We went to Gyu-Kaku for dinner on Thursday, September 3, 2009 to celebrate my wife passing an exam and finishing school. It’s a chain restaurant and we went to the branch at Victoria Gardens shopping destination in Rancho Cucamonga. Another reason we went is that my wife receives e-mails from Victoria Gardens and one of them announced that Gyu-Kaku was having a deal from August 2 to September 7 where the garlic filet mignon was only $3.95 rather than the usual $7.95. The e-mail also had a coupon for free s’mores with a $10 purchase, a $2.95 value. We had been to Victoria Gardens several times and eaten at several restaurants there but we hadn’t heard much about Gyu-Kaku. It was advertised as a Japanese barbecue and it looked like we would have to cook the food ourselves or have the food cooked right in front of us. In the week or so before going we referred to the place as “that $3.95 filet mignon place.”
I went to work early on that Thursday and got home at 4:45 pm. I figured it would take us about an hour to get to Rancho Cucamonga from home given the afternoon traffic. We left at 5 pm and drove east on the 210. We hit some traffic in spots and on the way we listened to a CD of the Jackson Five and early Michael Jackson recordings. His funeral and burial took place that day. We exited at Day Creek Blvd and drove south. Normally when we go to Victoria Gardens we turn left on North Mainstreet and park in the structure on the north end. But my wife was still recovering from a broken toe so we drove past North Mainstreet and past Versailles Street where we couldn’t turn left. We turned left on Victoria Gardens Lane, then left on Monet Avenue, right on Versailles Street and left on Waterland Place. Our final turn was a left into the small parking lot.
Gyu-Kaku is in the same building as the Flemings Steakhouse near the J.C. Penney. The parking lot was full, probably of people starting the Labor Day weekend early. Luckily a car left leaving us a spot. As we walked toward the building we could already smell the barbecued meat. It looked like the restaurant had some back doors but they appeared to be for employees only. We walked to the large front door along Monet Avenue. We gave our name to the hostess soon after we entered at 5:50 pm. She asked if we had a reservation and we didn’t but we still only had to wait for three minutes.
Every table, including ours, had a circular hole with a grill, a circular metal grid of half-inch squares. It looked like it had a gas-powered flame that they turned on after we sat down. Our server gave us a couple of multi-page menus. He was willing to answer any questions we had. The menu had several pre-set menu options of many different meats and side dishes. These cost $40-$50 per person. There was also an all-you-can-eat option that was $10 off or only $34.95 per person for a limited time. We saw from a couple near us who ordered the all-you-can-eat option that it’s actually “all-you-can-cook”. As for the individual items, there were many different kinds of meat including cuts of beef, pork, chicken, Japanese sausage, even bacon-wrapped asparagus. The menu said to order 2-3 meat options per person. They cost around $4-$9 for 3-4 ounces. Our plan, of course, was to get the discounted filet mignon. There were also vegetables for grilling both wrapped in foil and without. There were also many options that didn’t required cooking on the customers’ part including appetizers, rice, and noodles. We placed our order without much help from the server. He seemed to be steering us toward the more expensive preset meals and all-you-can eat options.
Along with the grills on each table, the décor consisted of dark wood tables and paneling, spherical Japanese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and slightly dim lighting. The place was actually quite large with multiple rooms. Over the speakers they played 80’s music including The Ramones, Paul Young, Depeche Mode, Prince, and Michael Jackson.
The first thing they served was the calamari appetizer that was crispy and golden. It was cooked just right: not at all chewy, and it came with a light red dipping sauce. The rest of our (non-dessert) food came nearly all at once. Our garlic fried noodles came in a large black bowl that the server warned us was hot. The noodles were thick, flavorful and quite substantial. Our assorted vegetables came on a white platter. Unlike the calamari and garlic fried noodles, the vegetables would require cooking on our part. They consisted of two large cross sections of onions, zucchini slices, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, small ears of white corn, and green chili peppers. We grilled everything except the chili peppers that we skipped. We halved the mushrooms before grilling. The ears of corn were done first and, slightly blackened, they tasted sweet. The grilled mushrooms, zucchini, and tomatoes took a few minutes per side to grill and they were also good. The onions took the longest: about 4-5 minutes per side, but they were worth it with them retaining just a bit of their raw flavor mostly dulled by the grill.
The two 3.25 ounce servings of $3.95 garlic filet mignon all came together cut into chunks on a narrow black platter. We had wanted to order more servings but we could only get one serving per person at that price. Our server told us to place them in the middle of the grill and cooked them on one side until the juices started to run out the top. Then we had to turn them over and cook them until the juices run out or until desired doneness. We followed his directions. There were about 10-11 small chunks of meat. My wife didn’t mind having her share being a bit rare and I could keep mine on the grill until the meat was well done. I think it took about 10-15 minutes to cook all the pieces. When done my pieces were blackened and fully cooked but not chewy at all and they had delicious garlic flavor.
After finishing dinner we had to wait a bit as our server was busy tending to the couple at the table next to us who had ordered the all-you-can-eat (cook) option. We gave him the printed coupon for the s’mores. Another server came by and removed our grill grid with a forked instrument and replaced it with a clean one. Then our main server brought us our s’mores, not yet assembled. They consisted of two marshmallows, two small slabs of Hershey’s chocolate, and four square graham crackers. They came with two metal skewers with wooden handles and forked ends. We roasted the marshmallows by holding them 1-2 inches above the grill with the skewers. This involved toasting them until golden on the outside. I had my s’more without chocolate, so it wasn’t a true s’more. To melt the chocolate for my wife’s s’more, we held it over the grill for a few seconds, using both skewers. The s’mores were good.
