[sh0n]

Gyu King Teppanyaki on Burrand in Downtown Vancouver

I'm writing this review with a honest top to bottom assessment with all factors considered (Atmosphere, Food, Service, Value and Overall Experience)

We visited the restaurant in Late October 2012 on a Groupon Offer of $59 for a 10 course meal for 2

Atompshere 3.5/5
- Located on the 2nd Floor tucked away on Alberni Street
- Modern comfy wood decor in the restaurant typical to what you find in a Japanese teppanyaki place
- The entrance is seperated into a lounge/bar area (where you await or wait if it gets busy). Inside is a main teppanyaki area and 2 smaller rooms (with teppanyaki grills)
- The restaurant is probably around 10-20 years old and can use some maintenance in certain areas. The restaurant sign above the main entrance door is missing and the hallway that leads to the dining area can use a cleanup and maintenance. Sometimes restaurants business are very popular or busy and neglect the smaller details to make the experience more perfect overall

Food: 4/5
- The food was very fresh, properly presented but lacked any type of creativity. There's 3 sauces (lemon juice, garlic seasme and ketchupy tomato sauce). Sadly all the grilled meat and seafood was flavoured with salt & pepper or soya sauce and better
- Lobster Miso Soup (tasted fresh but didn't have any lobster pieces in it
- Garden Salad. Overall this was fresh too with a dollop of mayo and some soya sauce
- Grilled Lobster. We shared 1 lobster per couple. Very fresh and tasty
- Shrimp. I think these were the 26/30 size and they tasted good. 3 pieces in total
- Beef Tenderloin. Cooked properly as requested medium rare. Very fresh. 3 pieces in total
- Foie Gras with wonderbread toast. This was a joke of a dish. The foie was the size of a quarter and served on toasted wonderbread white toast
- Beef Usuyaki. Grilled Sliced Ribeye with deep fried garlic and raw green onions. The start of the night. Wish we got more pieces!
- Beef Fried Rice. Properly cooked but the portion was small
- Grilled Vegetables. Cabbage, Brocolli and Enoki mushroom only. Wish they put some carrot in there to add some color for presentation
- Ice Cream. You get a choice between green tea and mango. My green tea had specs of mango in it along with many icicles (guess someone didn't close the ice cream lid)

I joked with my dining partner that even though it seemed we had alot of food (10 courses) - all the food would fit on the very small serving plate they used.

Service: 3.5/5
- Host / Manager. Was friendly, quickly greeted us and lead us to our table
- Waitress. Friendly. Plates taken away on time, perhaps a bit overbearing as they often asked us if we were done with our soup and salad (I tend to like to leave it with the other courses so this can be eaten bit by bit)
- Chef. Overall I would say the chefs are well trained, friendly. The only downfall is that they lack the social skill which in my opinon makes or breaks the experience of teppanyaki. Also if you expect to see a show with tricks then this is not for you.

Value: 1/5
- We had dined here with a GROUPON at a cost of $59. The portion in my opinion is very tiny. A small suggestion is that they can offer a larger portion for the fillers (fried rice and vegetables).
- There is a automatic 15% gratiuty (clearly indicated on the bill) and tax added which we had no issue. The total bill was $75 (including cost of Groupon for 2 people) which I felt was not worth it with the amount of food received. They advertised their lobster (1.5 lbs as a value of $49.80 and foie gras - the size and thickness of a quarter as $18 at the regular menu price).
- I wouldn't want to imagine how much you would have to spend if not on Groupon and paying the regular menu price.

Overall Experience: 3/5
- I would go for the novelty factor (if you haven't been) on the Groupon to save a few bucks but personally I would not return.
- There are better restaurant options in Vancouver and if you really crave for Japanese teppanyaki I would highly recommend Bennihanna in US