Gaku Yakitori

Everyone needs to eat here when visiting the Bay Area. I found out about it through Thrillist and was pretty excited. They are not open for lunch, but are open in the evenings. Beware, it's quite small, so reservations are recommended or getting in early when possible. I ordered a variety of skewers and everyone of them exceeded my expectations from the chicken skins, wings to the salmon onigiri. It's a great experience but can get pricey if you tend to go overboard ordering. The service was great and they constantly check on you all the time.

Great great taste, tender and juicy on every skewer we ordered. Pricey. The decor is pretty, authentic Japanese yakitori restaurant.

Skewers were delicious! We also love the fried gobo (with dashi flavor) and yuzu cheesecake. Very good dining experience.

The food, the decorations, and the service everything was great.

Great food and nice atmosphere. Quick and friendly waiters. Food is a bit pricey and the parking lot is sketch with a lot of signage noting break-ins. Had a few skewers along with the yaki onigiri and chicken tatsuta (fried chicken). Favorite was the kalbi with oroshi seasoning (so tender!) and the salmon yaki onigiri (very crispy and flavorful). Definitely recommend!

Gorgus Gray Goldgar

This place is great for those who want to transport to Japan and have some authentic yakitori. It closes a couple hours later than the other yakitori restaurant in Milpitas. We went on a Tuesday night and there was plenty of parking. We ordered the chicken heart, liver, and our favorite the gizzards. For drinks, we ordered Asahi draft and the sake carafe. Overall, it was a nice quiet atmosphere, privacy seating due to the walled booths, and the waitress was very friendly and helpful in case we had questions about certain menu items.

Junhua Chen

Gaku Restaurant offers a delightful dining experience with its fresh, high-quality food and excellent service. Each dish is carefully prepared, allowing you to truly savor the flavors. The portions are on the smaller side, which is a positive as it allows you to taste and enjoy a variety of dishes. The atmosphere is cozy, making it a great spot for a relaxed meal. If you're looking for a place with consistently good food and attentive service, Gaku is definitely worth a visit. Just be prepared to order a few more dishes to satisfy your appetite!

Eve Lim

Came here for dinner as I had wanted to try out their charcoal grilled dishes. Ordered beef skewers from the yakitori menu, grilled Barracuda fish from the Specials, and grilled squid and grilled onigiri with uni from the regular menu. Everything tasted good and uni was fresh but the fish did have quite a lot of bones. Ended the meal with a yuzu and honey cheesecake but it tasted and had the consistency more like that of a custard pudding. The service was good and the staff were very nice and friendly. They have extended their operating hours to 11pm daily. 1st time here but wouldn’t mind returning.

Star

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.

Jaime Felix

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.

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!

Kuei-Da Liao

You might want to make a reservation if you plan to come on weekends. It’s probably one of the best Japanese skewers in this area. Chicken, beef, and pork skewers were all really spot on. The beef tongue was especially impressive! Recooked to those ones craving for Japanese skewers!

A S

Gaku is one of those hole in the wall Japanese restaurants that you frequent because you can’t get traditional Japanese dishes like takowasa, ika sugatayaki, yakitori, or ankimo anywhere else. Extremely late post with pictures of food that I’ve eaten at Gaku over the seasons. Highly recommend if you want traditional Japanese food with the atmosphere.

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.

Aung Khant Soe

The food, the decorations, and the service everything was great.

momo

Everyone needs to eat here when visiting the Bay Area. I found out about it through Thrillist and was pretty excited. They are not open for lunch, but are open in the evenings. Beware, it's quite small, so reservations are recommended or getting in early when possible. I ordered a variety of skewers and everyone of them exceeded my expectations from the chicken skins, wings to the salmon onigiri. It's a great experience but can get pricey if you tend to go overboard ordering. The service was great and they constantly check on you all the time.

Jianyuan Chen (Jack)

Great great taste, tender and juicy on every skewer we ordered. Pricey. The decor is pretty, authentic Japanese yakitori restaurant.

