Yokiyo

Really amazing place! The décor is nice and waiters are friendly. I went with a group of friends and we had all kinds of dishes to share (no bbq though). All the dishes were very tasty, especially the duck. I would definitely recommend this place!

A true sweet spot of Amsterdam, where the food is excellent and the service is awesome — a restaurant that feels really genuine! We had the Korean barbeque with duck and rib eye steak, both were delicious. We also had the set of four vegetables (including kimchi) as side-​order, and I highly recommend this combination.

I was ecstatic to find a Korean restaurant that looked decent and wanted to find out how the food is. I ordered the kimchi jjigae and the meat mandu. The soup was just ok, it lacked depth in the usual strong flavor of kimchi jjigae. It only had a few pieces of pork in it. The dish didn’t even come with rice and had to ask for rice.
Also the meal doesn’t come with any side dishes. Very sad especially for those of you who’ve never tried Korean before, that’s part of the whole experience.
The dumplings were over fried on the outside but it was cold and raw inside. I was unfortunate enough to eat one and realized it was raw…
I’m hoping this won’t get me sick while my visit here in Amsterdam!
I gave it 2 stars ONLY because the server was very nice.

Lunch specials are delicious! I’ve tried duck & beef. Both delicious. The kbbq bulgogi, beef rib eye, and LA Kalbi are all flavorful & tender. Recommend this place because it’s very cool looking & affordable!

Great korean food, we ordered a plate of beef, some rice and some bowls of vegetables. Was a nice experience eating it.
The espresso cocktail was also really nice for a coffeelover.

I was hoping for more, literally and figuratively. I was sat on the top floor for the do-​it-​yourself BBQ. I had read up on Korean dishes and was prepared for a mountain of meat and side dishes. Not the case.
For 2 people, we could only order 2 portions of meat and a side of dumplings. I was hoping that we’d be able to order more dumplings or soup later. Nope. We got 3 thin steaks of meat per plate, 4 small dumplings for us to share, 5 tiny bowls of side dishes and a mountain of lettuce. You’d think mushrooms, spinach, sprouts and kimchi wouldn’t be expensive to make, but they give such small portions as if it were made of gold. They were very generous with the lettuce though. The meat was delicious and sweet, but the side dishes (or lack thereof) were meh. I’ve replicated better Korean side dishes at home.
The only reason we didn’t leave hungry, was because we filled up on lettuce and rice. Rice and lettuce for 28.50 euros per person. Myeah, I’m not impressed.

They close exactly at 10 o’clock I was late so It was not possible for me to try it. Is better if you go on time… so sad about this

Fantastic Korean food! Creative menu. Fun staff. The basement is so cool to eat a la carte with a view into the kitchen. Upstairs typical Korean grills. Love the typical Korean drinks too! We come here often. One of our favorites!

I wish i could give it 3 and a half stars or better yet, 3 and ¾ stars. This is based on us sitting upstairs to bbq. I believe downstairs is a different ordering process?
The good: the meat is GREAT!
The meh: how can you only do bbq as a pre set menu??? This absolutely makes no sense to me. One should be able to order as much meat dishes as one wants (which you can, but at a pre set price) and order as many a la carte dishes one wants. People, korean food or most asian food does not come in the form of a pre fix menu… usually. It’s called family style eatting. Order as many different types of dishes you want and SHARE.
Another meh: you only got 5 or 6 ban chans (small appetizer dishes). But you could get as many refills as you want… thank god.
So basically the 3 of us could order 3 different types of meat which is great but only have one chigae (soup) and one other entrée. HELLO… i like to eat my bbq meats with a few other entrees. So we got the kimchee chigae which was great and the spicy squid entrée which was terrible. Not enough flavor or spices/​sauce in it. Maybe this place is korean fushion?
Thus, I would give this place another try and sit downstairs this time so I can order as many entrees as I want. The dishes that were tasty were extremely tasty: meats and kimchee chigae. The other ONE yes, only ONE entrée we could order was terrible. We didn’t even finish it and I was with two men that LOVE korean food.
I’m hoping that sitting downstairs will do the trick and i’ll be one happy korean chick eatting my korean grub :)

As a Korean, my standards for Korean food is high. Before going, I knew that the owners and chefs were not Korean. This made me have real doubts about this place. But I decided to moderate expectations due to those reasons.
I took my friend who has zero experience with Korean food. To my liking the place is bit dark as it is set below ground level. Also… i noticed a mouse there? I saw a mouse crawling by the staircase. In case you think that it was my imagination and I must have had too many shots of soju, I was completely sober. I saw that the staff noticed the mouse problem and trying to deal with it discretely. I don’t know how others feel about this but I was not okay with it. I am aware that Amsterdam buildings are old and prone to mice problems but this is «icky.»
The interior is trendy and the kitchen is open so you can see your meal being prepared. I ordered «a la carte» menu. I ordered the duck and mixed BBQ. The marination for the meat was good. Probably one of the best marinated meat I’ve had in the Netherlands besides my mom’s cooking. Just a heads up, the food comes in rather small portions.
I was not too excited to see sugar in my Korean chili paste though. I could see the cluster of sugar. Korean chili paste already has sugar so was that extra sugar really necessary? I don’t think so.
The kimchi was not made in the conventional manner. It was more close to a pickle type of dish. But I personally like this kimchi pickle approach than the failed conventional kimchi approach. Most Korean restaurants try the conventional route and just end up with bland, salty and alarmingly red cabbages.
Super friendly and helpful staff. But that mouse though… Major minus points.
I would suggest you go if you’re completely new to Korean cuisine and want to try it out. This place would be a nice intro to Korean cuisine. But if you’ve frequently had Korean and other Asian food (I am not talking about those standard over-​Westernized food) then don’t go here. If I was with my Korean/​Asian friends then I wouldn’t even suggest this place.

