A lot of the menu items were unavailable during our visit. Out of all the dessert options, only one was available, and only two soups were being served. Some of the rice bowl options were also unavailable, which further limited the selection. Our favorite item is the Wagyu short rib plate, but we noticed that toward the end of service, it seemed to be mixed with regular beef. The texture was noticeably tougher, and we could definitely tell the difference. It was a bit disappointing since the Wagyu is usually one of the highlights of our visit. That said, our server, Zaid, was great. He was attentive, friendly, and provided excellent service throughout our meal. read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Overall, the service was really good. The flavors were delicious. I didn't like how cramped and hot the area was and it felt like no AC was in the place. This reminded me of sitting outdoor in China and grilling skewers, super fun time. It's like prob $1-2/per stick of protein or whatever you choose to eat. The meat cooks pretty fast, water is self served. You can order drinks and they'll bring it to you. One great thing is: their bathrooms have Emesis / vomit bags if you need it. I've never seen that in another restaurant, so that's def v good to have. The service and people were all super nice, so patient, and so helpful with the whole process. Good food overall! read more

Chubby Cattle - Meat on the grill - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Was looking for a Japanese style bbq grill and had high hopes since this restaurant is highly rated. 4.9 on 7.4k reviews on Google and 4.5 star on Yelp. ( see chat gpt analysis of the reviews below) What I witnessed was probably the worst customer service, table grill failure and tablet ordering system failure all in one experience. Sort of like Lemony snickets - series of unfortnate events. I'm still confounded about the ratings. Did just have bad luck?? Table Grill: 0 / 5 Fire suddenly cut out after 20 mins and it was clear that propane tank was low. Server had no clear action other than to suggest to move the cheese corn off the grill. After taking his suggestion and the meat was still not cooking.( 10 mins later ) I had to flag him down the 2nd time. I had suggested we move to another table i saw that was open and he accomodated. Grill was not frequently changed like other bbq restaurants and looked completely charred and black by 20 mins. Oil was never applied to the grill . Meat constantly stuck to the grill wires making it difficult to turn the meat without ripping it. *Note to management: Make sure you quality check and confirm propane levels before you start the day. Do assurance check towards the evening to prevent any grill issues as we experienced. Server was not trained to be able to handle this situation. Servers had mentioned the fautly table was a known issue no corrections were made by management. Add oil on the table so customers can self oil the grill. Tablet Ordering System: 1/5 ( touch screen tablet) : After the Grill cut out , i pressed "call attendant " button on the tablet screen several times and no response. Looked across the room and server was happily busy catering to other tables.. waited 15 mins to flag him down to make him aware of the table flame. Tablet also did not propery input my order and often times found myself wondering if the orders went through. I had ordered Tom Yum soup and nothing came the entire dinner.. even mentioned it to my server. No action was taken. The real kicker was at end of the night i saw 3 orders of Tom Yum Soup on my bill. ( see attached pic ) Seriously guys?!! Server said he was not able to see my orders. * Note to management: Make sure you do a dry run of all the tablets and ordering system before you deploy tablets during peak busy times. Remove the tablets that are not functional. Its that simple. Customer service: 3/5 While I appreciated the server making attempts to correct gas grill error and tablet error. There were gaps in his service and attentiveness. He did not articulate or project his voice in the noisy environment and often felt he was mumbling. Since i was a new customer, I found it very difficult to understand the complex ordering systems which was timed every x minutes and limited to x amount. It seriously was a guess and see what happens ordering experience. Server only added to the confusion. Still unclear why Google Maps has this restaurant rated 4.9? In fairness he did comp my bill $15 for the series of errors. Still ended up paying $288. go figure. Food: 2/5 Salad was an embarassing 2 -3 tablespoons ( see attached pic) I dont think they really want you to have salad here. you have to order salad probably 3-4 times to get a regular size restaurant salad. Meat: 4/5 Good some highlights with Wagyu and Pork Belly. Sides: Dismal - 2/5 Edamame, veggies, wakame salad, lettuce, etc. probably the biggest offender. portions were small / maybe 2-3 tablespoon. if you wanted more you have to go through the ordering system. And yes there is the limit of how many items you can order at a time. Sunday May 18 9pm. read more

