Chubby Cattle BBQ

All-you-can-eat BBQ restaurants aren’t exactly rare in Orange County – particularly in Irvine and Garden Grove, where numerous and mostly samey Korean BBQ restaurants thrive – but there are few Japanese-style BBQs or really standout experiences on meat quality. Following the opening of multiple Chubby Cattle BBQ locations in Los Angeles, Las Vegas-based Chubby Group is about to open two restaurants in Irvine: another Chubby Cattle BBQ at Diamond Jamboree, and sister shabu-shabu restaurant Mikiya at Westpark Plaza (anchored by H Mart). Both of these new chains specialize in serving wagyu beef, with the not particularly surprising caveat that your AYCE meal will include a mix of American, Australian, and Japanese wagyu cuts, not solely the Japanese A5 wagyu spotlighted on the company’s website. Given that Chubby Cattle’s per person flat prices range from $55 (silver) to $75 (gold) to $85 (diamond) – each less than the cost of one pound of A5 Japanese wagyu – that strikes us as entirely reasonable, so long as it’s disclosed to guests up front.

At Chubby Cattle, once your table selects its meal tier, you use an iPad to order up to five plates per person every five minutes, with a strict 90-minute seating limit per group. Having dined at too many AYCE BBQs to count, we’ve never felt time-pressured before, but that happened twice during our Chubby Cattle meal – once before and once at the 70-minute mark, when the restaurant states it will provide a “last call” warning. Those were exceptions to otherwise very good and fairly quick service during our meal: Individual items arrived within minutes, frequently in space-saving stacks, and everything from emptied plates to used wire grills were proactively replaced without any requests on our part. Basic beverages such as sodas, water, and milk teas are included with meals and fully serve-yourself, as are super-simple churro donut hole desserts.

Silver tier guests have plenty of wagyu and non-wagyu BBQ options to choose from, including six wagyu cuts (ribeye, short rib, otoro, chuck eye, brisket, and knuckle), Spanish ibérico pork, and additional prime angus cuts. Additional non-BBQ wagyu dishes include raw tartare with potato chips, a spicy wagyu hand roll, steamed dumplings, and nigiri sushi, the latter medium rare thin slices with small rice balls underneath.

Gold guests add access to five top-grade, highly marbled fat A5 wagyu meat cuts (short rib, top blade, finger meat, ribeye, and otoro) – limited to six orders per person – plus a non-A5 wagyu steak, unlimited A5 brisket, lamb, scallops, and up to four orders of scallop sashimi and wagyu nigiri items. Diamond has the same items, but guests can order more items at once. As we find A5 wagyu to be too fatty, we don’t seek it out, but others may enjoy these tiers and not mind their higher prices.