Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ

We went during their Monday Happy Hour, after work. The meat was so good –Juicy and soft. For the amount of food and beer the bill was decent for a group of 4.

Gyu-​Kaku has always been one of my favorite spots for Japanese bbq. Their food is good and consistent. Service can be hit or miss at times but for the most part they do ok.
However, the reason for 1 star is due to the lack of management response as well a corporate response. We recently dined in on 2÷20÷2016 and I forgot to redeem the loyalty points on the Gyu-​Kaku app. I only took the copy of the authorized receipt and left the itemized receipt, which had the loyalty code and scan on it. I have tried calling this location 3 times and left my name and number and no manager has gotten back to me. I also left a message via the Gyu-​Kaku website, hoping to get a response there, but no response after over a week.
I am really disappointed with lack of response from the management level and am not sure if I will return again. I am hoping that management at least reads their reviews and perhaps reach out to assist somehow. We shall see…

I have grown an addiction to gyu-​kaku japanese bbq, and especially of this certain location. Always a pleasant dining experience, and every one of the staff is always welcoming and accomadating. A great dining experience with amazing food and which you can self prepare!

Awesomely marinated meat, especially the short rib. Great atmosphere. Docked a star because they set us on a table with a broken stove, and took forever to find us another table. And the servers were grouchy. But the food was fantastic so I’d come back.

I’d give this place 3.5 stars. It’s definitely bigger than the Bev Hills location so thats a plus. The service here wasn’t that great. I went for a late lunch on a Saturday and there were a decent amount of ppl there. This may have contributed to the service but that’s no excuse. Although i had to wait for the waitress a few times, she was very pleasant. This location also has a tv at the bar area, unlike the Bev Hills location.
There is metered street parking all around. The happy hour specials here also slightly differ than those in Bev Hills, but for the better. The drinks are roughly $ 1 – 2 cheaper than the other location, which was great. The food is typical gyu food and I like it. So, if I’m in the area I would go again.

Decent food but the service this time around was horrendous. Took a while to get our beers and the waitress got our order wrong 3 times during the appetizers. Gave us corn bread without cheese and when we said something they brought cheese squares on side and told us to mix it ourselves: It just didn’t taste the same… We were weekly regulars but after our last experience we are unsure if we should give them another shot.

One of my favorite place to go for dinner! I went here for dine LA and had an amazing time! Our server was Steven i think, but it didn’t matter because anytime i come here i get amazing service.
Dine LA gave us the option of getting an Appetizer, 3 3.2 oz of meat selection and also dessert. This was a lot for two people actually. Because each person can choose an appetizer and also 3 3.2 oz.
We also came here during happy hour which is really worth it as well. But the best part of the meal was the dessert. A restaurant establishment like Gyu Kaku that serves smores. Man what an experience!!!

A nice change from the more well known korean bbq chains, gyu-kaku’s japanese bbq has a lot of different appetizers and sides to choose from. The best appetizer by far is the fried chicken! I also like the spinach as well as the broccoli to add some green into the mix. My favorite meats are the hangar steak, bistro harami, and the filet mignon. Make sure to get these with the marinade though because otherwise they can end up a little dry. The rice was also old when I went but I’m guessing that was just an off occurrence.
Side Note: It’s generally cheaper to buy the plates individually than to get the combined offers they have.

Final round of DineLA and it was definitely the right choice. I had made a reservation for 7 for Friday night and originally we had planned to valet it since old town parking can be a nightmare esp on a busy night but once we got there we realized we had no cash and the valet in front of Gyu-​Kaku was unfortunately cash only. Luckily there was a parking garage not far down the street, right next to Guppy House ($ 7 self parking).
We got in, told them our reservation time, and were seated in no time. The previous day my and friend had already picked what we wanted. For the $ 30 DineLA dinner, you each get to pick an appetizer, 3 meat entrees, a vege dish, and choice of smores. For appetizers, we got the calamari (wouldn’t recommend getting) and spicy tuna crispy rice (which I liked but my friend didn’t). For meat, we picked Bistro Hanger steak, Toro Beef, Beef Tongue, Harami Skirt Steak, Angus Beef Ribs and Chicken with Cheese Fondue. The best ones were Beef Tongue and Toro Beef… so good but the cheese fondue was to die for (be sure to dip everything in that like how I did). For vegetables, we got spinach and zucchini which weren’t special but at least we got our veges in. To finish off the meal was smores sets and the flavors were original, coconut, lemon and seasonal: pumpkin. I should’ve stuck to original for both of them cause their coconut was just not for me.
Overall the experience was a pleasant one. Our server was very attentive making sure our water was always refilled and cleaned/​cleared our table before serving us dessert. I could definitely see how this wouldn’t be enough food for some people because the portions really weren’t that big.
Tip:
— Be sure to validate your valet parking
— There’s 90 mins free parking garages everywhere if you’re lucky enough to get into one