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Casual day out and decided chubby cattle was the right move for a chilly afternoon after walking around all evening. We got seated right away which was nice and our server Alex was attentive and on it for helping us order and cooking some of the food. Everything was as good as always, delivered fresh and fast. And the plates kept disappearing as soon as they were emptied. Overall, 5/5 experience, would recommend to others to give it a try. read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I've been here so many times but this last time ruined my Chubby Cattle experience. Everything we were able to get looked very fresh. The main reason why I rated it lower than I would've liked was due to the SLOW service. Especially for something they did not have to cook. We sat there for 10 minute waiting for food that even one of the server asked us, "did you guys pay yet?" We had so many missing items that we never got. However our server was super friendly and did everything he could to accommodate us. He kept apologizing and I understand that some things aren't in his control. First time leaving a AYCE place still hungry. :( read more

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Service is great. Ordering is on an iPad and the time limit is sufficient time. They also have unlimited soft drinks and several milk teas.

Finally tried chubby kettle for the first time! I've been waiting for this since it's always packed with long lines. We were seated pretty quickly and maybe waited for only 10 mins (with reservations). The receptionist was friendly and showed us the snack/drink table and we love how thoughtful and inclusive they are with the selection. Overall we were impressed with the quality of meat and options. There's 3 different tiers to choose from and for the gold and platinum option, you're only allowed to choose one out of the 4 wanyu option, so they're not really ayce for that section. However, the actual ayce section does have some good quality meat selections and they're good quality meat, fresh and tasty. The sushi options aren't as fresh as expected although te hand rolls were pretty good and that's what we kept ordering from. The scallop with uni from the special section did not taste fresh and was quite disappointing. I'd like to point out the waitress and waiter who showed us how to work the iPad were very friendly and patient with their service however, the ones who bring the food to the table were not. Some of them did not seem friendly and would just left the plate on the table without explaining what it was. We received the wrong food twice and we had to waive at our waitress to let her know that we didn't order those items. Overall the experience here was excellent but compared to x pot I still love xpot more. read more

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we came in on a wednesday night and there wasnt a wait. our server josh was very quick, attentive, and diligent when explaining the menu and everything. we ordered shrimp and they forgot it so we let them know and they were apologetic and brought it out super fast. there were free snacks and chips and soft serve and juice and sodas and tea! the milk tea was pretty good for cutting the fatty meats. there were a wide variety of items like wagyu and nigiri but the brisket was one of my favs! id def come back again if i was in the area !! read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Five Stars for Zaid alone, who was an absolute hero hooking us up with all that cheese corn. They always know when to bring it out. Really great spot to treat yourself to a night out. Iberico Pork and Wagyu steak are phenomenal. And the cheese corn. But don't order too much, I still need some next time I come in. read more

First time at Chubby Cattle and I fell in love with the meat choices and seasoning. Our waiter Zaid was amazing and helpful! Definitely recommend and would come back again! Thank you so much Chubby Cattle ! read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Get ready to spend $$$ Opt into the silver tier $58 Our waiter was so sweet he gave us a bottle of soju on the house for a moms' night out. Tbh, i dont seem to maximize my fullest eating potential when dining with my toddler so it was finally my chance. Everything was delicious and came out quickly. We got so full and took advantage of the Boba station and ice cream too. Meats were definitely better than Handrolls read more

