Sumo Yakiniku BBQ Review

Sumo Yakiniku BBQ or Sumo BBQ is another restaurant from the Golden Gate Group. This group also owns notable restaurants of the same type as Gogi.

If Gogi is supposed to be the Korean barbecue, Sumo BBQ, on the other hand, is the Japanese-style barbecue restaurant.

More upscale and expensive, this joint is famous for being one of the most costly options in the mall. But does expensive mean better in terms of experience or quality ? That’s what we’ll try to find out in this article.

The locations

Example of Sumo BBQ in Aeon Mall Binh Duong

As a restaurant part of the Golden Gate Group, Sumo BBQ has most of its restaurants located in Aeon Malls, with just a few others in the city.

We tried the one located in Aeon Mall Long Bien, which is outside on the first floor next to McDonalds and Koi Thé.

Drawing of Sumo inside the restaurant in Sumo BBQ Aeon Mall Long Bien

The restaurant is fairly big. The inside is nice, with a Japanese interior design and drawings of Sumo on the walls. The ceiling is also decorated with shoji screens, very reminiscent of traditional houses in Japan.

The tables are very reminiscent of what you would find in Gogi except for the grills, which are using a Japanese style, and the aspiration system seems to be under the table and not on the top. The charcoal, very interestingly, doesn’t have a smell or taste, which is a bit odd for a barbecue but very Japanese in the idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gogi shared the same combustible.

Soju pre-disposed on the table in Sumo BBQ

Another odd detail is the soju on the table. Soju is obviously a preferred alcohol beverage in Korea, but in Japan, they are probably more focused on sake or beer.

The menu

Like most barbecue joints, the menu is quite simple. You can have a regular menu for a relatively decent price, but you’ll always want to go with the all-you-can-eat option, which is 499,000 VND at Sumo BBQ.

Like Gogi, Sumo BBQ has a tablet for each table to help with the selection of plates coming in. This process is so much more convenient than the traditional order on paper, like in iSushi. It is even more convenient since it will show you the options that are included in your menus and the ones for which you’ll need to pay an extra cost.

The menu is honestly very reminiscent of Gogi House. You almost have the same options, with some exceptions:

The regular ribeye thin cut, or Ba Chi, is only available for hotpot and not for BBQ. What a disappointment since it is basically the best part of the beef and the best cut in Gogi
On the other hand, you’ll get some seafood options like squid, salmon, and other fish.
You’ll also have some Waygu-type beef, unfortunately only part of an assortment of meat, in case you have the idea to order a lot of this meat.

The salad was just decent, even if they were offering a camembert and salmon salad. The sauce was basic and not as good as what you would get in Gogi with, for example, a bacon salad.

The drinks and desserts are basically the same across the franchise. Fruit juice costs 50,000 VND or 30,000 VND for regular soda, and probably the same price for beers.

The experience

About to start eating the selection of meat

Again, the experience is very similar to what you would experience in Gogi. Perhaps the only difference is that the staff will actually cook the entire order for you, so you basically just have to put the food in your mouth.

We are still not sure if this method is good or not, since on the one hand it makes it more convenient, but on the other hand, you need to eat at a certain tempo, which was pretty fast to be honest, and also cooking the food to your liking is for us part of the experience.

My wife in charge of the cooking of the meat

We ended up asking the waitress to do it ourselves. I think she was a bit concerned about the overcooked meat hanging in the barbecue, but for us in Asia, eating raw or medium-rare meat is not without risks since the cold chain can easily be broken.

Smokeless and tasteless charcoal uses in Sumo BBQ

As soon as the grill has burn marks on it, a waiter will come to change the grill, and as soon as the charcoal becomes weak, it will be replaced with a brand new one as well.

When it comes to taste and product quality, for us, nothing is extraordinary. It’s pretty much standard quality. I would even go so far as to say that you can have a better experience and product at another joint for a less expensive price.

The only cuts worth mentioning were the waygu beef, the squid, the beef tong, and some fish. The rest is very standard, and the taste is not something memorable; even the meat that has been marinated doesn’t taste that good.

Overall, the food is very salty and will leave you very thirsty. My wife and I had to share three drinks and were still thirsty at the end.

We ended up on a sweet note with the desserts, and they were just average and pretty much exactly like what you would find in the other restaurants of the group.

The tab was around 1,185,000 VND including tax, which is still okay compared to European prices, but for Vietnam, it’s more expensive than other options.

Verdict

7.4 out of 10.

Overall, I am pretty disappointed with Sumo BBQ. It was supposed to be the high-end version of Gogi or Gyu Kaku, but it ended up being just another franchise trying to sell “Japanese Barbecue” for a premium price.

Even when you see sushi and California rolls on the menu, they are actually out of bounds and will cost you as much as you would pay in a real sushi place.

Trying Sumo BBQ

For me, there’s really nothing special or interesting about this restaurant, and it is way inferior to Gogi in my opinion, which is cheaper and actually has thin ribeye slices included in their buffet.

The Waygu is decent, and the other “original” options like fish and squid are good as well. But there is simply not enough to justify the difference in price with other places like Gogi or Gyu Kaku.

If you are looking for BBQ, we recommend that you look elsewhere. We highly suggest Gogi, which is Korean barbecue from the same group but overall the quality is better there.