Monster Grill Ueno — Restaurant in Tokyo

The delicious smell from this restaurant as we passed by was what drew us in. Unlike the other grills we’ve seen in Japan, this place mainly serves steaks and hamburgers made with Wakahime beef — a brand of Mexican beef known for its tenderness and fine marbling, sourced from young female cows bred in Sonora, Mexico. Thanks to Google, I got to learn what Wakahime beef means, and their website also provided some interesting details about it.

They offer different steak sizes, which helps you decide how big of a portion you want depending on your appetite. They also have Queen and King combos if you’re planning to share a large meal with someone. There are several sauce options too — we tried the original and the garlic, and found the garlic sauce to be the perfect match.

You can also choose from combos that pair steaks with hamburgers, and even upgrade them to set meals. They ask for your preferred doneness; we requested ours to be medium well so it stays tender and fresh while still nicely cooked.

Each meal is served on a sizzling grill plate with big slices of onions, corn, and a small serving of pasta noodles. We ordered the Ribeye and Hamburger Combo and the Diced Steak, and enjoyed the meal. The meat was tender but not too tender, the ribeye had a good fat-to-meat ratio, the burger was delicious and freshly made, and the aroma from the steaks and hamburgers made the whole experience even more satisfying.

For the price point, it can be a bit on the pricey side — but if you enjoy trying different kinds of steaks and meats, or you love hamburgers, this place is might be worth your time...

Ok, the environment was very smoky from the grill and hot plates (not so good ventilation).. so I was hesitant to eat here at first but decided to give it a try.

They do have baskets and plastic bags to help keep your jackets from getting the smoky smells.. but the staff did not offer me (i had to ask for it). Some customers were given an apron (to safeguard from the sizzling hot plate), but I was also not given one - maybe because I had a black top on. And despite the restaurant not being full, the staff were very busy and rushing, which i think compromises their attention to customers.

Also, despite being clearly a foreign, I was not given an English menu.. but i thought I could get away by pointing my way around the menu.. till it reached a point when I needed to select a sauce - which were all in katanaka, the staff still pointed at it and asked me to decide ;)

After a brief struggle, she finally decided to give me an English menu.

Now, the steak wasn't great, I had a 200g "Monster Steak" (and was not asked about doness during order). The beefiness is missing, but meat was reasonably tender.

The best item/ experience i had here was the 🍺.

PS: I've been experiencing pretty appalling customer service this trip to Japan. I wonder why. Is a thinning and stressed up workforce? Was i mistaken for a different...

Loved the overall experience. I would say this is a reasonable steak and humburg shop. I got it medium rare, soft, some part of meat was melting in the mouth. I don't know the name of the menu I got, kindly see the photo. 450g was 2610yen I think. I don't really eat steak much, or I don't claim to be a steak enthusiast. But out of 3 steak shops I went to in Tokyo, this one I liked the most. The service was warm and...