Wakamatsu Yakiniku Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Cebu City

Terrible experience will never come back and will never recommend this place.

Food was okay. We liked the beef liver but everything else wasn’t exceptional. Nothing to brag about.

Ambiance is meh. Could be better. There are tons of other Japanese restaurants with better atmosphere.

Service? HORRIBLE! When we arrived no one was in the front desk. The person ahead of us had to go near the kitchen area to ask if someone can attend the waiting customers.

When we were seated everything started okay. Orders were taken promptly, wait time for the meat was not too long (except for the shrimp tempura) all in all initial service was okay.

Here comes the terrible part. When we re-ordered our server looked irritated when we ask for additional food. Her name is Connie btw. Most of the food we wanted to try is NOT AVAILABLE. We were told tempura wasn’t available half way while we were eating. Mixed sea food is not available. Hot tea? Nada. Ox tongue? Nope. Even the Mango Kani salad had to be cancelled because it took too long. Soup? Only had one choice. By the way soup tasted like hot water. Not even exaggerating this. Literally tasted like hot water.

Connie our server wasn’t pleasant at all. We understand that it’s peak hours and she may be tired but her attitude speaks volume. We noticed that she speaks to us differently. When she serves the other table dressed in corporate and who were talking in english, she was polite. But with us she speaks as if we were not customers.

We were dressed comfortably because we only went out to eat but I guess we were judged by how we looked. She casually and irritatedly said “Wala na na maam.” “Ay wala d i mo ingni nga wala nay tempura?” “Wala nami ana”

I even politely and jokingly said to her “Hala maam noh so half nalang siguro amo bayran ani kay kasagaran wala man sa menu maam” I even smiled and laugh a little bit hoping to get the tension out of her. Her response? “Aw sturya.e lang didto” Points at front desk and walks out

I expected for her to say sorry. A simple “Sorry jud maam nahutdan kay daghan2 amo customer” could have been an okay response. But nope didn’t apologize at all. Didn’t even smile from the start. Basic customer service etiquette was out the door. After that, she avoided going back to our table. We had to ask other servers to assist us with additional orders.

Very poor customer service. Also this restaurant has the audacity to offer UNLIMITED food when in fact almost half of their menu is not available. 850 pesos per head for this is NOT WORTH IT.

Save your money and dine in elsewhere. Limited food and horrible servers for 850 pesos is a...

Highly Disappointing Yakiniku Experience – Avoid! My family and I had an incredibly frustrating dining experience at this yakiniku restaurant last weekend, which I feel compelled to share. Despite arriving before opening, we were immediately met with a lack of preparedness: the sauces on our table were not refilled. This was just the beginning of a series of issues.

Lack of Preparation & Poor Service: We requested a sauce refill multiple times, but it wasn't until our third inquiry that we were finally informed they had "run out." It's astonishing that a restaurant is unprepared with basic condiments at opening time. This immediately highlighted a significant lapse in operational readiness.

The staff's training and attentiveness were alarmingly poor. A server nearly hit one of our family members with a blazing charcoal container when placing it on the table, offering no apology or acknowledgement of the near-miss. Later, when we inquired about the exceptionally slow cooking time of the grill, a staff member abruptly grabbed the charcoal container, spilling some of our meat without a word of apology. As they attempted to "fix" the charcoal near the exhaust, embers dangerously sparked, almost hitting our faces and eyes. Again, there was no concern shown, no apology offered.

Grill Issues & Hidden Time Limit: The grill itself was incredibly inefficient. Despite being charcoal, it took an unusually long time to cook our meat, making the dining experience frustratingly slow. We even had to ask staff to check the grill because of the excessive cooking duration.

To our shock, after approximately an hour of waiting for our food to cook on the slow grill, we were abruptly asked for our "last order." There was no prior mention of a time limit anywhere – not on the menu, nor displayed within the restaurant. Given the grill's inefficiency, it was impossible to imagine completing a yakiniku meal within a two-hour window. This lack of transparency was a major disappointment and ruined any chance of enjoying the rest of our meal.

Overall Verdict: This was a thoroughly disappointing visit. The combination of unpreparedness, untrained and unconcerned staff, an inefficient grill, and a hidden time limit made for a truly unpleasant experience. I absolutely do not recommend this restaurant. There are numerous other yakiniku establishments in the city that offer far superior service, better-trained staff, and a genuinely enjoyable...

This used to be our go-to yakiniku place. These days there are a lot of new restaurants nearby with a better variety of appetizing menu offerings at the same price range. We still come back here from time to time though, but we often get disappointed because there tends to be some things lacking from the menu, like sashimi and ramen. The quality of meat here isn't consistent either. Because of these, it hardly sets itself apart from other yakiniku restaurants.

In the more recent times we've visited, we've noticed lengthy serving times in between orders, but this could be due to less staff during the pandemic. It just takes some time to get the attention of the staff to take your orders.

The ambiance is alright and is typical for a yakiniku restaurant but can get quite hot (airconditioning not used during the pandemic) and loud especially when the restaurant is full, which is almost always. We usually prefer the regular tables by the windows when dining with a small party only because it has a more private feel compared to the booths (where you need to remove your shoes) which are more suited for bigger groups.

Our top picks from their menu: Marinated Angus Beef Ebi Tempura Crunchy Maki Roll Salmon Sashimi Gyoza

As of this review, they accept payment through Cash, Credit Card, and Gcash.

Overall, we would still dine here but we hope to see some improvements in the future, especially with the customer service (staff are friendly but seem easily overwhelmed when the restaurant is full), the consistency in quality of meat cuts, and the availability of menu items.

We also advise to make a reservation if you plan to dine here because it's usually full especially...