Chako Barbeque

How is this place still open? The absolute worst Korean BBQ place I’ve ever been to. The quality of the meats is terrible. Servers don’t really care. Ventilation is bad, especially for a place where you cook your own food. Hopefully you’re not one of the unfortunate souls that sit in the back of the restaurant, close to the restroom. It is so smokey back there you almost expect Dave Chappelle to appear dress as Rick James! Stay away

I wasn’t going to leave a review, but I thought I need to parrot some things.
To get this out of my chest first (excuse the pun), when you walk in there, it seems like a conspiracy to arson is at play. The place is literally FILLED with smoke and my body instantly become lathered with grease and it was so hot. Noting the lack of ventilation to suck up the smoke, it wasn’t even busy when we arrive (11:30pm) with only a few tables occupied. It leaves you to wonder where all that smoke is coming from. What an uncomfortable setting.
Service. What service? The guy sat us down and disappeared for 10 minutes, to the point where I have to stand up to get noticed. Keep in mind it was late and not busy here at all — it leaves you wondering if they’re just sitting around scratching their behinds. If you’re looking for service, order takeout and the delivery driver will give you better service. The probability of this is so highly, I’m willing to put a wager on it.
Unbelievable. Had to dry clean my leather jacket after only wearing it a week after buying it.
Don’t misunderstand, the only reason I’m giving 2 stars instead of 1 is because I always enjoy bbq, whether it’s here or in my backyard. And the ice cream was fine.

Chako’s a Korean BBQ restaurant (ie: you get a grill and cook meat/​veggies) with a menu containing Japanese food as well.
They take reservations for groups of four or more so if you’re planning to go in a smaller group, make sure you go before 6:30 if you want to guarantee yourself a table. And trust me, they get busy. There are always lines waiting at the door when I leave. I don’t think they have a time limit as I’ve never been kicked out before.
The food itself is pretty good. I go usually to just eat meat so I can say that I love their beef, pork, chicken and lamb (this one’s only offered on the weekends, along with a few other items). The list of food you can order’s pretty long but I just order these, along with rice and miso soup.
Most of the servers are pretty happy to serve you. I’ve had times where it’d be hard to flag someone down for the bill or additional food but they’re generally pretty good. Something I do appreciate is they make sure your drink is filled up.
Of course, no place is perfect. If you’re one of those people that go around prime-​dinner-​time, be warned that parking is dreadful. I’ve mentioned this in my Destiny review, but because of all the restaurants around the same parking lot, finding a parking spot can take a lot of time. So, like I mentioned above, go early!
Something of note is that this place is pretty expensive. Dinner on Mon-​Thursdays is $ 21 and $ 24 on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Then there’s extra for drinks and of course, tax and tip. They also tack on an extra 10% as «service charge». So it can be very expensive.
If you want lots of food on a grill and Japanese food, I could definitely recommend this place. It’s a fantastic place to eat and it’s not too busy, assuming you don’t go when everyone else does on the weekend. So go and eat lots of meat! And be prepared to smell like it once you’re done!

As someone who enjoys kbbq every now and then, I personally would not recommend coming to Chakos.
To sum up a really bad review, the lines and wait times are abnormally long (I really don’t understand why people rave over Chakos when there are much better kbbq places elsewhere), the food is really average, service could be better, and they have a terrible ventilation system — the whole place reeks of this greasy charcoal smell that makes me lose my appetite.
So no, I won’t be coming back here unless every other restaurant in the world closes down. Even then I’d probably think twice about paying another visit here.

This isn’t really part of my usual spots to hit so here goes. It was Korean bbq so it was an ayce and grill your own food.
I like to first start with the good
Decent variety
Attentive staff, checking on the grills.
I would think if staff didn’t pay attention there would be issues.
Bad
Taste — wasn’t anything special
Price– 31ish after tax and service charge (10% percent group of 6)
Ventation– no proper vent system, smell like charcoal and meat.
Style– seem more Chinese then Korean (not an expert thou)
Despite this isn’t something I frequent, it wasn’t anything to brag about. Ayce is nice but the food wasn’t anything special or stand out. Which why it get about 2.5 but I round it up.

