Yakiniku no Ganaha: Best AYCE Japanese BBQ in Okinawa

Fan of Japanese BBQ or Yakiniku? Definitely check out Yakiniku no Ganaha in Okinawa after visiting the Churaumi Aquarium, where you can enjoy all-you-can-eat Japanese Wagyu beef, pork, and goya!

Yakiniku no Ganaha

Yainiku no Ganaha is located in Nago-shi in Okinawa, approximately 30 mins from the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. It is the perfect dinner spot after spending a day enjoying all the wonderful water creatures at the Aquarium!

Address: 7-23-21, Miyazato, Nago-shi, Okinawa, 905-0011

Hours: 11:00 – 24:00(L.O.23:00)

Website: No official website, Gurunavi info

Telephone: 050-5784-3298

Mapcode：206 657 848*63 (for Japanese GPS)

Reservation Required? Recommended for weekend or holiday dinner

Yakiniku no Ganaha offers both AYCE or a la carte menu. A la carte menu offers premium Ishigaki Wagyu beef (Japanese beef originated from Okinawa Prefecture) and Yanbaru pork (pigs raised locally in Okinawa). The prices are very reasonable for these premium meat, and it is definitely much better value than in Naha.

We were hungry that day after our visit to the aquarium, thus we went with the AYCE option!

Note that similar to other Japanese AYCE restaurants, Yakiniku no Ganaha limits time (90 mins for lunch and 120 mins for dinner) and have different prices for male and female.

Lunch: All-you-can-eat (AYCE) – 1,500yen for female, 1,800yen for male (90 mins)

Dinner: All-you-can-eat (AYCE) – 2,500yen for female, 3,000yen for male (120 mins)

Interior

We visited the Shinkan (Japanese for new store) location of Yakiniku no Ganaha, which opened in August 2015. The Shinkan is 2 times larger than the original store with about 150 seats. There was also a large carpark outside with free parking.The restaurant is very clean, bright, and spacious, which is much better than other smoky and oily yakiniku places

We were given a bar counter seat, which is perfect for couples!

We visited during a weekday night for early dinner thus there was no wait. However when we finished our dinner (around 8pm), the restaurant was fully occupied and there was at least hour long wait! Therefore we would recommend reservation for weekend or holiday dinner. Reservation is only through telephone and is Japanese only.

All You Can Eat Dinner

Yakiniku no Ganaha AYCE dinner has a large selection of meats, including different cuts of pork, beef, chicken, and vegetable.

Here are a small selection of the meats offering. From the top, there are fish, Tontoro (fatty pork), marinated beef, pork, cubed beef, and sliced bacon.

We highly recommend the cubed beef. They have the perfect mixture of fat and meat, giving them a wonderful marbling pattern. After grilled for around 5 minutes, the texture is perfect, very soft and immediately melt in the mouth!

Japanese BBQ (Yakiniku) is different from Korean BBQ as most of the meat are not marinated. The grilled surface is also on a pan that allowed for direct contact with the fire (Korean grill are on a metal plates).

Being in Okinawa, there is also goya (bitter melon) for grilling. Surprisingly, all the goya in Okinawa are not bitter at all and taste wonderfully along with the meats!

There is also a cold bar with selection of salad, fruits, and desserts. The ingredients are locally sourced from Okinawa and are very fresh and delicious. There were also Okinawan specialty such as goya (bitter melon) and Beniimo (sweet potato)

There is also section for drinks (extra charge), soup (miso soup), and rice.

Dessert

Even though we are very full after all the delicious yakiniku, there is always room for dessert! Included with the AYCE eat menu is Japanese shaved ice with mochi (Japanese rice cake with ice cream filling). The shaved ice are self made from the machine and it is very cool to make it yourself!

The mochi were very sweet and chewy and were perfectly complemented by the vanilla and green tea ice cream fillings. There is also sweet rice balls and red beans to go with the shaved ice.