YakiniQ Korean BBQ

My go-to AYCE kbbq. Relatively affordable for AYCE and good quality. Go early or late; else expect a 20m wait.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

They actually close at 10pm. So make sure you’re there at 8:30pm the latest.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 3

Good place you will wait for it for sure restrooms are little dirty it’s makes me thinking are they doing good job on the foods anyway I got two of the premium menu it was good un limited noddle is included too it was not bad at all

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 4

Service: 3

Very good Korean BBQ place, the overall quality of meat is good and everything is delicious!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

As an AYCE KBBQ restaurant is decent, but it falls short of expectations. The sides are average, and the meat selection is typical of San Francisco prices.

However, what bothers me the most is the significant difference in quality and experience compared to Yakiniq San Jose, where I’m a frequent customer.

We ordered brisket, pork, and beef belly. Interestingly, Galbi, a popular cut, is limited to one order per person. The service staff was friendly, but the infrequent service created an awkward pace for eating. They also forgot a few of our sides and couldn’t accept orders for Soju cocktails without explanation.

The SJ location has a much friendlier QR ordering system. In my opinion, the selection of sauces is worse and less extensive compared to SJ. Additionally, the sides that come automatically are of lower quality.

On the positive side, the dining floor at this location is much larger. However, I personally prefer the bustling atmosphere of the SJ location.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 5

Yakiniq SF was good as a standalone place, but given how great other locations are, it could’ve been better.

The SF space is much bigger than the SJ location, so that was nice. I personally like the crowded “bustling” atmosphere of the SJ location, but others might not.

In YakiniQ SJ, you order through a QR code. In SF, it’s traditional ordering. The servers were all really nice but some of our items were forgotten, and waiting on them to come around was a bit inconvenient compared to instantly using a QR code. My party of 2 came on a Monday.

YakiniQ does this really cool thing where there are a few selected meats from the Premium plan that people with the Regular plan can order just once per person. At SF, they only have one selected Premium meat : LA Galbi. It’s is a very standard cut of meat for KBBQ. The Premium meat selection for the Regular plan is worse at the SF location.

Additionally, some items were missing. They said they were out of rice paper and soju cocktails. Not their fault but didn’t help.

Lastly, it seems the sauces/sides are inconsistent between YakiniQ locations. SJ has teriyaki and a sesame peanut wasabi sauce. SF had soy wasabi and a chili peanut butter sort of sauce. So if you’ve been to another YakiniQ location, the sauces will not be the same at another location.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 3

Very good Korean BBQ place, reasonable price. High quality meat, everything is delicious!
At night sometimes it can get crowded and really loud, other than that everything is perfect.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

All you can eat. The food delicious and love the way it's grilled at the table

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

greeted by a friendly hostess upon the stairs and very friendly servers, food was great! especially the short rib!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 5

Got there at 8:55, restaurant is supposed to close at 10, but they told us we’d only be able to order 3 things because the kitchen closes at 9:15. It’s supposed to be all you can eat for 39.99 but since we’re “late” we’re limited. Also the lady was rude about it. Lame

Worth the price, isn’t too pricy for getting all you can eat for the quality of the food; immaculate. The staff are super sweet and friendly! None of the meat was old either, you can tell that everything is fresh! The marinated ribs were marbled so well and the flavor was ecstatic. We WILL be back here!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Beef Belly, Beef Brisket

I usually never leave bad reviews, but this experience was terrible.
The staff was extremely rude. There’s a two-hour time limit, and after the first hour, the servers were already trying to rush us out. I’ve never experienced such poor service in the U.S. Avoid this place.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

a little smoky but overall was pretty good

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

No elevator. Toilet for handicapped is broken.
Lots of stairs.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The good news is I had some tasty short ribs as well as beef brisket. The bad news is that I now have lung cancer.

Horrible, almost non-existent ventilation. They clearly don’t clean their ventilators which are probably full of grease. I feel bad for all the waiters that work there that inhale this everyday. It’s like an opium den of sizzling cattle flesh. This place needs to be investigated by the health department or OSHA or something.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 5

Service: 3