TERRIBLE SERVICE PERIOD. Decided to give this place a try again after several years and boy did it disappoint. It was so bad that I didnt even eat and just walked out.
We made a reservation for the family for a table of 6 at 730pm. We arrived 5 minutes early and advised that there will only be 4 people dining due to my brother bailing out. Its worth noting that at this time the place was maybe at 30% capacity, the manager told us to wait and that the next table was ours despite having larger tables available. We waited 10min before asking him again and his tone now changed to «I dont know, when someone leaves.» We asked could we not jus take one of the 6 seat booths that were available to which his responded «but you only have 4 people, the next table that finishes is yours». I can understand not giving us a table when its super busy but this place was only at 30% capacity. Needless to say we walked out.
No wonder everyone complains about customer service, even the manager doesn’t even know how to service customers properly.

Great place for kbbq, different quality of meats from the Scarborough location, would much prefer to dine here over the sister location. Great décor and definitely high volume. Sushi is OK but it’s to be expected with busy places.

I’ve been to this location a few years back and figured since I was hella hungry I would come back. After all the first experience was good. I was really craving Korean BBQ but I was about to get the biggest disappointment of the night. After placing our order we shortly got all the usual snacks like bean sprouts, tofu, kimchi, etc. Then the meats were brought out along with a couple of bowls of rice. Also ordered some sushi and handrolls.
Noticed something was missing with my BBQ so I asked for Korean BBQ sauce. The server tells me all they have is soy sauce and siracha. What kind of Korean BBQ place doesn’t serve their meats without it? Oh and that was just the beginning. I tasted the tofu expecting it to taste as I remembered and got a mouthful of stale food. Not only was it cold but it tasted like few days old tofu.
Oh and to top it off they forgot about my sushi and handroll order. I mean if it was busy I could understand the server might have missed it. There was 5 tables being served including mine! After my soy sauce drenched, stale tofu, late arriving sushi I kindly asked for the bill. Looked at the receipt and saw that there already is a 10% service charge! It’s like they know their service and food is mediocre but there’s nothing you can do about it.
Enough of my rant about this location. Never going back here again. It’s definitely worth the drive to the other Chako located at Midland and McNicoll.

DO NOT GO HERE! Extremely unsanitary and poor service. There was a DEAD SPIDER ON OUR FOOD. Their compensation was to make 1 meal free… we had 8 people with us.
They are also notorious for the worst service ever. Manager was very rude. He picked up the phone while we were in the middle of asking for a table. Then he storms off doing something else. When we demanded that we wanted a seat, he just kept on explaining that he’s too busy… whatever that means.
Also, if you want any service, you have to get out of your seat and find yourself a server. Oh, and there’s a 10% service charge.

KBBQ is more of an experience I believe and it was fun!
Been to a few spots like this, this one is quite clean, neat, comfortable seating booths and tables for larger parties. Half the place was unused tables so it should accommodate on any busy night.
Cute simple Christmas decorations
Waitresses were constantly passing my table so didn’t have a problem with service it was good, I guess they were stressed so they weren’t looking very happy, tried to make one laugh but didn’t work…
Their tea cups are wicked, made of stone
Oh yeah we had all you can eat (family)
Foods tasty
Favorite is cold dish raddish
Then we just got chicken, beef, calamari, shrimps, ribs
Couple bowls of rice … It was delicious
The inside got very smokey it was as if the place was burning down but it was fun. We were going straight home though so smelling like a BBQ for the rest of night wasn’t a problem for us :)
3 ppl $ 80

