Wagyu Japanese BBQ

[u50254082]

Convince me that someone of Chinese heritage who grew up eating Chinese food WOULDN'T be able to make good Japanese food.

I mean, if we're going to go down this road, then of course you're aware that "Mexican food" is nonsense, with at least five regions with distinct food styles. You even made reference to food having regions when you specified Sichuan food as opposed to Mandarin, or Hunan, or Cantonese, or others. Greek food, also mentioned, is also rather diverse.

For what it is worth, I don't disagree with the sentiment behind your question...when I walk into a Romanian restaurant and see Romanians in the dining room as well as the kitchen, I'm pretty confident they know what they're doing there. But the flip side isn't true, if I see Filipinos in the kitchen I don't assume they can't make the food.

I've just been burned too many times by a non-chinese cuisine restaurant run by Chinese and the flavors were just way off. (my reference being places I ate at on the west coast that were "natively run" to give it a term)

Thanks for getting the sentiment behind my post, though. I'm not trying to be unthankful for a variety of cuisine in the area, but it's like.. why wouldn't a restaurant owner play to his/her strengths? We all know the flavors of our mom's cooking better than anyone else's.. so why not serve what you know by experience?

[soonermike81]

If this is your argument, how many sushi and ramen places do you think are run by Japanese people in OKC? Throw a stone and I bet you hit a sushi joint owned by a Vietnamese person.

[bretweller]

The lack of an all you can eat option kills it if you've been to kbbq before.

Is this what dining has come too? All you can eat? ...Really.... All you can eat Wagyu??? Hmmmmmmm NO!

Not going to happen!

(Those asian bbq places serve cheap ass meat brother........ They sure as hell aren't even close to Wagyu quality...lol)



I've talked to many people that have lived in Japan and Korea and the locals HATE AMERICANS when it comes to restaurants and the "all-you-can-eat" concept over there! The locals have a proclivity to restrain from gluttony... Americans, not so much.. There are many, many, many things that separate our cultures.. Gluttony is VERY HIGH UP on this list!!! Oklahoma is the 6th most obese state in America, per capita.. So I feel your sadness, but at the same time laugh at the tears some Oklahomans weep, when they can't get high quality food in all-you-can-eat sittings.. haha (Even Remington Park stopped their all-you-can-eat prime rib & crab, I wonder why‽‽‽‽)

Wagyu is FAR, Far, far, far superior than Prime....

If you want all you can eat prime (sub prime) meat....

I think 14$ @Golden Corral is your spot!!

GO GO GOLDEN CORRAL!!!

{{Also you posted this on Dec 12th... Literally the 1st day we opened... We are STILL training servers and kitchen.. This isn't a corporate or franchise operation here, this is small business, Entrepreneur type stuff! Staff is learning along with the customers as to the best way to approach 'Yakiniku' for OKC! The service might not be A+ and the kitchen might not be the fastest in OKC but I can guarantee you the meat sells itself.. Just don't screw up and cook your meat too long.. You'll have only yourself to blame!!!!}}}

[soonermike81]

Dang, so much arrogance in this last post. Bud, I would definitely take it down a notch bc you don’t want to risk offending the very same people you’re trying to sell.

And since you brought it up and said “Just don’t screw up and cook your meat too long... you’ll only have yourself to blame!” Make sure that all the servers are trained to tell customers the appropriate times to cook the meats on each side to attain their desired temp level. Can’t remember the exact range he gave us but he said to cook it around 40 seconds on each side. Umm thank god I didn’t listen to him; would’ve totally overcooked and maybe ruined the meat. For us, it was probably 40 seconds total on both sides at the very max.

[bretweller]

Dang, so much arrogance in this last post. Bud, I would definitely take it down a notch bc you don’t want to risk offending the very same people you’re trying to sell.

And since you brought it up and said “Just don’t screw up and cook your meat too long... you’ll only have yourself to blame!” Make sure that all the servers are trained to tell customers the appropriate times to cook the meats on each side to attain their desired temp level. Can’t remember the exact range he gave us but he said to cook it around 40 seconds on each side. Umm thank god I didn’t listen to him; would’ve totally overcooked and maybe ruined the meat. For us, it was probably 40 seconds total on both sides at the very max.

"Can’t remember the exact range he gave us but he said to cook it around 40 seconds on each side. Umm thank god I didn’t listen to him."

