Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ

Came here for lunch at 11am. Got seated immediately. Very good service. We ordered a lot of food since we wanted a taste. Garlic fries is really good with the furikake and mayo drizzle. Pork belly is probably the best for the meats. There were some items that were so so. The Kim Chee Bi bim bap was good. Sukiyaki BiBimBap was ok… But the sauce got too much after awhile. Neat how the waitress mushes the rice up with the ingredients in a hot stone bowl.

We’ve been here several times. We’re always willing to drive out this way to eat here: clean, the friendly service, and the food.
My boys love their meat. We haven’t eaten Korean BBQ since we’ve discovered Japanese BBQ. We like how the meat is marinated and very tasty. Petite servings but really good prices. My usual is the Wafu Salad: lots of daikon, avocado, sprouts, and cabbage with their delicious house made miso sauce. All the boys and I cannot pass up their garlic fries. If the kiddos like it, mommy and daddy are happy!!!
Best of all, after our delicious meal… we take our boys to play at the indoor play area at the mall near the restaurant while mommy and daddy rest. I sometimes order my coffee on the Starbucks app and pick it up in a few minutes since it’s just a few feet away. Talk about being lazy hahaha.

The best Gyukaku on the island! They got the best workers, best location (for me), and the best menu!
There’s many parking because it’s located in Windward Mall. I prefer to come during Happy Hour (Mon & Thurs all day) to get the best deals. The staff their are very welcoming unlike the Kapiolani location where I’ve had unpleasant experiences. The wait isn’t as bad too. When my boyfriend and I go, the longest we wait is maybe 10 minutes (dinner time).
We usually get the Gyu Tan (Beef Tongue w/​scallion sauce)! Don’t freak out! It really has an amazing taste! The pork belly & pork belly taco are a must too! It’s just so meaty & my boyfriend makes sure to order that first! I can go on & on about the food, whatever we’ve ordered so far has been yummy!
Aside from the food, the happy hour drinks are good too! The cocktails are addicting. I love the mango li hing mui margarita. You can’t really taste the alcohol but creeps in quick.
They also have a rewards program that can give you free items with the more points you earn (free snores, meat, etc). I believe the highest you can get is 500 points to redeem $ 25 off your check! Even during happy hour! That’s probably why we’re always there!

I love this place. The atmosphere is great, servers are wonderful and food is delicious! Holding back one star because the portion sizes are a little small for the price in my opinion. But I’d go back just for the appetizers! The chicken wings, dumplings, and lobster nuggets are so amazing my husband and I could live off them!

So disappointed to hear that our favorite 10-​course happy hour deals were terminated! Otherwise, it would be yet, another 5 stars! We
did enjoy the Windward Meal deal for 2@ $ 50, but still had to add for optional type meats and there are no choices to be made. You either get Beef, Pork or Super Beef, kinda like buying a Mercedes class vehicle, C heap, E xpensive, S uper E xpensive.
Choice of veggies or appetizers is restrictive.
That said, food was delicious and worth the price! More so, a shout out to our «please seat us in her section if she is working!», Sunshine! She is the excellent tour guide and hostess for your pleasures in dining. Her personal tips and knowledge help you through meal. Hana Hou, Sunshine!

Server was super helpful and cheery. He also made sure that our needs were met. Good was good as usual. I absolutely loved the dessert at the end of our meal. I also ordered a virgin lava floor and that was soo good, I absolutely loved it. Love always coming here and will come back again.

Is it possible to give this place ¹⁰⁄₁₀? Okay, I’ll settle for 5 stars.
Favorite yakiniku place for sure. This Gyu-​kaku is located in Windward Mall. Lots of parking around. It’s not usually busy so we always walk-​in. We highly suggest going during Happy Hour. We went 10 minutes before Happy Hour ended, we we’re able to squeeze in most of our dinner during Happy Hour. Great prices! Happy Hour is everyday from 11am to 6pm and 9pm-​closing, and all day on Mondays/​Thursdays.
Like other yakinuku place, you’re given the menu, order, then you cook on the burner. Most of their food choices are wet food (to cook on the burner). Lots of choices and they have 3 different sauce to use for flavor for the meat. They also have some desserts that you can put on the burner such as mochi and s’mores.
Although we have a few yakiniku and Gyu-​Kaku on this island. We always go back to this location because of the great service!

