I’ve been coming to Gaku pretty regularly for about six years, and it’s unfortunate that the restaurant has never returned to its former glory after the pandemic. Menu items are fewer, prices are higher, and the food quality is acceptable but not quite to the level I remember. Maybe their attention is divided with the new sister location. The service though has remained consistently excellent! I’d still return, but the last couple times had me missing the old Gaku.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
li danielle
Came here with no reservation and at first the server told us there is a table available and then told us we just need to wait for one table to finish. Then we waited for more than one hour and couldn’t get seated in. Every time when there were people left, we checked in, we were told some tables were finishing up. If we were told at the first there is no table and we had to wait for one hour, we would make other arrangements. Why don’t you learn to respect people’s time. It has ruined my whole night.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Awn Lahpai
I used to LOVE this yakitori spot but last night when my family & I dined there, my shiitake mushrooms was not bbq lol I ate it and realized that it was raw. Bummer, because I know it would of tasted amazing if it was grilled. ?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Sida
Probably the best Japanese BBQ I had in the bay so far, although not inexpensive. The lighting is good for photography.Recommend the skewers, uni with jelly and egg rice. Fish liver is too dry and I don’t recommend it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Andy Jan
Gaku is one of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area. I have never had a bad meal here in the last ten years I’ve been going. My consistent favorites are the fried shrimp, spicy chicken wings, and the Gaku udon. A new item we tried out were the yuzu fried chicken skins and those were fantastic as well. All of the yakitori is great and much recommended.Gaku is perfect for date nights and for nights out with friends. Definitely come here for a consistently great dining experience.
My cousin from San Jose recommended this to me and I'm glad I tried it out because yakitori is one of my favorite foods.The flavors, vibes and dim lighting at Gaku Yakitori take me back a visit to Tokyo. I've been twice to Gaku in two weeks and can't wait to come back for more. For my first visit, they ran out of a lot of items, so it shows how popular they are and how loyal their customers are. During dinner, the place was packed and I could here people speaking Japanese, so I could tell it's an authentic spot.My favorites were the chicken thigh and wing skewers of course, but everything hit the spot. They nailed the flavors here-- good quality meats, sauces, and everything was grilled to perfection. The appetizers were also tasty. Everything tasted great with the draft Asahi and brown rice tea.I do recommend a mix of appetizers and skewers here. Japanese people eat tomatoes and edamame with beer, so I recommend those two. Shrimp karaage, gaku spicy wings, chicken wings, chicken thigh, bacon steak, meatballs, butabara, and king oyster mushroom are great. The desserts are also good. When I went there was a special dorayaki with red bean and whip cream that we had to try. The green tea creme brulee was another tasty way to finish dinner.
My cousin from San Jose recommended this to me and I'm glad I tried it out because yakitori is one of my favorite foods.The flavors, vibes and dim lighting at Gaku Yakitori take me back to a visit to Tokyo. I've been twice to Gaku in two weeks and can't wait to come back for more. For my first visit, they ran out of a lot of items, so it shows how popular they are and how loyal their customers are. During dinner, the place was packed and I could here people speaking Japanese, so I could tell it's an authentic spot.My favorites were the chicken thigh and wing skewers of course, but everything hit the spot. They nailed the flavors here-- good quality meats, sauces, and everything was grilled to perfection. The appetizers were also tasty. Everything tasted great with the draft Asahi and brown rice tea.I do recommend a mix of appetizers and skewers here. Japanese people eat tomatoes and edamame with beer, so I recommend those two. Shrimp karaage, gaku spicy wings, chicken wings, chicken thigh, bacon steak, meatballs, butabara, and king oyster mushroom are great. The desserts are also good. When I went there was a special dorayaki with red bean and whip cream that we had to try. The green tea creme brulee was another tasty way to finish dinner.
Mai Ward
We finally found one Japanese restaurant where they offer a great quality food and excellent service. I feel like that I am back home whenever we have a dinner there. If you like authentic Japanese Yakitori and small plates, you will love this place.Dietary restrictions: dinner is 2 hours limited. It's a small restaurant. 2 hours is plenty enough time to enjoy.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Christopher T.
