Yamato Étterem — Restaurant in Budapest

I would’ve give 0 stars to everything if I could, and I advise everyone to avoid this place! We made a reservation ahead for our dinner here on a weekday, and we arrived on time. The first server seated us at a small table which is fine because we’re a party of 2. But as we knew we were going to order a lot of food, we respectfully asked if we could get a bigger table and got declined for the reason that all tables were “reserved”. We totally understood untill 5 mins later, when we asked another server and got the answer that all tables are available and we can sit anywhere. Ok, nevermind, we got what we needed anyways. As they sells korean banchan, which are small side dishes that you eat with the meat, as a set here, we ordered a set and expected to receive everything we see on the menu, which includes garlic cloves, which everyone who eats korean understands that it is a very essential part of the meal, and was shown on the picture on the menu as a reasonable amount. (Btw, yes this restaurant sells u garlic cloves for money) moments later we received everything on the picture except for the fresh garlic cloves, instead we got 2 sad cloves of marinated garlic. So we asked the server if we could get what we saw on the menu, which was a plate of fresh garlic cloves, she proceeded to argue that it was onion salad on the picture not garlic cloves. We would’ve been convinced if we didn’t see the side dish named “garlic” with the same image 2 pages down the menu. And when we question her with the picture, she was just blatantly lying in our face and said that its onion and they don’t have it. She just pointed at something named garlic and said to us that it is onion, it was such a speechless moment and we didn’t want to argue with her about whats in the picture, so requested her to ask the kitchen if they could just provide us some garlic cloves, and she said you’ll have to pay extra money (which is the price on the menu of garlic of which she said was onion). We said fine, just ask the kitchen if they have garlic. And she came back to us minutes later and said that if we pay extra they can provide us with the garlic as shown on the picture, and we were confused that if you have garlic, which is shown as part of the side dish set, why didn’t you include it in reality? And tried to convince us that it was onion? And the most unbelievable thing happened, the server argued with us that garlic falls under the branch of onion…..???????? I was so lost…. It was the most unpleasant experience I’ve ever had in a restaurant especially with a higher priced restaurant. What kind of service is this? Why would you argue with your customer over garlic and non existent onion? Worst of all, they food were HORRIBLE. The meat tasted like discounted old meat from the freezer section and definitely wasn’t angus beef as stated. I would’ve let everything slip if the food was good but it was SOOO BAD. So, high price, super negative service and in-edible...

Honestly this restaurant falls around 3.5 stars but I'm going to go with 3 as I'm weighing the food more heavily than the ambiance. (Short version - get the Galbi beef only) My gf and I spend a lot of time eating out and Korean BBQ is one of our favorite cuisines. We decided to give Yamato a try while we were in Budapest based on the many great reviews and distance from our hotel.

The restaurant itself is beautiful and a great place to take a date or significant other. The tables are spread out over 2 levels and the decor is elegant. The staff was friendly and helpful so no complaints there.

We ordered some of the non-alcoholic drinks (something blue and a boba tea). The blue drink (citrus of some kind which I don't remember) was good but the boba tea was sickeningly sweet and I only took a couple of sips. I wasn't expecting much so didn't really complain but I don't recommend it.

Korean BBQ usually comes with a wide variety of side dishes (usually 6+ depending on the restaurant) and also comes with lettuce, garlic, jalapenos, and some sauce to make your own lettuce wrap, at least in the US. Yamato provided 4 sides and while all of them were OK and looked good, it was a mix of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese influenced sides. There were a lot of sauces to try. 3 stars on the sides and wish there was more variety.

As for the main course, we ordered 3 different types of beef but only the Galbi ribs were really good. Nothing wrong with the other two but the marinated ribs were by far the best. If we return (and my recommendation) is to only order the ribs, which were 4 stars.

Overall I wasn't disappointed with my visit but it definitely could have...

For a start, It is a Brilliant and one of the most beutiful places I have ever been. the staff is super friendly (thank you ever so much again for the service) drinks: We went for the cocktails, I post a few but please try it. Delicious quality drinks. They are not overwhelmed by the alcohol taste. They really bring everything out of the spirits or whatever you choose. Food : As starter, we had an angus sashimi. Tender beef, perfectly seasoned. Warm toasted bread on the side.It was delicious, but this is not what you go here for. ( if you are not a big eater, you might want to skip this to save some fore the dessert ) The main course for us was a a soup. This place is called table grill for a reason. You can choose to grill your own stuff or cook your soup. We went for a seafood version of a miso based soup Now. Fresh fish mussels, mushrooms salmon etc. It really is fresh. And it does not taste anything like the frozen plastic stuff. Every single piece was in front of us and we could taste the different flavours of the meet we chosen. The waiting staff kept their eyes on us the whole time. They gave us space to enjoy the company but at the same time clear instructions how to make our soup. It turned out brilliant. The dessert... all I can say, that it tastes as good as it looks. The mochi has a great texture and the flavours are brilliant. The mango stuff on the plate was definitely made of mango :D Oh this is going to be weird. Check out the toilets. The whole place has a great atmosphere, even the toilets. Thank you...