Yakiniku West
“You get some greens to wrap the meat in if you are inclined along with 4 dipping sauce, one made for the greens itself.”
“The food is very good and its really cool going to a restaurant where you could grill your own food.”
“Upon entering you take off your shoes and walk around barefoot (socks) and sit on the floor style tables like in Japan.”
Yakiniku West
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Oh gosh where do I start- Japanese bbq heaven. We ordered a crazy amount of food for 6 people. One of the $120 sets, okonomiyaki and gyoza for starters, one order of garlic shrimp, chicken gizzard and shiitake mushrooms and then double orders of beef tongue, duck meat, pork belly, and 4 orders of prime rib. You get three different dipping sauces, one is more vinegar based and the other two are sweeter.
Make sure you make reservations beforehand, they also have a time limit of 2 hours per group before you're handed the check. It's also very dim lighting which can be difficult to barbecue under. But I love the seating arrangement and classic no shoes policy.
Come when they have specials, make reservations, and don't wear socks with holes in them(you'll be embarrassed when you take your shoes off later). Unlike Gyukaku, their serving sizes are definitely bigger even when they're marked half off because of their weekday/happy hr specials. However, they don't tell you how long to cook the meat like Gyukaku does, so trust your intuition and be wary of pink pork. My favorite meat is the fatty pork, and the butter edamame is a nice appetizer to get. Don't forget to order veggies amidst the list of meats that they offer, because even if you think you're not a veggie person – you will end up appreciating it in the end. They also taste a ton better because the 3 sauces they provide you with really work wonders on your taste buds. I personally loved dipping my enoki mushrooms in them! (My fave sauces are the 1st and 3rd).
For a Wednesday night dinner, my best friend I spent $30 including tip and were extremely content. If you plan on ordering alcohol, come a little earlier for the 5-6 early happy hr special where you get discounts on the alc as well!
Monday/Tuesday definitely make your way down here. They have a finger rib and short rib special half off and they are absolutely delicious. They taste fantastic and they are very cheap! The entire meal was fast, cheap and delicious! I highly recommend coming here! The service was great and the seating was really something special! Very small location so I can see how they have ton of wait but definitely worth it for some meat!
There's a lot to love about Yakiniku West, but also a lot left to be desired.
Service is a little off. They don't change your grills; when asking for recommendations, they draw a blank face; they don't tell you which cut of meat is what; they don't check in and help/advise with grilling (not that that's required, but other yakiniku places do so).
However, the food is certainly good. The gyoza and agedashi tofu are on point. The combo specials for 2 and 4 are great (aside from the seafood, which I found that only the shrimp was worth while). I like the traditional feel — you take off your shoes before entering the dining areas.
Honestly, I never knew about Yakiniku West without Yelp. That's because whenever I crave Japanese BBQ, I would frequent Gyu Kaku during their Happy Hour because I thought their Happy Hour prices were a steal. However, Yakiniku West's Monday and Tuesday's prices are INSANE. $3.75 for an order of short ribs?! (There's other specials as well such as $3.25 for finger ribs and prime short rib being the most expensive at $7.95.) You must be thinking, what's the catch? There is no catch. Well, there's one catch; it doesn't come with rice. Every Asian knows that you can't have meat without rice. But still! For less than $4, I'd happily pay $2 for a bowl of rice! Not to mention that unlike Gyu Kaku, the special prices are not limited to Happy Hour only – it's all day on Mondays and Tuesdays. The meat is good quality too! I actually preferred it compared to Gyu Kaku as the meat was really juicy and tender.
My friend and I ordered 3 orders of the short ribs, 1 order of the prime short rib, the fried chicken appetizer, and 2 bowls of rice. Both the short ribs and the prime short ribs were really good, but I liked the short rib over the prime short rib. I loved the fried chicken appetizer as well. This came with 7 large pieces of juicy chicken.
Like others have mentioned, once entering the restaurant, you have to take off your shoes and place them into the cubby before being seated. This instantly bought me back to my recent trip to Japan. Don't worry, unlike Japan, you're not literally sitting with your legs crossed on the floor, no worries about your feet being uncomfortable and falling asleep on you!
My only compliant here would be the lack of service. There practically wasn't any service at all except for when the waiters bought out food to you and for when they asked if they can clear your plates. We didn't even get water refills. Also, once you get seated, you'll notice that the dipping sauces are already poured out for you. I didn't like this as I'd like to pour my own sauces and know what sauce was what. All this is understandable because with their cheap prices, it's all about turning over tables as quickly as possible.