Happy hour review only: My friend and I frequent this place a lot. An average of maybe 3x a month. A lot where when we get here, we have the same server almost all the time we are here. So often, sometimes I don’t even bother checking in.
There’s a wide range of choices, so if you frequent this place a lot, then you should be okay because you can rotate your choices. Happy hour prices are good to have since we almost always eat late. Out of all the meats we ordered and tried, our staple meats will be Rosu, Kurobuta Steaks, Toro, P-​Toro is good too. The cut for the fillet mignon is just right, easy to grill, bite size! For starch lovers, it’s all you can eat rice! For people not a fan of rice, there is another alternative, potato in butter. I prefer to eat more meat than be filled from rice so I always skip rice and order the potato in butter instead. If no carbs at all, there’s the vegetables: zucchini, eggplant, mushroom medley or mushroom in butter… oh im getting hungry again.
Being here during happy hour time, you can get a table at that instant. Service from our usual server is great, but as always there’s always room for improvement. Just remember what you order, sometimes they forget to bring it out. Also, I’m not sure why, but the spicy pork always comes to the table late. Make sure to order it early. :)
For other people who frequent this place, make sure to download the app and scan those receipts for points to redeem for free items or $ 25 off when you reached 500 points. my friend and I are almost there at the 500 points. I guess we’ll find ourselves here again, soon…

Great lunch prices!
Found ourselves at windward mall Gyu-​kaku for lunch with some friends after we supported the March for Meals on Wheels. The restaurant was busy for a Tuesday but then we realized that it was spring break. We check-​in with the hostess and told her how many people in our party. She said it would be a 10 – 15 minute wait. We would have looked at the menu but there was none available outside of the establishment. Not more than 5 minutes passed by and we were called back in to be seated.
We were sitting at a 6 top «booth» that was shared with another 6 top. There are partitions in between to separate the parties but the benches connect as one long bench. Someone could literally fall into your dinner party from the neighboring table. The seats are a little tight on leg room because of the burners and the equipment under the table. Tall people should sit on the aisle side to avoid the burners.
Once seated, we reviewed the menu and decided on what we wanted. It was a while before someone approached us to see if we’ve been helped. Shortly after someone asked, our server came by to take our drink order. After our drinks came, we were ready to order our food. We ordered the following apps/​sides: kim chee, edamame, Gyu-​kaku chopped salad, chicken wings, garlic fries, and Brussel fries. These items were brought out fairly quickly and we devoured them in no time. Our server then came by when she saw that the apps were thinning out and said she was going to let the kitchen know to start our bi bim bap bowls. I was slightly disappointed when she said that because we figured we would get everything the same time. Definitely some food for thought to asked the party if they would like their apps brought out first or together with the meal.
Half the table ordered the Brown Rice Salmon bi bim bap and the other half ordered the garlic shrimp one. Both smelled so scrumptious and we all couldn’t wait to dig in. Obviously we had to slow our roll a bit because it was piping hot. A few of us added the side kim chee to our stone pots which was a treat. Most of my friends were full after the appetizers. I wanted to finish it even though I knew I would regret the feeling after. Sure enough, I cleaned my stone pot of the Garlic Shrimp and rice. So delicious but I felt really stuffed after. Talk about kanack attack.
I will definitely be back in the near future. So happy they opened one near my house. Can’t wait to order those Brussel fries again!

I came here for lunch with my friends. We were so hungry we didn’t cook at our table but ordered already prepared dishes :)
The service was good and fast.
The cob salad was AMAZING and a large portion for only $ 8.95– fed the whole table of 5.
For appetizers we had garlic chicken, garlic fries, edamame, Brussels sprout fries (told you we were hungry) all the items were delicious :)
For the main course we all had bibimbap, 3 garlic salmon with brown rice and 2 garlic shrimp with rice. Very yummy.
The prices are reasonable for the size of the servings.

I love it here!!! Came here for lunch today w/​some colleagues on a business trip and we devoured everything in front of us. Happy hour was perfect for us to order multiple pupus so we can taste everything.
My new fav is the Brussels sprouts… wowzahs!!! I might’ve are half the plate we were sharing lol I loved the salad we got too that had avocado, edamame, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, crispy wonton, etc… dressing was awesome!!! I can go on lol
I always get the garlic salmon bi bim bap that never fails me… ever! Lol We didn’t get to dessert because we were so full but, we loved everything!!! I’ll be back for the Brussels sprouts, salad and EVERYTHING!!!

