Niku Feast Yakiniku — Restaurant in Seattle

Terrible customer service & policy! Decent food compared to price. Positive reviews were from long time ago, not recently.

One of the few rare times that I have to give a bad review. I came in eating with my family as a group of 5 and an infant. The customer service was not good from the beginning. We were asked to sit in the corner closed to the kitchen hallway, which was chiller due to the pathway, and because we have a kid so we asked if we could switch a table. The waitress who was assigned to our table refused with the reason that our stroller would block other customers, even though we came in super early at the opening time so there was barely anyone there and all tables were clear. We had to asked twice, but the waitress rejected both with the same reason and without any further consideration that we have a kid and the table space was very cold. Another waiter, her manager I suppose, came in and helped us choose another table. But in just 5 minutes, we were asked again by the same waitress to bring the stroller to the front desk to avoid blocking the hallway, while they didn’t promise to take any responsibility if our belongings could be lost. This whole thing was ridiculous because I noticed 30 minutes later they used the exact spot to put another cart and left it there until we left, and no customer had any issue walking past it. We were planning to leave then the same waiter came in told us we could leave it there, and served our table instead.

We picked the AYCE option, and there was no information from the menu regarding the time limit. We asked the waiter and got told that “you have 90 minutes for your table”. However, when we had 20 minutes left, the waiter came in and told us to order our last call. We were surprised because we didn’t expect 90 minutes to be the seating time, which meant we even had to leave table when the time was up. There was no reservation warning, nor was the restaurant full of table by that time. We had to negotiate with the restaurant to have exactly 10 minutes to finish our order. This is very terrible customer service experience.

The food was decent and not very impressive, which was arguably the only good thing from this experience. I would recommend the beef tongue, finger meat (it was well marinated and juicy), and ribeye. For the AYCE price, however, this was quite a small selection of choice (6 for beef, 2 for pork, 1 for chicken, 1 squid, 1 shrimp, and japanese jam which we didn’t order). The potion of each serving call was small, especially the shrimp and squid. That and we had to grill everything ourselves, resulting in our eating time were short, rushing, and extremely unpleasant.

We considered going to this place due to high rating and its popularity on social media. But not when we check again, most of its positive feedback was from before the rebranding, and recent reviews share the same experience. I would not consider going back to this again, and definitely not recommend...

Returning customers alert: this is NOT Niku Niku, this is a new restaurant purposely named in a similar way and inherited all reviews previously posted for Niku Niku.

Please, stop using the menu, reviews and pictures customers put for Niku Niku, this is absolutely misleading.

We went for Niku Niku but was told it is now a new restaurant and with only AYCE style “Japanese” bbq. Fine, we drove half an hour to get there and decided to give it a try.

We got the standard option ($31.95) and ordered several meat. The meat quality was quite disappointing. Beef brisket (only the 1st round) and Karubi were okay, but only when comparing to other meat. When ordering the 2nd round of brisket, the meat texture was very different and it became tough and chewy. Shrimp was regular frozen style. Ribeye steak was the worst I’ve ever had - no flavor at all and very difficult to chew even when we cooked it at medium to medium well. AND, the beef tongue was even worse - smelly, flavorless, and impossible to chew.

Their appetizers are good, a lot more options than other places offered. They had side bar with dipping sauces, vegetables, fruits, rice bowl, and side dishes, which is an add on to the flavorless, low quality bbq. Everything was fine except the dipping sources. There was not even one sauce that fitted the grilled meat, some of sauce was made as so called “Japanese style” but tasted so weird.

Our server was trying to do a decent job but we didn’t feel being welcomed as they were so busy chatting with other customers and wasn’t quite helpful when we needed to adjust the heat level as our food was getting burned.

Overall a very disappointing experience. We felt we were tricked into eating here and got more disappointed. I would pay a few dollars more and get a much better quality AYCE bbq at bellwether, or an even cheaper option at the grill king with less side dishes option but very high quality meat. I’ve been living in LA and Seattle and am a big fan of Korean and Japanese style bbq, this is not definitely one of the worst...

Niku Niku is one of, if not the best JBBQ spots in Seattle. The price may be intimidating but the menu allows you to pay for high, premium quality meats or cheaper, but still high quality meats.

Before I jump in to the food, I want to shoutout John and his amazing attitude. Wonderful person who took the time to connect with us a bit throughout our dinner while being friendly, welcoming, and attentive. Appreciated that he asked for our names at the end, even as a small gesture as it goes a long way and speaks volumes to his character.

We had the Tasting Set, A5 Wagyu Beef Cubes, Miso Soup, House Special Salad, Roasted Sesame Salad, and Oishi Rice.

Tasting Set - this option really allows you to get a variety which is perfect for both first timers and regulars alike. When you're indecisive, or want to try different meats, this should be the first thing you look to. Gold Label Wagyu Short Rib and Black Label Wagyu Chuck Rib were the best meats - delicate and delicious.

A5 Wagyu Beef Cubes - 2 oz is roughly 6 cubes to share. Amazing Wagyu that truly melts in your mouth. While small, you appreciate the fattiness and delicacy of each piece. A great choice for first time Wagyu experiences as well.

Miso Soup - very light, which pairs well with the entire experience of simplicity and appreciation.

House Special Salad - a stronger salad in the flavor as the sauce was more unique and sweeter. Personal favorite to supplement meat.

Roasted Sesame Salad - a basic salad that has a standard dressing flavor, but pairs fine with the rest of the meal.

Oishi Rice - this is a must get! The best rice option here, it's amazing on it's own so you don't have to pair your meat with rice. This allows you to truly enjoy the meat as is without relying on rice as Japanese BBQ really lets you appreciate the meat on it's own, sometimes with a little sauce.

In short, you must order the Oishi Rice and then the best meats from this visit were the A5 Wagyu Beef Cubes, Gold Label Wagyu Short Rib, Black Label Wagyu Chuck Rib,...