This is a tough review to write because I really wanted to love Chubby Cattle. I've had it bookmarked on TikTok for months, and it came recommended by a couple of friends. I made a reservation for 5:30PM for a party of four. * PROS * The quality of meat was very good, not just for an AYCE barbecue experience but for most restaurants at a comparable price point. They were good cuts, not at all fatty or grisly. Many also came pre-cut into bite-sized pieces so we could focus on grilling and eating, rather than cutting it up. The more premium steak cuts did come in one large piece but I found that appropriate to the cut. The meat came out very quickly and we always got all of the meat orders we put in. Our server was really nice and very attentive, super on top of clearing empty raw meat plates and changing out our grill often whenever it got smokey. She was an absolute sweetheart! We were also able to update our reservation same day very easily. I also enjoyed the self-serve beverage station! Super convenient. * CONS * While the meat was good quality, we only ever ordered "original" which is supposed to be marinated and seasoned. I found it quite bland, but this is on par with most AYCE barbecue spots. It would've been better if they had more variety of sauces or a sauce bar. There were only two sauces, one of which was soy sauce, a salt+pepper blend, and a chili powder pot. Again, this isn't surprising with an AYCE barbecue so I wasn't too hung up on this. For some reason, they weren't bringing out all of the orders of sides we put in. Especially the dumplings. We were missing at least 5 orders of dumplings, an order of calamari, an order of rice, and several hand rolls. They were also sold out of several items, including the buns and one of the meat options. We were not told this when selecting our tier. I really was disappointed when they brought out the check without the last few orders of dumplings. None of these missing items were acknowledged - I understand if the kitchen was running low or they weren't ready, but nothing was communicated to us. Finally, the part that really soured my experience was that we were practically kicked out the second we finished paying. Yes, there is a 90-minute seating limit but they also control when they can drop the check and come to swipe our cards. The host/manager literally came over the second our server swiped the last card and walked away to basically tell us we had to leave immediately. One girl in our party had gone to use the restroom, and the rest of us were actively putting on our coats. Like, we were in the middle of making to leave. But the staff came and started aggressively clearing the plates and telling us to move out of their way while we were gathering our things. Again, I understand that there are more seatings and there is a 90-minute limit, especially with the AYCE nature. But they control the pacing at the end with a few polite reminders from staff and a literal countdown on the ordering tablet at our table, so we thought we were managing our time correctly. I don't think we were lingering at the table for an unreasonable amount of time. And for the manager/host guy to come over and basically tell us to get up and leave immediately was a little jarring. We weren't lingering or hanging out, and we weren't ordering more food past the time limit. We were clearly making to leave. We would've been there maybe two more minutes. It felt incredibly rude and honestly, we left there shocked with the treatment. We laughed then, but I've never experienced a restaurant shoo me out like that in my entire life. The worst part, I sent my friends to wait outside while I stood near the host stand to flag down the friend who had gone ot the bathroom. They hadn't even seated anyone at our old table by the time we left! Yelled at to get up, all for nothing. This is a place I had originally wanted to try for a special date night with my boyfriend, as we would've enjoyed one of the more premium tiers together. Coming here for the first time with my friends was a trial of sorts. I'm not sure if Chubby Cattle will make back on the date night list any time soon. BUT the food was good, so I hate to leave a low rating. I understand the dinner rush is tough and that the staff might just be having an off-day. I would maybe try it again with only one friend, but not another group, just to give the staff that day the benefit of the doubt. read more

Chubby Cattle - Sides (tempura, loaded fries, dumplings) - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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The vibes in here are great and honestly a refreshing addition to Chinatown. We chose to do the silver tier and it was more than enough food. We ordered the yellowtail carpaccio, cheese corn, and the rest of our meats. The fish here was great but the wagyu was the star of the show. We had Justin as our server and he took great care of us and explained the entire menu and how to order. Overall I would come back, since you definitely won't leave hungry for $58! read more

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I love all chubby cattles! Been to the one west coast and here in Chicago. But I feel the Chicago one is lacking. It was great at the beginning when they first opened but not sure what had happen. Went here yesterday for my husband's birthday.Server was great but I see other workers wiping all utensils with Clorox/lysol wipes. I don't think you are suppose to do that. It's toxic to consume. Many of the item on the menu was out of stock which is very disappointing. Also drink selection is very limited compared to other chubby. The ice cream came out like a shake. Everything was just wrong yesterday. I think we won't be going here for a while. read more

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Me and my boyfriend came here to celebrate his birthday and it was so delicious! The meats were fresh. The salmon was too good. Our server, Sophie, was so amazing. She went over the menu with us and even helped us grill some of the meats. We'll definitely be back. read more

