Yasu

+ friendly staff, very helpful in cooking all things on the grill
+ plenty of seating for all
+ good plates that offer an assortment of things
+ relaxed, chill environment
+ fresh food… no one got sick, yay!
–prices are a bit steep compared to some of the others, but only by a few dollars and they feed you more than enough food!
I don’t know what all the noise about for only giving Ysu an average of 3 stars, but perhaps I came on a superbly chill day. Came here on a week night and the place was so empty! There were 4 groups total which got me panicked at first… because no one wants to be THAT group at THAT empty restaurant, right? But the place was great! Got the BBQ combo (roughly $ 25/​pp, which is kind of steep I suppose for not being a buffet) but the lady gave out a HUGE platter of food! It was by far an awesome deal. It had Korean BBQ short ribs, marinated pork and chicken and an assortment of veggies and some side dishes to go with it as per Korean tradition.
I just like to eat everthing straight off the grill, so that’s what I did, but it came with a miso sauce that was supposed to be paired with the lettuce and meat as a wrap and when our waiter noticed we hadn’t touched it, she kindly told us exactly WHY the miso sauce was there… which was both hilarious to me and very kind of them. The staff also came around to help flip our meat for us so that it wouldn’t over cook and they could turn off the grill earlier do decrease likelyhood of overcooking literally everything on on platter AND burn ourselves all at the same time, so that was nice of them!
Overall: service= great! place= great! seating=plenty! Price= fair enough!

This review has nothing to do with their food. My wife and I are unlucky enough to be asked to stand by the door and wait for 15 minutes while there are many empty tables inside. The waitress just disappeared after she asked us to wait.

Came here on a Saturday for lunch. If you like Korean BBQ, this might be a good place to try out. They have a grill set up right on the table so you can cook and eat the meat right away at your convenience. Their galbi was actually not too bad. It was marinated pretty well and I thought the meat quality was pretty good. They have other meat options such as bulgogi, pork bulgogi, samguypsal, and other meats so venture out and try their other options!
This place offers a lot of Korean dishes so you should do your homework before going there. Whatever you order, you will get a bunch of side dishes to go along with your meal so that is always a plus! If you like sushi, thy also have sushi bar so you can order some of their sushi rolls as well.
Overall, I think Yasu offers an authentic Korean dining experience and I would recommend you to give it a try if you are in the area!
Takeaways:
1. Korean BBQ options I like: galbi, samgyupsal, and bulgogi
2. Do your homework on Korean dishes you might like before going there. They have a lot of options so you might be too overwhelmed.

Ordered nengmyun and Kalbi here to go for pick up. Costs 18 bucks at Seoul down the street. Yasu charged me 45 dollars. And it was terrible.

You know you’re in trouble when a restaurant prominently displays a two-​star review they’ve received in their entryway (feel free to add mine to your wall of mediocrity, Yasu).
My friends and I stopped here on a whim craving Korean BBQ, and I was treated to some Bland with a capital B dulsot bibimbap which neither hot sauce nor an array of pickled vegetables could save. Saddest of all was the lifeless fried egg cast on top. It wasn’t just that the egg was overcooked and the yolk had solidified… there was no yolk to speak of. Where did it go? All I know is that its runny deliciousness was sorely missed.
My friends’ meals all failed to impress as well, and the dishes as a whole were easily 25% above market price. Next time I’m craving Korean BBQ, I’ll get some exercise and walk to Allston. My wallet, my waistline, and (most importantly) my taste buds will thank me.

Yasu has a large menu featuring both Japanese and Korean foods, and while the food is decent it wouldn’t be the first restaurant I’d recommend for either types of cuisine. The space is large and seems to be rarely packed since I’ve never had to wait for a table. I’ve mostly had the Korean dishes here because it is the only Korean place in Coolidge Corner — mostly recently I got the bibimbap which was actually quite good despite the over cooked egg and abundance of lettuce in the dish. I liked their spicy sauce and the fact that they give you the whole bottle to add as much as you’d like. This place is a safe choice for a dinner out due to the different types of food it does have, but I think there are some more exciting options out there.