I’m glad to see more Korean BBQ places popping up in Amsterdam because I just love Korean BBQ! Is this the best I’ve had? No… is it all you can binge? No… can you always cook your own? Only if you get one of those tables. But the flavors were very nice and I was craving more!

If you MUST make a reservation here, make a BACKUP reservation somewhere else that is TWO HOURS after your reservation here. In this way, just in case you are left without food at the end of this time, you can leave and go to the place where your second reservation is located… and eat. Unfortunately, I did not have a second reservation and left after 2 ½ hours.
I cannot comment on the Kimchee, a traditional Korean dish, the bulgolgi, another traditional Korean dish, or the Korean BBQ itself. Why? Because it never arrived at the table? Why, you ask? Because the TEXT message from the WAITER to the KITCHEN never arrived. By the time they had sorted that out, it was 905PM and I had arrived at 645PM.
We finally got out at 915PM to go out to dinner, finding the other decent establishments full. They only charged us for our drinks, but we left hungry. It was a horrendous experience. I will never return.
I would advise that you have a backup reservation in case the waiter and kitchen cannot coordinate your order. If I could have given a negative number to this restaurant, I would have done so. Good luck with your experience.

My. first Korean eeeeeever… And been a Korean virgin well i got… The best!!!

I had bibimbap bulgogi for lunch here and it was really really good! Big portion, affordable price (only 12 euro!), and one of the co-​owners was really friendly. He served the meal & the place was also nice. The only minus point was the smoke of the bbq of the other guests. the rest was great! I deffo will come back

Amazing Korean food in Amsterdam. The bibimbap is fantastic. Ingredients are made fresh daily by the chefs. You can really taste the difference. I also really like their pajon pancakes, both veggie and kimchie variants.
I’ve eaten her twice for lunch, and have not yet tried their Korean BBQ. It looks really cool though, with custom built brass tables.
I also really dig the décor of the place. It’s what I would call «modern dutch» design, where most items are made of natural materials, with hints of bright colors (pink, turquoise).
The owner is also a really nice guy!
My only complaint would be that they don’t leave the water carafe on the table, making you run out of water from time to time.

While participating in Restaurant Day in Amsterdam, I sat across from a lovely gentleman, his partner and child. After a brief conversation, I learned that Dutch Tim Doornewaard started a Korean BBQ venture after seeking out his Korean birth parents in Seoul.
He caught my attention with this incredible story, for sure, and then it was just a matter of getting myself into restaurant. I made reservation for 2 on a Saturday night, and was SO disappointed we couldn’t sit by the grills upstairs. They are only available for parties of 4 (so you bet your bulgogi I’ll be going back + 2 more!)
We waded through the tourists along De Wallen, and sat downstairs (a little depressing because of the lack of windows) sharing a cafeteria style table. Not great for a date night, but we drank some soju and then it didn’t matter where I was sitting or what was happening around me, for that matter.
The mandu was delicious, but we only got 4 little dumplings. Thankfully our entrees were a nice portion size, and there were lots of little plates for dipping this and that. We got the bulgogi + pork belly, and both were awesome. Did I mention they served korean Kass beer? I was in heaven. AND the service was good.
Only giving it ⁴⁄₅ because of the 4 person limit to a grill thing. Will definitely be going back!

Dames en Heren, can I have your attention please!
Ahem…
I would like to proudly introduce Yokiyo! A new Korean BBQ place right in the heart of A’dam!
If Dance Dance Revolution, the Samsung Galaxy and Gangnam weren’t already essential contributions from the good ol’ land of kimchi (aka Korea), Korean BBQ establishments rank high on my personal list of must eat foods! Why, you ask??? Grab a cup of corn tea and let Uncle Dennis tell you aaaaaaall about it.
When first moving to the windmill and unicorn land of Amsterdam, I was deeply distraught to discover that there were no Korean BBQ joints in the city and I would have to travel to a far away land called Amstelveen in order to get my fix of grilled marinated Korean meat! However, I can now stuff my belly SILLY with Korean delights while washing it down with k-​beer in the Red Light district at Yokiyo!
What is Korean BBQ, you ask!!! In Dutch, one might call it a vleesfeestje! Yeah, you heard me. MEAT PARTY! Jaaa jaaaa, you can get soups, veggies and blah blah blah, but to further exploit Asian sterotypes for you, here is a little math equation to remember:
Korean BBQ = meat x meat x (meat + meat)
In the US, most of the Korean BBQ places are all you can BINGE and let me tell you, I have stuffed my body so full with Korean meat, the next day I thought I was going to deliver cute little Korean triplets appropriately named Jeong, Seong and Keong. At Yokiyo, it’s not all you can eat, but I promise you will be stuffed.
BUT! When you come here, MAKE SURE TO GET KALBI AND BULGOGI!!!
Waarom? Daarom! Just do it.
You can get other stuff if you want, but if you want the real deal Korean experience, you MUST get these two items. GOT IT?!?
Also, make sure you sit at a grill so you can grill yourself (if you’ve done it before) or have them grill for you. Just remember you will reek of succulently marinated Korean meat afterwards, but it’s well worth it!
The only reason I’m giving this place four stars and not five is that I’ve NEVER been to a Korean BBQ place that charged for all the little sides (kimchi, sesame spinach, beanspouts, etc…) so people who are familiar with K-​BBQ will be surprised by this too.
Remember! Kalbi and Bulgogi — now go get yo’ meat on!