Still the best. Flavor service authenticity etc. Dont bother eating at another yakitori place this is the real deal
Lance Tamura
Great yakitori place. Seating is a bit limited so reservations are a
My husband and I dined here on a Monday night. We walked in at 6:30p and were seated right away. There were still few tables available and open spots at the "bar" counter. There were two servers, both of them were nice and friendly. We order two of the uni shots, it has uni, salmon roe and jello - the amount of uni they put in each shot is decent and they're very fresh and goes well with the roe. Then for skewers we had: beef (good quality but a bit overcooked), wings (perfectly cooked and seasoned, decent sized too), thigh with skin (a bit too salty for our taste if we choose garlic instead of salt), livers (had it in sauce and it was tender and tasty), gizzard and heart (good but overcooked, which made them too dry), pork belly (perfect cooked and seasoned, great meat and fat ratio), then large beef intestines (perfectly cooked and seafood, surprisingly not burnt which is difficult to do - my favorite dish here), I also had their Takowasa, which I forgot to take a pic because it was so fresh and delicious, I finished it in no time. It had just the right amount of spicy from the wasabi.Overall, it was a nice experience and we will definitely come back. I do wish that they open for lunch like Sumiya and Sumika. Also wish they incorporates the Yelp waitlist system and QR code ordering. Less paper and more efficient.
Cynthia W.
Food was really good. They could go easier on the dressing on the salad tho; it was a bit too sour. Other than that, Al the skewers are freshly grilled. Hot when served. The gizzard really reminded me of my time in japan. Definitely would return. We didn't make a reservation, so we were told that we can only stay for 1.5 hrs. Fine with us. But then they tried to take orders in like... less than 5 minutes. Also, they probably don't have their own section so all 3 of them took turn coming to ask us for our order. LoL Place is nice. You can see the chef grilling the skewers. Tables are spacious too.
Jelly2 Tasty
Wasn't impressed the first time but gave it several chances. Having dined here multiple times both before and after quarantine, I have a well-rounded overall picture of the place by now, in both pre-plague and post-restaurant-pocalypse conditions.Back of house masking incorrectly. Pointless. Might as well not mask at all. Hope they're all vaxxed.The menu is (and always has been) hit or miss, mostly miss.This solidified my suspicion that most izakaya/robata joints are not the place to get raw fish. The 3 levels of bluefin sashimi (akami, chuu toro and o toro) were all fishy, sliced poorly, and the o toro was stringy and fell apart. The mixed plate of 2pcs each was not as good a deal as getting the 3 individual full 5pc orders so we went for that despite it being $85 rather than $38.50. But it was a mistake. I felt queasy from the fishiness.I've had better and cheaper bluefin at Izaka-ya which is a much lower end izakaya-style Japanese restaurant.Even the cooked fish here wasn't great. The steamed ankimo's texture was off. The ponzu jelly was interesting and tasty but that being the only ponzu made the ankimo really dry, and trying to scrape it off the stone plate was an exercise in futility.The yaki onigiri was okay but the uni on it tasted like plastic. The shiso leaf overpowers most of the other flavors (but the plastic taste).A couple of the skewers were good, while others were so drenched in sweet glaze they tasted like meat dessert.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Judy L
The yakitori here is amazing - we ordered beef, chicken meat ball and chicken wings, they all tasted so good. Especially the beef, so tender, fresh and flavorful. We also had rice and salad, they also had great quality. The sauce for the rice was very yummy. It’s a bit pricy but I think worth it! Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Yakitori
Adweeth S
Fire spot!! Came back here after 5 years, the chicken meatballs are still unreal.Great service and genuine recommendations by staff. Five star??
