Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Huntington Beach

Summary: All you can eat for $30 is a pretty good deal given the quality and quantity of the food. Tastes and textures were pretty good. Service was rapid in bringing out food and laying out "the fine print" (the latter being a bad thing). Wouldn't recommend coming with a large party unless you have a system for managing the grill already in place. Grills need to be changed out more often.

My family and my sister's fiance's family merged for a 13-person dinner on a Sunday at 5:30pm for her birthday dinner. We arrived around 5:20pm, but ended up waiting until 5:45pm for the tables to be ready (even though they were in the back room, where no one was currently sitting). Not ideal timing since there was a young child in the group that was ready for his din din.

We were given two booths for all of us. Which meant one booth had 3 and 3, and the other had 4 and 3. Not spacious really, and each table had one grill, so that meant a lot of hands going to the grill and not a lot of table space since there were plates, sauce trays, glasses, etc. already there. Far from logistically ideal.

We were given some menus and told that the happy hour all you can eat price is $30/person. It was encouraged that that be selected, so everyone agreed to go that route for simplicity. We were then told to look over the menu and decide the stuff we wanted.

After reviewing, we had an idea, but then the server told us she would just bring two orders of each meat so we could get a taste of everything. Here's where things got kind of sketchy. She basically selected the food for us, minus some of the appetizers we asked for, but after telling us she'd bring out two of everything (many of the dishes we would not have ordered normally), she then said we'd have 90 minutes to eat everything and anything left we'd be charged at the "a la carte" price for. It'd be one thing for us to get charged for extra food we didn't eat if we specifically ordered it, but to be told that AFTER being told what she'd bring for us anyways, was just wrong IMO. This left a stain in our heads throughout the meal that we would have to finish everything or pay extra. Whether it was true or not, I can't say, but just having that constantly in the foreground throughout a celebratory dinner is far from an ideal experience.

The food started coming out. Plate after plate after plate. As we'd start to put stuff on the grill, more food would arrive. We'd have to shuffle things around to make space, and then our food would get charred on one side. We'd try to get those things off the grill and more food would arrive. We'd play the shuffling game again, and our food that had been removed wouldn't be hot anymore. The pacing was just not working for a large group that didn't have a system for how to manage all the items while ensuring everyone got fed.

They changed the grill once, but then we had to ask for it to be changed a second time once it was loaded with burnt food that we couldn't remove in time. I tend to be able to eat a lot of food, but I felt like I didn't eat nearly as much as I normally would because I was in the middle on one side and trying to make sure everyone got food and that the stuff on the grill didn't overcook. I ordered one plate extra for myself, but I didn't want to do more since everyone was finishing up and it would look strange for me to be the only one still eating a bunch.

Ultimately, it was a decent first Japanese BBQ experience, and I appreciate the potential of Gyu Kaku, but I felt like the restaurant either couldn't handle us properly, or the servers didn't pace things right for us to have a more relaxed dining experience. Either way, I'm not sure if I'll come back. If I do, it definitely won't be with a party bigger than...

BAD MANAGEMENT BAD STAFF BAD SERVICE Last night, we came in on a reservation for my 11 year old nephew's birthday party. Our family has celebrated many birthdays and even non-occasions here so many times before. That being said, we will never return again. Before we even arrived at this location, we were harassed. The host was unwelcoming and barely even greeted us as we were led to the back. The initial server was kurt and unfriendly when almost throwing the menus at the table. Again, we used to love this place and had children present for this experience. What seals the deal on how terrible of an experience this was is how the manager Steven handled the situation. It was evident that all of the staff including himself, were stressed and had a long day but there was no level of customer service by any person we interacted with. It was a large group at 12, so we were put in the back where 6 and 6 were split tables. We simply asked if the 2 tables could be separated into 2 different ones, as there's children on one and adults on the other. This is an accommodation that this restaurant has provided before for previous large groups. Steven came at us with great aggression when we had asked for this; he was very rude in telling my sister that if he breaks the rules he'll have to break the rules for everybody and what makes you so special- In front of the whole family and children. He then continued through his frustrated aggression to tell us that he is refusing service as of that point. We had barely received our beverages, which turned out to be $93.74 for both tables. These drinks were never finished, and we had to leave them because he had refused service. Simply because we were asking for an exception that has been provided to us every time- because we were at separate tables. I am appalled at every single person who was working that night and how they were treating us. I can't believe I had to pay the full bill for drinks that were never finished. It was my nephew's birthday and we had the cake in the back and he was barely willing to let us get our own cake back. How bad of A-day do you have to have to be able to ruin a child's birthday?! Steven then proceeded to aggressively walk toward my husband, who reacted to his advance, then Steven ran away saying he will call police & to get out. ALL IN FRONT OF THE KIDS! I completely understand Company policy but the way that Steven handled this in front of a birthday party of children is astonishing. THAT MANAGER IS GOING TO KILL THIS BUSINESS. We have many friends who also frequent this location who will not be coming any longer because of this experience last night. The fact that I had to pay full price for not even half drank beverages, just to leave,...

Gyu-Kaku serves excellent food if you can stand the wait.

Here is where I am coming from. I have visited Gyu-Kaku in Japan. I loved it. The food and service there was exquisite and the price was quite reasonable. I want to like or even love you, Gyu-Kaku HB, but you're not making it easy for me at all.

In the last month, I have visited Gyu-Kaku on Warner twice: once on a weekend, once on a weekday, both during lunchtime.

Today's lunch was typical of both visits. Which is to say the food was great, but I was very frustrated by the inexplicable waiting.

Today, I was a party of 2. We were told it would be a 5 to 10 minute wait. After a few minutes (I didn't check my watch but it felt like more than 5 minutes), I asked the hostess if it would be much longer since we were on our lunch break. She told me it had only been 8 minutes, so 2 more minutes. That response perplexed me, but it gets better (read: worse). She disappeared briefly (I assumed to check on table availability) and returned and immediately and sat us. Since we had had several minutes to review the menu while waiting for a table, we promptly ordered our food as soon as our waiter came to help us. Right after we ordered, I went to wash my hands. On my way back, I noticed four(!) tables for two neatly arranged with all their trimmings such as chopsticks, sauce dishes, etc. Why were we asked to wait at all when there were these 4 open tables in addition to where we ultimately were seated? (Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the two open tables for four in the semi-private room at the back of the restaurant. I would completely understand if they were trying to save those for a party of 3 or more.) I'm going to guess that we waited around 15 minutes (maybe as little as 10, maybe as much as 20) before our food was brought out. That would be very reasonable for any restaurant where they cook your food for you. But this is Gyu-Kaku, where you have your own private grill built into your table. So Mr. or Mrs. Manager of Gyu-Kaku HB, please explain to me why it takes approximately 15 minutes to bring out sliced and/or marinated raw meat?

If I thought the food was ho-hum, I would simply never visit again. But it is precisely due to the reason that I like your food very much that I am so frustrated with your restaurant.

Koji's Shabu-Shabu (another Japanese restaurant where you cook your own food at your table) in what used to be called the Block at Orange has now permanently closed and I suspect it is for the same reason. It simply should not take more than 2 or 3 minutes to deliver raw food from the kitchen fridge/freezer to...