焼肉 瑞華 YAKINIKU MIZUKA — Restaurant in Kutchan

I’m not the type to get blown away from a dining experience but HEAR ME OUT.

This will be the first and quite possibly only time I will spend over 30 minutes writing a review.

I’ll try to make it concise and TLDR (too long, didn’t read) will be at the bottom.

. .

My wife and I have been snowboarding at the Niseko mountains for the past few days & during our dinners, we leave the Hyatt Resort to experience the best Wagyu offered within a 5 mile radius.

Tonight, We took a shuttle bus to Max Valu in Kutchan then called a taxi on TaxiGo App to get to the restaurant.

It was about a 12 minute drive after waiting 8~ minutes for a Taxi to accept. (Will be important info later)

Now onto my review

THE FOOD - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

The photos showcase the intense marbling within the wagyu but it doesn’t even do it justice.

We ordered pretty much 1 of each on the ‘Special’ menu

Wagyu Chateaubriand (AMAZING) Wagyu Sirloin Wagyu Zabuton (Close #2) Wagyu High Grade Ribs Wagyu Harami Wagyu Tartare Wagyu Cow.

You can’t go wrong with any of the items. Melts in your mouth, tender. Heavenly.

I can’t speak too much on the pork, chicken, or lamb as we only came for the beef.

CUSTOMER SERVICE ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 10/5

This is where this restaurant truly shines.

First of all, there’s a button for “service” during your meal.

I don’t think there was a single time after we pressed it, where we waited longer than 15 seconds before one of the waitresses came and assisted.

Need an additional drink? 1 minute for a refill. Need a new grill? 1 minute. It’s changed Order more meat? 5 minutes. It’s on your table.

But the thing is there were at least 6 other tables enjoying their food as well!

The attention and customer service are at levels of which Michelin Stars are given.

Now.. after our AMAZING dinner, we had to go back to our shuttle bus stop however.. There were no taxis available.

So… Madoka

Deplorable service - multiple incidents with this restaurant that left a bad taste in our mouth. We have dined here three times, always giving the place a chance since food is good but three out of three times, we have received terrible service, from our parked car being damaged from fireworks that they have allowed to be set in their parking lot, to being double-billed and not getting refunded for months and ultimately, from a server rummaging through our bags in plain sight while we were dining! No amount of apology or excuse of lack of proper staff training can rectify this. This restaurant is just extremely horrible experience for us and we are never again coming back. If you are looking to dine here, consider...

Best yakiniku in Niseko! Booking was very smooth. The place is very isolated at the foot of Yotei mountain, amazing environment, very quiet. The staff is very welcoming and helpful even accounting for language barrier. We ordered the Chef special for JPY10k pp. It includes pretty much everything on the menu. The meat was divine, absolutely melting in your mouth. Sides are really good too, salad, soup, veggies in generous portions. We were given a private room, the grill is setup with a ventilation which takes all of the smoke, you won't smell like bbq...