Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Columbia

Bottom line - Understaffed and expensive; but with great-tasting food.

I've been here twice now, once in a party of two, and just tonight in a larger party of 17.

The good: Amazing food quality both times - great flavors! Portion size is on the small side, but that is kind of a good thing given the variety. Also, our server tried really hard to manage everything given the incredibly understaffed and/or mis-managed vibe.

The bad: just about everything else, honestly. This place is SO slow. I've had long meals before, but a four hour meal (no joke, seated at 6:30p, out the door at 10:30p) is a new record for me. The staff was completely unequipped to handle a party of 17 and should have never agreed to take our reservation, on a Friday night, knowing this. Even when I came by a few months ago, they admitted they were short staffed and our meal for two took at least 2 hours. I was hoping they had addressed this, but not yet.

I imagine it's very difficult to manage a large group at a restaurant like this, but there needed to be more than one server for our party. They were completely unequipped to handle even basic things -- like the food-runners not knowing which part of the table to bring the meal components to, or which dishes belong to which meal set, which basically resulted in one side of our table receiving all the meats, sides, and pre-meal appetizers while the other half of our group sat hungry for the first two hours of the four hour service time.

It got so frustrating that at some point the managers came by and started clearing the table and refilling waters, etc. I had all I could do to bite my tongue, but I could see that everyone was trying their best on a busy night.

It's because of all of this that I'm heartbroken to write such a poor review. I don't typically write bad reviews, I just let the silence speak for itself. It's just that I really wanted to like this place; and many appear to have had a better time here than I have. I wanted to have a good time here too.

Another minor gripe - some of the booths are painfully small - my back was jammed against the rear of the booth and my knees against the metal of the stove under the table in front of me. Probably an authentic representation of the restaurant in Japan though, so I can't fault them for it. I'm not even overweight or overly tall -- a larger person wouldn't physically be able to fit in the booth seating.

This is probably a good one-off spot for date night and not much more. DEFINITELY AVOID bringing...

Simply put, you have other japanese/korean bbq option that is so much better than here.

I have been to Gyu-Kaku in Rockville, and I had a good experience there. This place is NOT the same.

Let me explain my experience. We ordered premium ayce for $58 per person. The total bill came out to be $145 for a party of 2 because they automatically include 18% gratuity for all table with a party of 4 or less and 20% for a party of 5 or more. I think it is pretty pricey considering other japanese/korean bbq places that charge $35-$40 for ayce.

I have not been to a restaurant that automatically charges gratuity for a party of 2. This place is not located in DC, nor does it provide "grilling service" that other bbq places provide, where they cook the meats for you. I missed the small print regarding the gratuity and commented about it to the manager (Alex), and I have to say that he did not handle it very professionally. He responded by saying, "yea we do," and "finger" pointed at the side menu, which did not have the statement. It was written somewhere else. In the field of customer service, I would have appreciated calm explanation, not a nonchalant attitude.

Now on to the worst part, FOOD. It was pretty decent at first. The meats were tender, but everything was pretty salty. As we ordered more food, it got saltier and saltier. I literally felt like I was eating salt and everything marinated in ocean water. My mouth felt numb. I think this may be a way for the restaurant to make you stop eating since you can not consume any more of that salt. My husband and I are foodies, and we love good food even if they are pricey. This type of salty food, I would not eat even if it costs $1. I would not return.

Warning: If you have high blood pressure or are sensitive to salt, please be aware. This place will spike up your...

I made a reservation. And Highly suggested you do so. I would NOT Recommend the “value group” deals. You wont know what’s is what, everything comes out at once, so its a lot of pressure to cook, I did not enjoy cooking the food myself personally. We burnt some expensive meat. Hopefully with more staff they can assist everyone table. I wasn’t lucky enough to get help like other tables. We were like watching food not cooking to burning. The host tried to help control the table flame but thats how the food burned. The value deals seem like a good deal but there are better appetizers/starters then what they offered with the deal. It doesn’t save you any money. I would recommend just getting the items you want. Staff was friendly but Our waiter was overwhelmed with other tables. Had to ask for the items we ordered like rice, we paid extra for sauce had to ask for it while appetizer was not warm the edamame, had to ask for water, and refills for lemonade. I order hot tea, it wasn't hot, never got any thing else to drink waiter was to busy so I didn’t bother to ask for HOT tea, so I stuck with the water. I had to ask for the s’mores that was included in the deal, but they seem to think I was asking for something extra, it was awkward so we waited a bit to get the dessert after the lil embarrassment. I saw other tables not even ask for anything flawless service for them. We watched and struggled through:-)

My son and I are looking forward to trying more items. The ramen etc. I see the potential and we love Japanese cuisine. Our experience wasn’t the best hopefully they decided to treat everyone the same in the future. (Photo is the food not cooking and empty drinks before the host burn everything lol) I spent over $130 for two ppl and it wasn’t worth it.

It still horrible service. Wasted 30m. No food. This...