Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Minneapolis

Gyu-Kaku is usually the premier spot for tabletop grilling in Minnesota for those who crave the experiences they’ve had in other states. They are usually superb and on top of their game with food, service, and atmosphere. But recently, their quality and service have dropped tremendously.

I have been dining at Gyu-Kaku for over 4 years since 2021, and they have always shown great service for special occasions. However, they have now shown me that their quality has dropped tremendously two times. The first time was Wednesday, February 12th. Me and my girlfriend went out for Valentine’s Day and it was mid at best. Our server was running around like his head cut off, and it kind of ruined our experience. We felt very rushed for a special romantic dinner. This experience wasn’t as bad as today though.

Our server, Sophia was the most unprofessional, unenthusiastic, worst service I’ve had in any restaurant imaginable. When the host first sat us down, we were sitting down for 5 minutes and already Sophia was asking us if we were ready to order without bringing us any water. Unsurprisingly we said no, we’re not ready to order because it had been 5 minutes since we got into the restaurant. It took her another 10-15 minutes to come back so we could place our order. Already, Sophia did not ask us how our day was, if we had any questions about the menu, and even if we wanted anything to drink. Keep in mind, we still did NOT have water at our table. After we placed our order, she told a bus boy to bring us waters.

We got our apps, and I have to say the food quality was terrible compared to previous visits. The Crispy Tuna was burnt, and obviously over-fried. The Gyoza and Wontons were lukewarm and mid at best as well.

This is where the experience went from okay to down right terrible. We had to wait 35-40 minutes for 4 meats and a bowl of rice for 4 people. When the food arrived, they didn’t even have the 4th entree we ordered. Knowing that it was going to take forever to order more food, we chose not to because it should not take 45 minutes for us to receive entrees that aren’t even apart of a coursed meal. Sophia was running around the restaurant, and I understand if servers are busy. We are very understanding people who all work in the restaurant industry. Not once did Sophia ask how we were doing, or try to even be nice to us. We felt uncomfortable and unwelcome.

When the food came as well, she didn’t even bother to oil our grill. We had to flag down another server to oil our grill. You know it’s bad when the busser and another server were nicer to us than she was, because they were actually asking us how our experience was.

The busser is the unsung hero of this place, because he was running around the restaurant and getting things done while Sophia looked uninterested and she didn’t want to be there!

The past 4 years we’ve had amazing service, the food was superb, and it was a treat coming to Gyu-Kaku. Whether it was family events, or wanting to eat out somewhere nice, this was the place to be. Gyu-Kaku is a now a shell of its former self. Overpriced, terrible food quality, and the worst service I’ve had in my 20 years of being alive.

The meats tasted okay, but the service and overall unprofessionalism killed our appetite.

Gyu-Kaku, if you know a server does not want to be there, do not put them on the floor. We have met so many different servers (Samus is super nice, and there are two other male servers who are amazing.) but this was absolutely disgusting. Whoever is reading this, skip out on Gyu-Kaku until they get their shit together and try any AYCE Korean BBQ place in the Twin Cities. A robot would have better service than what we had to...

I hate having to leave this review but I feel like a lot of people need to see this before going here. I went here last night and the service was absolutely abysmal. We ordered the meat lovers combo and when I asked for larger tongs that are usually offered at other BBQ restaurants, I was told our 5 inch ones were the largest they had. 🚩Definitely not true because our salad came with regular sized tongs but that was taken away way before our meats came out. 🚩 After we got our meat, our waiter rushed off and I had to flag him down to give us our SAUCES (like the soy sauce and ponzo etc). It took him 10 minutes to come back with the bottles that was too cold and gelatanious to enjoy with our meal. i noticed everyone on our side of the restaurant didnt have it and probably didnt realize it was part of the meal experience. 🚩The waiter never came back to change our grate until the complete end of the meal. And he insisted on doing it for our smores. But then he took the grate and NEVER CAME BACK TO PUT A NEW ONE. If you’ve ever been there, the contrapion they used to take the dirty grate has the clean ones RIGHT THERE. We had to flag down someone after 10-15 minutes because it was weird. 🚩 After we flagged someone down was when we got our smores. But of course the check didnt come for another 15 minutes. By this time by the way like half the restaurant had cleared out so it wasnt even that busy. 🚩It was clear multiple times during our experience that our waiter FORGOT about us. We got stuff like our salad and cooked beef nigiri style really fast but then it took 45 minutes for our ordered appetizer to come out and for our drinks. The entire meal he’d disappear and i’d have to flag down other waiters to get him. Honestly toward the end it felt like he gave up on us and did it on purpose because he knew he had screwed up so bad it was better for him to focus on his other tables for tips. 🚩 I forgot to say that he felt bad he forgot about us and said our extra bowl of white rice was on the house. Literally the cheapest thing that we didn’t order. (We upgraded to the bibimbap rice). I feel like everyone needs to read this review because otherwise you might not get your sauces which is a huge part of the experience. I swear they used to have chili oil and salt and pepper and garlic you could mix in too but I’m not sure if I’m thinking about another place. Sad I have to leave this review because I liked this place a lot. I haven’t been in like a year but seems like the service has really gone downhill. I’m truly unsure if I’ll ever be back after...

I came here last Saturday night at 5:30 PM with my husband and teenage son. I was relieved to find the restaurant had free on-site parking. Parking was limited, but seemed to have the perfect quantity of parking spots for its visitors-not too many and not too little. We made reservations online two weeks prior using opentable.com and were promptly seated after showing them our vaccination records.

We ordered spicy cucumber salad, shrimp ceviche, pork tonkatsu ramen, the two-person meat lovers combo, a side of the $60 A5 wagyu, a slice of matcha tiramisu, and virgin drinks. Our total came to $200 and something cents. We tipped our waiter $50 because he was very attentive, polite, and helpful.

I’ll discuss the details of our meat lovers combo first. The miso soups came first and we drank those up. They were yummy as miso soup should be and contained small bits of square tofu pieces. The half salads that came with our combo were amazing. I think they were called the Gyu-Kaku salads. They were so fresh, light, and delicious. Our plates were clean. Then we also enjoyed the fried chicken with spicy mayo. It was flavorful and tender. Our dish also came with edamame and a few types of meats. I don’t recall what those pieces were called, but they were well-flavored/seasoned and cooked quick.

The A5 wagyu was not worth it. It was very small (about a fist size), took longer than all our dishes to come to our table, and came partially frozen. I just expected something perfect for something of that label and price. It should’ve came out fresh or at least thoroughly defrosted. The meat was cut into thicker cubes. It was good, but not amazing and didn’t differ much in taste from the meats that came with the combo.

The spicy cucumber salad was amazing. Crunchy, refreshing, juicy, and not spicy at all. I’m going to have to order this from now on every time I go.

The shrimp ceviche was very basic. Nothing exciting or amazing about it. It was missing something and needed that extra pizzaz- maybe lime or mango. The pita chips were delicious, though.

The ramen was flavorful and my son ate it all up.

The matcha tiramisu tasted a bit too much like medicine. I think I’ll stick to the s’mores next time.

Overall, I’d definitely go again, but will only order regular meats and not the expensive meats. Their price just wasn’t worth it. I can’t wait to try the other combos and see how their other cuts, salads, and...