reizx
About a three-minute walk from Akasaka Mitsuke Station, a new restaurant opened in September 2024. The concept is somewhat unique, featuring Wagyu samgyeopsal alongside Asian street food, creating a trendy, neo-izakaya atmosphere. It seems there are around 50 seats in total. This time, I ordered the all-you-can-eat plan advertised on Tabelog: "All-you-can-eat '12 types of Wagyu & Domestic Pork Samgyeopsal' & '10 types of Asian Street Food'! Plus, all-you-can-eat wrapped vegetables (5 types), kimchi (3 types), and Korean side dishes (4 types) for ¥4,980/2 hours!" Note that ¥4,980 is excluding tax, and an additional ¥500 is charged for cover and seating. It appears that customers are required to order either a drink or an all-you-can-drink plan. The plan including all-you-can-drink costs ¥7,128, but there’s also a puzzling plan for ¥199 every 15 minutes. We decided not to include the drink plan and ordered drinks individually. The drink prices are quite standard. Orders for drinks are placed through a QR code, but for the all-you-can-eat menu, you have to order from the staff, which is quite cumbersome. Moreover, vegetables and kimchi are self-service, making it even more complicated.
The course starts with three types of meat: flank, beef rib, and tomahawk, after which you can freely order. However, the initial servings of meat are all quite large. The flank, in particular, consists of about half fat, which raises questions about the intention behind serving these cuts first. Although there's a guide on how to eat samgyeopsal in the menu, it’s rather complicated. The amount of scallions on the vegetable plate is limited, and the variety and use of the condiments are unclear. The self-service kimchi was mostly gone even though there were no other customers, and it wasn’t replenished.
The taste isn't bad, but the portions are so large and greasy that it quickly becomes overwhelming. I was quite full after the first three types of meat. After that, I ordered three more items from the 12 types of meat and 10 types of Asian street food: chili, beef tongue, and chicken white soup wontons. Again, the meat portions are quite large. The beef tongue is tough and difficult to chew, and it doesn’t really suit samgyeopsal. However, the chicken white soup wontons were tasty. At this point, I was full, and we decided to finish.
I believe they should reduce the portion sizes to allow for a variety of tastes. Perhaps due to being newly opened, the operational aspects were lacking, and the complicated system should be simplified. Many of the meats had a strong flavor and were tough to chew, making them unsuitable for an all-you-can-eat format. In my opinion, samgyeopsal is best enjoyed in a more traditional setting. This meal, along with a drink, ended up costing about ¥7,000 per person, which seems quite poor value for anyone who isn’t an extremely big eater compared to other restaurants.