Wagyu Butcher Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Torrance

We came here for our anniversary dinner and what an amazing dinner it was. From start to finish, everything was great. Definitely worth it, and make reservations.

Parking is easy in the lot. We made reservations for 7:30pm and the place is full. It’s small and cozy as part of the experience and only seats about 20-24 people per timeslot. Don’t get me wrong, you won’t feel cramped or anything in your seat and you get an up close and personal experience.

I opted for the $70 omakase plus $10 Wagyu sushi upgrade (do it!) plus the $30 sake pairing, choosing the beef tongue and inside skirt options. Wife chose the $70 with Wagyu strip and curry. It allowed us to try almost everything.

The sake pairing was great to try 5 different types of sake. Pours were generous and flavors of each sake come through from the fruity to dry ones. You get a nice spread.

We got a nice variety of appetizers from tofu, Kimchi spread (favorite was the cabbage), veggie spread (favorite was zucchini) and the Wagyu sashimi. The soup wasn’t just the simple miso soup, it was rich bone broth soup.

Meats were an excellent variety and well proportioned. All the different sections of the meats, they’ll be accompanied by a dipping sauce of some sort. They do season and sauce some of the meats as well, though I’d recommend asking for less salt/sauce in the preparation. They’re well accommodating to it.

As they tell you, cook each meat one at a time to your liking and take your time to enjoy the meals.

Personal favorites, they’ll beef tongue and a5. I love that sukiyaki butter that came with the A5 and each tongue piece was uniquely different.

Least, the sweet soy courses. While delicious, I felt like too much sauce overpowered the taste of the meat.

I highly recommend the Wagyu sushi upgrade, it was so worth it! The curry was a bit forgettable, very strong tomato taste, almost reminded me of a chili rather than curry.

Loved the pudding for dessert. Not too sweet and perfect finish to the meal.

At the end you can always order more of anything a la carte, but the omakase was plenty for us.

I enjoyed the experience so much, I would come not just for special occasions. Anytime you want to treat yourself, this place is...

Good quality meat "butchered" by a "shef." Absolutely atrocious knife skills: hacking and sawing into the meat instead of smooth slicing—thus mangling the cut of meat. Addtl. no knowledge of trimmings so tendons and other cuts unsuitable for grilling are included. Probably around 30% of pieces were too tough to chew through. Pictured below is the A5 wagyu; as you can clearly see, there is one suitable piece and two trimmings that were extremely stringy. Even worse, my portion (not pictured) only included trimmings.

An attempt was made to create paired sauces and seasonings for the meats. I would say it falls on its face and could use work by someone with good taste. Even some quality salt and pepper would be a welcome upgrade.

Two stars for service due to fact that in between the courses of meat; they collected at least 4 plates with unchewable meat that we spat out—no questions were asked to us about the meat being unchewable/inedible.

Recommendations to owners: the meat quality itself is quite good. Good marbling and freshness. Get the chef some training on how to use a knife and properly cut meat. GET RID OF TRIMMINGS instead of giving them to your customers. If the sauce pairings and seasonings were also giving more thought, this could be a...

Wagyu Butcher Japanese BBQ is a must-try if you love A5 Wagyu or are just craving some amazing beef. You’ll have a great experience from start to finish. The staff there are super friendly and knowledgeable — they give great recommendations and really want you to enjoy your meal.

It’s more like a wagyu tasting experience. All the beef is super fresh, and they even slice it right in front of you. Each cut comes with a recommended sauce pairing that brings out the best flavors of the meat. Feel free to ask the staff to help grill the A5 Wagyu for you — they know exactly how to cook it to the perfect timing so you get the best texture and flavor.

I highly recommend going with the Butcher’s Omakase and adding the A5 Wagyu Sushi for an extra $10. It’s 100% worth it! You’ll get plenty of food and feel really satisfied after the meal.

Just a heads up: This place isn’t cheap and expect to spend around $100+ per person. Honestly, it’s worth every penny for the quality and the overall experience.

Quick tips: Strongly recommend making a reservation ahead of time. They do take walk-ins, but seating isn’t guaranteed and the wait can be long. Don’t skip the A5 Wagyu Sushi upgrade — it’s amazing and you’ll definitely...