I’ve been coming to Gaku pretty regularly for about six years, and it’s unfortunate that the restaurant has never returned to its former glory after the pandemic. Menu items are fewer, prices are higher, and the food quality is acceptable but not quite to the level I remember. Maybe their attention is divided with the new sister location. The service though has remained consistently excellent! I’d still return, but the last couple times had me missing the old Gaku.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
Came here with no reservation and at first the server told us there is a table available and then told us we just need to wait for one table to finish. Then we waited for more than one hour and couldn’t get seated in. Every time when there were people left, we checked in, we were told some tables were finishing up. If we were told at the first there is no table and we had to wait for one hour, we would make other arrangements. Why don’t you learn to respect people’s time. It has ruined my whole night.
Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
I used to LOVE this yakitori spot but last night when my family & I dined there, my shiitake mushrooms was not bbq lol I ate it and realized that it was raw. Bummer, because I know it would of tasted amazing if it was grilled. ?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Probably the best Japanese BBQ I had in the bay so far, although not inexpensive. The lighting is good for photography.Recommend the skewers, uni with jelly and egg rice. Fish liver is too dry and I don’t recommend it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Gaku is one of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area. I have never had a bad meal here in the last ten years I’ve been going. My consistent favorites are the fried shrimp, spicy chicken wings, and the Gaku udon. A new item we tried out were the yuzu fried chicken skins and those were fantastic as well. All of the yakitori is great and much recommended.Gaku is perfect for date nights and for nights out with friends. Definitely come here for a consistently great dining experience.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Gaku Spicy Wings, Shrimp EBI Karaage, Shrimp Karaage, Chicken Wings, Green Tea Creme Brulee
My cousin from San Jose recommended this to me and I'm glad I tried it out because yakitori is one of my favorite foods.The flavors, vibes and dim lighting at Gaku Yakitori take me back a visit to Tokyo. I've been twice to Gaku in two weeks and can't wait to come back for more. For my first visit, they ran out of a lot of items, so it shows how popular they are and how loyal their customers are. During dinner, the place was packed and I could here people speaking Japanese, so I could tell it's an authentic spot.My favorites were the chicken thigh and wing skewers of course, but everything hit the spot. They nailed the flavors here-- good quality meats, sauces, and everything was grilled to perfection. The appetizers were also tasty. Everything tasted great with the draft Asahi and brown rice tea.I do recommend a mix of appetizers and skewers here. Japanese people eat tomatoes and edamame with beer, so I recommend those two. Shrimp karaage, gaku spicy wings, chicken wings, chicken thigh, bacon steak, meatballs, butabara, and king oyster mushroom are great. The desserts are also good. When I went there was a special dorayaki with red bean and whip cream that we had to try. The green tea creme brulee was another tasty way to finish dinner.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Mushroom Skewer, Ankimo, Scallops, Gaku Spicy Wings, Butabara, Triangular Charcoal Grilled Rice Ball, Yakitori, Yaki Onigiri, Uni Onigiri, Wings, Tongue, Chicken Skin, Smoked Chicken Miso Caesar, Chicken Gizzards, Shrimp EBI Karaage, Chicken Hearts, Chicken Wings
My cousin from San Jose recommended this to me and I'm glad I tried it out because yakitori is one of my favorite foods.The flavors, vibes and dim lighting at Gaku Yakitori take me back to a visit to Tokyo. I've been twice to Gaku in two weeks and can't wait to come back for more. For my first visit, they ran out of a lot of items, so it shows how popular they are and how loyal their customers are. During dinner, the place was packed and I could here people speaking Japanese, so I could tell it's an authentic spot.My favorites were the chicken thigh and wing skewers of course, but everything hit the spot. They nailed the flavors here-- good quality meats, sauces, and everything was grilled to perfection. The appetizers were also tasty. Everything tasted great with the draft Asahi and brown rice tea.I do recommend a mix of appetizers and skewers here. Japanese people eat tomatoes and edamame with beer, so I recommend those two. Shrimp karaage, gaku spicy wings, chicken wings, chicken thigh, bacon steak, meatballs, butabara, and king oyster mushroom are great. The desserts are also good. When I went there was a special dorayaki with red bean and whip cream that we had to try. The green tea creme brulee was another tasty way to finish dinner.
