Chubby Cattle BBQ | Cerritos — Restaurant in Cerritos

We arrived at what seemed to be a perfect time on a Friday, at about 445, and had about a 5 minute wait time, we heard the hostess tell people who arrived afterwards that there was about an hour or more wait. There aren't any seats in the lobby, so if you're waiting, it'll be outside in the elements. Make sure you check in on the waitlist and that your entire party is there.

There is a menu in front which shows the various options under each menu tier. Download the app for their rewards program. There is a paid membership which provides reduced pricing for two people per visit.

Inside is dark, walkways are very narrow, so you will be bumping into a lot of people and servers. Everything is self serve except the items you order on your screen. The pictures make it easy to know what you're ordering

Drinks are included with all menu tiers, and include Pepsi brand fountain sodas, Grape and Mango? Slushies, Samurai and Jasmine milk teas, ice water and lemon ice water, and grape, homestyle and strawberry lemomades. The grape lemonade is definitely different and refreshing. Even though the drinks are served in paper cups, the paper cups are not for takeout.

The middle section holds the desserts and pastries, curry and soup, rice and their hot cheese sides. The corn cheese is very sweet, and was much better than their cheese sweet potatoes. I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to try the cheese durian. They have a soup dispensing machine, which spits out a lot of soup....so make sure that large bowl is empty. The coolest thing here is their rice dispenser. Leave the bowl in and keep pressing the button if you want more rice!

Their vegetable and sides bar has a decent selection of grillable veggies. The seaweed salad didn't taste as fresh as i'm used to though. They restocked their fruit section very often and everything looked good except the lychees. It felt like half of them were a little overripe. The last dessert option is a soft serve ice cream machine with small cups and a few cereal topping options.

After being seated the server gave us a simple overview of the ordering system. Each table has a 110 minute time limit, starting from when you place that first order, and you can only order every ten minutes, ten items at a time. Make the most of it and fill up that order!

Most of the meat is brought out in stacked square trays, with about four pieces of meat per tray. The short ribs come out in a small inverted bowl, and are very picture friendly. The meat itself is pretty good, but the pork belly marinade was not a favorite.

With all this....why three stars? Well for one, the table we sat at had a liquid dripping problem, not even sure it was water. It didn't seem like much of a concern to them, and their solution was just to move us to a different table. Eating while your pants are wet isn't a good feeling. I say not too concerned as it was pretty much ignored and another group was sat down at the same table a short while after we were moved. It's not the first complaint about dripping water that i've seen.

Also, while I was focused on what was in front of me for most of the meal, I heard numerous times throught the meal our servers tell us they ran out of this, then ran out of that, so such and such weren't available. At the price point of the various tiers, and the long waits, this is one thing you don't want to hear over and over again.

The drink selection is very nice, but it feels like their fountains need a good cleaning or tuning, as the liquids gushed and spewed out of the taps.

While the staff was very attentive, frequently clearing our table, they were definitely watching us like hawks, ready to get us moving out to flip the table for the next incoming group. Gratuity was included with our bill and the server reminded us of this so that we...

My wife and I came here for our wedding anniversary with our 14 year old son. We had to wait 90 mins as there is no reservation list. First come first served. The server Michael was top notch and able to explain everything succinctly. The staff were very helpful throughout. They have to as once you are seated your 90 min countdown begins. We went with the Gold option for our meats. They have a good variety of self serve drinks. And fresh fruit and pickles and condiments etc. Even some desserts. But at the end of the meal you definitely feel a lack of sides. Too protein heavy. My son was amazed at the automatic rice dispenser and the beef or curry as a side. We've eaten kbbq style more times than I care to admit so we're used to the self style cooking tableside. I've been to Japan probably 100 times previously so I'm also aware of the differences. Compared with my last trip to Tokyo in April where i ate at the Tokyo Dome bbq, the meat was definitely up to par but we had a problem that all the meats and dishes were overseasoned. Enough that our son got an upset stomach during the meal but they did bring out some unseasoned meat for him. There were two main issues. First that the countdown timer and urgency of the running down clock on display really promotes you to rush. The staff help to cook as needed and continously push you to remember to order but the food can come in slow and with the risk of uncooked seafood and undercooked meats on the same griddle the chances of contamination is higher. For me the timer doesn't allow you to slow down and savor each bite which is usually the case when eating the Japanese wagyu. The second part is that they still need work to get things streamlined. The restaurant is Japanese themed but it was not run that way. Boxes of supplies strewn around at the front reception. Even the way things were stored behind the bar and serving areas. If it were Japanese they are usually much more meticulous in these things. Items and boxes would still be there but stacked meticulously with everything in its place. The layout for the self service was also cramped trying to get from our table to the area many dodging staff and squeezing between tables. It is only a soft opening but I would suggest to give a couple of months to let them settle in. Good for couples or more mature groups looking for a fun experience but not for kids. Unfortunately my wife had food poisoning all night following the meal. Unclear as to what triggered it. Minus 1 star. Ironically I ate most of the seafood and was fine. Definitely an experience. Perhaps we'll try again in...

I took my mom here for a belated birthday lunch. Extremely short wait during weekday lunch. It was both of our first times. I’d heard from my co-workers how delicious Chubby Cattle was, and I was curious whether the real thing would live up to the hype and what I perceived as a higher-tier price point compared to say, AYCE KBBQ. Spoiler: Yes. It lives up to both!

Atmosphere: The inside looks like your typical modern Asian restaurant with comfier seats. Sleek black tables with plush seating. A tablet at each table for ease of ordering meats, special drinks, appetizers, or seafood. The opposite end of the restaurant with the self-serve side and drink stations adds an element of fun and surprise as you wait for your first meat order to arrive at the table.

Food: Amazingly flavored. Often times at AYCE places, they heavily flavor the meat with marinades to cover up any substandard cuts. Chubby Cattle understands that the meat is the star, and allows it to shine with a complementary amount of sauce or simple black pepper and salt seasoning that enables the rich flavor to shine. The self-serve stations provide soy sauce, wasabi, sesame oil while the table has Yakiniku sauce, Chinese spice blend chili powder, specialty salt, and specialty sauce (I forgot to try whatever this sauce was).

We got the Silver Tier to try everything out. The standout favorites to me were the miso thin sliced Iberico pork, black pepper beef cubes, Wagyu skirt steak! Please do not sleep on the Argentinian red shrimp. It was so sweet and fresh; it would have been a great palate cleanse between each round of meats. I regretted only realizing I could order it at the end!

Service: Shauna was super friendly and attentive! As soon as she heard it was our first time, she made sure to walk us through how to use the screen, pointed us to the self-service stations, and even popped by when she could to help us cook some meat. I also loved that servers would give a recommended time to cook the meats when they dropped off each platter. They all worked as a team to ensure that our table wasn’t too cluttered with used dishes.

10/10 I would come here again. In this economy, with the unlimited milk tea and dessert included, I think Chubby Cattle is fairly priced for the quality of the items...