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| - When my boyfriend and I first heard that Gyu-Kaku was opening up in Toronto, we were beyond excited. He had a wonderful experience at this Japanese BBQ chain restaurant in San Francisco, so we were looking forward to enjoying the same quality food!
First thing we noticed when we walked in was how stuffy it was inside - they really need better ventilation, especially in the summer time. We were seated and ordered the Meat Lover's combo with a side order of the premium steak. It was all downhill from there, in part due to the horrendous service we got from our waitress (or lack thereof to be honest).
Our meal began with some edamame, salad, chicken karaage, and rice - the appetizers all tasted decent. We asked for water but had to remind the waitress twice. We then got three of the meats that came with the combo along with corn. The beef ribs and steak were pretty good, but not surprising that the corn tasted canned. When we were done with these items, the waitress came around and asked us if we wanted to order anything else as it was last call for the night. We were confused because our combo was supposed to come with six different meat dishes but we only got three, not to mention we had ordered a side of the premium steak. She insisted that all of the items had come out already but we showed her the menu and politely asked her to check again. She ended up coming back with more plates of meat, saying that they had been "sitting" in the kitchen...
When we were done with all the food, we asked for the bill and again we had to wait quite a long time. When she finally came back, she explained that it was a very busy night for her and complained that she had been assigned to serve several tables that night - the restaurant definitely didn't appear understaffed so I'm not sure why she made it seem like she had to do more than expected. We also didn't appreciate her blaming her job for the poor service.
Needless to say, dinner was disappointing and we definitely won't be coming back to this particular restaurant. However we would still consider trying out the other locations around the world. If you're looking for Japanese BBQ and happen to be uptown, I would say that Gyubee in Markham is similar but tastes better (plus it's all-you-can-eat).
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