Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Charlotte

I don't know how this place is rated so well. We came here for mother's day and got the rose dinner special. Their "cheese fondue" looked like cut up cheddar with butter in a foil container that started solidifying immediately after being removed from the grill.

The waiter didn't tell us to use one set of tongs for the raw and one for removing the cooked meat. It is common sense, and we have been to other places like this so we knew, but they're playing a dangerous game with some of the people walking around this earth. To cover themselves they should tell every table. Every other place we've been to that does this type of thing has always told us this.

We had 3 people, they only brought 2 forks and 3 chop sticks. We asked for another fork 3 or 4 times from 2 different people and never got one. We also had to remind them that we didn't get our soup or our rice, but we were like ok, that happens...but it just kwpt getting worse.

Our waiter barely checked on us and at multiple times we had to stop a random waiter to ask for items, extra napkins, more beverages, that extra fork we never got, etc. It was honestly terrible service, like he completely forgot we existed. If you have a restaurant that is high end you should have waiters and waitresses that have been doing it for a while. The price paid per person to be there was outrageous for the lack of basic service. He just never came around. At the end of the meat part of dinner we sat with our dishes completely empty and stacked at the edge of our table for an absurdly long time waiting for our waiter, or anyone, to take them or bring us the dessert portion of the dinner. I know it seems like we are probably a tough crowd, but honestly we are not, the service was just THAT bad.

Their chocolate fondue, and it's insane they can even call if that, was nothing more than a ridiculous amount of milk and those cheap, mini chocolate chips in another foil container. When the chips melted it was chocolate milk. I'm not exaggerating (see photos). It was so absurd they advertised it as chocolate fondue that we were laughing. It came with the stuff to make 3 smores...because yes, when I think chocolate fondue I think of dipping smores in it???? And a couple cut up strawberries which is actuallyon par for chocolate fondue.

My husband was apologizing profusely for bringing my son and me here and declaring he wanted a do over for taking me out. I was just chuckling and giving him a hard time (jokingly), and telling him I was taking him to McDonald's for Father's Day.

The only time we had quick/attentive service was after they dropped the bill off, and then they snatched the card up quickly and got it back to us so we could leave. My husband told me in the car that they couldn't pay him to come back, and quite frankly I agree. Not sure if we just had some weird fluke of a night there, but we won't be back to find out.

It's a great concept for a restaurant but it was so poorly executed.

To add one positive, my husband did enjoy the sake he got...so...there was...

Food was ok, but some servers are just awful!!! WARNING!!! Don’t go if you expect happy vibe. They do not have smile but only poker faces, and they just want to kick you out with their discourtesy and impatience. Will never come!!! When we went tonight, the waitress was trying to be as unpleasant as she could because at first we did not know the menu was changed. She used a very very very impolite and offensively weird body language without saying a word trying to order us to pass down the menus or something!!! Then when we started to order for “all you can eat” ($55/person), she became so unhappy because we did not follow the “rules” which she never claimed or explained to us. After we asked her, she just was not capable of answering in a clear way or making us clear. Then she kind of lost her temper and started to behave funny. The worst situation we ever faced in a restaurant that we came for more than 3 times. Without even explaining, she brought a guy to talk to us, so we nicely explained our concerns and requested to change our waitress, but the guy just insisted to let the same waitress serve. So we were like it’s fine, let’s be happy and start over following the new rule. Then she again stopped me in middle and questioning me…. After our first round of food were on table, she never showed back up for a all you can eat situation. Suddenly, I found that she just kept glaring at me with the worst anger for 30 secs constantly. I felt threatened and felt so scared as if she would come and slap on my face. I asked her why that was and she ignored me so another waitress came and told me she did not know why the waitress was being like that and I was literally crying for being treated unfairly. The nice lady waitress also admitted the other waitress’s improper manner and offered us free of charge, which we declined. Because we did not come for that, and we did not want to take any advantage of the restaurant. At the end, the nice lady waitress was so kind and nice, and we ended up tipping her more than the top-recommended rate. The total we spent for four people was almost $300. Ridiculous HR management and worst...

The location is a bit off the beaten path, surprisingly quiet around the area for a Saturday night but confirms uptown is a weekday area. So strange, but not liking the chaos that is south end makes this a nice option.

The food options were plentiful and the price point per amount allowed to order was good. The quality of meat was delicious and we definitely didn’t leave hungry! We had so many different items. I liked the different levels of ordering options. We went with the premium all you can eat option which gave us 45 items and 90 minutes. It’s a lot of food if you do it right, we definitely did! The cucumbers and spicy cabbage salad were great sides to break up all the meat. The corn was lackluster and confusing on how to eat with a serving spoon and no other utensils other than chopsticks.

My main issue was with the breakdown of surrounding tables. We had an 8:30 reservation and by 9:20, a lot of the tables were being broken down around us. We were seated near the front of house, closer to the door, so I was surprised they were starting in our area. It was noisy and disruptive while we were trying to have any sort of conversation. If they want to start side work, that’s fine, we’ve worked in restaurants and recognize this is a more in depth breakdown every night. But don’t seat a section you’ve closed or want to break down. That’s just common courtesy. There was a couple on a date that was seated right behind us about 30 minutes after we were seated so now you have 2 couples listening to the clanking of grill break downs and chairs being put up in the section. It just wasn’t ideal for a Saturday night. Also with the server seemed much more attentive to cleaning, waiting on water refills for over 10 minutes. Well more than likely be back but probably more of a group outing than...