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Google
Wait: I arrived at 5:30 and was 17th in line. Considering they opened at 5pm and all the current seats had to turn over at least once, I knew I’d probably be waiting until 6:30. I was finally seated at 7:30.
Vibes: The area where you eat is a small bar that wraps around the grill. I liked all the wood and smell of smoke, beef. There is a waiting room to the left that is a mix of storage, food prep, and extremely bored people desperately staring into phones. There’s green tea and a bathroom with no soap. It’s much nicer to kill 2 hours walking around the city or going to Duo Cafe a few doors down.
Backstory: I passed through Sendai last year on my way to Aomori, where friends dragged me to an izakaya that had unremarkable gyutan. Getting better Sendai-style gyutan was on my To Do list. Gyutan no Lemon, one of the top-rated gyutan places in Tokyo on Tabelog was bookmarked - and then I heard about Chubby Tan, a joint venture between Gyutan no Lemon and Chubby Group (of the $1 skewers and AYCE wagyu chain). I had to try it.
You order via QR code and courses come out one at a time. You could tell they were still sorting themselves out at soft open.
Food: I got the Combo S+++. The thin cut tongue was tasty, the classic gyutan was chewy and underseasoned, the thick cut was the best - meaty and tender. If I could do it again, I would get the Combo A: thick cut only set.
There is a Mango upgrade for extra-thick beef (“so thick that it looks like half a mango”) but my pieces seemed rather small despite the extra $6.
I appreciated the side dishes of gyutan soup and gyutan curry, they were good but had much less meat than as shown in the app. You’re encouraged to try your slices with lemon (the best!), miso, and nagaimo (a bland slimy mountain yam I already knew I don’t like). It’s a fun tasting experience.
Price: Compared to the $48 gyutan curry with 3 pieces at Bar Moga, this is an ok deal for NYC (this would be ¥4000 in Japan). I was still hungry after spending $52 but I didn’t want to spend another $21 on 3 more pieces of gyutan.