Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Denver

Normally don't write negative reviews but I am compelled to write one this time. Service - Made reservations for 5 people, upon arrival they lead us to a 4 top table and I reiterate that the reservation was made for 5 people. The host tells us that they will add another chair and I politely decline and ask for one of the bigger booths which they have several open. They bring their manager over whose name is Andrew and he states that they do not have any other tables available. This is where they proceed to gaslight and stated that they called me when I made the reservations and told me that this table was the only table they had left (I made reservations through Open Table a week in advance, never spoke to anyone regarding this). Driving from south Denver specifically for this meal our party was hungry so we went against the red flags and decide to eat here anyways, big mistake! They put us in the way back next to the exit door and we found it was quite odd. Half way into our meal they seat a party of 2 on a booth that would have better fit our party 🤦🏻‍♂️

Food/dink quality - Meat quality was subpar as we found several grey pieces of meat that we decided against cooking and consuming. Checking back at several reviews this seemed to be a constant case at this location specifically. Wife asked for the Sparkling sake with the fruits sorbet and they are out of the latter. Sparkling sake comes out and it's luke warm. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Ambience - Cooking over a open grill is going to generate a lot of heat, this location had minimal to no AC running as our party was sweating profusely. We had to flag down one of the teenage hosts to get iced water.

Reading another Google review from Yi Sun pretty much confirmed our suspicion that this location's manager is prejudice against small kids and/or Asians.

Definitely do not recommend going here which is ironic as this is a Japanese BBQ restaurant. Drop $200+ and we regret sitting into this place. We have visited their other locations in SoCal and the Denver location but this location...

I have been wanting to try Gyu-Kaku for some time. It’s a busy restaurant so I’d recommend making a reservation a week in advance. They now have 2 locations in the Denver area. We ordered the Premium all-you-can-eat option and it was a dining experience. This is not a quick meal so plan to be here for at least 90 minutes which is also the restaurant’s requested time limit. There are plenty of meat and veggie options to choose from for the premium meal. I enjoyed that the chicken choices came with different marinades. There were several beef choices that covered different cuts. The Yaki-Shabu Beef was my favorite beef choice. It was a thin cut so it cooked quickly and it had great flavor without any of the sauces. The Angus Beef Rib was a little fatty for my liking but with so many choices it’s likely everyone will find a favorite of their own. I preferred the chicken breast over the garlic chicken thigh but this was really a matter of flavor preference. I also ordered spicy shrimp. Each of the seafood and meat choices paired great with the 3 dipping sauces. For my veggies choices I ordered the Spicy Addicting Cucumber and the shishito peppers. These were satisfying choices which complimented the meal. A side of rice is served as well. You will not leave here hungry! After the meal an individual s’mores portion is served which was a perfectly sized dessert to satisfy my sweet tooth.

The staff was friendly but our waitress was new and seemed a bit overwhelmed. She mentioned that she was new which probably brought our attention to her service. The other wait staff covered to help her but we did have to ask her for a few things repeatedly.

Gyu-Kaku is a great date night or special occasion restaurant. Overall, I’d recommend it and remind you to bring...

DELICIOUS food but HORRIBLE service. To start off, my friends and I enjoyed the food a lot! The meats were delicious, there was variety, and the spicy sauce tied everything together nicely. There were no complaints about the food. Our waitress, Sofia, however, was inattentive and rude. I understand that she was stressed, and it was a busy Friday night, so it was natural to make mistakes, but it was the accumulation of everything that made the experience unenjoyable. She did not refill our waters even when the glasses were empty, would not come to change the grill until long after, and forgot our soups and scissors even after asking a few times. She spilled my friend's drink TWICE and did not clean up the first time. We let it go since it wasn't a big deal. The second time was unacceptable. She shattered his glass of sake while changing the grill, and all she did was pick up the big pieces of glass. She didn't give us new utensils, plates, glasses, or wipe the table. There was still small glass shards everywhere. We ordered the Wagyu a la carte, and there was glass in it! Our waitress promised to get us a new one, and I hope she did; however, the new Wagyu came back out really quickly. Upon speaking with the manager after our meal, it seems that she did not even notify the manager! We hope that it was a new Wagyu she brought out and not the same one. We had to eat the last of our BBQ on the dipping dishes and napkins. When we spoke with the manager Russell, he was very apologetic and listened to our concerns. We really appreciate him and his swift handling of the situation! Overall, the food was great, but we did not have a good experience with...