We are required by law to tell you to cook them well done... In fact, the CDC says exactly the same thing!!! https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/commu...on/bbq-iq.html
(Personally I have worked for and been to several restaurants that deny me rare and sometimes med-rare hamburgers! So ya.... ........ Applebee's WILL NOT GIVE YOU A RARE HAMBURGER!!! All their burgers are basically medium and above as are MOST CORPORATE RESTAURANTS!!!!)

You're talking about 15-20 degrees of separation of well-done to rare... Especially on a thin cut of Wagyu meat! That is an insane window... The ONLY way to perfect this is to experience Yakiniku enough to gain knowledge of your cut of meat and grill time. We explain and have printed onto table advertisements all the "recommended" cook times. Luckily, it seems your previous knowledge of grilling helped you create a perfect grilled piece of meat. Everyone isn't as smart as you. Which is why we print and display cook times.. The yakiniku experience is unique..

We sell pork belly (bacon) and beef belly.. All our servers explain to every table that cooking those pieces of meat directly over the center will cause flames to shoot up and singe your dinner meats. (Due to the fat content and drip!) We recommend that you cook those cuts of meat on the outside of the grill to prevent flare ups.. There are still people that don't listen to our warnings as they either want a nice singe to their meat or are ignorant to the science of grilling bacon and our recommendations... Either way it's eventually on you.. We are actively trying to improve customer experience by maybe taking pictures of meat(s) and presenting them at the table with a pictorial and with cook time and location of the cut.. (Think wine menu or specialty menu located on every table) I think completely educating consumers is the main priority, considering they're consuming some of the best beef in the world, Wagyu! I appreciate any and all comments or suggestions as that is EXACTLY who we are providing a service for..

I'm sorry if you think I'm arrogant..

I am not the owner nore do I have any power to change the menu or concept.. I am just a server.. So I am responding to you as a server..

[d-usa]

Server or owner, you represent the business. And you are not doing a very good job representing it so far, if I was the owner I would take note of my employees behavior online.

[stile99]

I don't see any arrogance, I see only truth. I haven't yet been, so this is merely hearsay from others, and from reviews read online, but based on that this is definitely an all you can eat place, in practice if not in name. Almost every review mentions the volume of food given, and the comments made are more towards "mountainous" than "miserly".

Additionally, anyone that really think they're going to get all you can eat Wagyu for less than several hundred dollars is painfully ignorant. Call me arrogant too if you like, and I have no connection at all to the business, but come on. Bret is 100% correct and you know it, and it's even been discussed right here on this forum how Fuze's meat quality started to dip before it all came tumbling down. Bottom line, you want quality, you're going to pay for it. You want to pay next to nothing, you're not going to get quality.

[soonermike81]

"Can’t remember the exact range he gave us but he said to cook it around 40 seconds on each side. Umm thank god I didn’t listen to him."

We are required by law to tell you to cook them well done... In fact, the CDC says exactly the same thing!!! https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/commu...on/bbq-iq.html
(Personally I have worked for and been to several restaurants that deny me rare and sometimes med-rare hamburgers! So ya.... ........ Applebee's WILL NOT GIVE YOU A RARE HAMBURGER!!! All their burgers are basically medium and above as are MOST CORPORATE RESTAURANTS!!!!)

You're talking about 15-20 degrees of separation of well-done to rare... Especially on a thin cut of Wagyu meat! That is an insane window... The ONLY way to perfect this is to experience Yakiniku enough to gain knowledge of your cut of meat and grill time. We explain and have printed onto table advertisements all the "recommended" cook times. Luckily, it seems your previous knowledge of grilling helped you create a perfect grilled piece of meat. Everyone isn't as smart as you. Which is why we print and display cook times.. The yakiniku experience is unique..

We sell pork belly (bacon) and beef belly.. All our servers explain to every table that cooking those pieces of meat directly over the center will cause flames to shoot up and singe your dinner meats. (Due to the fat content and drip!) We recommend that you cook those cuts of meat on the outside of the grill to prevent flare ups.. There are still people that don't listen to our warnings as they either want a nice singe to their meat or are ignorant to the science of grilling bacon and our recommendations... Either way it's eventually on you.. We are actively trying to improve customer experience by maybe taking pictures of meat(s) and presenting them at the table with a pictorial and with cook time and location of the cut.. (Think wine menu or specialty menu located on every table) I think completely educating consumers is the main priority, considering they're consuming some of the best beef in the world, Wagyu! I appreciate any and all comments or suggestions as that is EXACTLY who we are providing a service for..

I'm sorry if you think I'm arrogant..

I am not the owner nore do I have any power to change the menu or concept.. I am just a server.. So I am responding to you as a server..