Went there with my girlfriend on a Thursday night. Both of us got the all you can eat.
Pros:
+ nice ambiance
+ tasty grilled meat
Cons:
— horrible service
— bad sushi
— not great for large groups
Service: (²⁄₅ stars)
When we walked in, there was nobody at the hostess desk. After a while a manager walked by us twice before finally talking to us. She told us the booth will be ready in a bit and walked off. (Half the diner was empty, but it makes sense to keep everyone in one part of the restaurant). After 10 minutes a waitress came and walked us to our seats. She managed not to say a single word to us at all. I did not realize she was there until my girlfriend stood up.
When we go to our table, the waitress came by to take our order. She also was trying very hard to say as few words as possible. We placed our order grilled meat, a few soups, and sushi at that time. The meat came right away. The sushi however did not arrive for at least an hour, after 3 reminders they finally brought sushi.
They were really fast for getting kimchi and tofu, but we had to continuously look for them for more water…
We also asked for them to change the grill, she came looked at it, poured water underneath it and was about to leave before I asked her again.
Also the price was more expensive than on website (see pictures for updated price)
Food (4 stars)
We tried lots of things so we will go from bad to great.
Sushi (1 star): we ordered a shrimp handroll — there was barely any shrimp in it.
We also ordered spicy salmon roll — it had tons of rice, and was simply not tasty.
Grilled Food:
Pork: 3.5 stars
Shrimp: 4 stars — however I would advice against getting it since it is a pain to clean them.
Beef: 5 stars — we added teriyaki sauce on it while we were cooking it.
Calamari: 5 stars — really great, make sure you cook it for a while
Short Ribs: 5 stars
Miso Soup: 5 stars
Salad: 3 stars — very thin slice of tomato and lots of green salad.
Green tea was an extra $ 1.
The final cost came to $ 50 with tax and 10% tip.
Ambiance: (4 stars)
It is a modern ambiance. Half the place are open table, and half are booths.
Overall, I would go there again but would not get any sushi and expect service to be quite bad.

A friend suggested this place. A late night BBQ might not sound like a good idea but we went anyways.
This is a really great place to have a BBQ. The flames were strong the whole time. Beef slices were thin so they cooked the quickest. Chicken was properly marinated and tasted great. Fish was the freshest and was not marinated.
Sides are included, so feel free to order them while waiting for the meat on the grill. I recommend Kimchi and miso soup.
Clean restaurant, fancy décor, and wonderful service.

The place is ok… We’ve been lucky to have a good server the few times we’ve been here…
The food is standard Korean BBQ (beef, chicken, seafood, veggies, shortribs)… but I don’t get why the short ribs take forever to cook. and I mean forever!!! Whenever we come here with friends our order usually consists of beef and short ribs sometimes seafood… but you’re waiting forever for the short ribs…
My main issue with this place is the ventilation!!! fix the ventilation in that restaurant PLEASE!!! Other Korean bbq places don’t have this issue, On Saturday I had smoke coming from two grills all towards me… I couldn’t stop tearing.
It’s good from time to time but I prefer Grill House across the street.

So, if you come here, bring an empty stomach, because this is all you can eat. A good non-​Yelp friend of mine recommended this place, saying this plus going to Café Demetre afterwards was the ultimate in «filling yourself until you’re sick» dinner and dessert experience.
I figured why not?
Lee and I were lucky to get here right before the dinner rush, so at about 5:30 on a Saturday. We were quickly seated, and the grill was lit. Neither of us had been here before, but the server didn’t really seem to care, he just asked us what we wanted.
The menu is pretty self explanatory, so we just dug in and ordered. The sushi rolls were … okay, a little bit dry, nothing too exceptional, and very rice-​filled.
The meats were quite good, though, particularly the beef and steak. They’re really thin and nice and well marinated, and after a quick turn on the grill, it’s nice and tasty. The prawns are a little bit more work, and take a bit longer to cook, so only if you really really love prawns. The lamb and pork is quite good as well, and the veggies are nice and fresh.
So, overall a great time and good food.

It’s OK for All You Can Eat as Lunch! Quite delicious meat (pork and beef and short rib), it is just right. It’s not salty nor sweet (if u know Korean BBQ well)
Not much choices for BBQ All You Can Eat for Lunch thorough.

