石垣牛焼肉専門店まる本店 — Restaurant in Ishigaki

A Disappointing Birthday Dinner

I visited this restaurant for my birthday, excited to enjoy some grilled meat. Unfortunately, the experience did not meet my expectations.

Upon arrival, we were not given a special seating arrangement, which was disappointing. After sitting down, the owner came over to ask for our drink orders. We requested a moment, but it seemed he didn’t understand English. When we tried to communicate in Japanese, he still appeared confused.

Later, as we were enjoying our meal, the waiter approached us. We asked for more water, but he accidentally spilled the entire pitcher on the table. While he apologized, he did not clean up the mess, leaving us uncomfortable.

The wagyu was quite rich, so we decided to take a break before continuing our meal. However, before we had finished our plate, the waiter rushed to take it away. A simple question like "Done?" or "Finish?" would have sufficed. My friend, who was eating a bit slower, even had her chopsticks taken away.

Towards the end of our meal, they hurried to collect parts of the exhaust fan, disturbing us and nearby guests. The Japanese table next to us had items taken from them as well, which led them to leave abruptly. They had arrived after us but were clearly unsettled by the staff's rush.

Overall, this birthday dinner felt quite frustrating. I had hoped for a special experience but was left feeling...

We had the premium Ishigaki beef set, priced at around ¥15,000 per person. While it’s not cheap, the quality of the beef was truly excellent.

The staff were friendly, though they spoke only a little English. Fortunately, they do provide an English menu, which made ordering easy. A helpful tip: pair the beef with plain rice to balance the richness and reduce the oily texture.

Interestingly, the menu also featured a variety of kimchi and Korean dishes alongside the Ishigaki beef, which added a unique twist to the meal.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the dinner—everything was absolutely delicious. While we haven’t visited many other Ishigaki beef restaurants yet, this one left a great impression, and we would definitely recommend it!

Parking: Nearby, there are a few parking lots available. For those who are new to Japan, be cautious not to confuse private neighborhood parking spaces with public ones, as you could be fined for parking in the wrong spot. Look for parking lots that have a locking mechanism on the ground for each parking space—these are the paid parking areas.

They’re quite affordable, costing around ¥700 from 8 PM until morning, or...

Terrible service and impolite, especially the boss! Treating customers with no manner, such a shame of Japan!

We tried to change the appointment from 19:00 to 20:00, but no one answered the calls, so we rebook a 20:00 slot, and we quickly told the staff to cancel the 20:00 appointment when we managed to arrive by 19:00. No one meant to double booked the appointment, it’s just because there’s no way to contact them. And we well-intentioned told them as soon as we arrived. The shop wasn’t fulled though, there were still a lot of empty tables even until almost 21:30 when we left. However, the staff only allowed us to order expensive meal set, the worse part was that they served us with burned meat, and the boss said very rude and sarcastic words after we settled the bill, which left us feeling shocked and terrified, we could barely understand Japanese, but he kept scolding and threatening us.

There is many nice BBQ shops on the island, strongly recommend you all not to choose this restaurant, this is definitely a dark...