Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Boston

I’m still in debate if I should post this review as this location used to be my favorite Gyu Kaku spot. Per usual, food is amazing and love the ambience in this exact location.

We came in a large group of 11 and decided to order individually as some of us had dinner beforehand so it’ll be more fair considering the restaurant is not relatively cheap. My boyfriend and I ordered the Value Course, which stated perfect for 2 pax, which includes 4 starters (Gyu Kaku Salad, Miso Soup x2, White Rice x2, and Edamame) and 6 BBQ items (Bistro Hanger Steak, Yaki Shabu Beef, Toro Beef, Angus Beef Rib, Umakara Pork, Chicken, and Assorted Vegetables.

About an hour passed, we received all the starters, and only 2 plates of the BBQ items. We figured out maybe because they’re busy and it was packed so we decided to wait a little more. Closer to 2 hours had passed and we still haven’t gotten the rest. We decided to inquire to our server and she said she’ll check. A few minutes later, a different server came to us and explained that all of the items in our course had been served. We explained in confusion nicely that we only grilled 2 plates of meat in total and asked him nicely to please check the kitchen once again. He came back after a few minutes and claimed that they checked their cameras and all of the items had been served. At that point, I started to feel a bit uneasy at them gaslighting us but decided to be nice about it. I asked them if they have cameras pointing in our direction, if yes, you can check that the two people sitting on the edge(which is me and my boyfriend) only grilled 2 plates of meat on the grill. The server said they he’ll check it again, but I stopped him and said it’s okay, there’s no need to check anymore, expressing my disatisfaction on how he handled things, and just dismissed the situation as to not cause any drama. 30 minutes later, the same server came back and had the audacity to gaslight us again by saying it was not on the order, that the supposedly missing meat were not put in in the receipt. I was speechless, trying to explain to him nicely, pointing the Value Course meal inside the menu book, that there are supposed to be 6 BBQ items.

My group of 11 friends started to get concerned and checked all their orders to make sure they grabbed their orders and not accidentally grabbed my boyfriend’s and mine, and everyone got their orders correctly with no extras.

I told the server that we were so disappointed on how he handled this situation. The moment he tried to discredit us by gaslighting us, that’s where he messed up. Instead of trying to figure out what went wrong, he decided to blame our original server saying that it’s her first week in and gaslighted us more than once.

After expressing our concerns, I decided to just let it go, due to the fact it’s almost 10pm and the restaurant is closing and it’s not like we went home with empty stomaches. In the end, they offered us a 15% discount, which was such a slap to the face considering we did not even receive half of what we ordered, got gaslighted and left questioning our own sanity.

Dear management team, please sort team members and train on issues such as this so this won’t happen again. It’s so sad to see one of my favorite restaurant went downhill like this. We understood the horrors of working in a restaurant as some of us also work in the food & beverage industry. Hence, we tried to maintain our politeness and calm attitude to address this, only to be gaslighted and...

TIPS:

1. Make a reservation!
2. AYCE upcharges if dining on Friday/Saturday
3. Sign up for the rewards, easy $$ off bill
4. Make a reservation!

Twice now we've tried out the new South Bay location, and twice now we've been let down in some way or the other. I guess we can start off with the good. The quality of the food in the unlimited (90 minutes to order, 2 hours to eat) is actually not bad. The fact that their house salad was actually fresh, with non-dried out slices of cucumber and non-wrinkly grape tomatoes impressed me. The meat options are pretty fresh as well. Beer prices aren't too bad (ex. $6 for a 12 oz Sapporo, $24 for a 60 oz pitcher).

Anyway, our first time we arrived around 8pm. Already I was kind of peeved because we had to wait an extra 15 mins after our reservation time. But then, our server notified us that 3 out of the 7 beef options had run out in the lowest tier of AYCE. Three. Out of seven. Business ran usual for them though, with no offerings to compensate. I would have at least expected them to let us have some of the more premium beef dishes in the next tier up. Whatever, I got over. BUT THEN, a table was seated right next to us about an hour later, notified of the same missing items, and then offered to order the premium meat options at the lower price. What?! At that point I was definitely not pleased.

Fast forward to out last night out, we went a little earlier to ensure that we wouldn't run into this problem again. This time I ordered a little bit extra for the first round. When our server came to ask if we need more, I asked her if she could please come back in 5 mins as we finish cooking these and look over the menu to see what was next. She gladly, and kindly, agreed. 5 minutes later, nothing. 10 minutes later, nothing is cooking on the grill. 15 minutes later, she passes by and I have to hastily flag her down. She had to run to another table real quick, and finally 20 minutes after she came. At that point we actually only had 20 minutes to eat as we had a movie next door - 20 minutes to get our meats, cook them, eat them, and pay the bill. Long story short we weren't able to order an adequate amount of food and actually enjoy our dinner. Leaving an AYCE not full is a travesty.

2 strikes now Gyu-Kaku... Anyways, make a reservation on their website or via Opentable - pretty much mandatory unless you wanna wait a while. Free parking...

I don’t know if the server was new or if they had a bad day but it ruined my experience

this was my first time at this bbq chain, and I was excited. I only had $70 cash on me and didn’t have my card, so I worried that I couldn’t afford the ayce I had ordered food off the first tier, the basic package, and realized after the server had walked away that I could afford the ayce first tier so I asked if I could switch over a couple minutes later

at this point, I only had my water, rice and shredded cabbage none of my meat had came, so I thought it would be an easy switch the server told me I had to pay for my first two orders on top of the ayce even though all my options were included in that basic tier I had to push back because it didn’t make any sense I asked if it came with more meat than what was included in the ayce to try to make sense of why I was being charged still for the a la carte meats when they were included in the ayce package I was unsure why I couldn’t change my order when it comes uncooked and wasn’t on the table the server said that he’d talk to the manager and make it work for me, but was very annoyed and told me that I wasn’t understanding I did understand but I couldn’t make sense of why they were going to charge me twice for the same food

then when he said he could do it, he didn’t ask if I wanted to add anything in addition to my first order he just told me that they switched my order and walked away the service went downhill because I simply asked for a switch out that wasn’t even delivered yet he didn’t light my grill; another server had to do it for me he didn’t check on me unless I flagged him down and for the last 20 mins, he was nowhere to be seen I also wasn’t offered to have my grill switched for a clean one like the table next to me it was a different server thought, the one who turned my grill on for me

I felt all of this retaliation because I self-advocated for a edit that made sense to me why would anyone wanna pay more for something that is already included?

this was just such a disappointment because of its popularity it’s not ayce, but koreana in cambridge is great and comes with ayce bon chons with its bbq, just a suggestion for...