Yakiniku or “Japanese BBQ” is a much beloved way of dining in Japan. Here are my top 5 yakiniku restaurants for the best bang for your buck.
5. Gyu-Kaku
Gyu-Kaku is a chain of yakiniku restaurants that you can find in most cities across Japan. In fact, the chain is so popular that stores even exist overseas in countries like the USA, Canada, and various parts of Asia like China and Singapore. From my experience, Gyu-Kaku offers plenty of bang for your buck with an all-you-can-eat course for less than 3,000 yen.
The food’s quality is really amazing and you can order as much as you like on the touchscreen menu. The standout features of Gyu-Kaku are the seasoning of salts and peppers they use on their beef dishes and the condiments such as teriyaki egg dipping sauce which enhances the meat brilliantly!
4. Yakiniku Zanmai-Gen
When it comes to cheap yakiniku experiences, the price doesn’t get much better than Yakiniku Zanmai-Gen in Osaka. Unlike Gyu-Kaku, this restaurant exists as a standalone establishment with no other franchises. As such, it has a rather home-like environment that is comfortable and soothing.
The all-you-can-eat course is only 1,500 yen and you get unlimited drinks including soda, juice, tea, and coffee. Furthermore, they have a mini buffet where you can get things like rice, curry, soup, and vegetables to go with your grilled meats. The only downsides of this budget-friendly restaurant are the 1-hour time limit which is shorter than the average yakiniku store, and the selection of meats which is a little more limited.
3. Zerohachi Yakiniku
Zerohachi Yakiniku is another establishment in Osaka, but is far superior to the previous item when it comes to bag for your buck. In other words, it’s double the price but triple the quality and quantity. You get to choose from a variety of courses that range from standard Wagyu beef to the highest grade of Kobe beef.
You can choose between 1.5 hours or 2 hour duration (upgrade for just 500 yen) and you get access to unlimited drinks and side dishes too. What I love most about Zerohachi Yakiniku is the sheer variety of meats available including all the different beef cuts, marinated chicken, lamb chops, and even salmon and prawns. They also have some of the most interesting condiments I’ve seen such as wasabi salt and curry salt, and they are 100% halal too!
2. Rokkasen
Rokkasen is the crème of the crop in the world of yakiniku restaurants, offering A5 Wagyu beef which is the highest grade of beef in Japan. This type of meat is so incredibly tender and marbly that you almost don’t need your teeth as it melts in the mouth extremely well. There are a couple of stores in Tokyo and all-you-can-eat courses typically cost a whopping 30,000 yen or more.
Nevertheless, you likely won’t experience grilled beef of this quality again in your lifetime, so as a one-time dining experience I’d say it’s well worth the money. In addition to succulent cuts of premium Wagyu beef, there are plenty of other high-quality dishes such as sukiyaki and lobster that are part of the course.
1. Kamimura Yakiniku
Surprisingly, the A5 superiority of Rokkasen is not enough to take the top spot on this list, because there exists a restaurant that can contend with this premium level of quality but at a 10x cheaper cost – Kamimura Yakiniku. This restaurant offers A4 Wagyu beef, so just one tier below Rokkasen’s A5, but at less than 4,000 yen per person for all-you-can-eat.
The meat may not be quite as “melt-in-your-mouth” as A5 beef, but in some sense, I prefer it not to be. The A5 beef is so packed with fatty juices that you get knocked out of the game sooner than you’d like. Kamimura Yakiniku offers beef of comparable quality but with leaner marbling that allows you to eat more.
Furthermore, the quality of the side dishes here is unmatched. You can get amazing pieces of fried chicken, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and steamed egg all as part of the course. Kamimura Yakiniku is also the only restaurant of its kind where the food is brought to you by a robot waiter which adds to the overall amazing experience!
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