Came here for dineLA lunch. With $ 15 value, I was not really expecting something amazing but this place totally changed my mind. With $ 15, each person got to choose 1 appetizer, 3 kinds of meat and 1 dessert. Since its 3 kinds of meat, I thought the portion would be super tiny. However, I was totally surprised when they served the meat. It was around 5 – 6 pcs per plate. What’s more, the quality of meat was pretty good! We got Bistro Hanger Steak Miso, Beef Tongue, Toro Beef White Soy, Pork Belly White Soy, New York Steak Garlic and Angus Beef Ribs Sweet Soy. Everything was delicious. The appetizer was okay but their meat totally took the spotlight! Their dessert was very yummy too. I haven’t had S’mores for so long! They totally utilize the grille in a creative way and combine it with dessert. Honestly I have never tried Gyu-​Kaku in States, I only had it one time in Taiwan and the experience was disappointing. However this dining experience definitely twist my negativity and I would like to go back again and try their regular item!

I haven’t had Gyu-​Kaku in years and this was my first time having it in SoCal. Came here for DineLA for lunch with my GF. For $ 15 each, we got a choice of an appetizer, 3 meat choices, rice, salad, miso soup and 2 S’mores — definitely a bang for the buck! We made reservations and got seated right away.
For the appetizers, we got the Fried Gyoza and the Edemame. Both were pretty average but nothing to complain or rave about. The same could be said for the Salad and the Miso Soup. For the meats, we chose Bistro Hanger Steak Miso, New York Steak Garlic, Toro Beef White Soy, Angus Beef Ribs Sweet Soy, Beef Tongue and Pork Belly White Soy. All the meats are pre-​marinated so they grill up nicely. If you don’t think there is enough flavor, they have 3 sauces on the side — Sweet Soy, Ponzu and Spicy. I enjoyed all the meats and was really impressed by the quality. I didn’t think I would get full off this meal but I did.
The S’mores to end the meal was great. We each get 2 marshmallows, 4 pieces of Hershey’s and 4 Graham Crackers. They will take the grill top off so you can start roasting that marshmallow. I will come back for DineLA if they have another amazing deal like this!
Service was good, food was good and it was very affordable.

I came here for DineLA for lunch for only $ 15 per person. Though there was a long line, there was a long line, I was seated pretty quickly. You can choose 1 appetizer, 3 types of meat, and s’mores. Satisfied with the food and pricing. I’d come back again.

Shame on me. We looked on Unilocal for Japanese food. So many votes for this place we said, «Let’s give it a try!»
Well…we sat at the bar for happy hour, because we are headed to a movie and the reviewers raved about the «happy hour.» The bar was left dirty from the previous patrons the entire time we sat and ate. So many young servers in and out of the area, not one took the initiative to speak to us or clean the area.
Food was OK but nothing special. We deduced the Unilocal raves came from young people who cruise around Old Town but have no idea what good food and service should be. Don’t get me wrong, it was fine, but nothing special to deserve so many positive reviews. The «shame on me comment,» refers to my «ah-​ha» moment. When we left the restaurant I looked to see what grade the county health department gave them.
No rating. Nothing in the window. Boy, doesn’t that say it all?

