Ken Yakitori Bar Anzac — Restaurant in Waitematā

This place has been one of my favorite in the past 20 years but today I had the worst experience here. I went there at 6.30pm ish, not long after they just opened. I have been told that I can't order chicken wings and cartilage. They were not sold out and they just don't allow me to order them. I asked why they say because their grill plate is busy but I can order other grill stuff. I was like: that doesn't make sense at all. And i asked if I could wait until the plate was not busy and just put my order in queue please, they said they can't do that. I asked so when will your plate not be busy, they say no idea . So basically if someone came in late and the plate is not busy then they can make the order but I came in early and can't make the order just cuz the plate was busy at that time. The whole thing is not making any sense to me. The staff couldn't explain things well and they didn't care about it. Good luck if you keep running this way. Treating customers like garbage.

After review edit: Hi Ken, Thanks a lot for taking the effort to reply to my review. I really appreciate it. As I said, this is my fav restaurant in my past 20yrs, and I have really good memories there. I can't remember how much time I have spent there in my uni life. I now no longer live in Auckland , but every time I fly to Auckland, I visit your place. And if I see you are the one in front of the grill I feel my olds are back. There was a period of time you didn't grill as much as before and I missed you lol. I can now understand why you couldn't serve my order and it makes sense to me now. Running a restaurant is not easy and you have done it really well already. My honest suggestion is to maybe say on your menu that wings and cartilage are available after 8pm and tbc before that time . If I knew it I wouldn't come so early, I purposely came early as I thought it wouldn't be sold out cuz I know they are popular dishes!

I'll leave my review as it is and people will read it and I think your reply explained everything and they will love it. Hope you don't mind.

Thanks and it was really nice to see you again....

The best & authentic Yakitori joint I have ever been to in my life!!! Not only all the foods and drinks were great and authentic but also service provided was the one that made me really enjoy the whole experience while I was dining there. Its decors and atmosphere reminded me of good & traditional Yakitori venues in Japan as well. I found this place by accident. I went to a ramen joint nearby there and had a ramen and dumplings. I also wanted to have fried rice since I was super hungry without having lunch today. But that ramen joint don’t have it tonight (they had run out of it), so I checked if there was any other Japanese restaurant nearby. Ken Yakitori was just a minute away from there, so I went to check it out. They were full but there was a table open which was the smallest one they had. I took it since I was by myself and had no issue with it. Maybe after 30 minutes or so passed, 2 ladies at the counter left. Soon after that, 2 new customers arrived, so I thought they would give that space to these 2 new customers. To my big and pleasant surprise, one of the servers came up to me offering to move to that counter since it was more comfortable and I was at their venue before these new customers. He got me there! It was totally unexpected him to ask me if I wanted to move at all. What a caring person he was! I obviously declined since my table was too small for 2 people. 10 minutes or so passed and he came by asking me if I wanted to order more food or drink. Instead of ordering foods/drinks, I told him how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness and great hospitality. He then just said it was a natural thing for him to ask!!! What a great person he is and hospitality it was!!! With all that being said, I highly recommend this venue to everyone. I’ll definitely go back there next time when I’m in town without a doubt. FYI, all foods there were awesome but their Gyu tan (beef tongue) was my most favorite & AMAZING and the BEST I had...

I was here with friends which is 7 of us, 3 of them were there first and 4 of us came later.

The girl who look like a manager, was telling us that the room which can be occupied more than 10 people, but kept saying its reservation seat so we cant seat there, and need to sat at the table which can he occupied only 4, at the corner. It was at 12 am, and they closed 1 am. Eventually, which the people who was reserved had not came although we were stayed until they closed.

The point here is, that, she was asking us to seat at the table of 4 people at the corner, and when the waiter and herself pass by, we had to stand up and sit down several times, and she was rudely gave as sign that we should leave. Reason being no reason.

I had lived in Japan for several years, and I never had this kind of services before, this is absolutely really really incorporate services to received.

I really shame of her service since I had really good impression of Japanese restaurant.

I scared to be back here to get this service which u need to look their mood and their condition to be treated.

Just our 7 of us opinion. Be prepare to enjoy...