Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Some friends and I came here for a birthday dinner last night, and had the worst experience with service. The food was very good, althogh the portions were smaller than depicted on the menu.

We had a reservation for 830pm. At 9 they told us they were setting up our table, and at 915 they finally seated us. So I'm not sure what the purpose of the reservation was. We asked our waitress a few questions about some items on the menu, but she really didn't know what we were asking. Once we ordered we did wait quite a while for the meats to come out, and all the meats and veggies came out separately. Everyone at the table ordered a la carte, and 3 of us out of 5 ordered the filet. When she finally brought it out, she set it down and said it was a serving of 2 filet plates. After she said she brought everything out, we had to tell her we were missing several items. 1 filet, our fried bacon appetizer that never appeared, a side of spinach and a side of bacon wrapped asparagus, and 2 sides of garlic paste. She apologized and said the kitchen was backed up. But why did we have to tell her? She wrote everything down, why didnt she realize we were missing so many things? She came right back and said the filet she brought out earlier was for all 3 orders, even though originally she said it was only 2, but she said she'd ask the kitchen to make another order. We waited about 20 minutes when she came back and asked if everything was ok. Had to remind her of our missing food, and again she said the kitchen was backed up. I bought this the first time, but how does a kitchen get this badly backed up when most of the food we ordered was to be cooked by us? All they had to do was prep it. After another 20 minutes or so we got the spinach and the fried bacon, but no filet. Had to ask again. Finally got that and 2 sides of the crunchy garlic oil instead of the garlic paste. Once we were finished eating we asked for the check, and we all thought for sure that something was going to be taken off the check or discounted given the abysmal service. We should have known better since the manager, Serge, never came by to check on us the entire service. They charged full price for everything. We tried talking to the manager to explain all the issues we had with the service and he blamed us because we ate the food. We were hungry and getting served in small increments, of course we ate everything. Serge refused to take anything off the check or provide any discount. On top of all this they had the nerve to include a 20% gratuity. Nowhere on the menu did it state parties of 5 or more were automatically assessed 20% gratuity. We refused to pay the gratuity and paid cash for all the food we consumed and left with Serge telling us we weren't worth his time.

This is really ashame because we all liked the food very much, but the food could not make up for the lousy service or the manner in which we...

I am a true fans of Gyukaku back in California and Texas, so when I moved here I was so excited they are here! Try to came here for my daughter’s birthday they said reservations only, understandable even though they are not even 1/3 full. Front of the restaurant so messy. The person was so cold, arogan, so not welcoming. However we love it so much before, so try to go again, making reservation this time. When I came they can’t find my name, I showed them the email confirmation and got sitted. Having a hard time with my phone connection for the menu, politely asking if they have paper menu and I showed them how our phone won’t connected, and they firmly said no menu. Finally we got it, and the waitress came back saying only regular menu, no happy hours, no specials. In their website (specifically this location) offered these and the only place doesn’t offered. Mind you the way they told us very impolitely, no apology very rude. And then I saw 2 tables down got a paper menu. Ordered garlic noodles, bibimbap, and over 10 plates of meats. We need more meat and again having a hard time accessing their menu, trying to politely asked for the paper menu, again super rude replies no paper menu. My friend starts to get irritated. And the wait for additional meat are really long, we ask nicely why is it taking so long? the waitress replied “I am sorry?” the tone is very rude, the kitchen is busy! In between first and second order we literally stop eating for about 15mins. They changed the grill only once, and it was looked like rusty or oily dirty yellowish. Asked to change it, they changed it and again no apology offered. in the middle of eating their ventilation under the grill just fell on my feet, Good thing I wore boots. Inside is very run down and you can hear screaming between waitresses and kitchen. unpleasant one. The meat about the same taste but low quality, the garlic noodle is very subpar, we used to get them in hot stone, here is just black plate and very small portion, worst bimbibab ever! Parking horrible as any downtown.

Note : I accidentally kicked the grill door and the door came out and I found mouse trap under the grill , so you can Guess what...

Worst experience at a restaurant. We traveled an hour to come eat here because online it claimed it was Japanese BBq but also vegitarian friendly. Complete opposite. The waitress asked if there were any dietary restrictions. I explained that I am vegitarian, but it's okay I see you have a "vegitarian menu". She proceeds to say everyone at the table must order the same Meat Plan though, regardless. She insisted that I was required to buy the Almost $80 charge for the meat menu if my other family members were getting it. I thought it was ridiculous because they showcase their vegitarian menu like theyre inclusive. But it felt more like taking advantage, as clearly I cannot eat $80 worth of corn and rice.... But fine, I can understand there is fear with table members sharing. So I told her what if I just sit at an entirely different table, with a different check and just order vegitarian items. She told me, with the worst attitude, no I cannot. I explained...what if I leave the restaurant and come inside as just a solo customer...and they can even sit me at the opposite side of the restaurant from my family. She said her manager still said No, then proceeded to give the nastiest look at me. It was the most ridiculous and offensive thing I've experienced. I was going out of my way for my family to still get to eat and just be off as a solo customer, and the waitress and manager refused service. Because I walked in with them they said. We got up and left the restaurant entirely. Honestly, not only was it distasteful for them to have a vegitarian menu to bait customers, then charge them for full meat, then to have them refuse to let me sit on my own with my own check was outrageous. Restaurant was empty too. Worst experience, staff needs to be let go. Dont go if you want to be treated...