Very delicious, kinda expensive bc $55/person for all you can eat for the cheapest package but A LOT came with the all you can eat - could order sushi, hand rolls, a lot of waygu beef options, sides, soft serve, so tbh it was worth it. I wish I knew which beef was which so I could point out my faves but honestly all of them were quite yummy, very flavorful, speedy to cook, and tender. The side sauce (the slightly sweet one) was bomb, went with everything really well. Love a corn cheese situation. Whenever I go to AYCE I think about how a former friend said "carbs are distractions from the meat" and it's def true bc I got full fast but did get to try all the beef options! They do charge for food wastage but no wastage here Excellent service, everything came speedily, our waiter Ronan was friendly and helpful and gave us a "break" from grilling for a bit and helped get the meat exactly to our desired temperatures (2 different temperatures!). Would definitely return. read more

Chubby Cattle - Remnants of corn cheese (yum!), fried dumplings, truffle fries - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Shoutout our server jay for awesome service. Came here for my friends birthday and they sang to him! Jay also helped us with technical difficulties we had while ordering. read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Chubby cattle has been on my to-try list for the longest time. I finally had the opportunity to go with my coworkers to celebrate a birthday. I will speak about the structure of the building, the service and the food. To start, the front door is broken. On the hot humid day I was there, you have to pull the door with you to close after you enter. Or you have to push the door to close it after you exit. If not, the door will remain open. We checked in and then got seated upstairs. Our server, Justin, came over promptly with water and explained the different tiers. Justin was very knowledgeable with the menu and we decided to get the membership after his explanation. Then, we headed downstairs for our drinks. Justin explained that he can also bring the drinks up to us if we want but we opted to walk down and see all the choices. There was sprite, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi for sodas. There was also milk teas and lemonade. Next to the drinks was the ice cream and little snacks. Once we got back upstairs, our first round of meats arrived! They explained the rules for ordering and I made sure we ordered every 7 mins. The orders were delivered promptly until they got busy. Afterwards, we did wait a little but Justin checked up on us every couple of minute. He even helped with my shellfish allergy! I would say that my table did not enjoy the shellfish option as it didn't seem fresh and cooked weirdly. Overall, it was a fun experience! We were grateful to have Justin as our server since he was so attentive and provided wonderful service. I would definitely come back in the future read more

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Everything exceeded our expectations! The premium meats were incredibly tender and flavorful, and you could really taste the quality. The seafood was fresh, the corn cheese was so good, and the Otoro Wagyu was the highlight of the meal. Big shoutout to Sophia and Jay for taking such great care of us during our first visit! -CC read more

Had a great time with my friends and Zaid helped us a lot, everything was very yummy and we will definitely come back

Not my fave... We've had Korean bbq. A lotta times from a lotta different places. This one is just sub par. We ordered a ton of food but was never delivered that last portion of our order. It is what it is but this was a very expensive "what it is". We had to get our own drinks and desserts from downstairs. The service was fine. It's located in Chinatown so the day wasn't wasted by any means. It does make for some really pretty pictures. read more

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This was my third time coming here, and I still loved my experience. I love how it's decorated, and the space was clean. We made a reservation, but we had to wait 10 minutes to be seated. The service was good. Our waitress was nice and very accommodating. She made great recommendations. You are allotted 30 minutes, but I will say I feel like my clock was fast because my time ended at 10 minutes before it should've. Luckily, I had already eaten a lot. One thing I will mention is some of the items I ordered didn't come out. The food is obviously the best part. I loved all the steak and waygu options available. I didn't get to taste any seafood because the seafood item I ordered didn't come out for some reason. read more

Great service from Zaid! Very attentive and friendly. Will recommend to family and friends.

Came here on a Tuesday night for dinner, and I had a great experience. The food came out fast and the server was very attentive. I appreciated that they had a place to store my coats, and how delicious the food was. I would come here again read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Ugh I thought I could remember our servers name but I forgot. He was awesome tho. Maybe it was Jay?! Anyways the food was fabulous. My husband had about 6 bowls of salad to himself lol. They had all you can drink soda and milk tea too. That's surprising. AYCE places normally charge like $5 a soda lol. We go the cheapest AYCE selection and it had great meat and veggies a sushi to choose from. This woulda gotten 5 stars had we gotten a table with 2 burners. It was really hard to cook for a party of 8 on a single 12" burner. But still highly recommend! read more