(Dined 01÷18÷16 M @ 1:30pm): Martin Luther King holiday… DineLA…Happy Hour Monday all day… what more was there to say?!
DineLA Winter 2016 brought me to a restaurant I had bookmarked for some time now… Gyu-​Kaku Japanese BBQ. Earlier plans fell through, so I wrangled-​up a couple friends in less than two hours to join me. Their lunch deal was $ 15.00 which included one of three appetizers, three of eleven BBQ meats (3.5 oz. each), one S’mores dessert with two of four marshmallow flavors, all served along side a side salad, miso soup, and rice
. Among the three of us, we almost maximized our opportunity and shared nearly everything on the lunch menu! All-​things considered, if you strictly compared the deal to the current day’s HH prices, we only saved about $ 4.00 per person (alcohol excluded). Regardless, was there enough for me to return!?:
Sapporo Draft Beer Pitcher (HH Price $ 9.75×2) — Always went well with sushi (although we ate none today), we poured about six glasses per pitcher — kanpai!
Hot Sake Medium 300ml Bottle (HH Price $ 5.00) — Sake bombs, anyone?! Somehow none of us did!
3 BBQ Items Lunch Special (Regular Price $ 12.95)
~Side Salad — A simple starter that whet the appetite.
~Miso Soup — The warmth was nice, but I wished it had more seaweed and tofu. Sodium level was about medium.
~Steamed White Rice — Ummm… it was fresh!
~Various Meats (see picture of menu for details) — We cooked up nine out of eleven varieties (Beef Tongue and Chicken Cheese Fondue where kicked to the curb!). Standouts were the Yaki-​Shabu Beef Miso, New York Steak Garlic, and Angus Beef Ribs Sweet Soy, but all tasted good and wished there was more.
Edamame (HH Price $ 2.95) — Nothing special, so thankfully they were part of the deal because I wouldn’t have ordered them.
Pork Gyoza Dumplings (HH Price $ 3.95) — Since they were out of the Fried Cheese Wontons, we order two of these. Each tray contained five pieces with a soy-​based dipping sauce. Each piece was relatively small but had a nice crunchy outside and a decent amount of warm moist pork. However, I probably wouldn’t order them again as they were too similar to the kind I’ve bought from Trader Joe’s.
S’mores (Regular Price $ 2.95) — C’mon, who didn’t love this simple campfire snack that combined fluffy marshmallows, graham crackers, and pieces of chocolate?!
Service — It was a few minutes before we were greeted by Albert at which time we were told the wait would be between 15 – 20 minutes. So, we parked it at the diminuative bar (4 stools!), waited for what seemed FOREVER since no one was there to serve us, so once again Albert swooped in, got our first pitcher of beer and some sake. Thirty minutes past before we were finally seated by Jeremy who simply kicked arse! He was on the ball yet maintained his composure and happy countenance on. We really took our time but felt no pressure to leave.
Parking (Free; Varies) — Since it was a holiday, all street parking was FREE (we parked 1 ½ blocks away). Otherwise, there was 90-​minute FREE parking at the nearby Delacey St. Parking Structure and 2-​hour limit metered street parking everywhere.
Atmosphere, décor, ambience — The dark wooden beams and raftered ceiling dominated the appearance along with the crammed layout where tables were placed as if it were a maze. The waiting area was small as was the aformentioned bar on your right, white-​washed brick walls held framed pictures, lit Japanese lanterns hung low from the ceiling along with various electric light bulbs while natural lighting came through the front windows. There were no TVs nor background music.
Attire — Totally casual, so I would normally be in a t-​shirt, boardshorts, and flip-​flops.
Overall, thanks to DineLA I enjoyed my first time at Pasadena’s Gyu-​Kaku Japanese BBQ location and would definitely return for their kick-​arse all-​day Happy Hour Mondays and a slew of cocktails. The prices were reasonable by Pasadena’s standards and the menu was varied enough for everyone. I found very good value based on the prices, service, and experience noted above (TOTAL paid experience was around $ 75.00 BEFORE tip). And, they accepted my credit card of choice… AMEX! 4.0 STARS

I work down the street from Gyu so I pop over sometimes after my shift to take advantage of their Monday ALL DAY happy hour items. ALL DAY! Did u read that right? Why yes, yes you did. They have happy hour everyday at various times but Mondays (in case you missed it) is ALL DAY! I love love loooove the kimchi and the steamed pork dumplings. There’s crack in that chili paste they use for the dumplings. There’s gotta be bc I can’t get enough. I also really love their sukiyaki bibimbap with shrimp. Mmmmm! I usually order to go at the bar area but of course you can sit. Just keep in mind that the HH prices DON’T apply to to-​go orders, dine-​in only. I personally don’t care to dine-​in bc I don’t like smelling like my food but it’s still tasty. The servers are pretty nice and I’ve always received courteous and prompt service. My only complaint: you can’t place phone orders for happy hour items and they don’t let you take the ramen to go (for liability reasons).
Unilocal 100 Challenge: ⁸⁄₁₀₀

Used to love coming here, way back when they had the unlimited options. Ordered the En Kai course. It included very basic courses, the crab salad wasn’t great, the spinach and mushrooms were wrapped terribly which didn’t allow for proper steaming… sigh. They had a dish which was just cheese and corn, cheese and corn –_-.
The garlic shrimp was great as was the yaki shabu beef miso. The rest of the course was forgettable. Ordered a side of brown rice which was dry. Our grill was broken, only half of it actually heated our food. Desert was a smore… a smore. The drinks were good but the tokyo peach and lychee saketini were premade, and not presentable. The hostess was a hard worker, managing the front desk and the bar. She gets one of the stars above all to herself!
Only thing I will say

Came here for dinner. As a super fan of Korean bbq, didn’t know what to expect.
Got the meat lovers deal for two. $ 55. Comes with salad, appetizers and meat.
I thought it was «okay» but felt as if the meats marinade were little too sweet for my liking.
Asked if they would sing to the birthday girl. They said yes. But never did. #Fail.
Will come back if coming with friends that want to come and I have no other choice, but I prefer Kbbq hands down.