Walking in at 12:30pm on a weekday, the place is E. M. P. T. Y. Nada a single soul but me. My gut is telling me to leave… «oh, I have an emergency and need to flee… I mean go… «But, I stay. Here goes nuttin’…
The place is the Spirit Airlines of restaurants. Dumpy. Old. Neglected. It has that «It’s Halloween and I’m pretending to be a restaurant» feel. There is major water damage on the ground floor near the musty restrooms.
The waitress is exceptionally nice. Poor soul.
I ordered a bento box. Soup is okay, not terrible, not horrible. So, somewhere between terrible and ok. Not sure what continent that would be.
It’s taking a while for my food to arrive, which is a good sign. That means they’re cooking it and not microwaving it.
Ah-​kay, the food is here: Blaggggg. Watery salad dressing, firm fried tofu, oddly textured meat that looks NOTHING like the photo on the menu.
The best item: Canada Dry Gingerale.
Run for your stomachs…

This place has become my favorite place to get korean food in Boston.
Their food and service quality is excellent (in comparison to the other korean restaurant on harv ave).
I ended up at Yasu one day when I war craving some nengmyun. Their moolnyengmyun (cold buckwheat noodles) is delicious and so is their galbi.

Yasu is located on the corner on Beacon Street across from Lady Grace in the Coolidge Corner area of Brookline.
They offer Korean BBQ that you can cook right at your table. But we were here for their lunch specials which are available not only on weekdays, but even on weekends. My DC’s fav luncheon specials are the bulgogi lunch box $ 9.95, salmon teriyaki lunch box $ 9.95, unagi don $ 9.95, tempura u-​don $ 8.95, and the dolsot bibimbap $ 11.95.
We ended up sharing the salmon and the unagi dishes, both of which came with miso soup which arrived in advance of our food boxes. The lunch box was the more impressive of the two, but the smaller unagi box was packed with rice, eel, seaweed salad (score!), ginger and a slice of pickled daikon. The lunch box included three pieces of maki, a portion of rice, an iceberg lettuce, some chapchae, and two pieces of crisp mashed potato katsu, the sides of which change daily according to my DC. Loved the potato appetizer. The salmon was a little overcooked but had a terrific marinade. The rest was quite serviceable.
Their bathroom is located down a flight of stairs in the basement.
They have a $ 15 credit card minimum.

Yasu has been my go-​to Korean bbq place with my boyfriend. I recently took my two younger siblings here (both in their teens) for dinner. They both left very satisfied. Whenever I go to Yasu, I always get their kbbq combo #1. It’s about $ 40, but it comes with about 4 different kinds of meat. The meat is well seasoned and the portion was enough to feed the three of us. I enjoy cooking the meat myself and I suggest you do the same as well so you are able to control how thoroughly you want your meat cooked. What often happens at kbbq places, Yasu included, that I’ve experienced is that they tend to let your meat overcook.
Oh, and their ban chan oh my god! They give you so many different side dishes, my favorite is the potato side dish. There are pros and cons to this, as you have a lot to choose from but I always end up feeling guilty for not touching all of them. Nonetheless, their side dishes have a good mix of variety. Some are great but others not so much. For appetizers, I always go for their tteokbokki and their scallion pancake. Both never fail to disappoint. Considering I always get the same thing from the menu whenever I go to Yasu, I can’t attest much to anything else.
Overall, Yasu gives you a decent amount of bang for your buck and with good street parking options outside, it’s convenient to get to. My only complaint if any is that their menus seem really old and definitely are due for a replacement.