The selection of different cuts of meat and food to throw onto the grill is amazing. The people who serve you are polite, and sometimes they have a lot of orders to balance. This location is a bit slower than the one on kapiolani blvd.
The food took a while to come out, and they forgot we placed an order for the bi bim bap. They accidentally charged us edamame and for pork belly, but they made sure to adjust the receipt again. We were sad to see that our order of scallops had only 2 pieces when the picture had 4. Expect smaller portions for that peeps.

Say what! You want me pay you loot to cook my own food. WTF… I like this.

The value BBQ Courses are were the savings are at. Stick to that and you will be good, both financially and gastronomically.
Food Hack
Do you like Bibimbap? That rice is on point but they only give you so much. So what is a person to do when you like it but don’t want to spend another $ 8 – 9 on another dish? You request extra garlic and take the white rice (1 portion) they bring you for the BBQ meal and dump it into the sizzling Bibimbap. Stir it up good and you just doubled your portion. Thanks Sunshine (our server) for teaching us that food hack.
Overall I enjoy this place and who can beat 64oz of beer for $ 8.00! C’mon now!

I tend to visit the Kapiolani location most often, but when I’m in Kaneohe shopping at Windward Mall, I eat at this Gyu-​Kaku.
Happy Hour:
Just like town, this spot’s HH is pretty long, just not AS long. Everyday from 11am-​6pm, everyday 9pm-​closing, and all day on Mondays and Thursdays. Just like the one in town, happy hour consists of slashed prices on regular menu items, like hot and cold apps, grill meats, grill veggies, desserts and drinks.
Grilling your own food:
Yes, you grill your own food. If you’re not in the mood for that, then you’re not exactly in the right place. They have dishes that you don’t have to cook, but those are generally just appetizer plates. Anywho, there are lots of options, and there are even a few that are different than the Kapiolani location, so that’s fun.
A few differences:
— Grills — Newer location means newer grills, which means you don’t have to worry about them being over used and not being hot enough.
— Karaage — For whatever reason, the ones they had here were barely chicken… they kind of seemed like scrap pieces that were fried.
— Sauce Bottles — I don’t know if they started out with labels, but they don’t have them anymore. I’m glad I already knew which was which.
— Free edamame w/​IG follow/​FB like — That’s exactly what it sounds like. You just show your server to prove it
— S’more choices — At this location, you can choose what kind of chocolate you want! O_​O Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or cookies & cream!
So why 3-​stars? Servers, in my experiences thus far, have been sort of lack-​luster — forgotten dishes, not knowing about their food when asked, mistakes on bills, and a somewhat cavalier attitude. Granted, I’m not saying that every server exhibits all these traits, but these have been the various issues I’ve had with servers all the times that I’ve dined at this Gyu-​Kaku location.
I’d probably still go back to eat there because I like the food, but I’m not sure that I enjoy it as much as the Kapiolani location.

I went here on a Sunday for lunch because I was tired of the usual all you can eat Korean BBQ. The food was high quality and a bit pricey but they took too much license on Korean food. I ordered the bi bim bap. Very mild and virtually no vegetables. I’ve lived in Japan and understand their take on other foods is watered down. In this case the bi bim bap just tasted like fried rice. Good fried rice but fried rice.
As far as the yakiniku goes, the cuts were of much higher quality than you would get at your average Korean yakiniku place. I felt more satisfied here having less food of higher quality.
This seems more like an after work drink place than a destination yakiniku restaurant. Not sure I’d be back for a regular meal in the future but I’d consider it as a after work hangout.
Service was excellent even though they had a full house. Servers came around to check on us as well as the manager.

5 stars EVERY SINGLE TIME:
1. I’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes even without reservations.
2. Ample free parking.
3. Great service! All servers are very informative, sweet & prompt.
4. Love their Happy Hour!!!
5. …I am still obsessed with their Garlic Fries & delicious alcoholic beverages.
This is definitely the Gyu-​Kaku less traveled but it’s a MUST if you want superior food served with a smile at reasonable prices. Did I mention, no wait?