Eric Lu

Skewers were delicious! We also love the fried gobo (with dashi flavor) and yuzu cheesecake. Very good dining experience.

Very happy that a yummy yakitori place like this exists, but you do pay for it. The classic chicken thigh yakitori is juicy, smokey, and rich. All the other skewers we had was also delicious and the sashimi they was high quality. The skewers are $9-12 for 2, and it takes several skewers for a meal, so things add up fairly quickly, but it is quite good!

Jongbin Park

Best in kind Solid 9+ Must try skewers and Dorayaki desserts Any menu will surpass your expectations Staffs are so much considerate and welcoming This place is my no. 1 in the South Bay area

A very straightforward yakitori restaurant with some unique dishes they have per day, as well as available for takeout and doordash/fantuan. They have many different yakitori dishes to choose from, including beef and chicken as well as some vegetarian dishes too. Be very mindful of what you pick as each order is $12+ and only comes in two skewers each. I ordered the gyutan which was amazing and kalbi which also equally, maybe little less, as much. They also have many other skewrs too such as chicken and even vegetarian options. They also had a shrimp with mushroom that was fried that was okay. As well as the gaku udon with a very interesting noodle and broth, but I really liked the pork belly! I really like the other dishes they offered too such as Ochazuke, Hot pot, rice bowls, and even steamed clams! They also have a great selection of sashimi and sushi too. This is all with a very friendly service as well as instructions how to order the skewers if it's the first time here. But like I mentioned, each skewer is very expensive at $12+ so just be aware about what you're ordering. In fact, each item on the menu isn't designed to fill you up fully, so do order multiple dishes as you please. I estimate maybe around 7-8 orders of skewers may be enough for some? Although I don't want to see the end of that bill... They also have an extensive sake collection too that can be ordered cold or hot. Overall, this is a really solid yakitori place and wouldn't mind coming back here again if it was feeling a little spendy.

The staff were all very nice and friendly, also they made good recommendations of food. The food we had for dinner were decent. Sashimi was fresh, Kobe beef skewers were the best, Cod was thick and nicely fatty. It has the grilled rice ball which were quite good. I have been looking for good one for long time. The bluefin black meat karaage was a bit salty. As this restaurant is for grilled skewers. We will try more different types of skewers next time. Small restaurant but good use of space management. All of the tables were close but still feel good by the way they put partitions. I like the atmosphere and staff of the restaurant. For its food, I would like to try more of its specialties for more thoughts to share.

Japanese style BBQ. You have a good selection of chicken and pork BBQ skewers. To pair with it, you have a wide selection of beer and sake. You are looking at around $70-80 a person without drink as the skewers are small. You will need to order average 5 order per person minimum.

My friends and I came here for craving Japanese grill and the food was awesome. We would definitely visit here again. - - - Food 1. We ordered different types of skewers, beef tongue, kalbi, chickens, scallops and mushrooms. They were all grilled in different combinations of sauces, which make them have distinctive tastes and great. Meats tasted tender and not overcooked. 2. Uni grilled rice ball was ok, it was a bit hard to eat together with uni separated from the rice ball. 3. the bacon steak, we liked how the red onion taste didn’t override the taste of the bacon. The little touch of the red onion makes the bacon steak doesn’t taste greasy. 4. The highlight of the night was definitely Asari clam soup! The clam soup had a lot of layers. The seaweed and clams are the base. With lemon adding a touch of citrus feel, it brought the soup to another level. That made the soup taste fresh and flavorful. Really great for winter. - - - Indoor Maybe it’s because of COVID, indoor environment didn’t look as organized. The bathroom was simple and clean. - - - Conclusion We would want to visit again to try other things. Food is great though the restaurant doesn’t make you feel that you would spend more than $50 when you walked in.