Our total bill, including the tip on the undiscounted total, came out to not much more than the discounted all-you-can-eat price for one person. As we left I noticed there was a dial on the side of the table for controlling the heat level of the grill. We drove home satisfied.
I went to work early on that Thursday and got home at 4:45 pm. I figured it would take us about an hour to get to Rancho Cucamonga from home given the afternoon traffic. We left at 5 pm and drove east on the 210. We hit some traffic in spots and on the way we listened to a CD of the Jackson Five and early Michael Jackson recordings. His funeral and burial took place that day. We exited at Day Creek Blvd and drove south. Normally when we go to Victoria Gardens we turn left on North Mainstreet and park in the structure on the north end. But my wife was still recovering from a broken toe so we drove past North Mainstreet and past Versailles Street where we couldn’t turn left. We turned left on Victoria Gardens Lane, then left on Monet Avenue, right on Versailles Street and left on Waterland Place. Our final turn was a left into the small parking lot.
Gyu-Kaku is in the same building as the Flemings Steakhouse near the J.C. Penney. The parking lot was full, probably of people starting the Labor Day weekend early. Luckily a car left leaving us a spot. As we walked toward the building we could already smell the barbecued meat. It looked like the restaurant had some back doors but they appeared to be for employees only. We walked to the large front door along Monet Avenue. We gave our name to the hostess soon after we entered at 5:50 pm. She asked if we had a reservation and we didn’t but we still only had to wait for three minutes.
Every table, including ours, had a circular hole with a grill, a circular metal grid of half-inch squares. It looked like it had a gas-powered flame that they turned on after we sat down. Our server gave us a couple of multi-page menus. He was willing to answer any questions we had. The menu had several pre-set menu options of many different meats and side dishes. These cost $40-$50 per person. There was also an all-you-can-eat option that was $10 off or only $34.95 per person for a limited time. We saw from a couple near us who ordered the all-you-can-eat option that it’s actually “all-you-can-cook”. As for the individual items, there were many different kinds of meat including cuts of beef, pork, chicken, Japanese sausage, even bacon-wrapped asparagus. The menu said to order 2-3 meat options per person. They cost around $4-$9 for 3-4 ounces. Our plan, of course, was to get the discounted filet mignon. There were also vegetables for grilling both wrapped in foil and without. There were also many options that didn’t required cooking on the customers’ part including appetizers, rice, and noodles. We placed our order without much help from the server. He seemed to be steering us toward the more expensive preset meals and all-you-can eat options.
Along with the grills on each table, the décor consisted of dark wood tables and paneling, spherical Japanese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and slightly dim lighting. The place was actually quite large with multiple rooms. Over the speakers they played 80’s music including The Ramones, Paul Young, Depeche Mode, Prince, and Michael Jackson.
The first thing they served was the calamari appetizer that was crispy and golden. It was cooked just right: not at all chewy, and it came with a light red dipping sauce. The rest of our (non-dessert) food came nearly all at once. Our garlic fried noodles came in a large black bowl that the server warned us was hot. The noodles were thick, flavorful and quite substantial. Our assorted vegetables came on a white platter. Unlike the calamari and garlic fried noodles, the vegetables would require cooking on our part. They consisted of two large cross sections of onions, zucchini slices, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, small ears of white corn, and green chili peppers. We grilled everything except the chili peppers that we skipped. We halved the mushrooms before grilling. The ears of corn were done first and, slightly blackened, they tasted sweet. The grilled mushrooms, zucchini, and tomatoes took a few minutes per side to grill and they were also good. The onions took the longest: about 4-5 minutes per side, but they were worth it with them retaining just a bit of their raw flavor mostly dulled by the grill.
The two 3.25 ounce servings of $3.95 garlic filet mignon all came together cut into chunks on a narrow black platter. We had wanted to order more servings but we could only get one serving per person at that price. Our server told us to place them in the middle of the grill and cooked them on one side until the juices started to run out the top. Then we had to turn them over and cook them until the juices run out or until desired doneness. We followed his directions. There were about 10-11 small chunks of meat. My wife didn’t mind having her share being a bit rare and I could keep mine on the grill until the meat was well done. I think it took about 10-15 minutes to cook all the pieces. When done my pieces were blackened and fully cooked but not chewy at all and they had delicious garlic flavor.
After finishing dinner we had to wait a bit as our server was busy tending to the couple at the table next to us who had ordered the all-you-can-eat (cook) option. We gave him the printed coupon for the s’mores. Another server came by and removed our grill grid with a forked instrument and replaced it with a clean one. Then our main server brought us our s’mores, not yet assembled. They consisted of two marshmallows, two small slabs of Hershey’s chocolate, and four square graham crackers. They came with two metal skewers with wooden handles and forked ends. We roasted the marshmallows by holding them 1-2 inches above the grill with the skewers. This involved toasting them until golden on the outside. I had my s’more without chocolate, so it wasn’t a true s’more. To melt the chocolate for my wife’s s’more, we held it over the grill for a few seconds, using both skewers. The s’mores were good.
Our total bill, including the tip on the undiscounted total, came out to not much more than the discounted all-you-can-eat price for one person. As we left I noticed there was a dial on the side of the table for controlling the heat level of the grill. We drove home satisfied.
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