Korean BBQ with sushi!
The Korean BBQ is really good. Deliciously marinated meat (chicken, beef, pork, lamb) and quite a few other foods like squid, (shelled) shrimp, and more. I love variety, so this is great!
I’m a sucker for sushi and while their sushi is sub-​par I love that they offer it. It adds a bit of freshness to my meat-​heavy meal.
The servers are all pretty attentive, so no complaints there. Not amazing, but not bad by any means.
Few drawbacks that are worth mentioning:
— It’s a bit pricey for Korean bbq. I think it’s $ 24 for weekend dinners. But I counter that with the great variety that they offer.
— You will most definitely come out smelling like delicious food. I could see this as not being horribly desirable.
— They’re really adamant about not seating you until your whole party is there. I think they said that they do this because there is a time limit and don’t want to start your time until everyone is there. I’ve never been kicked out for being there too long though.
Overall, I love this place. I’d go a bit more often if it was a bit cheaper but I appreciate all that they have to offer.

Chako (which is owned by the Destiny Group, which also owns Wasabi buffet and Destiny BBT) is a Chinese style all you can eat grill serving savoury marinated meats that includes the basic stapes like pork, chicken, beef, short ribs, salmon, tilapia, shrimp, mussels, squid, etc. Ask any Korean national and they’ll tell you that this is far from the authentic Korean BBQ experience.
Because of the cramp grilling stations with highly inadequate venting, you WILL smell heavily like grilled meats once you leave. The heavy MSG used in the marinade will stay with you for hours if not a couple of days after the fact. A buffet is rarely about freshness of ingredients, or even superb taste. Once you are able to understand that a buffet is to satisfy one’s heavy cravings for grilled meats, then you can start to enjoy it for what it is and not expect a high quality dining experience.
Chako fits the bill whenever I want to stuff myself silly with BBQ’d beef, despite how I may feel queasy for going over my stomach’s limit the day after. Service is a hit and miss, sometimes good sometimes bad. It’s super busy on weekends, so do expect to wait a bit for a table if you are with a big group.
There was once a true Korean BBQ located in this same plaza. Sadly it shut down because it was too authentic. They actually served high grade quality fresh meat served along side other Korean cuisine fair. They actually incorporated vents built around the grill to suck up all the smoke so you don’t leave the restaurant smelling like a grill. But most of all, the place was not a buffet.
People that are complaining that there’s no true Korean BBQ experience in Richmond Hill have only themselves to blame for the demise of the actual authentic KBBQ experience that it once had. Diners voted with their wallets that they preferred the fake, but Chinese buffet style over the authentic Korean style.
Happy grilling!

You would think that ayce Korean bbq and sushi would be a mind blowing genius business concept but… This place isn’t good. Poor quality beef and poor quality sushi.
A restaurant that had an ayce concept with legit Kbbq and sushi would be so successful. Too bad it doesn’t exist in Toronto.
We won’t be a world class city until I see this happen.
Good thing about this restaurant is that bubble tea is a short walk away.
Parking sucks in this plaza. This is a fact of life in this plaza. It always sucks.

