Food & Drink

Japanese/Korean BBQ in TO - affordable and delicious!!!

  • Last Updated:
  • Dec 1st, 2021 5:37 am
Banned
User avatar
Jun 16, 2019
72 posts
31 upvotes

Japanese/Korean BBQ in TO - affordable and delicious!!!

Hi,

I am looking for a good Japanese or Korean BBQ place to visit with my friends for the coming weekend. I was looking for good ones on google but they all look good and some are a bit expensive. So i would like to ask it here here too, if anyone has any suggestions and recommendations START SHOOTING!!!!!
Nandatto!!!! :facepalm:
50 replies
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jan 27, 2004
52935 posts
18144 upvotes
ONTARIO
You get what you pay for!
If you don’t care for quality and just want to eat (nothing wrong with that!) go to Chako for their late night specials. Ita a good deal from what i remmeber.

Gyubee is more pricy, but has superior quality. Beauitfully marbled and tender cuts of beef. Even the plain steamed rice is of a higher quality with perfect texture...
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Mar 31, 2017
7057 posts
3368 upvotes
Most places don't marinate their meats long enough to matter so you're better off doing this on your own BBQ at home.
Deal Fanatic
Sep 23, 2007
5654 posts
2168 upvotes
There are a range of options and the quality will vary.

Chako or Korean Grill house: Value wise, this is the best bang for your buck. Their cuts of meats are pretty random. You pretty much get random cuts of whatever's left. Heavy marinade means the cut of meat matters less since there is taste. Late night special for even lower quality cuts of meat but very good price if you just want to stuff yourself.

Piggy's: Highly rated KBBQ but pretty pricey. One serving is only like 200g or so but costs over $20. Definitely a quality over quantity kind of place.

Daldongnae: KBBQ About the same comments as Piggy's.

Gyubee: JBBQ. This is my favourite these days. It is AYCE so value wise, it's not as good as Chako or KGH. But the quality is far superior. Not going to be as good as the meats you get from a la carte KBBQ places but it's good enough for me.

A lot of Korean restaurants will offer table grilling options. It's really not that hard to set up a small portable gas grill and bring it to your table to grill. The legit KBBQ places are the ones with built in table grills. Korean run places will always serve BBQ with some kind of stew, usually tofu stew, and lettuce wrap.

My overall comment is that I personally don't see a big point to those high end KBBQ places unless you are going for the whole experience. Proper KBBQ places don't really marinate their meats except for some salt and pepper. You go to a KBBQ place because it all comes as a set, with side dishes, tofu stew, lettuce wraps and dips. If you just want the meats, you can easily just grill at home and achieve the same results since they don't marinate the higher cuts of meat.
Deal Expert
Feb 9, 2012
21708 posts
9001 upvotes
Toronto
UrbanPoet wrote: Gyubee is more pricy, but has superior quality. Beauitfully marbled and tender cuts of beef. Even the plain steamed rice is of a higher quality with perfect texture...
Any word on when the new location @ Dundas & Chestnut is going to open? Just a pure guess that there might be a grand opening special, bringing the price down a bit...?

(Dundas & Chestnut is near Dundas & Bay)
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Banned
User avatar
Jun 16, 2019
72 posts
31 upvotes
UrbanPoet wrote: You get what you pay for!
If you don’t care for quality and just want to eat (nothing wrong with that!) go to Chako for their late night specials. Ita a good deal from what i remmeber.