Thanks for reminding me of the legalities regarding cooking temp; that's a very good point. Also, maybe I'm not observant enough, but I didn't see the cooking times displayed anywhere at the table.

My apologies for calling you arrogant; but your previous post just came off a little rude is all. It came off as if you knew everything about quality dining and most Okies are just ignorant fatties that want to eat at buffets. There are people in this forum, imo, that belittle Oklahomans as if we don't know anything and they are the most well-traveled, cultured, fine-dining connoisseur on the planet. It irritates the hell out of me, to be honest, when I read a lot of things on here like that. That post just reminded me of those people.

Good luck with the restaurant, and I hope it catches on and thrives.

[Thomas Vu]

Is this what dining has come too? All you can eat? ...Really.... All you can eat Wagyu??? Hmmmmmmm NO!

Not going to happen!

(Those asian bbq places serve cheap ass meat brother........ They sure as hell aren't even close to Wagyu quality...lol)



I've talked to many people that have lived in Japan and Korea and the locals HATE AMERICANS when it comes to restaurants and the "all-you-can-eat" concept over there! The locals have a proclivity to restrain from gluttony... Americans, not so much.. There are many, many, many things that separate our cultures.. Gluttony is VERY HIGH UP on this list!!! Oklahoma is the 6th most obese state in America, per capita.. So I feel your sadness, but at the same time laugh at the tears some Oklahomans weep, when they can't get high quality food in all-you-can-eat sittings.. haha (Even Remington Park stopped their all-you-can-eat prime rib & crab, I wonder why‽‽‽‽)

Wagyu is FAR, Far, far, far superior than Prime....

If you want all you can eat prime (sub prime) meat....

I think 14$ @Golden Corral is your spot!!

GO GO GOLDEN CORRAL!!!

{{Also you posted this on Dec 12th... Literally the 1st day we opened... We are STILL training servers and kitchen.. This isn't a corporate or franchise operation here, this is small business, Entrepreneur type stuff! Staff is learning along with the customers as to the best way to approach 'Yakiniku' for OKC! The service might not be A+ and the kitchen might not be the fastest in OKC but I can guarantee you the meat sells itself.. Just don't screw up and cook your meat too long.. You'll have only yourself to blame!!!!}}}

I tried to offset the comment by telling people that this isn't the average kbbq set up.

I'm glad you know so much about Japanese/Korean culture. Hubris and bombastic speech must have been left out in those conversations. Also, if we want to talk about the "true experience" let's not pretend that everybody in Japan eats that level of beef.
To think Remington Park stopped their option cause too many people were getting too much value would be folly, but that's a different conversation for a later time.

It's fine that the restaurant tries and prides itself on quality, and you're right about wagyu in general being superior.
However, where I find the logic fails is how thin the strips are. A problem that I face with kbbq in general is given where the quality is, how long it's supposed to be cooked, and how beef is enjoyed in general I don't think there'd be too much of a dropoff from a thin strip of well done wagyu vs a thin strip of well done usda choice. The trade off most restaurants of its genre take of a decrease in quality in exchange for variety became more understandable to me after this experience.
Sidebar: 30-40 seconds is how long I sear a 1 and a half inch to 2 inch steak.

2 last things:
1. You left out that I ordered the most expensive option. In addition, I never complained about the price.
2. Since we're being pedantic, it was the 2nd day the restaurant was open.
2a. It's not like the servers were hired that day. If me expecting the staff to have tried a few things, and not run to the owner every time I had a question is too much than that is my fault and need to adjust my expectations. Which I believe I also stated in my first post.

[SSEiYah]

I dined here tonight. I've been reading the reviews on google, yelp, here, etc and I have to agree with some of them.

I'll bring up the positives first. The food quality is great. Great Marbling on the steaks, they are spending some real money on quality cuts and it is legit. The shrimp was also good. Food quality-wise this place has it down, the chicken wings are great as well, arguably some of the best chicken wings in Oklahoma, period.

Additionally, the whole concept is great. Sure some will say that you have to "cook your own food" but when I want to eat a quality piece of steak, I like it cooked how I like it which is a bit over medium rare but not quite medium, I have the ability to pull it off the grill when I want. Price-wise at least for the prime filet at $9.00, they are giving you roughly 4 ounces of filet for what is pretty much "at cost". I want to say Crest charges ~$30 per ounce for prime filets so no complaints on the pricing. I also had the Prime New York Strip with just salt and pepper seasoning which was on point, no taste of seasonings, just the flavor of the beef. That was $7 for a 4 oz cut, a decent price for what you get, you may want to order two or three of them for a normal potion size.

