888 JAPANESE BBQ — Restaurant in Spring Valley

This was one of the best AYCE experiences I've ever had in Vegas. Was it because the food was delicious? Was it because it was for a 2pm lunch after a night of clubbing? Yes and yes, that made it even better.

My partner and I put our name on the Yelp virtual waitlist about 45 min before we arrived. When we got there, we waited 10 min by the cushy seats at the front of the store. The inside is dark and a bit hectic as there's tons of space for diners. During our wait, we were going through the we were able to go through the menu and write down all of our items on my phone. This made it easy for the servers to just read through a while and putting our order. You get a limit of how many things you can get at once, but they check up on you so often that there's never a problem with ordering again.

The service was exceptional. We did not see our main server all the time, but there were always people walking by to check up on us. Big shoutout to Anthony! He was awesome.

We got the Set C which included Kobe meat. At $44, it is cheaper than what we're used to in the Bay Area for sure.

For drinks, we both got blizzard draft beers. It's like a beer slushy that tasted so good with oily and fatty foods. I got a red ale while my partner got a Guinness.

For the sides, we got the Japanese pickle set, garlic with butter, sweet corn cheese, cheese fondue, jalapenos, kimchi, seasoned miso paste, and sesame oil with sea salt. I really enjoyeed dipping the meats in the miso paste. I actually thought it was soybean paste. The vegetables added a pop of freshness to the fatty meat. For the corn cheese and the cheese fondue, the heat can make the oils in the cheese separate, so I wouldn't get it more than once. Something I kept re-ordering was the garlic with butter. Yum!

For soups, we only got the miso soup and the soft tofu soup. I wish I got to try some of their ramen, but we didn't want to fill up on this since we were focused on the meat. I would get it if we came back in a bigger group so we could all try it. Normally the soft tofu soup is something pretty standard, but I don't know, it tasted so good here. Maybe it was because it was the first thing that came out, but it was addicting and I was tempted to order another one.

For appetizers, we got one of each carpaccio. Those were tasty! We also got snow crab which tasted sweet. We got each type of poke, a karaage, spicy cucumber, both cabbage salads, tuna salad, spicy cold tofu, and seaweed salad. These were great for adding texture and freshness to our meats. They came out a bit later than the meats, but they filled up the table quick. I am someone who needs to be careful with eating too much vegetables instead of meat because they all tasted so good.

For barbecue, we got all the Kobe options once. They were soft and succulent. Remember not to overcook them! We were fans of the beef belly, beef tongue, and sliced pork belly. The other options are amazing, but those are our top three because of the thinness. I liked that the pork belly has a thin option! I enjoyed the king oyster mushrooms and pineapple too. My partner loved the tamago.

We did not end up getting any sushi rolls because of the rice.

We got free ice cream at the end for dessert. They are served in adorable little cups. The coffee flavor was the best! It was so creamy. My partner got the Matcha flavor, but his was a bit hard.

Overall, this will be one of my go-to food spots for a Vegas visit. Highly...

Although the most expensive meats weren't as good as I expected, I still greatly enjoyed my meal at a very good cost. I would recommend this restaurant.

Similar to Gyu-Kaku, you have three options for AYCE BBQ: Angus: $24.95 Prime: $28.95 Kobe: $39.95 Each tier gives you access to all of their items in addition to all of the items in any tier(s) that are cheaper.

You get 90 minutes to eat from the moment they bring out your first order and everything left over at the end of the meal will be charged a la carte.

The atmosphere was nice. Low-light Ambience with a smokeless grill to cut down the noise level and prevent smoke from following your face in every direction.

The service was fantastic. The menu was explained very well, our servers were very friendly, and we got all of our orders very promptly. This was a step up from my local Gyu-Kaku in Atlanta.

Now the food: First off, the Kobe menu is not actually kobe beef, or at least not what the average joe expects when they see kobe on the menu. It is, however, incredibly tender and very well marbled. Unfortunately, the best options are limited to one order per customer and while they could be portioned better, it wasn't bad.

The sides were a hit or a miss. The pickled radishes had great flavor, but were kind of mushy. Kimchi was very good. My favorite sauces were the middle one and red one.

This was my first time eating beef carpaccio and not only was the beef super thin and tender, the sauce was amazing.

The salmon and tuna poke bowls were great with a bit of a kick, although I didn't like how mushy the tuna was.

The prime kalbi was very tender and flavorful. The Kobe beef belly was tender, but not very flavorful without the sauces. The Kobe Fatty Rib and Prime Harami Miso were very tender, but very salty.

The shrimp tempura didn't come with any sauce. Aside from that, it had the perfect balance of a crispy outer shell and a fluffy inner meat.

The New York Strip was oddly textured but had great flavor nonetheless.

The Ama Ebi shrimp was very interesting. I had never had a "half-cooked" shrimp before. The sauce was sweet and the fish eggs added a great texture to it. I'd highly recommend it.

The LA Kalbi wasn't too salty, but the flavor was a bit too strong/bold for me.

The Cream Cheese Wontons were too crispy for me. They kind of crumbled in my hands as I tried to pull them apart, but they tasted great with the sauce.

The black garlic ramen was a great refreshing dish to end the meal. I expected it to be super cheap because it was basically instant noodles, but it was pretty good.

Overall, the "best" foods weren't as good as expected, but the affordable price, atmosphere, and service more than make up for it. I'd come back again, but next time I'm in Vegas I'll be visiting their Korean...

Summary: Avoid this restaurant if decent quality food and service are priority. If quantity is all that matters, go ahead considering many others are doing it and loving it. (Note: There is a limit of five orders per category at a time.)

The Long Story: We came on a Sunday evening, waited about 10 minutes for a table (they don’t take reservations). The restaurant kept the temperature indoor cool, so the heat from the grill wasn’t bothering us too much other than the occasional burst of flames from the grill.

We went with the Kobe option because we wanted to try the beef people are so hyped up about. We were aware their ‘Kobe’ beef is essentially SRF (Snake River Farms) American Wagyu, as labeled on their menu. We had SRF wagyu jerky before and it wasn’t bad. We’ve also had certified Kobe beef in Kobe, so we did appropriately scale our expectations. Ultimately, we came because of the great reviews and recommendations from multiple foodie websites.

Man, how we wished we didn’t put our faith in those reviews. We tried all the one-order-only plates and the only decent food was the salmon carpaccio (which is also part of the Prime option). All their cuts of beef did not have actual meat flavor and tasted exactly the same since they were all smothered in the same overly salty and sweet sauce, the texture of the meat was unpleasantly fatty and chewy. We lost our appetites for their beef pretty quickly. We decided to order other plates to change things up, seafood for BBQ were old and mushy, the appetizers and ramen were so so.

In regard to the service, our table attendant swapped out the grill frequently, and empty plates were cleared regularly. That’s about the end of their good service. The attendant did not care to make sure all our orders were delivered before giving us the check, especially the orders we placed on last call, which was 30 minutes before our 90 minutes session is up. The attendant told us s’mores is included in the meal, guess what, it never came. In the end, we were still compelled to tip 20% because well, that’s how it works in...