Gyukatsu Motomura Ueno Branch — Restaurant in Tokyo

I really was looking forward to the food but it was not bad at best (approximately 3 stars), but the way the business is run raises some eyebrows.

tl;dr: Food: Gyu-katsu was flavorful and rich, but lack consistent quality across customers. Xenophobic / racist chef Sketchy store management flow

Food I had ordered the 1 cutlet Gyu-katsu as I was not hungry, and was not looking for a large portion. As seen in the picture, the katsu I received was merely the thickness of 2 chopsticks, compared to the customer beside me who had a significantly thicker cut. I am sure the store staff is fair in ensuring the weights are the same, but the textures we both tasted were far from it. Can try if you're willing to be disappointed with cuts of meat that are far from perfect.

Racist chef As a foreigner, I try my best to respect local customs and practices, and I accidentally infringed on their "no photos of anything other than food" policy (which was not stated anywhere in the store). I felt apologetic for crossing such a boundary when the kind waiter pointed it out to me, however the young chef without spectacles across the counter (on 12 Oct lunchtime) sniggered at my act and muttered the classic "gaijin" under his breath. This lack of respect extended to other customers as well, as i observed him not greeting other customers like the respectful waiters and other chef in the short 40 minutes i was there. I would normally rate a restaurant by the food, but such an obvious act of disrespect does not represent the business well. A red flag.

Sketchy store management When I was ushered into the store by the waiters, I was surprised since I assumed the store was full and yet no customers had left in the last 5 minutes. Immediately as I entered, I noticed that the store was barely 20% full, and there were empty seats all around. Even as I was seated down, I had to wait for a couple of minutes before my food was ready, hence they didn't do the "seat-when-your-food-is-ready" type of flow. I was glad to have finally sat down after 1 hour, but I couldn't help but wonder why didn't the store staff let the long line of customers in earlier to seat down when there was clearly space. There were some older customers just behind me, and my heart went out to them when they could be sitting comfortably to wait for their food instead of standing unnecessarily. I have my suspicions on the store's marketing tactic but I leave this to the inference of the reader.

Overall, I would not visit this store again. I was genuinely looking forward to the food, and while it wasn't a flop, the entire dining experience was a cultural and...

My partner and I had this place on our bucket list during our visit to Japan. The restaurant opens at 11am however we decided to go at around 10:10 to ensure that we got a spot. We ended up being the first people in line, the queue started to grow behind us quite quickly.

The food itself was without a doubt the best meal that we had while in Japan. The beef melted in your mouth and each bite was perfect going straight from the grill to your plate (I do recommend the use of the disposable aprons that are offered by the staff as the oil does tend to splatter)

My reason for giving this place 4 stars instead of 5 however was due to the fact that on our visit there were 2 gentlemen behind us who were the second group in line, when the doors opened at 11am it was revealed that the 2 of them were saving the spot for their group of 10 in total. The line was extremely long at this point however the staff did not seem to mind and let their whole group in and ahead of everyone who had been waiting a considerable amount of time. I found this extremely unfair towards all of the people that were waiting behind them and found this decision to be pretty poor on the staffs behalf - the rest of the people in line didn’t seem too impressed either. I would have hoped with a place this popular that the staff would be a bit more assertive when it comes to that kind of stuff as we have found that almost everywhere in Japan is very strict in terms of line etiquette. We also found that it was quite difficult to get the attention of a staff member when we were requesting a rice refill or when we were needing our...

Going to give an honest review here since all other reviews were forced from the servers.

Arrived on a rainy weekday at 2:30 pm and there was still a long line which I was surprised about. After 1 hour, we finally got in and I see that it’s empty inside, so there’s the first red flag that they’re artificially creating hype to make the line longer, and essentially waste many people’s time. While I was talking to my friend, our conversation was interrupted by the server asking us to write a review, that’s the second red flag. We decided to order more food and drinks, so we stayed a little longer than usual; then later the same server as previous came to us to ask us to write a review, forgetting that she already asked us to - she stopped talking mid sentence since she realised her mistake, so I can see she’s asking everyone every time, thus the many high ranking reviews for this restaurant. Also, they got my order wrong with no apology.

Honestly, the food is overpriced and not worth the hype. Only tourists come here, and I wouldn’t usually come (I’m a resident here) but my friend insisted. You can get much better food or steak for cheaper at another place, or just grill wagyu steak pieces from the supermarket at home, since that’s what your essentially doing here, since the katsu breading is soggy and doesn’t stick.

We spent ¥10000 (¥5000) each - I’d recommend the all you can eat wagyu bbq just down the road...