Yakiniku Rikimaru Nankai-namba — Restaurant in Osaka

We had an incredible dining experience at Yakiniku Rikimaru Namba Nankai. My wife and I chose the Standard course with a 120-minute dining duration and drink/dessert buffet add-on. The meat was of high quality and seasoned to perfection, making for an unforgettable culinary experience. The ordering system via tablet with English menu was a breeze to navigate, and there were plenty of food options to choose from, including my personal favorites like pork belly, beef skirt, and ribs. They also served the best shin ramen I've ever tasted, it was so delicious! The drink/dessert buffet add-on was an excellent value, with lots of options for dessert, including ice cream in both a tub and a soft serve machine with toppings to choose from, cakes, puddings in different flavors, and sliced fruits. The table assigned to us was the traditional dining table of Japan with cushions where we could sit with crossed legs, which added to the overall experience. One thing to note is that it can be quite expensive, especially if you choose the Premium course or Standard course with longer duration and drink/dessert buffet add-on. However, if you're willing to splurge a bit, the food and overall dining experience is definitely worth it. I highly recommend Yakiniku Rikimaru Namba Nankai to anyone...

It was one of the worst meals we have ever had this trip to Osaka and in Japan. We are VERY disappointed that we spent one of our meals here where there were thousands of places where we can choose from.

The reservation through Google, yes, was easy. However, we received the worst seat in the restaurant in the corner without any lights. Honestly felt claustrophobic so we asked to move, they said no. Alright, fine. We chose the Premium set. I understand that the price was very low since it's a all-you-can-eat but the taste literally was not good. The sauce was salty, the kimchi was salty, and the meat was SO chewy, we wanted to spit it out. Since we were seated where it was so dark, we literally burnt all our meat because we couldn't see anything.

Last thing that really pissed us off was the time, we sat in at 6.15pm since our reservation was 6.30, and we chose 90 mins. By 7.20pm, they already stopped allowing us to order. Maybe this was their rule but honestly we were not aware of the timer that would not allow us to order beyond the time. If we know it was depending on this, we would have warned them that the timer wasn't right. At the end it didn't really matter because we stopped ordering and eating by 45 mins because of...

Made a reservation thru Google. We were immediately seated when we arrived.

We chose the premium 120 minute option with unlimited alcohol (except beer). Their options are a bit misleading because they deduct 30 minutes from the total time. For example, we only had 90 minutes to order, but we had the table for 120 minutes. Additional ordering isn't possible past the 90 minute mark. I think the 90 minute option mightve been slightly rushed.

The service was a bit slow at times. The servers forgot a couple of orders, so I had to reorder again. I didn't think the Vietnamese or Thai servers were particularly great. The initial server didn't provide any explanation as to how to order or how to use the self-serve bar.

The food itself is on point. No wagyu or and the beef isnt super high-end quality, but it's still very good for what you're paying for. We initially ordered the assortment set to try em all out, but eventually just kept repeating the orders for beef kalbi and tongue. Legit stuffed our faces.

Overall, it isn't anything mindblowing, but it's still...