jiggbury

A very straightforward yakitori restaurant with some unique dishes they have per day, as well as available for takeout and doordash/fantuan. They have many different yakitori dishes to choose from, including beef and chicken as well as some vegetarian dishes too. Be very mindful of what you pick as each order is $12+ and only comes in two skewers each. I ordered the gyutan which was amazing and kalbi which also equally, maybe little less, as much. They also have many other skewrs too such as chicken and even vegetarian options. They also had a shrimp with mushroom that was fried that was okay. As well as the gaku udon with a very interesting noodle and broth, but I really liked the pork belly! I really like the other dishes they offered too such as Ochazuke, Hot pot, rice bowls, and even steamed clams! They also have a great selection of sashimi and sushi too. This is all with a very friendly service as well as instructions how to order the skewers if it's the first time here. But like I mentioned, each skewer is very expensive at $12+ so just be aware about what you're ordering. In fact, each item on the menu isn't designed to fill you up fully, so do order multiple dishes as you please. I estimate maybe around 7-8 orders of skewers may be enough for some? Although I don't want to see the end of that bill... They also have an extensive sake collection too that can be ordered cold or hot. Overall, this is a really solid yakitori place and wouldn't mind coming back here again if it was feeling a little spendy.

Mei-Ling Chen

The staff were all very nice and friendly, also they made good recommendations of food. The food we had for dinner were decent. Sashimi was fresh, Kobe beef skewers were the best, Cod was thick and nicely fatty. It has the grilled rice ball which were quite good. I have been looking for good one for long time. The bluefin black meat karaage was a bit salty. As this restaurant is for grilled skewers. We will try more different types of skewers next time. Small restaurant but good use of space management. All of the tables were close but still feel good by the way they put partitions. I like the atmosphere and staff of the restaurant. For its food, I would like to try more of its specialties for more thoughts to share.

Kailiang Huang

Japanese style BBQ. You have a good selection of chicken and pork BBQ skewers. To pair with it, you have a wide selection of beer and sake. You are looking at around $70-80 a person without drink as the skewers are small. You will need to order average 5 order per person minimum.

I-Cheng Lee

My friends and I came here for craving Japanese grill and the food was awesome. We would definitely visit here again. - - - Food 1. We ordered different types of skewers, beef tongue, kalbi, chickens, scallops and mushrooms. They were all grilled in different combinations of sauces, which make them have distinctive tastes and great. Meats tasted tender and not overcooked. 2. Uni grilled rice ball was ok, it was a bit hard to eat together with uni separated from the rice ball. 3. the bacon steak, we liked how the red onion taste didn’t override the taste of the bacon. The little touch of the red onion makes the bacon steak doesn’t taste greasy. 4. The highlight of the night was definitely Asari clam soup! The clam soup had a lot of layers. The seaweed and clams are the base. With lemon adding a touch of citrus feel, it brought the soup to another level. That made the soup taste fresh and flavorful. Really great for winter. - - - Indoor Maybe it’s because of COVID, indoor environment didn’t look as organized. The bathroom was simple and clean. - - - Conclusion We would want to visit again to try other things. Food is great though the restaurant doesn’t make you feel that you would spend more than $50 when you walked in.

Cindy Lu

Monkfish Liver 5 soft, pasty, sour sauce, seaweed Diced Duck Steak 3 sous vide duck breast, seared on grill, red wine sauce, not juicy, medium flavorful Ayu Sweet Fish 1 grilled tiny whole fish, bitter Chicken Gizzard 3 crispy chewy, salt Chicken Liver 3 soft, slightly bitter Kalbi 3 too chewy, medium flavorful Beef Tongue 5 chewy, tender, flavorful scallion sauce Scallop 4 medium rare, not sweet enough

Joshua Montana

My family and I decided to enjoy some time at Gaku because we love the food, although a bit pricey, we enjoy it from time to time. Today, Jane the waitress, had a rude reaction when bringing our drinks, because we had forgotten to order an extra water and noticed it was missing, Jane scoffed rudely, when we told her and apologized for it. I think Jane should be more understanding for tables, specially tables with large families or children, it’s often hard to concentrate and mistakes can be made when ordering, this should not be responded to rudely. Good service requires patience and care, we also own a restaurant! Thank you! (P.S bring back the shrimp!! We loved them)