parties to do one bill. Upon gathering up our cash they insisted we were short by nearly $200 and forced us to recount the cash 3 times, only for us to had given them the correct amount the first time. They had told us to hurry up with paying , only for them to change their minds 5 minutes later telling us no rush. But this was already after the fact we had been rushed out of our seating to make room for other guests apparently.

Overall, the food was amazing for Gyubee standards , but we will never be stepping foot inside of this Gyubee location again, truthfully shocking at just how bad one...

Gyubee is one of my favourite restaurants, I’ve been going there often for years. That’s why I was so disappointed by their dinner service tonight.

First we arrived at the end of our waitlist window. Nobody else was waiting at the front and we were told that our table would be ready in just a moment. We were kept waiting for 30 minutes while several other groups arrived after us and got seated first.

As we were sitting down, the hostess asked me if I was okay since my “face is very white”?? in a harsh tone. I appreciate her concern, but that’s not an appropriate way to speak to your customers. It came across rudely and felt like an insult.

Usually the service at Gyubee is excellent and a team effort. But this time, our server Nicky seemed overwhelmed and struggled to take our orders. Items were missing from every order and we had to ask for things several times. Empty dishes and garbage piled up on our table while all the staff walked by. Usually they’re so attentive but something was off this time.

Most of the food was great as usual, but a few of the dishes were bad. The takoyaki was undercooked with raw batter inside, the pineapple was pale and sour, and the brisket had inedible pieces. Quality control needs to be more careful.

As we paid the bill, Nicky gave us a card with a qr code and his name on it, then awkwardly asked us to leave a 5 star review mentioning his name. Gyubee should not do this with their staff, it reeks of desperation. I was going to let this all slide, maybe it was just a difficult night. But after he asked, I had to update my old 5 star review. It was so off putting after the terrible service - read the room.

Hopefully management reads this and fixes everything. Make sure your new staff are properly trained before their first service. The hostess needs to communicate better about the waitlist and speak more politely in general. I’m usually excited to return to Gyubee but not so much anymore. I will gladly change my review back to 5 stars if it’s...