So, a friend and I went in for what we thought would be a nice relaxing sitdown meal.
First. We were greeted at the door by the server so asked us to take a seat and wait, assuming we wanted to sit in a booth/​banquette, which we did not, as we wanted a table due to the table height. She never asked, just told us to have a seat and then came back to tell us there were no booths, which would not have been an issue if she had asked before.
So they have us seated at the table and the first thing we notice is that there is no heat dispersion ring on our grill. We tell her this and she said that we don’t need it. But then again, take a closer look at your table and you’ll notice that if you do have one, they are propped up and held afloat by plastic solo condiment cups! Three to be exact!
We put in our order and we sit and wait for the trays to arrive, 10 minutes or so. And brought to us by a different waiter. He turns on the grill, but for whatever reason, it takes him several minutes to complete. We give it about 5 minutes to get it nice and hot so to be able to sear our food, hence the word «grill» and «bbq». Food hits the grill and… This is where it all goes downhill. I’ve asked waiter number 2 if he could bring me a knife and fork since I am not skilled that great with the chopsticks. After about 7 minutes, no one comes back, so I approach the service station and kindly ask for one, and the woman, who seems to be a bit perturbed that I approached the service station utters in another language, I assume to set a napkin roll for me. I later find out she is the manager for the evening.
*sidenote: I am a regular across the street at Korean Grill House, so my experiences are compared to what I am use to there.
So, food hits the grill and we start with pork. Took about 10 mins to grill. Now, for a thin cut off any meat, a couple of minutes a side is more than enough time. We hit the grill next with some side ribs. 3 pieces. Two finish «grilling» in about 15 minutes and the third piece finished about 30 minutes later than those other two. When the other two pieces came off, we let the grill «try» to regain some heat because we want to try the thin beef. And the chicken. Now with chicken, I ain’t gonna mess around with cooking temp., so please be careful. Let that sit on the grill while we move on…
So we throw some sliced beef on the grill, and while that finished a bit faster, it’s still taking a while to finish. We bring this up to server number 3, a nice kid who tells us that in other words, the grills are inconsistent. So we ask if we can move to another table and he tells us he will consult with the manager…
Ok, so we have the grill going with 1 rib, a piece of beef and the chicken… I broke out my iPhone and timed how long the chicken would take to cook so that there was no sign of pink. I’ve uploaded the photo, and we gave up after 15 or 16 minutes.
The waiter comes back to check the inside of our grill and he was the only positive in this, since he was trying to make our experience better. We weren’t being rude or pushy, just wanted to know if there was something strange going on with the grill and if there was, to try another table. He got that.
Finally Ms. Manager doesn’t stop at our table, but walks by and my bud had to flag her down to get her to stop. At this point, we get the idea that she was avoiding us. She didn’t listen to us, or even make eye contact. My friend and I share that the food is taking a long time to cook and we see the table sign says 2-​hour seating limit. To which she answers «Oh no. You stay» to say «don’t worry, take your time»… and then marched off to get water. Now during this, I’ve also ordered a Coke. Takes another 10 mins to arrive and it’s Ms. Manager who not only brings it, but gives it to my friend who didn’t order a Coke. A few minutes later, another Coke arrived and we have to explain that we only ordered one and that it already arrived.
Our original waitress arrives and we tell her that this is all taking way way too long and that we would like our bill and we are not going to post the $ 3/​tray leftover fee that is also listed in the table sign.
Now, the final nail on the coffin. The receipt had a 10% service fee. It all makes sense now… Why go out of our way to help these fools out when they are now forced to pay out gratuity?!
In the end horrible customer service, ate more in tofu than anything else and I might be turned off from eating grilled beef from now on.
We leave, and hit the McDonald’s at Yonge and Valleymede. I get a large coffee and my friend gets a poutine, because he’s still hungry and my appetite was ruined.
I’m not biased all and my prior reviews for other places shows this. But, this makes sense why there is a lineup out the door at Korean Grill House on Friday nights.
And my clothes and hair were drenched in the odour of rendered grease.

I came here with my boyfriend on Valentine’s Day this year. We had a reservation so we got our table right away but other people were waiting at least 30 minutes.
It was both of our first times having Korean BBQ so didn’t really know what to expect.
The all you can eat menu was good. lots of meat and fish options and a few sushi options.
The sushi came first, wasn’t overly amazing but didn’t expect it to be because that’s not what they’re known for. The miso soup was awful though, very watered down, and we ordered shrimp hand rolls that consisted of a tiny piece of shrimp and way too much rice.
Then the raw stuff came. We got chicken, beef, shrimp, salmon, calamari and all the veggies offered.
Cooking on the table was a cool experience but you have to be very attentive especially since different foods take different amounts of time to cook. The beef was definitely my favourite. The salmon was good but was a bit of a mess because it would stick to the grill.
We were very full by the end but ate ice cream for dessert.
Was a cool experience but not something I’d do all the time. Decent dinner prices too. Was about 27 each with tax.
Also another thing was we had to shower right when we got home because we stunk like the place. Including our phones!