Gyu Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant

This was the 4^th place I have ever been to for Teppanyaki — not the 4^th time in general, just the 4^th restaurant. I generally love Teppanyaki due to the «dinner & a show» aspect. Now, I’m not too sure if this was just due to the time of the day we went or the fact that we had a groupon, but there was absolutely no showmanship that you expect to receive at a place like this. No onion volcano. No spatula juggling. No mid-​air egg cracking. The food is literally cooked on the Teppanyaki plate in front of you in the most normal manner possible. The most contact you have with the Teppanyaki cook is if they ask how you would like your meat cooked (rare/​medium/​etc).
Quality of the food was as another reviewer put it «mediocre at best» with very small portions; however, the service is almost overwhelming. I would put my tea cup down and someone would already be there refilling it. For me, it was a very odd experience since the actual Teppanyaki felt like no effort went into it yet the wait staff were ready to jump at the drop of a pin.
Overall very dissatisfied for the price point vs the food quality and atmosphere.

What a true find in a teppan restruant. From the moment you enter from the elevator on Alberini St. you are treated like royalty. Be careful what you order as the food keeps coming course after course. Our ‘chef’ preparred all of our meal to perfection, and the waitresses were superb. I highly recommend this hidden gem if you are really hungry for Japenese teppan. Unfortunately I did not get the managers name, but he was far and above any manager that we have encountered in the recent past. Consider that we eat almost every meal out, we have become great judges of restruants and staff. I personally recommend the ‘Romance dinner for 2′.

I’ve been to a few Teppanyaki places before, but Gyu was a little bit different than all of them — in a good way.
Now though I’ve never been to Japan and I can’t vouch for what a truly authentic Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant is like, I can say that dining here felt like much more of a Japanese experience than any others I’ve been to, because the staff seemed as though they wanted to put as much effort as possible into entertaining their guests rather than turning over tables quickly to create more profit.
The location doesn’t catch your eye from the street, but it’s easy enough to find as long as you know to look for it. When you enter, there’s a host’s desk and a small bar area visible (possibly more of a waiting area than a dining or bar area). The rest of the restaurant is set up in Japanese style rather than the open-​concept dining: there was a narrow hallway, off of which were two or three closed rooms, each with a few Teppanyaki grills and seats around them (each room accommodated about 30 people). This made for a very intimate dining experience.
The chefs were very professional and clearly well-​trained, but not as flashy as at other restaurants I’ve been to (so don’t come here expecting a grand spectacle like the kind you’d get at Benihana).
The food was amazing. I highly enjoyed the 10-​course dinner, which included lots of variety (seafood, meat, veg, rice etc). This was also my first time trying Kobe-​style beef, and I was not disappointed. I also enjoyed the fact that the restaurant managed to serve us a 10-​course meal in just over an hour!
The service staff and management were also great — they were very involved and friendly. All in all, I had a 100% positive experience here and I’d definitely come back.

I admit I’m not a fan of Teppanyaki but I’ve had a really good experience while in Tokyo with their kobe beef… makes me salivate even now…
Anyways back to Gyu, price was good $ 25 per person for 8 course meal
Lobster miso, regular miso with a piece of lobster leg
Regular salad
Grilled lobster tail
steak grilled
fried rice
grilled mixed veggies
beef wrap with scallion & fried garlic
Ice cream
Almost everything done with the same soya sauce… boring. Food is mediocre at best.
Service is ok.

The experience at this restaurant encouraged me to join Unilocal to vent my dissatisfaction. If I had read other’s reviews, I would not put myself into this torture …
My friend and I had dinner here and walked out $ 100 less in pocket, the portion was small and the price was huge … we ordered two set menu (one beef and one seafood) $ 30 each + one live scallop. After a few cooking session, we could see the «chef» was cooking all food with the same sauce and style (butter and soy sauce as previously reviewed) … half way thru, we asked the «so-​called» chef to cook the rest without any sauce … he even joked that the food would have no taste !
On top the so-​called «chef» said he had no formal training in cooking. What a joke! Come on Japanese cooking has more styles ! If it were not line up elsewhere and late in evening, we would not end up here.
Ironically, two young Japanese sat next to us and they seemed to enjoy the food … or did they ?
Yes– Highly Not Recommended for this place.

Won’t come back again. I had the lunch there during the break, n the beef wasn’t fresh at all. Do not recommended.

Came here for lunch on a Sunday. A friend recommended Gyu for all-​you-​can-​eat teppenyaki lunch on the weekends, but since I had to drive back to Seattle within hours, I didn’t feel like eating myself into a stupor!
The restaurant was pretty empty, and the chefs weren’t that into their cooking. The chef was still fun to watch, but the performance at Gyu wasn’t quite like Benihana (yes, the overpriced chain!)
I had a salmon and tenderloin course. The food was mediocre and seasoned mostly with butter. Not too expensive.
I’d only come back here if friends want to do to the all-​you-​can-​eat lunch option. Otherwise, there isn’t anything about Gyu that stands out.

i went there twice, and i must say both times were good… the food can be quite expensive (depending on what you order), but they are very delicious… i like how the chefs would entertain you while they cook — sing, juggle with their cooking utensils, etc
my fav — Beef Wrapped Enoki Mushrooms