Reviews for Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ in Santa Monica, CA
This is one of the worst dinner experiences I've had for any type of japanese/ Korean style bbq joint by a mile. Staff was today... and loud the majority of the meal, we couldn't really hear ourselves talking. The service was extremely slow , even afterordering it took forever for the raw meats to come out; how is that even possible, you don't have to cook anything? The icing onthe cake was when my takoyaki came out ice cold in the center, I room a bite into one and the squid inside was frozen solid, Iwanted to puke. We eventually got to eat our meats but just wanted to leave as fast as possible. I will not be returning as acustomer at this location, I'm sure the chain is fine it's just the staff and service was so bad, and it really hard for me toleave reviews like this but it's needed for this level of inconsistency. Read more
My husband and I took four teenagers here for dinner in March 2022. Everyone really liked their food and the service was great.... We didn't have a reservation but they fit us in anyway. The ambiance was nice but it was really expensive for what we got. Six of us with a total of 2 alcoholic drinks came to about $400. I would probably go back - just without all those teenageeating machines! Read more
I walked in here last month with my boyfriend since we were in the area and hadn't tried Japanese BBQ before. We were greeted... and seated super quickly. The server asked if it was our first time visiting and when we let him know, he gave us a quickoverview of the menu and options. We ended up choosing the buffet option after we were shown the extra options we could pickfrom. Not only did the server take time to give us the top favorites, he also asked about dietary restrictions which I reallyappreciated. He took away any uncertainty I sometimes have when trying new cuisines. Throughout the service, we receivedupdates on our choices and constant recommendations on any we hadn't tried yet. I looooooved the fondue w/broccoli, volcanoroll, and garlic noodles. Honestly, I don't think there was a single thing I didn't enjoy eating. It's clear to me the serverknew the menu well so I'd like to give a big shout out to David for being so helpful and enjoyable. The friendly and energeticattitude only made the meal even more enjoyable. Overall, I had a great experience and have already made plans to bring myfamily so they can try this restaurant. Read more
No experience to share, apparently this place doesn't welcome children in strollers, no high chairs very rude people greeting... you at the door and a manager who should really be a dishwasher bit is a manager. 422pm if any of the higher up people care tofigure out who the rude people in speaking about are. I have been enjoying bbqs at Gyu for over 20 years and 1st time at SantaMonica location. Will never return and I hope this place get a staff makeover before the whopping 3.6 starts becomes 1.6 stars.In this day and age if you cannot accommodate for high chairs you shouldn't be open for business, shame on your staff and lackof accommodation and for ruining my lunch. Read more
They advertise all you can eat pricing. I even confirmed by phone when I made the reservation. Then they don’t honor it.... Individual pricing is totally a rip off because they give you a tiny, tiny portion for each order. Like 5 bite sized pieces for$15-$20. So it will end up costing $250-$200 per person if you order a lot of food. Read more
The price goes crazy in my point of view. They don’t have all-you-can-eat in the weekend, so I ordered three dishes of beef... plus tofu and rice. I am not full after finishing these because the portion is too small. But the price went up to 50$ even if Iam using happy hour discount. The beef is ok, but the tofu is too salty for me. I will not come again in the weekends. Read more
This makes such a perfect date night! They are doing reservations so I would highly recommend doing that since waiting for a... table can take a really, REALLY long time. They have a pre-set meal for two for about $70 that comes with a good assortment ofmeats (mainly beef and some pork) as well as miso soup, rice, and salad. It ends with s'mores too that is just a great way toend the feast! It's slightly different compared to KBBQ so you won't get fermented sides, but worth it for a differentexperience. The marinades are a bit more nuanced imo. They aren't really doing Happy Hour or All You Can Eat from when we went,but hopefully with progress in handling COVID it will be back to normal soon. Their HH deals are really top notch so lookingforward to that coming back!! Read more
Very bad experience. Everything took long. Took about 15 minutes after sitting down to get a server. In the thing we ordered it... was starters and then the main entree. Starters came out fine, we had to wait an hour after receiving our starters to get ourmain courses which we had to ask for. This resulted in us being at the restaurant, for about 40 past close cause food had to becooked. I would not recommend this to anybody, whole experience took about 2 hour 30 minutes which is just unacceptable for a$300+ meal. I felt very unsatisfied with the whole experience. With that said the food was good, but the experience was some forthe worst I have had Read more