My second review of Yasu: downgrade from three to two stars.
I was quite disappointed with the lunch box items — got the spicy pork, and goodness, maybe it’s because I’m around folks who cook great food and I’m spoiled, but the pork was drowning in flavor (and not in the good way). The spice was overwhelming the other tastes in the meat, and while I love spicy food, I definitely don’t recommended heaping the red pepper paste on, like it felt like this chef did. :(
Additional eyebrow-​raising notes:
The pickled radish side-​dish in the lunch box: one piece. That’s almost laughably stingy (come to think of it, my friends and I did joke about it; one poor guy got a slice so thin you could see the the plate underneath it). All seven of us got the lunch box, and all seven of us got one piece of pickled radish. Sigh… doesn’t help my review that they skimped on one of my favorite side-​dishes…
The rice: waaay too little, unless you’re someone who enjoys eating overly-​flavorful meat with nothing to offset it. I ended up packing half the meat because I ran out of rice lol

The food is good, but nothing really special. It’s really what I expect. The portions are always disappointing when it comes to Korean BBQ, and I’ve yet to find a place to prove me otherwise. The service is pretty crappy, but the décor and atmosphere are nice. I love the location, but I will look elsewhere when I’m hungry.

I have gone here a few times. But finally writing a belated review so let me give you a warning: this is definitely going to be long.
The atmosphere is generally very friendly and casual. There never seems to be a crowd as there are few other Korean restaurants down the street. The servers can be a bit intimidating but if you be nice they’re willing to accommodate you in any manner.
The pricing of the food seems decent, however I kind of feel that the Korean barbeque items are a bit overpriced as well as certain Korean entrees. Regardless, I still like to try things.
On too my long food list: I am combining all the food I remember from a few visits, so don’t judge me by the length .
Japchae: good, not to bad. Noodles were better than some places as it was well flavored and wasn’t drenched in oil! The bits of vegetable and beef was proportional to the noodles which I like since I hate when there is too much of one without the other. Its not balanced.
Seafood bibimbap: comes out on a beautiful bowl. However a little lacking in flavor as there’s not much bibinbop sauce that is usually paired with it. The plate is served on a stone bowl so its sizzling hot and the rice at the bottom forms a nice little crisp .
Dumplings: probably homemade dumplings and they’re quite heavily filled. There’s so much filling and honestly the flavor seems to change very time I visit. it either is too bland or too salty. I love dumplings so I’m open to flavors yet picky as well.
Shumai: usual fried Japanese crab dumplings. Probably store bought, tastes pasty though .
Sashimi appetizer: good the first time which all the fih was extremely fresh, went the second time and fish seemed to be lifeless. The slices has decreased in size and they gave us octopus which was a nice change.
Naruto:typical raw seafood in cucumber wrapped roll, fish doesn’t taste fresh though.
Jan ban guk soo: not set up in the traditional manner with julliene vegetables. This is a cold noodle dish that is serve with vegetables, soba noodles and eggs on ice
is similar to korean naegmyun, which is cold noodle soup. Its a different taste. It tastes light, but I feel as though yasu didn’t execute well. So I look forward to trying elsewhere.
Sweet and sour garlic chicken: deep fried batter chicken chunks in chilli garlic sauce. It kind of looks better than it tastes. Comes out on a large platter as the serving is huge. I you like sweet and sour covered deep fried stuff than this is for you, the taste grows on you. unfortunately the thing is the chicken chunks seemed kind of old .
Spicy rice cakes: pretty good, not too spicy. Very well balance in ration of rice cake, fishcakes and vegetables. The rice cakes are on the just a little past pasta al dente texture.
Dumpling rice cake soup: this soup is amazon. Love the nice pieces of beef and the bowl is rather large so it can be even eaten with some of the rice. I think the dumplings go better in the soup rather than fried/​steamed when coming here.
Agedashi tofu: deep fried tofu in a ponzi sauce which is alright. Not too impressed since the tofu is always half sauced and the other half is naked and cold
Steamed tofu: 4 pieces that are steamed, came out lukewarm. Really displease d.
Grill: seafood combo: comes with salmon, which was marinated just right, but when they grill it for you skin side down, they destroyed the integrity of the fish. It was basically all chopped up into smaller pieces. Squid: cut into large square pieces and tasted bland. Shrimp&lobster, really really salty. Scallops were pretty good though
Ohsam bulgogi: pork and squid marinate together. It tasted a lot better than the seafood combo as the marinated was in unison.
Chicken bulgogi: typical bulgogi marinate, a little bland an chicken was dry. Ended up taking this home, stir fried with large rice noodles and some chicken stock to give it back some life.
Beef bulogi: great marinate, just on the money.
Samgyupsal: my favorite BBQ item. I love that it came with a ton of lettuce this time. And it was really good.
In general, its an okay place for foods. But service is lacking. Don’t come if you aren’t patience or tolerable.