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Been here a couple times and can say that this is one of the best places to celebrate any occasion in Chinatown. Although on the pricier end, you get your moneys worth everytime. Just come with an empty stomach. Just a heads up you only have 70 minutes to order and 90 minutes to sit. Which is a good amount of time. You're also limited to how much you can order per round and have a buffer time before you place your next order. We did feel a bit of time restraint towards the end but still we all left feeling overly full. Lol We got the diamond tier for the table and since I have a membership there, two of my buddies get membership pricing and experience the perks. I think we got countless Wagyu nigiri's and Wagyu Tartar. Probably my fav items there (that aren't limited). There's also an ice cream and drink bar (has milk tea too). So be sure to leave some room for that. This place is clean and still very new to Chinatown. Highly recommend going as it's not super busy. I've gotta also shout out the workers there who not only were attentive, but also delivered the high standard service. Also you'd be bless to have Amy serve your table!! read more

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Dropped in for a late-night bite with my sister! I'd seen this spot on TikTok and was curious about the concept. It's a cool twist on Korean or Japanese BBQ where everything is served on metal skewers and cooked over a specialized electric grill. It's self-serve, so you just grab what you want from the fridge (prices are clearly marked). Without a membership, each stick is $1.30, but it drops to $1 if you're a member. A great, unique experience! read more

Jay was the BEST! I can't even tell you a moment I didn't have anything in front of me, or a drink. Food was A1, no pun, and I'll definitely be back! Thanks Jay! You RULE! read more

I dined at Chubby Cattle for a birthday dinner on June 10th of 2026. It was my third time there. The first two times were good. This past experience left me to where I will not be returning. Every time I was there I purchased the Gold (Middle) Tier for $75 a person. The food was good however this past time they were SOLD OUT of at least 30-40% of the menu options...no exaggeration. After selecting the Gold Tier and looking at the menu options on the tablet I noticed many items listed as sold out, including wagyu dumplings and other dumplings, lobster rolls, bibimbop, a few of the meat options including my favorite skirt steak. Mind you this is just naming a few things. I said to the waiter this is crazy. He replied we are waiting for a food shipment from California. I put in my order only to have the waiter come back minutes later saying they are out of Truffle Fries which showed as being in stock on the menu when I ordered. So after eating we decided to order dessert. Upon looking at the menu 3 of the 4 dessert options were sold out too! I asked for the manager and complained which I never do. I asked how can you charge full price for an AYCE meal with so many items missing. Her response was basically don't choose to eat there if the menu is missing items that you would want to indulge in. I said we drove all the way there for a birthday dinner and if I had known that you were out of a third of the menu beforehand I would have went elsewhere. Lesson learned. Just be aware if you really want to eat here I suggest calling first to make sure that they have all of the food items available. I won't be eating here again due to other really good AYCE Korean BBQ options, with full menus, for half the price. read more

Set timer of when you can place your next order.. red flag. You get the most expensive package, but limited to how many dishes you can order, even with that package... you can still accidentally add to cart items you're only allowed to order twice with the most expensive package. 90 minutes to eat, and each dish for the most part is as small as your palm, but thin as paper... just so many limitations for an AYCE experience when you are buying the most expensive package is confusing and honestly a huge buzzkill. I'd much rather go to AYCE Korean bbq where I get a big plate of each serving I ordered where it costs $30. Paid more than triple that per person (tax and tip included). Cool first experience, but definitely my last. read more

Finally tried this spot and it wasn't what I expected tbh. We did the Gold Tier ($75/person) all you can eat. It is timed so be mindful. You order from a tablet and it's quick. The special meat such as the wagyu A5 is one time for the table which kind of sucked but it was nice to give it a try. It literally melts off your mouth, it's so soft. The gold tier includes unlimited drinks which is located downstairs on the first floor. This place is like a regular kbbq spot you would go to. They do have good food options that aren't meat. The service was good. It's 2 floors. I got food poisoning after so idk what happened. Just be careful and make sure you are checking the quality. read more