I'll definitely be back again on a Monday or Tuesday!
3.75
*agedashi tofu (OMG!!!!!! Delicious!!!! Crispy, salty, silky and smooth textures all in one bite. I could have easily eaten this whole plate with a bowl of rice and been completely content)
*spider roll (loved the deep fried soft shell crab! caviar was there for texture. has loads of flavor and definitely NO sauce needed)
*Okonomiyaki (this is a Japanese pancake that is similar to the Korean seafood pancake but it's sooo much better!!! thin and chewy and loving those flakes on top.); six kinds of beef (this plate was smaller than I thought but the beef was pretty good, some pieces more tough to chew than others particularly the short ribs)
*silky pork belly (never again; a lot of hard pieces and tough parts than anything else; not pleased with this at all)
*short rib bibimbap (yum! was not expecting this to be so spicy! the short rib in this was better than the raw one we had to cook haha)
Let's talk about everything. First, service. Waiters were alright. Not the most attentive people, you definitely need to waive them down because they rarely ask you if you need anything. In addition, I'm wondering if these waiters have back pain since they have to bend down to the floor. Haha. The atmosphere is lovely. It's great that we take our shoes off at the front and get to walk on the beautiful hardwood floors. No worries about the bathroom.. they have slippers at the door so you can go do your thing. You sit on the floor while you eat, and the cushions were surprisingly comfortable! The food was decent… the meat options were inconsistent and wasn't wow'ed by it however everything else we ordered was delish. You need to make reservations for this place because the wait times are crazy. I'd go back to try more items but I NEED to order two plates of the tofu.
I thought this place was so much fun, it's a bi-level Japanese Yakiniku restaurant aka do it yourself Japanese BBQ. This place is also a no shoes allowed restaurant, once you get inside, you must take your shoes off and place them in the shoe shelf on the right. You walk inside in socks or barefoot till you reach your sunken table. It's basically sitting on the floor but you have little cut outs where your feet dangle lol but you sit on cushions. The place is very popular so try to get there early or be patient, I tried going on a random Sunday night and the wait was 2 hrs, so try to make a res if one is available. I also thought the Japanese servers were really great, they were very nice and very helpful and informative. Lastly, the ventilation system is really good aka I didn't stink when I left.
The food:
Mixed Salt & Miso Flavor Meats- Beef tongue, duck, Kobe Finger, Pork Belly, Short Rib, Kobe Inside Skirt. I really enjoyed the combo, I thought the variety was great and I thought the end product was wonderful. Overall, I enjoyed the Miso flavored marinade portion but the marinade did run a tad too sweet and a tad too salty but the Mixed Salt section was excellent. I really enjoyed the Mixed Salt section a lot. The combo was $48 bucks and I thought it was a good value for 2 people maybe three. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Black Sesame Ice Cream- Omg, this was so good!!!! It had such a perfect consistency and had such a pronounced toasted Black Sesame flavor, it kinda reminded me of roasted buckwheat. I say this was a perfect way to finish the meal and it's only $2 for a single scoop and it was a generous scoop.
Raw Beef Tongue Sushi- I thought the texture of the tongue was great, it wasn't chewy and had a good mouth feel, I did find the rice to be just OK, I thought the rice was on the mushy side. Still something worth trying, though. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
My girlfriend came here with her friend one day and she couldn't stop raving about how much better and cheaper this place is compared to our usual Japanese BBQ fare, Gyu-Kaku. We came to Yakiniku West on a Monday for their Happy Hour specials because if there's anything I love, it's good cheap eats that don't sacrifice quality. It also helps when your girlfriend loses a bet to you and she has to pay the bill!
At $3.75 an order, we had 4 orders of the short rib, along with 2 sides of rice. Of the 3 dipping sauces that were already poured out for us on the table, my girlfriend and I enjoyed the middle sauce the best. I wish that the restaurant allowed us to pour the sauces ourselves, so that we knew what the sauces were and we would be able to pour more if we wished. The latter point is directed more for my girlfriend as she's a sauce fiend and always ends up using my portion of the sauce. But hey, happy girlfriend equals a happy boyfriend right?! For the price, the portions of the short ribs were surprisingly generous and not chewy.
The vibe of Yakiniku West definitely reminded me of our recent trip to Japan as you're expected to take your shoes off once you enter, a reminisce of the Japanese culture. The area is also darkly lit, so it's intimate as well.
Do visit on a Monday or Tuesday to get the best bang for your buck!