Before a show at the Pasadena Playhouse, we came here to grab at quick dinner. We arrived in time for Happy Hour which has items for a buck or two cheaper than regular price.
This is what we ordered:
Poke — Ehhh. very few pieces of tuna and the onion and seaweed that comes with it seems to have been marinating for way too long. Not fresh.
Garlic Fried Chicken — DO NOT ORDER! This was pretty disguisting. No garlic flavor whatsoever and it looks and tastes like frozen chicken that was microwaved.
The following items you cook on the grill yourself —
Bistro Hanger Steak — larger pieces of meat and it was ok. If I were to come back, would order this item again.
Toro Beef aka beef bacon — very thinly sliced meat. This kept sticking to the grill and I felt like more was left on the grill/​fell through the grill than what we ate. Pass on this!
Pork Jowl — the best item of the night but definitely nothing special. I can get much more at a local kbbq place.
Spinach garlic — it comes in a foil pack that has fresh spinach, garlic, and A LOT of butter. All I could taste was butter.
Smores — you cook the marshmallow over the grill and I was disappointed that I didn’t get the roasting over the marshmallow. It just melts.
For the price, I think kbbq is a better option. The price easily adds up. Our total came to about 45 bucks and we could have gone to a very good ayce kbbq place for a little bit more.
If you do go, stick with the meats. Do not get the items that are already cooked.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
I was very excited to come to this Gyu-​Kaku since its right by my work. However, I think I got too excited too soon. I park in the structure and my friend is parked in another which are both right next to the restaurant. I walk in around 6:20, and tell them I wanna get in and order for happy hour but they say sorry we cannot seat you even with our reservation at 6:30. I only say I have a problem with this is because there was not that many people in the restaurant at the time. They ended up seating us at 6:40, so not only did we miss Happy Hour we also were seated ten minutes late on a weekday.
FOOD
The server was great — and the food was delicious as well.
We had.
Gyu Kaku Salad
Steamed Chili Dumplings
Shrimp Bibimbap
Kobe Style Kalbi Short Rib
Filet Mignon
Kalbi Chuck Short Rib
Toro Beef
My favorite is Toro Beef and the Bibimbap. Hopefully the service will change in the future.

It’s been years that I come back to Gyu-​Kaku. We tried the sakura combo and loved it. And beer at happy hour is cheap and happy: D Meat is always good quality. Some dessert from Lady M after meal is just heaven~
Just for this location, you prolly need to park at the public parking structure. And reservation helps reduce the wait for sure!

Bajo el lema de Sé tu propio chef, Gyu-​Kaku se ha convertido en una rentable franquicia en diferentes ciudades de Estados Unidos y el mundo. El concepto es simple, un amplio menú de carnes, las cuales ordena y usted mismo prepara. Cada mesa cuenta con una parrilla en la mitad donde previamente precalentada, usted podrá empezar a asar las carnes de su elección. Normalmente son dos minutos por cada lado y listo, a disfrutar de un delicioso BBQ!
He tenido la oportunidad de visitar dos diferentes restaurantes en la ciudad de Los Angeles, la ubicada en Beverly Hills y la de Pasadena. Cada una cuenta con su menú regular y especiales a lo largo de la semana. Los precios son bastante buenos si toma ventaja de los especiales del día y el Happy Hour. En mi última visita aproveché para degustar diferentes entradas del menú de la Hora Feliz: Bistro Harami Miso que ese día se encontraba por tan sólo $.99, Garlic Fried Noodles, Pork Gyoza Dumplings, Chicken Cajun (bastante picante para mi gusto) y Crab Shumai, Edamame Sticks (una interesante manera de prepararlas). Todo de un sabor exquisito y a precios muy razonables.
Y no por cuestión de hambre, pero si de antojo, nos adventuramos a probar dos de los postres ofertados en el menú: Chocolate Lava Cake, una deliciosa torta de chocolate con salsa de chocolate y helado de vainilla, y Banana Chocolate Ice Cream, bananas cortadas en rodajas con mantequilla, envueltas en papel aluminio para ser asadas en la parrilla, acompañadas de helado de vainilla y salsa de chocolate, deliciosamente perfecto!