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A fairly new all you can eat (AYCE) barbecue restaurant with Japanese style BBQ and a focus on wagyu beef. Overall, it offers something you don't really have much competition for in this space in the area. High end AYCE Asian BBQ. And I would say the short answer is it does deliver. ATMOSPHERE/ARCHITECTURE: 9/10 High end design that gives a great dinner atmosphere. There's a second floor too that I did not get a chance to see. SERVICE: 10/10 Some of the best service I have had at any restaurant ever, even Michelin star ones. Everything moves smooth and fast, the staff flows between all tables, plates cleared and new ones appear almost mechanistically. They have a really well oiled and polished staff. Plus they are all very nice and knowledgeable. FOOD: 9/10 Beef - 10/10 - Beef quality including that of the wagyu is excellent. They nailed this, which is the most important part of their restaurant. Sushi - 6/10 - The sushi here was average. It's not their main game, but when serving this alongside their quality beef, the drop off is quite noticeable. I would not order the sushi here. Calamari - 9/10 - Quite good! No overwhelming breading and the squid is of good quality. It is not overcooked or rubbery. Would get this again. Cheese Corn - 9/10 - Anyone who knows me knows I am never the biggest fan of cheese corn at any BBQ place. However, this cheese corn was probably the best that I have ever had. It was very buttery and rich and the dish was well put together. I would actually get this again. Boba Tea - 8/10 - They have some unlimited boba tea machines with 2 flavors. Both were quite good and beyond my expectations. VALUE: 8/10 It's not cheap, but for what you get, I think overall very fair. PROBABILITY OF RETURN: 9/10 I would highly consider another visit. TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT: Eat! OVERALL: 9/10 read more

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I've come here all the time and it always seems like their timer was faster than most places so I did a test and set my own timer on my iPhone and also the timer on the parking meter. The so called 90 minutes ended almost 18 minutes earlier than the timer on my iPhone or parking app. So they are falsely advertising 90 minutes when in reality it's like 72 minutes. Also last time I went everything was out of stock on a lot of appetizers. Even the sodas were only Diet Pepsi, ice tea and Mountain Dew. read more

Ronan, our server was great and knowledgeable. He presented everything very well and answered all of our questions. The food was excellent. The Wagu beef is all good. There is the Diamond menu option with the A5 Wagu, but we chose the Silver menu option. Included is all you can drinks, chips, and ice cream. Music is very comfortable with Japanese jams and a-little Korean. If your taste buds are in a mood for hot pot... definitely try out the place!! Go get you some!! read more

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Audrey was AMAZING!! She was so helpful and was so funny and made us feel so welcome. We were a goofy table and she even helped us cook some food since we ordered so much. Everyone loved our time there and we had a great meal. read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Ambiance - spacious, great for dates and small groups Service - super accommodating to my party of 9, servers cleared out empty plates left and right to make sure we had enough space to grill/eat Food - for $55pp/silver tier, I wish there was more meat variety/sushi variety; the milk tea on tap was amazing! Also shoutout to our server Ronin for helping us to grill our meat & making sure my party was taken care. He above and beyond - bringing us ice cream from downstairs while we paid our bill! read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I was skeptical of this place bc of the warnings of high reviews based on the age of this place. However, the food was good with Gold tier and the service was great. Jay was our server and he was easily reachable on several occasions. He would walk around to be easily flagged for attention all the time and made sure we got everything we ordered. I was sad to hear they didn't have any egg tarts, cheese tarts, and matcha mochi (some other things missing too but can't remember). Besides the special gold items, we enjoyed the short ribs and A5 brisket the most. 70 mins to order felt a bit rushed as we always had to be on top of ordering as soon as we got the previous order. Considering 90 mins of fully ordering time would have been a lot more enjoyable. read more

so so good!!! it's most worth it to order the meat instead of the nigiri (lots of rice). our server Valeriia was very lovely and attentive too :) read more