We finally found one Japanese restaurant where they offer a great quality food and excellent service. I feel like that I am back home whenever we have a dinner there. If you like authentic Japanese Yakitori and small plates, you will love this place.Dietary restrictions: dinner is 2 hours limited. It's a small restaurant. 2 hours is plenty enough time to enjoy.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Still the best. Flavor service authenticity etc. Dont bother eating at another yakitori place this is the real deal
Great yakitori place. Seating is a bit limited so reservations are a
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
My husband and I dined here on a Monday night. We walked in at 6:30p and were seated right away. There were still few tables available and open spots at the "bar" counter. There were two servers, both of them were nice and friendly. We order two of the uni shots, it has uni, salmon roe and jello - the amount of uni they put in each shot is decent and they're very fresh and goes well with the roe. Then for skewers we had: beef (good quality but a bit overcooked), wings (perfectly cooked and seasoned, decent sized too), thigh with skin (a bit too salty for our taste if we choose garlic instead of salt), livers (had it in sauce and it was tender and tasty), gizzard and heart (good but overcooked, which made them too dry), pork belly (perfect cooked and seasoned, great meat and fat ratio), then large beef intestines (perfectly cooked and seafood, surprisingly not burnt which is difficult to do - my favorite dish here), I also had their Takowasa, which I forgot to take a pic because it was so fresh and delicious, I finished it in no time. It had just the right amount of spicy from the wasabi.Overall, it was a nice experience and we will definitely come back. I do wish that they open for lunch like Sumiya and Sumika. Also wish they incorporates the Yelp waitlist system and QR code ordering. Less paper and more efficient.
Food was really good. They could go easier on the dressing on the salad tho; it was a bit too sour. Other than that, Al the skewers are freshly grilled. Hot when served. The gizzard really reminded me of my time in japan. Definitely would return. We didn't make a reservation, so we were told that we can only stay for 1.5 hrs. Fine with us. But then they tried to take orders in like... less than 5 minutes. Also, they probably don't have their own section so all 3 of them took turn coming to ask us for our order. LoL Place is nice. You can see the chef grilling the skewers. Tables are spacious too.
Wasn't impressed the first time but gave it several chances. Having dined here multiple times both before and after quarantine, I have a well-rounded overall picture of the place by now, in both pre-plague and post-restaurant-pocalypse conditions.Back of house masking incorrectly. Pointless. Might as well not mask at all. Hope they're all vaxxed.The menu is (and always has been) hit or miss, mostly miss.This solidified my suspicion that most izakaya/robata joints are not the place to get raw fish. The 3 levels of bluefin sashimi (akami, chuu toro and o toro) were all fishy, sliced poorly, and the o toro was stringy and fell apart. The mixed plate of 2pcs each was not as good a deal as getting the 3 individual full 5pc orders so we went for that despite it being $85 rather than $38.50. But it was a mistake. I felt queasy from the fishiness.I've had better and cheaper bluefin at Izaka-ya which is a much lower end izakaya-style Japanese restaurant.Even the cooked fish here wasn't great. The steamed ankimo's texture was off. The ponzu jelly was interesting and tasty but that being the only ponzu made the ankimo really dry, and trying to scrape it off the stone plate was an exercise in futility.The yaki onigiri was okay but the uni on it tasted like plastic. The shiso leaf overpowers most of the other flavors (but the plastic taste).A couple of the skewers were good, while others were so drenched in sweet glaze they tasted like meat dessert.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
The yakitori here is amazing - we ordered beef, chicken meat ball and chicken wings, they all tasted so good. Especially the beef, so tender, fresh and flavorful. We also had rice and salad, they also had great quality. The sauce for the rice was very yummy. It’s a bit pricy but I think worth it! Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Yakitori
Fire spot!! Came back here after 5 years, the chicken meatballs are still unreal.Great service and genuine recommendations by staff. Five star??
Recommended dishes: Yakitori