Ema Yakiniku Taipei Ximending Branch — Restaurant in Wanhua District

We came here on our last night in Taipei under the recommendation from a Taiwan friend, who said this is the most value for money Yakiniku buffet in the area. Base on the look of the menu and the pricing (we were told to choose the 2nd highest one ard 900TWD), it SEEMS to be good value.

As we went into the restaurant, the waitress kindly brought us in and explained how the buffet works, with or without the 69twd add on for the hotpot, which we chose not to have.

The set up was quite fast and soon enough, they brought us our 1st free plate of meat, which was complimentary. It has different parts of chicken and a chunk of pork belly, which we liked the chicken cartilage but not the rest. Usually we don't bbq chicken for yakiniku, so it wasn't much of a "benefit" to us. And then came our 1st order of 3 items only (as we struggled to look thru the only Chinese menu and decided to just order something quickly). The Iberico pork cubes (which came in 8 cubes) was really good. Probably the best dish! And then... Almost everything went downhill thereafter.

Together came their 松坂 pork (in 4 slices), which tasted really like normal pork. Does Matsuzaka pork really taste like that? Next, the supposedly black jack wagyu beef tasted really normal too. I mean it was ok... But nothing like those we ate in decent yakiniku restaurants in Singapore, and not to mention even those in Japan. Among the beefs, my wife only liked the tongue. The others were either normal or too hard. Then came their next complimentary item... a thick piece of wagyu steak, that looks really tough and frozen! Btw frozen means it's not even thawed properly before serving us. Despite of that, we waited a while and TRIED to cook it. So it turns out to be the worst meat of the night... So complimentary items? Or rubbish items?

I do like the "tiny" fresh prawns though (more than the tiger prawns). Eventually, we tried most of the good meats (maybe 7-8 types) and only concluded that only the Iberico pork cubes and beef tongue were worthy of landing on our table again (and the fresh prawns)! Just basing on these items, the value of this buffet would be worth maybe 600twd? Food aside (which was pretty bad), the thing that pisses us off more was the slow serving time... We understand they could be busy on a Friday night. But we also expect them to have more staffs to be prepared for a not entirely full restaurant too. So... It took quite some time before the things we ordered came. The 1st order came about 15min later (but we didn't feel it as we had that 1st complimentary platter). Our next order came alot slower... to be fair, they served me the Japanese white rice 1st, which came within 10min. Unfortunately, it took them another about 15min, and after our asking for the remaining items to be served. That's like a while 25min for 1 order... And the Japanese rice... Omg... As a person who loves rice (they dun call me 饭桶 for nothing), I did not finish it! It was dry and hard, as if it was left out in the open for too long. Even the normal 卤肉饭 at a typical Taipei eatery serves better rice than theirs. And a special mention to their "lame" 8min wait in between each ordering. Not sure if this is the norm for buffet in Taiwan, and only a max. 6 items per order? So within the 120min, we only ordered 4 or 5 times... And when we wanted to have our last order, only to realise we couldn't order in the last 15min... this I believe was normal but the staffs should have told us about it, and they didn't! So we had a pretty bad Yakiniku experience, my worst ever. And I haven't even mention that Talley's ice cream, that was hard like rock! The whole ice cream box moved when I tried to scoop it!

Overall, this is still very edible but to be highly recommended meant that we were highly disappointed. So I can only give a 4.5 out of 10, price in consideration.

Not sure why the high ratings were as it's not even cheap. Perhaps we are the weird ones so please feel free to try and hope u can have a better experience than...

Loved everything and while it is pricier than usual, it was sooo worth it! Eat-all-you-can style, both bbq and hotpot options (you’d need to add a small fee for hotpot though and all parties in the group should order the same tier which is kind of restrictive). However service is excellent and quick, staff are attentive but what we really appreciated is the friendly and accommodating FOH Dora! She explained everything to us and even ordered for us as their ordering system had no English translation. Thank you Dora! We will definitely be back because of your excellent customer...

