Here’s Yakiniku Gyuta, an all-you-can-eat beef restaurant in Namba, Osaka, which we visited in May 2018.
After a day at Universal Studios Japan, we debated between wagyu and yakiniku and went with yakiniku. All-you-can-eat beef was a big trend in Japan back then. The most famous spot, Aburiya, needed a reservation a month ahead, and when I checked a week before, it was fully booked. So I looked for the closest all-you-can-eat place to our hotel, Il Cuore Namba, and found Yakiniku Gyuta in Namba Parks. It’s tucked inside the building near Komeda Coffee, and it took us a while to find. There are several courses, but I recommend lunch over dinner, and I’ll explain why below.
There was no Korean menu; when I asked, they handed me a Chinese one. At lunch, all-you-can-eat was about 10,000 won per person, while dinner prices vary by time limit and cuts. I photographed the special menu because that’s what we had: two hours, with last orders at the 90-minute mark. We went for the priciest course: as of 2018, 3,218 yen for men and 3,002 yen for women, about 60,000 won for two, for what was mostly imported beef brisket.
The beef was all-you-can-eat, but every cut was thin, even the short rib and sirloin. Yakiniku means grilled meat, and instead of being marinated like Korean barbecue, the meat came with sauce poured on top. The sweet short rib was the best. Since we had the special course, we could order everything, including intestines, called horumon. The first round was six plates.
It was a feast, and honestly it tasted good. We ended up eating ten plates, and one plate seemed to be about one serving. Salad and desserts were unlimited, and all the ice cream was Häagen-Dazs.
Thinking back, lunch would have been much cheaper for the same feast. Over 30,000 won per person felt like a lot, but around 10,000 won would be a great deal.
The meat was good quality and tasty, so it’s a solid restaurant, but for the price I thought we might as well have had wagyu.
If you’re in Osaka, try Yakiniku Gyuta at lunch for a better deal. The smell clings to your clothes, though, so you may want to stop at your hotel to freshen up afterward. The price was a letdown, but the quality and flavor were fine. I’d give it 3.5 out of 5.
Prices, hours and details in this post are from our visit in June 2018 and may have changed, so check the latest information before you go.