Kaizen BBQ - Maquarie

Hello everyone!

Today my review will be about my dining experience at Kaizen BBQ, located inside Macquarie Centre.

I decided to try Kaizen BBQ because I was craving for Korean BBQ that day after uni, and because I was at the point of starving, I decided eat there because it was the only BBQ available nearby.

I wasn't sure at first whether it was a Japanese or Korean restaurant, even though it was run by Korean people, the name of the restaurant was in Japanese, and the food they served was both Japanese and Korean cuisines.

When we went in, we were served by a man who I suspect was the owner of the restaurant. He was extremely attentive compared to the other people working at the restaurant, who seemed to work in a slow pace and hiding away from customers.


After we ordered our food, a waitress served us our complimentary side dishes.
seaweed, assorted kimchi, miso soup and the rice we ordered separately.

Then came our Gyoza. I wasn't sure if they were going to serve us traditional Japanese style gyoza, but I was really disappointed when our gyozas turned out like Chinese steamed dumplings. What's worse was that the skin was thick, and the fillings were tiny that you can only taste the skin. It wasn't gyoza at all because it wasn't pan fried, it was steamed. A big disappointment. :(

This was the Bulgogi (Korean marinated beef) we ordered.
The beef portions were disappointingly small.

This was our wagyu rib meat, again the portion was very small.

Here's how we cooked the bulgogi. I was disappointed that they provide a flat grill pan to cook the meat, a big disadvantage about it was that it would leak the beef juices on our table, as seen on the picture below. We had to inform the waiter and then they just gave us a small bowl to let the juice drip in.

Here's how the bulgogi looked like when cooked. The taste was like an other bulgogi, nothing special, the only minus point was the excess juice on the beef that made it a bit soggy.

Next we cooked our wagyu beef rib.

And here's how it looked medium rare. My partner said the quality of the wagyu was very good, which I don't doubt, but I could taste that the meat was not that fresh.

Overall I would give this place 4 out of 10.

It was a huge disappointment for me and my partner.

All the waiters and waitresses ignored us except for the owner who was trying his best to recommend dishes to us.

Also, you're meant to get free refills for the complimentary dishes, we asked the waitress to refill it but then she never came back.

The prices are expensive for the portions they serve.

And that's another Korean/Japanese restaurant in my uneatable list at Macquarie Centre.


I will not recommend this place for Korean BBQ, it's better to catch a bus down to Eastwood and eat at the quality Korean restaurants there.


That's all for now.

Thanks for reading! :)


-Kumi.