太失望了😖😖😖 說是吃到飽，不只沒吃飽，還被氣到飽了😤😤😤

到訪的時間下午4點多，櫃台人員讓我們站在櫃檯前聽她講解（不是應該先入座的嗎？），又講解的不是很甘願、不清不楚的⋯ （如果是剛好要交接班、或是休息時間，可以直接說，不需要這樣呀😣）（既然不設休息時間，下午時段要開放進場消費。 收一樣的費用，那⋯ 提供跟用餐時間同等服務，這個要求不過分吧！）

入座後，加上我們，全場只有2桌。另一桌一位女性對著男性友人大談闊論的抱怨她自己的另一半多糟糕⋯ 連家裡老人、外勞也不放過⋯ 我們完全不想聽啊！ 而服務人員們，有一男一女還站在桌邊陪他們聊天？！？！

我們點的肉品完全沒上，看著空空的烤爐，時間一直在倒數（櫃檯服務生說只有2小時）。而⋯ 我們只能喝著火鍋的湯、吃著青菜空等⋯

玩手機（看著時間）空等超過5分鐘，跟服務生客氣的詢問：請問一下，要上菜了嗎？ 第一位女性服務生轉頭就走😞⋯ 不只餐點沒上，連服務生也不見了？？

再過了幾分鐘，走過去，向第二位女性服務生詢問：請問，我們點的，都沒上來？ 這位女性服務生立馬回答：已經在擺盤了！ （她都沒有回廚房確認，就直接說在擺盤🤔 直覺是 SOP官方說法吧🧐🧐） 沒關係，我們再等等⋯

繼續痛苦的聽著隔壁桌大聲嚷嚷⋯ 又過了幾分鐘，舉手對著陪大嗓門小姐聊天的男性服務生詢問：你好👋 請問我們點的肉品，要上了嗎？ 男性服務生去後台確認，過來回覆：已經在擺盤了！ ⋯ ⋯ 當下真的很想跟他說：我們可以不需要擺盤，請給我食物啊😖😖😖 ⋯ ⋯ 終於第一次上肉盤！ 發現非全部，只來部分⋯ 這一點點的肉烤完，一人沒幾口，關火，繼續等後面的肉⋯ ⋯

*原來，給客人兩小時的用餐時間，是要加上後台廚房「如此用心擺盤所耗費的所有時間」😓😓😓😓😓

雖然內心已瀕臨冒火，但知道服務業辛苦，加上現在缺工非常嚴重，服務生不好請，就一直想，算了算了⋯

每一位服務生來加湯、上菜，我們每一道都跟服務生說謝謝⋯ 反而是第一位，消失的那位女性服務生（請問她問題，轉頭就走的那位）後來來上菜，臉超臭！！！

我們很客氣的請問她：能幫我們加湯嗎？ 完全無回應，桌上的空盤看到了也不願意幫忙收，轉頭就走⋯ 😓😓😓😓😓 （真不知道她是剛被罵完？ 不舒服？ 還是怎樣？？？） ⋯ ⋯ 兩次點餐時間需間隔8分鐘，點完餐又得等待廚房漫長的擺盤時間，上來的餐點又不齊全⋯ 唉😮‍💨

第一次吃吃到飽，沒吃飽，還要忍受臭臉服務生🙄🙄🙄

衝著築間集團的好名聲來的，怎知，如此令人失望😞😞😞 哪怕火鍋的湯頭再好，都不會想要再回顧了😞 ————————————————————————————— 對了，最後結帳的櫃檯小姐，也是不耐煩，僵著臉 問：有沒有會員？ 我：沒有（心想，下週已有訂位築間火鍋，現在馬上加會員，應該可以吧🤔）

我都還沒問，櫃檯小姐不耐煩、焦急著說：載具、統編呢？ 如果都沒有就印發票！ ⋯ ⋯ 這麼急著「做完」一件事，而不是「做好」一件事的態度⋯ 😮‍💨唉

真是一個⋯ ...