Don’t go! Terrible food and worse service. Never had been to a so unpleasant place to have dinner.

I really enjoy this place for a casual dinner with close friends or family. The food is great and the menu is large and varied enough for everyone to find something they will enjoy. The banchan side dishes are always plentiful and fresh.
I am not a fan of cooking my own food at a restaurant, but the grilled tongue at Yasu almost changes my mind. It grills up quickly and then melts in one’s mouth; both for the reason that it is thinly sliced.
Having given the tongue its due, I recommend the spicy stir-​fried squid. It goes great with a cold beer! The sushi and sashimi here are great as well.
A separate point of praise are the alcohol prices. Now I know that sujo is not single malt, but for $ 7 one can get a large bottle of the stuff, and really have a ball. Cold? Order the hot house sake. They bring it out in a large tea pot! Goes great with that squid I mentioned above!

I LOVE YASU! This is my to-​go place for korean bbq! Generous amount of sides dishes! I counted, i think about 12 dishes. Hahhaa my greedy ass would always ask for more side dishes. That’s like the main aspect of korean food. For me to fully be absorbed into the culture, I must fully experience it. I am honestly really jealous of my korean BFF. She gets to eat this stuff every meal… but she doesn’t. like… dude don’t take things for granted. I would die to have a korean mother who cooks… or a korean bf.
Anyhow about the food. AMAZING. fresh. on point. Like oh my god. Get the combo #2. Ridiculous amount of food for $ 45 that can feed 4 people! Those older Korean waitresses are so nice and so adorable. Just like the ones in korean dramas. Try this place. Do it, do it!

I would come here more often if I can afford it. Good to come in group. Get like three people and a bbq combo 1 will get you full! I really love the salad that come complementary with the meal. So addicting. The banchan here are also very delicious. Everything taste consistently good the last 5 times I’ve been here.
Some people might not like the way the BBQ is serve here since the staff will put all the meat on the grill for you. Which I guess is okay, I would prefer to be able to do it myself. I’m a self sufficient woman yo. But anyways, I always get the BBQ Combo 1. But my friends and I would always skip the chicken… It just doesn’t taste as good as the other meat. Quite dry really. In a perfect world, we’d be able to substitute it but hey this is real life.
One time I got something other than the BBQ:
Naengmyeon! OH MAN ITS SO GOOD. Totally ruin Naengmyeon at other restaurant for me, seriously.
Their banchan is B+/A– since they have a good variety and its really good. BUT: the potato isn’t how I like it. My favorite potato banchan is at Bibim. But everything else is good. Especially the seaweed… so addicting.
A good time, no alcohol required.

I have given Yasu four tries. Unfortunately, I am left disappointed every time.
The «Korean BBQ» portion is incredibly limited (in variety). You get very little bang for your buck and the food barely had any flavor.
The side dishes that come with the BBQ are actually very delicious and probably the best part of the meal.
The alcoholic beverages (wine and martinis) are HORRIBLE. I initially thought that the wine was bad because not enough people ordered wine and the bottles were left open for too long. But even the martinis/​cocktails are disappointing as they lack alcohol, and do not taste like the way they should. For example, the cosmopolitan tasted like canned cherry juice and the Long Island iced tasted like pepper. Yea you read that right … PEPPER !!!
The only compliment I can give is the service. The ladies that work here are incredibly polite.