We came here on a weeknight, last minute because the in-​laws were down on this side of the island. We have been here before, so we were familiar with the set up.
Being a party of 7, we knew that we would have to take up 2 tables and were prepared to wait to be seated. As luck would have it, no wait. Yay because we were hungry!
Our server was friendly and explained everything to us regarding the grill and menu. She even did so for our children. Love that she acknowledged them! She took our orders by table and did a wonderful job reading it back to us because there were duplicate items for each table.
The kitchen was sending out food quickly, so we were able to start eating right away. Now, anyone that reviews a place where YOU are the chef (for a majority of the food) needs to be careful. BUT, it just so happens that I only ordered prepared food from the kitchen, so I can comment on that. The side salad was fresh and the dressing was so good. I was informed that I could get it at Marukai, so I’ll be going there sometime soon. The garlic chicken wings appetizer is always a great choice. So crispy, juicy, and very tasty! The lobster nuggets remind me of the little shumai my mom used to make me when I was a kid, so in other words, yummy! I was able to get a bite of my daughter’s sukiyaki bi him bap — awesome! She had left it to cook in the bowl for a while, so the rice was super crispy. I like it!
Our drinks were always topped off. Our empty plated always taken quickly. The service was just top notch. Overall, just another great meal at Guy-​Kaku!

I love Gyu-​Kaku! First introduced to them at the Kapiolani location, have been to the Waikiki location, hit up the San Diego location (cause that’s where I live), and met up with my cousins at this location. Always a friendly greeting upon entering, and the wait staff is so nice, courteous, and helpful.
When my cousin said let’s meet and that they’d be out in Kaneohe, where to go was the question. I didn’t know there was a GK here but happy when I found them. What’s nice is that there’s a variety of food to choose from and that daytime happy hour is great. We all decided we didn’t want to cook, so we ordered a bunch of appetizers and dessert.
I loved the garlic noodles, garlic chicken wings and the Wafu salad! I thought the crispy vegetable spring rolls were good, as were the garlic fries. We also had the chicken karaage which never disappoints. I felt the weakest one was the smoked pork tacos. For dessert, couldn’t resist the bread pudding bites and the deep fried cheesecake… YUM!
The staff didn’t mind us taking our time, and sitting there for a little over 2 hours… we were catching up since it had been way too long since I’ve seen them. This location is definitely worth coming to. Can’t wait to return!

We managed to get in, eat and get out before someone decided to drive into a transformer and blow out power to the entire mall.
Our experience here was great thanks to our server «Liz». Liz was very knowledgeable about everything, able to answer questions about the grills, food and recommended cook times at the tip of a hat. All of the recommendations and tips she gave us proved true as we cooked and ate.
My girlfriend and I ordered the $ 50 pork platter which came with much more food than we had thought due to the amount of each item we were given, we even shared some with the other table members. The meat we were given seemed to be of a moderate quality and was very good even with our.. .well.. .my cooking issues.
The location itself is very classy.
For having such a well trained staff that can answer pretty much any question, and a cool concept with a great atmosphere this location has earned my 5 star.

I’m really glad they open up this location. Compared to the Kapiolani location, parking is so much more easier to find and there’s never a wait to be seated (well, this is true if you go on a weekday either for lunch or dinner). The servers here are very nice and accommodating. But, we’ve had instances where it took a little too long for our food to come out (especially for the fact that they come out uncooked). You get good quality meat here, but because the portions are small, I do find it a bit pricey. Because of this, we don’t eat here as often.
The appetizer we always get is the fried cheese wonton. The wasabi aioli sauce it comes with compliments the wontons very well. I just wish they put more cheese in the wonton. It would seem that the amount of cheese lessens each time we come here. They do have a lot of veggies to choose from, but we usually get the eggplant, zucchini, cheesy broccoli, and mushroom medley. The meats we find ourselves always ordering are harami miso skirt steak, new york steak, rosu, toro beef, and filet mignon (if you notice it’s all beef, lol). Once in a while, we get the pork belly.
We do come with a big appetite and find ourselves eating almost everything. And, most of the time we have no room for dessert. But, we did try the smores and yakimochi ice cream once. Both requires more cooking. They do have other dessert options that don’t require cooking it yourself just in case you’re just over cooking at that point.
As I said before, it is pricey because of the portions given. But, the good quality of meat is what brings us back here again and again.