However regardless of how good the food was, there is one big negative, as in I wont be returning until its fixed.

The biggest issue is the lack of leg-room. You have roughly 8" of leg room between the bench and the "wall" of the table and the booth. We are talking like 8" of leg room from where the booth ends. I'm about 6ft tall which I feel is pretty normal, I want to say good majority of men in Oklahoma are in the 5'9" range to 6'2" range. I could not even turn my shoe "straight" as there was not enough room for a size 11 shoe to "go straight" on the floor. I'm turning it at an angle to "fit" in the booths. My knees are hitting the plywood which holds up the table and it hurts. Eventually I just decided to sit sideways and hang my feet out into the aisle. My other half who is 5'8" was able to fit ok but it was tight as in she was able to fit but she was still uncomfortable. This needs to be addressed ASAP, as in it will probably cost a lot of money to redesign the place but this is a big problem for anyone on the taller side to enjoy themselves in one of the booths. They do have other booths, maybe we got a "bad one" but still this experience was enough for us to not come back until they fix the leg room problem. Other guests were also "hanging their legs in the aisles" so it seems to be a fairly common problem.

The only other complaint was the wait time on meats, it seems they only deliver one cut at once to all the tables as it is "cut to order" so if you order a number of different items off the menu they show up at different times. Sure, cool idea but it really does not work. The meat should be pre-cut for the night, put in a fridge and brought out all at once. Our dining time could have been less than hour however it was over 90 minutes due to a 30+ minute wait time on meats between the first and last. This likely would have mitigated the problem of other patrons waiting for seats.

[Roger S]

Pretty much my thoughts exactly except for leg room. There were 3 of us at the table we were at and we felt to far apart.

Meat delivery was disjointed and took a long time. Seemed like longer than a cooked meal would take to arrive.

[Thomas Vu]

I had the same table issue too. I'd have to be stereotypical Asian build to get in comfortably. Luckily the seats could be moved.

[Uptowner]

I’ve avoided coming in this thread to bash the place only to be betrayed by one of it’s employees. Bad form btw. Educate your customers at the table if you will, but not belittle them on web forum.

I’m a thin man at 6’ but wear size 13 shoes. My feet would not fit between the seat and the grill table. My knees crammed into the plywood like I’m flying frontier airlines. The $75 dinner fed two adequately but we ultimately only got 1-2 wagyu quality cuts. The rest were belly cuts, seafood, so-so vegetables, and some of the most abhorrent sushi I’ve ever tasted. I’m an accomplished grill man so I didn’t have any problems with the cooking. And I was upset that even though they have a hot sake machine and full bar they hadn’t sorted out the liquor license yet and couldn’t sell.

In the end it was just uncomfortable, felt gimmicky, and I couldn’t stop staring at the 30+ foot walls & ceiling with the bad paint job and peeling laminate and wonder why? I’d come back here just to eat steak al la cart and maybe some fried rice. But only if they fix the legroom problem first. Even after writing that I wonder why I wouldn’t just buy some thin cuts from Rhett’s and dip it soy/ginger before throwing it on my broilmaster instead.

[soonerguru]

SOMEONE TELL THEM TO DIM THE OVERHEAD LIGHTS. Jeez. They work hard to make a nice atmosphere and have the overhead lights blazing at you like you're on an operating table.

Now that I have that off my chest, I will echo the discussion about the cramped nature of the seating -- worse than any airline seat i've experienced.

The food, however, is very good, and having dined in a Yakiniku restaurant in Japan a few years ago, we found it to be authentic, with one key difference: where is the liquor? i was craving a nice Sapporo with my food but alas they are being jerked around on their liquor license, more than a month after opening.

[Libbymin]

We went there recently and while the food was delicious and it was a fun experience, holy moly was the leg room a major problem at our booth. It was bad enough that I don't even think they should've been seating people at some of those tables, period. Apparently they are changing out those booths though since they realize how much of an issue it is.

[soonerguru]

Can this place sell liquor yet?

[LindaP945]

Can this place sell liquor yet?

Yes, they have full bar now.

[jccouger]

I want to go here so bad but I'm 6'7" so I'm scared to death by the reviews. Guess I will just wait and hopefully they make changes.

[Roger S]

I want to go here so bad but I'm 6'7" so I'm scared to death by the reviews. Guess I will just wait and hopefully they make changes.

The booth I sat in the night I was there had plenty of leg room. So I'm guessing they must be configured differently depending on where you are seated.... I was back in the SW corner so maybe you can ask to be seated back there.