Celebrating a close friend’s birthday party with a group of 29 people. This place can accommodate as they have somewhat of a private area where it can hold that many, plus another 15 more. There were two large tables in the middle that can seat up to 12 each and 2 on either side that were between 4 – 6.
The waitress we had was completely awful. She was so flustered, she didn’t know what was coming or going. Our water was never refilled until asked. Our noodles were completely forgotten and had to be reminded. The portion sizes were TERRIBLY small and very disappointing in flavor and texture. The seafood pancakes — where was the seafood? why was it so soggy? Ahhh… $ 12 down the drain for size small triangles.
Now the BBQ part. We ordered Combo #1 and Combo #2. Each combo was enough for 2 people according to the menu. it came with a side of veggies consisted mostly of onions, very little mushroom or broccoli or anything else. It also came with 2 bowls or rice which they’ve forgotten to give us until we asked and by the time it came, we were completely done with combo #1.
The Beef had good flavor but was so dry. The chicken was white meat — again dry. The pork was just bleh along with the rest. The mushroom has good flavor as it soaked up the juices from the rest.
While our other waitress was horrible, she was replaced by an older woman who seem to know what she was doing and came around and refilled the water without much asking. The table next to us — they forgot their combo #2 and took forever before it came.
The older waitress just placed all our food on the grill after it was heated up. She gave us one tong and we were weary about using it to pick up the food to eat since it was touching all the raw meats. We had to move the meat around to get it all cooked thoroughly since they touched each other and were afraid to eat anything too raw.
I must have mistaken but i thought she would just have placed the plate on the table and we would have just cooked the meat we wanted to eat instead of all being put down at the same time. the meat of course were over cooked because it was still on the grill as we were eating it.
Combo # 2 was very sad. It contained 5 medium size scallops and 6 shrimp, along with some more meat and same veggies.
We also ordered a Gyoza, fried, which came in a plate of 5 pieces. I don’t understand why does it cost so much? nearly $ 2 a piece!
The bathroom was a mess. It was disgusting to say the least. Toilet paper were everywhere. The stalls were wet on the floor, the sink and just wasn’t a pleasant experience. Plus, it was in the basement part of the establishment. How does the handicap go?
The place was expensive for it’s portion size. No doubt, i will not be returning any time soon.

Tips for Korean BBQ dining:
–Do not wear anything you cherish. Lest you plan on a hefty dry cleaning bill.
–Do not plan on going anywhere fancy afterward. You will smell like Korean bbq for at least 24 hours following your foodventure. You may accidentally find yourself picking up men as they follow your scent, though.
–Do not eat for at least 5 hours prior to meal. You will need ample storage space for all that meat.
A large group of friends and I prepared ourselves for the stomach training session for Thanksgiving that is a Korean BBQ outing. Threw on some outfits we wouldn’t be afraid to stain with beef marinade, and focused on what was ahead: Beef, beef, and more beef. And some pork here and there. Maybe a veggie or two.
We were given a little walled-​off room to ourselves – think a cubicle for BBQ lovers – where we grilled pork belly, bulgogi, chicken, and nibbled on a dozen different Korean side dishes. Pork belly was thin and dry, but the star of the show was the Diamond Beef. I believe this is their highest grade of beef, with the best marinade. They brought that out last, probably because they knew the other meats were simply opening acts for the main star.
The staff was friendly, albeit a bit frazzled (understandably so, when you have a dozen people asking you for water, napkins, gochujang, etc. at once), and we definitely got a decent bang for our buck. 10 different meats, plus a dish of japchae, and we walked away with stomachs about to burst, palettes unbelievably satisfied, and a bill for $ 27/​person.

Yasu is our go-​to place for great Korean BBQ.
Having learned to cook Korean from my mentor, I have really grown to love Korean cuisine. Yasu represents some of the best of what Korean cooking has to offer. The restaurant itself is comfortable and not too noisy. The waitstaff are among the nicest you will encounter not just in a Korean restaurant but in Boston, period. They are very attentive and even servers who are not assigned to your table will come to check on you and help with anything.
The in-​table BBQ is the highlight. Most of the tables have been upgraded to using infrared grills which are smokeless. The meats and seafood are prepared carefully and the marinades are outstanding. Standout dishes include the Diamond Kalbi, beef bulgogi, and spicy pork bulgogi. With their entrees, come an endless supply of banchan (little dishes with kimchi, onion salad, radish, etc.). You get great value for your money at Yasu. It’s a great spot for a first date, fun night out with a loved one, or large group. The sushi is quite good as well. A particular highlight is the tako (octopus).
There are a few good Korean spots in the Greater Boston area. However, Yasu is special because it is easy to get to, has great service, and is consistently terrific.