Chubby Cattle - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Pringles?! Are you kidding?! As this review was coming together in my mind, the one word which kept coming back was "inappropriate". There are certain things which are perfectly good and fine at Delroy's Deli, but not at this price point. For example: The Wagyu Tartare. I've had more than my fair share of tartares (though mostly fish). Often times, it is a homemade chip, maybe a premium Taro, perhaps even a tostada. Pringles, meanwhile: don't hold up without breaking, have too much salt for their weight, and cheapen the experience. Also, what is it with the plastic cups? Not even a red plastic tumbler but cheap, bendable, disposable things you would get if you asked for a water cup at a fast casual restaurant. Again, something that severely cheapens the experience. Then, there was the meats... I don't want to be all doom and gloom, so I'll give them a little credit. The meats were generally high quality, and ultra-premium cuts. While A5 Wagyu is not unlimited (understandably, given the cost), one can have as much [regular] Wagyu as they can eat in 90 minutes. There's just one little problem: *generally* high quality. If this were a Texas Roadhouse, and of two similar steaks was more lackluster, I would be more forgiving. However, at these prices, I become significantly more selective. I expect that anything leaving the kitchen be of excellent quality, and not "ehh, good enough". For example: The A5 Wagyu (limited to 1/pp at gold tier). This is one the server offered to cook for me. Fair enough, this is an expensive piece of meat, and I should leave it to a pro. Good thing I didn't go for it myself, for I can't blame how chewy it came out on a skills issue. It was replaced, and the next portion had the appropriate qualities. Another example is the Australian Wagyu: the way it was sliced, it wasn't possible to have a nice thin sheet on the grill, only a lumpy mishmash. I asked the server, and turns out it's supposed to visually resemble something one might find in an Italian Beef. Fair enough... except once I'd eaten it the server brought out another, without my asking, and said this one was the same item, but a better cut. With both of these, the same thing remains true: With top-tier prices, everything leaving the kitchen should be top-tier quality. A better or worse cut of the same item, chosen randomly or capriciously should not be a thing. Now, let's talk service: I absolutely want to give credit where credit is due. All food items came out very fast, and I don't think an empty plate sat on the table for more than two minutes before being cleared. It was obvious the service staff wanted the patrons to be happy. However, I feel for a place whose shtick is you do some portion of the process yourself, the attentiveness was taken to the nth degree. It almost felt as though the service staff was breathing down my neck. Offering to help show me the grill when I sit down is great, but offering to cook every other cut of meat is overkill. Not being able to walk up to the milk tea machine without being asked every time within 10 seconds if I want a cup of ice is another example thereof. If you're going to have a self-service station, add an ice machine and make it truly self-serve, or remove it entirely. Now, lets pivot and talk menu: There was no shortage of what are generally superb cuts of meat. There were also a small handful of seafood/sushi-like items that were highly appreciated, such as the salmon carpaccio. Something that was missing though? Veggies! For instance, I would have loved to grill up some onions. All I had were the few in the salad provided at the very start. Otherwise, your options are Zucchini and a Mushroom Platter. Finally, sauces: IIRC provided are a mildly spicy dry seasoning, a salt and pepper mix, a yuzu sauce, and a sweet sauce. Not bad, and other than having salt and pepper separate, I didn't feel as though something was missing. At the same time, it is hard to compete with the incredible sauce selection at Shinhwa Korean Steakhouse (1/2 mile down the road). I think Chubby Cattle needs to take a step back and take a big-picture look at what they're doing. The meats are undeniably fancy/bougie, but quality control could use some work. The service is so attentive, I am surprised no one offered to brush my teeth for me at the conclusion of the meal. While some things are premium and high end, others don't just feel cheap, but *are* cheap. While I can appreciate a good cut of meat, the overall experience at Chubby Cattle still didn't hold a candle to Shinhwa Korean Steakhouse. read more

Chubby Cattle - Wagyu Tartare - Barbeque Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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My husband and I recently visited Chubby Cattle for their AYCE BBQ and opted for the gold option. The meats were absolutely delicious, especially anything labeled wagyu or A5. Some of the side dishes however, like the Kim chi and seaweed salad, tasted spoiled. Our server Ronan was awesome and very attentive, making sure we had everything we needed. I recommend trying the A5 wagyu kappa with lettuce and cucumber. Also, don't miss out on ordering some pineapple to throw on the BBQ plate for a sweet contrast between the meaty bites. I was thankful to be able to make reservations via the Yelp app, as I've seen reviews mentioning long wait times otherwise. Overall, a great experience and I would definitely come back! read more

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