Gyubee is more pricy, but has superior quality. Beauitfully marbled and tender cuts of beef. Even the plain steamed rice is of a higher quality with perfect texture...
One of my friend is also suggesting Gyubee, whats the price for the unlimited bbq dinner.
I also remember going to kasai grill Korean bbq it was good enough and it came to around $30 per person for the unlimited bbq which i think is good enough.
Nandatto!!!! :facepalm:
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jan 27, 2004
52935 posts
18144 upvotes
ONTARIO
NyankoSensei12 wrote: One of my friend is also suggesting Gyubee, whats the price for the unlimited bbq dinner.
I also remember going to kasai grill Korean bbq it was good enough and it came to around $30 per person for the unlimited bbq which i think is good enough.
Me + partner + 2 beers + 1 pop + tip&tax = $106
Deal Expert
Feb 9, 2012
21708 posts
9001 upvotes
Toronto
NyankoSensei12 wrote: One of my friend is also suggesting Gyubee, whats the price for the unlimited bbq dinner.
I also remember going to kasai grill Korean bbq it was good enough and it came to around $30 per person for the unlimited bbq which i think is good enough.
My only issue with Kasai on College is that they stopped doing all you can drink beverage. Hardly a complaint worth throwing at the place, considering the food IS very good there!
I do wish they could restore that idea though. It compliments the meal, and hey? Doesn't it benefit the restaurant when the customer drinks more pop? It fills them up more so they eat less of the expensive meats! lol
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Deal Guru
User avatar
Jan 31, 2007
12875 posts
505 upvotes
Toronto
any idea what happened to kookminhakgyo?
One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure
Banned
User avatar
Jun 16, 2019
72 posts
31 upvotes
playnicee1 wrote: My only issue with Kasai on College is that they stopped doing all you can drink beverage. Hardly a complaint worth throwing at the place, considering the food IS very good there!
I do wish they could restore that idea though. It compliments the meal, and hey? Doesn't it benefit the restaurant when the customer drinks more pop? It fills them up more so they eat less of the expensive meats! lol
I agree, even when i was there it was the same
!!!!!!!!
Nandatto!!!! :facepalm:
Deal Expert
User avatar
Sep 1, 2005
21699 posts
17373 upvotes
Markham
Never been myself but perhaps others can chime in ...how is Shinta Japanese BBQ on Hwy 7 which is supposed to have Wagyu beef
We're all bozos on the bus until we find a way to express ourselves...

Failure is always an option...just not the preferred one!
Deal Guru
Dec 11, 2008
13064 posts
3754 upvotes
gr8dlr wrote: Never been myself but perhaps others can chime in ...how is Shinta Japanese BBQ on Hwy 7 which is supposed to have Wagyu beef
I've been, very good. We will be going back in a month.

My cousin has been to Shinta and Gyubee and prefers Gyubee though.
Deal Expert
User avatar
May 22, 2005
21223 posts
6989 upvotes
GTA
Been to Shinta and Gyubee, you do get what you pay for but our group much preferred Gyubee for bang for your buck. Still, both were really good. Our group mostly did not appreciate the higher quality meat.
Deal Fanatic
Jan 21, 2008
8584 posts
5368 upvotes
Aznkid2000 wrote: any idea what happened to kookminhakgyo?
Its a rough business, they always seemed busy yet the store wasn't super profitable. It was for sale, that I know, & the owners put in a lot of hours for not a huge return on investment
Deal Guru
User avatar
Jul 15, 2008
10543 posts
4141 upvotes
Toronto
NyankoSensei12 wrote: One of my friend is also suggesting Gyubee, whats the price for the unlimited bbq dinner.
I also remember going to kasai grill Korean bbq it was good enough and it came to around $30 per person for the unlimited bbq which i think is good enough.
Depends on location, but it's around 35$ per person on weekends. You can check the menu on the site (not sure if it's updated though). There is also Gyu Kaku around Fairview mall if you don't want AYCE, but it will come out to same or more than Gyubee if you guys are big eaters.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 2, 2007
3726 posts
432 upvotes
A bit of an unrelated question, but how do you know how long to cook things for? Usually I look for thin slices to sweat a little but I'm not really sure if I'm doing it right. Doesn't help that my friends usually want to throw everything in there at once and take it out a minute or two later :lol:
Deal Guru
User avatar
Jan 31, 2007
12875 posts
505 upvotes
Toronto
HP_John wrote: Its a rough business, they always seemed busy yet the store wasn't super profitable. It was for sale, that I know, & the owners put in a lot of hours for not a huge return on investment
ah man thats unfortunate, i loved that place... I guess the last straw was when they had issues with health and safety regarding the vents in the place and reno was prob too expensive for the place
One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Mar 24, 2004
5275 posts
1435 upvotes
Toronto
The new trend of the Korean BBQ restaurants charge per 200g on meat per order are expensive nowadays.
h2o- a.k.a. 阿水 (Ah Sui)

Feedback: HoFo | eBay | Heatware

Top