Chubby Cattle BBQ | Monterey Park — Restaurant in Monterey Park

It has a great concept of selling an AYCE BBQ experience with premium options. The meat quality was good. However, it was one of the worst dining experiences I've had. The tables are very small for large groups and the ventilation is horrific. Service was ok, but one server was absolutely awful. Pacing was incredibly rushed, and they implemented a 6 plate order max per order (it's their rule whether you have a table of 2 or 7) which limited the amount of food we could order. We arrived at 4:25pm on a weekend and there was already a long line (we missed the 1st wave and got seated at 6:10pm). They don’t take reservations. It could be a decent experience if you come in a small group (2-4 people), but it was absolutely awful with a group of 7.

Food- 4 stars We ordered the gold tier and the items were a hit or miss. The M6 short rib, brisket, tuna nigiri and wagyu uni nigiri were good. We only received 1 order of the A5 tender meat due to limited supply, and it was decent (not the marbling and fattiness that you expect from most A5 beef). Everything else was standard (the M9 meats and seafood)

The ordering system was incredibly frustrating. They allowed a max of 6 orders per order on the menu (this included appetizers, nigiri, meat, seafood and veggies), for a table of 7! So we basically could order 2-3 meats (the plates were pretty small), 1 nigiri, 1 appetizer, 1 seafood, and 1 vegetable plate at a time. This was an incredibly waste of time as we were only able to order 3-4 times before they showed up with the check. They even had a last call order when we were 50 minutes into our meal and they still enforced the 6 order maximum per order. We had to complain about ordering a bit more during last call since we were still hungry due to their ordering protocol, and they somewhat obliged with more orders at last call.

Ventilation- 1 star The building isn’t ready for an indoor BBQ atmosphere, as it was pretty small and poorly ventilated. Groups of 4 or more were seated near the wall with a weak vent. Smaller groups were seated in the middle of the restaurant without a vent, but they had high ceilings

We were seated in the outer booth tables, which can seat 4 comfortably, but was packed with our group of 7. As mentioned, the vents at the booths felt like low-end home appliances. The smoke was awful as we reeked of smoke. It got so bad that we had bloodshot eyes and were tearing up because of the smoke and poor ventilation

Service- 2 stars The busboys were good with clearing plates and changing grills.

The servers were decent but it's unfortunate that they had to enforce the 6 order rule for a party of 7.

However, 2 servers ruined my night. Around the 40 minute mark of our dining period, 1 of the servers gave us the last call order and only allowed us to place 6 orders. He wouldn't relent on the rule, and it wasn't until I complained that we were still hungry and that we still had 50 minutes left that we were able to place a few more orders to our last call. 10 minutes after that, an older female server shoved the bill next to my plate (this is at the 50 minute mark, with 40 minutes left in our timer). She came back 20 minutes later (when we still had 20 minutes left and we literally just received our last plates of raw meat) to tell me that I had to pay right now. I understand enforcing their 90 minute dining rule to accommodate more guests, but I was disgusted by how they were forcing us out when we still had 20 minutes on the clock and our last order just arrived.

Ambiance- 2 stars The interior design was nice with a modern bar and great roof decorations. It would be a cool experience to dine in the middle of the restaurant with a small group. However, it was miserable being in the outer booths with a large group. It was like eating in a house of smoke with no windows with loud music blaring. They're going for the hipster BBQ vibe, but it felt like a torture chamber

Bottom Line I rarely write negative reviews, but this was appalling. I've never truly been upset when dining at a restaurant...

