Gyu-Kanu…4+ hour wait!

I was so excited to try this Japanese BBQ restaurant. I arrived at 5 PM. There were no customers in the lobby. Great, no wait, I think to myself. Then the hostess tells me the earliest they can seat me and my guest is 9:30!

I wasn’t about to sit around for 4.5 hours. The location was quite a distance from my house. Unfortunately I had to email the msc and cancel the dinner. I’ve never heard of an almost 5-hour wait at a restaurant. Crazy.

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make reservations!

@LindaM wrote:

make reservations!

Instructions prohibit reservations.

Phoebe70, Years ago, I was introduced to Gyu-Kaku from MSing. It's a fun experience, good food, and reasonably priced. Sorry that you didn't get to experience it. Could you see if the dining room was already filled to capacity? If not, maybe they were short-staffed or having a private party. Regardless, I also would have bailed.

@Mert wrote:

Could you see if the dining room was already filled to capacity? .

I couldn’t see the dining room. It is blocked off by a wall dividing the lobby and dining room. Is the food that good to justify a 4-hour wait?

I have not shopped them for a few months but there were no rules against reservations. Perhaps the rules changed?

No, the food is not good enough to justify a 4-hour wait. However, if everyone else had a reservation and you did not, the restaurant could not seat you at a reserved table.

There’s no restaurant good enough to me to justify a 4-hour wait!

@Phoebe70 wrote:

I couldn’t see the dining room. It is blocked off by a wall dividing the lobby and dining room. Is the food that good to justify a 4-hour wait?

i've seen these assignments, but never done them. Is there an assignment that it's similar to so I can get an idea if it's truly worth doing or not? I can write narratives and get mad at times with MF and there limited number of characters for some things. But I don't want to be told I have to write so many characters. I'm not sure how narrative-intense Gyu shop is. That is what I'm trying to figure out.

i have never had any complaints from making reservations.

OK. I am so tired right now that my vision is actually blurry and so I may just be missing it. I am looking at the guidelines right now. Where do they prohibit reservations?

@Phoebe70 wrote:

@LindaM wrote:

make reservations!

Instructions prohibit reservations.

I had the misfortune of going during restaurant week. It was a 4 and half hour wait. My husband and I left and went to Target, Starbucks, and a few other places. Definitely try to get there early before the dinner crowd.

I did an assignment there last month. The website for my local restaurant said reservations were required. I sent an email to the scheduler just in case even though I do not remember the rules stating no reservations and was told it was fine to make a reservation. When I arrived for my reservation a couple was at the counter asking for a table and was told there were none available without a reservation. There were plenty of empty tables around but within 15 minutes or so these all filled up.
In this kind of post covid era restaurants have many rules they did not before. Hours may be different, reservations may be required etc. It is best to check the website before going anywhere.
As for the food, they are pricey at full price but have happy hours for most of the day. Even with the more generous compensation we have now it is much easier to eat a full meal at Happy Hour if you have a guest.

Get their app. Earn rewards, including sometimes getting a "Fire" reward, which you can redeem (except F/Sat/Sun) so that you are charged Happy Hour prices. I have done that many times during shops and I always include a note in my report that I was using rewards and not coupons. Never had a problem. I even used to schedule multiple shops to take maximum advantage of the rewards I had.

I liked the restaurant. With the previous MSC you could shop lunch, no bar, no narrative. $30 reimbursement which allowed me to order enough to feed 3 people later at home. Good food and the bonuses sometimes went more than $50 bucks. Got paid for about a year (usually late and after emailing about it) until the one-woman MSC decided not to pay anything she owed when Covid became a thing. I can't see jumping through all the hoops the current MSC requires. I'm spoiled.

I love the Gyu-Kaku shops! I get the the happy hour combo special. Its a tad over the reimbursement, but a whole lot of food. Says it serves 2 people, but even when I have a guest w/ me, still bringing doggie bags home (and I do not eat like a bird). I would not wait 4-hours at any restaurant, w/ the exception of a foreign country, once in a lifetime thing, little or no opportunity to return for the experience.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2022 05:09AM by Zek.

My bad...I re-read the instructions and it did not prohibit reservations. I suppose I could have made a reservation, it didn't really cross my mind that at 5 PM I would have a 4.5 hour wait. I'm ok with an hour wait but a 4 hour wait is ridiculous, I don't care how good the food is.

Depending on your area, the reimbursement is not even close to what the average party of 2 would reasonably order at this restaurant...

I had a similar experience with not making a reservation and not being able to get a table on the night of my shop. The instructions should make getting a reservation necessary to avoid this issue since I was unsure if we were supposed to show up and wait for a table.

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Gyu-Kanu…4+ hour wait!

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