Hi there. In this post I share a revisit to Gyu Kaku Japanese restaurant in Toronto.
Gyu Kaku Franchise
Gyu-Kaku is a Japanese BBQ franchise based in the United States & Canada. Their first location was in Los Angeles in 2001 and now have over 800 restaurants worldwide. Customers share premium cooked meats over a flaming smokeless grill. The smoke is sucked to the bottom of the table away from the diners.
Their downtown Toronto location is about a 10 minute walk away from the busy Eaton Centre Mall area.
81 Church St
Toronto, ON M5C 2G2
Getting Seated & Started
My brother and I had a 6:30 PM reservation. The girl at the front told us to wait a few minutes to setup and clean our table.
We then get seated. After 7 minutes, the host from the front had to move us to a different table. She was sorry about it. We later find out that our table and the table next to us for a large group. The boundary wall with their ads and sepcials had to be removed. Kind of weird but not the worse thing in the world.
A La Carte Ordering This Time
They do have set BBQ meals for 2 people, 4 people and larger groups. This time around we went with a la carte ordering. This is my second visit and my brother's fourth visit. We have an idea what we like here.
I made a note of these items on my phone for my own reference. It was also for easy ordering for the server. We ordered these items (menu link here)
Spicy Umami Chicken Karrage
Gyu-Sushi 4 pieces.
Chili and Yuzu Roast Beef (Cold Appetizer)
Prime Kalbi Short Rib Slice
Harami Skirt Steak
Premium Sirloin
New York Steak
Filet Mignon
Spicy Beef Bibimbap
Sapporo Draft Beef 16 ounces (Brother wanted this)
Chicken Karrage
Chicken Karrage is similar to Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken. You have bite sized pieces of fried chicken. It is not much but the taste is great.
Gyu Sushi
The taste of this sushi was okay. It is kind of hard to chew off a piece with your teeth. The meat is kind of tough. Maybe it is a one biter.
At 4 pieces for 13.45 CAD, that is about 3.36 CAD per piece. It's okay.
Meats
I actually don't know which one is which. From memory, the Prime Kalbi Short Rib slices were good along with the New York Steak. Overall, these meats were good.
This Chili and Yuzu Roast Beef (Cold Appetizer) is kind of interesting (picture not shown, forgot to take a pic). The sauce is kind of similar to a Sichuan style chili oil sauce. It is not that spicy as the taste is more of a sweet chili taste.
Spicy Beef Bibimbap
Bibimbap is a Korean rice dish that is seen in Japanese restaurants sometimes. Instead of ordering two bowls of plain white rice, why not do a rice dish and share.
This Bibimbap is not very spicy. It is more a sweet chili sauce with a few pieces of beef rib meat. It is okay.
Closing Thoughts
I think last time I gave this place a 9 out of 10. With the table moving early on and finding out some food items are just okay, my rating is an 8 out of 10.
You do get your food fairly fast after ordering. First item arrived after 10 minutes then the rest of the items arrived in a span of another 10 minutes.
The grilled meats overall are good, the chicken karrage was very good. The sushi was just okay and so was the spicy beef bibimbap.
Our bill came to around 125 CAD after tax (and before tip). We could have cut out the sushi and the roast beef appetizers. Both of us were full after what we ordered.
Service and dining environment is still very good. The staff do know when to change the grill tops for you.
Thank you for reading.