First time at the Chubby Cattle and I will say the food was delicious especially the salmon, sirloin and rib eye. The service is great and our waitress Lisha was very attentive. The wait to be seated was not as long as they initially said which was great. They are pretty strict with time there but the 90 minutes are more than enough. The music is great and the food comes out pretty quick. The parking garage is a little crowded- wish they had more parking but won't stop me from coming back. Will definitely be recommending this place. They have a three tiers we selected the first as it was out first time- next time will be upgrading to try different cuts of meat. The server was very nice comma unlimited refields.For soda comma yca also order alcohol.If you like period at the very end, they offer desserts such as chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream perThe server was very nice, unlimited refills for soda, you could also order alcohol if you like period at the very end, they offer desserts such as chocolate ice cream or Vanilla Ice cream. The community around this area is very well. They have a variety of different sauces and they play wonderful music. Also if it's your birthday, they celebrate your birthday with big flashing signs and sing.Happy birthday to you, which is a super plus. The grill does burn pretty fast.So you gotta be very active when flipping your meat. You definitely got to try the finger meat. Be carefulDon't let the size fool you..................................,................First time at the Chubby Cattle and I will say the food was delicious especially the salmon, sirloin and rib eye. The service is great and our waitress Lisha was very attentive. The wait to be seated was not as long as they initially said which was great. They are pretty strict with time there but the 90 minutes are more than enough. The music is great and the food comes out pretty quick. The parking garage is a little crowded- wish they had more parking but won't stop me from coming back. Will definitely be recommending this place. They have a three tiers we selected the first as it was out first time- next time will be upgrading to try different cuts of meat. The server was very nice comma unlimited refields.For soda comma yca also order alcohol.If you like period at the very end, they offer desserts such as chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream perThe server was very nice, unlimited refills for soda, you could also order alcohol if you like period at the very end, they offer desserts such as chocolate ice cream or Vanilla Ice cream. The community around this area is very well. They have a variety of different sauces and they play wonderful music. Also if it's your birthday, they celebrate your birthday with big flashing signs and sing.Happy birthday to you, which is a super plus. The grill does burn pretty fast.So you gotta be very active when flipping your meat. You definitely got to try the...

I almost gave this place a 4, but after writing the entire review, I just can't bring myself to rate them higher than 3 stars. Here are the reasons:

Let's start with the food. In short, very few things looked like what they were on the menu, and they were overpriced. First, the items labeled as "limited" were the only good things. This meant each person could only order them once. We were relieved that we didn't choose the "diamond" option because even the "gold" option wasn't worth it. For example, the A5 tender meat came as three paper-thin slices the size of a playing card, and it was limited. The M9 top blade and M9 sirloin were also paper thin. Even though they were all you can eat, they lacked the marbling shown on the menu. I began to wonder if they were actually wagyu meats. The miso sea bass was overly salted and heavily seasoned, while the squid was the worst and should be avoided at all costs. The scallops were limited to two thumb-sized pieces per person, but they were over-seasoned with garlic, which ruined the umami flavor. The side dishes were probably the only saving grace. However, even those fell short. The beef tartar was decent, and the flavor of the wagyu shank was good, but the steamed eggs stood out as one of the best items. The wagyu sandwich had overcooked and overly salty meat. The salmon nigiri, tuna nigiri, and salmon carpaccio were delicious, but the two types of wagyu nigiri looked nothing like the picture. The thin meat wrapped around the rice instead of being placed on top like a traditional nigiri, and the meat was almost fully cooked. Overall, the quality of the food didn't justify the price.

Moving on to the service, the wait was long. My friends arrived at 5pm and were told it would be a 90-minute wait. We all gathered back around 6:20 pm and waited outside for another friend. Despite arriving earlier than expected, the maître d' displayed extreme impatience with us, insisting that we either go in immediately or give our table away. Although we didn't mind where we sat, her attitude was awful, which lowered their service rating to a 2. However, the rest of the wait staff were professional and friendly, raising the rating back up to a 4. However, they kept forgetting our orders. My friend ordered salmon carpaccio four separate times, and they only remembered to bring it twice after multiple complaints. They never once proactively came to change our grill; we had to request it. Taking all of this into consideration, I can't rate the overall service higher than a 3.

On the positive side, the atmosphere and decor were great, with a modern and vibrant vibe. However, they enforce a 90-minute time limit, so you most likely won't be able to linger with your...