The 6 Best Chain Restaurants That Serve Wagyu Beef
Wagyu is the crown jewel of beef, known for its silky texture, high fat content, and often exorbitant cost. The word "Wagyu" doesn't actually refer to the cut of the steak though; Wagyu is a breed of cow, one that requires a long lifespan and special diet, thus resulting in costs of around $60 a steak. Yet many people revere the meat, with great appreciation for the buttery, perfectly crusted steaks and tender, juicy burgers. Naturally, as our cultural exposure to Wagyu beef has grown across the country, our taste for it has increased as well, leading many restaurants to consider it a desirable, if costly, menu addition.
Popularized in Japan, Wagyu cows made their way to the U.S. in the 1970s, before Japan banned exports on the cattle two decades later. As such Wagyu beef can be found in the U.S., but many consider the highest quality that which is imported directly from its native Japan. For this reason, restaurants that do serve Wagyu often have to upcharge and or offer promotional deals. In many cases though, it's worth it to splurge, especially if you are at a steakhouse or burger chain that specializes in preparing this particularly fatty meat. Without further ado, here are the 6 best chain restaurants where you can have a truly bountiful Wagyu experience.
HiHo Cheeseburger
This California-based chain has made a living off of Wagyu beef. HiHo's ethos is centered around the fact that every burger is made of "100% grass fed and 100% grass-finished Wagyu", which is an impressive feat considering its classic double cheeseburger only goes for $8.95. HiHo sources its meat from First Light Farms, a sustainable collective that relies on feeding its cows grass, as opposed to the classic Japanese barley and rice diet. It's an approach emblematic of a new, American style of Wagyu beef, and HiHo is at the forefront of Wagyu's expansion into the most American food of them all: the burger.
HiHo has a compact menu that, for obvious reasons, highlights the infamous burger patty, which is mustard-grilled in similar style to other West Coast chains. Accompaniments on HiHo's burgers rarely stray from American cheese and ketchup, except in the case of its Pastrami Heat burger, which consists of two patties topped by, you guessed it, Wagyu pastrami. You can also make most burgers either spicy (by way of special onions), or covered in Matty sauce, which is a homemade 1000 island dressing iteration. Regardless of what style you choose, you'll be getting the full Wagyu burger treatment.
Bareburger
Over in New York City, Bareburger is getting in on the Wagyu trend, which has to be expected, given its expansive menu filled with meats like bison and elk. The high-end burger restaurant has recently put together a Wagyu beef burger with some serious swagger: it's an 8 ounce patty, served only with a small blanket of Swiss, special sauce, and frizzled onion. The menu dubs it the "Top Shelf Super Duper." It doesn't rival the slider special financially — at the time of publication, it's priced around $22 — but it certainly does in terms of size and might. More than double the size of all other burger patty options on the menu, this Wagyu special is an ode to luxury.
For those more money-conscious who still have a hankering for Wagyu, Bareburger can still provide in epic fashion. Monday through Friday, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., it serves a Wagyu smashburger for only $3.69 at participating locations; it almost seems too good to be true. To make it even more legendary, your Wagyu blend is mixed by some of the masters of meat, the fine purveyors at Pat LaFrieda. This special subverts the common assumption that only the wealthy can consume Wagyu beef, and sets a wonderful precedent for other burger restaurants looking to expand into the Wagyu realm.
COTE Korean Steakhouse
COTE may only have a few locations in the U.S., but quality over quantity is the name of its game. It has won a Michelin star, a first for a Korean steakhouse, and has managed to curate a vibe that blends together American and Korean traditions in a unique way. It's no surprise that Wagyu fits into this framework, given its ability to transcend Eastern and Western culinary traditions. In this case, it is U.S.-raised Wagyu beef that has become a defining feature of any classic COTE meal. The most luxurious Wagyu option is the ribeye cut, but there are some others too, like the NY strip. Then there is the kimchi Wagyu paella, highlighted in Miami's Michelin guide; the title of the dish alone holds enough power to create intense salivation.
Celebrities have been flocking to COTE to try its award winning meat and barbeque experience, and will continue to flock for years to come. One Food Network star, Jeff Mauro, explained how if he's going to eat steak at a restaurant, he'll do it at COTE ... and it has to be Wagyu. It's a pretty good endorsement of the Wagyu at this incredible Korean-American establishment; just make sure you are willing to shell out some money for the good stuff.
Gyu-Kaku
Gyu-Kaku brings the Japanese barbecue tradition to the US, and thus it's no surprise that Wagyu beef pops up on most of its menus. The chain has over 50 locations across the country, with the majority cropping up in California, New York, Hawaii, and Texas. Not every single location offers the signature A5 Wagyu menu (Austin, Houston, Beverly Hills, and San Mateo are some notable exceptions), but most do, including all six of the NYC spots.
For context, Gyu-Kaku offers an immersive cook-it-yourself experience similar to many other Japanese BBQ restaurants. You and your friends or family share a grill located in the middle of the table, and cook the meat yourselves as an innovative smoke system draws all the fumes and soot down away from the table. All that you are left with is a (hopefully) delicious piece of meat. Wagyu might be the riskiest item to grill correctly, simply because it runs a little pricier than other cuts, around $50-60 at the time of publication. But the ingredients for success, literal and figurative, are there for the taking.
The special menu encourages you to sear the more expensive belly-cut Wagyu in the middle of the grill, while the excess pieces of the short rib require a slower cook on the outside of the grill. If you feel confident about your own Wagyu cooking skills, Gyu-Kaku is the place to visit- just make sure that you check to make sure that its signature Wagyu menu is still around!
Fogo de Chão
Fogo de Chão is known for its festive atmosphere, large group dining area, and picana-style steak.... yet its Wagyu prowess is relatively unknown. The popular Brazilian steakhouse has many locations across the US, and even recently expanded north to Canada — its dominance in the world of steak is well-established, and has been since 1979. Given that it has been around for almost 50 years, one might expect the formidable institution to step up its game in conjunction with the changing times.
So, while it specializes in the quintessential Brazilian top sirloin, the steakhouse chain has a pretty solid selection of Wagyu beef, offered as an enhancement to the regular steak selection menu. There's a ribeye, New York strip, and — for a limited time — a porterhouse, all of the Wagyu variety and all aged for 21 days. The chain sources its Wagyu from what it describes as "family farms" in Australia, guaranteeing the cattle are raised on non-GMO corn-free grain. Reviews still revere the traditional picanha, the Wagyu enhancements have gotten some good press too, proving that Wagyu can find its place across countries and cuisines.
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse
Fleming's doesn't just provide Wagyu on the side, as an accompaniment to the meal — it offers a whole Wagyu experience that celebrates the variety of steak for all that it is. It still has that quintessential, American steakhouse vibe, but it's clear from the Wagyu menu that it prides itself on a thorough knowledge of steak and careful preparation. Fleming's uses a specific breed called "Kagoshima Japanese Black Cattle" which has a high level of marbling and unsaturated fat, creating a soft, juicy texture. Kagoshima, which is a prefecture (subdivision) of Japan, is known for treating its cows very humanely, allowing them to graze in large open spaces and giving them water rich in minerals.
Kaghoshima's Wagyu is of the Japanese A5 status, which means that the beef has extraordinary "marbling, color, texture, and firmness". Japan is strict about exporting Wagyu beef of such quality, yet Fleming's makes the cut, and it upholds this honor by hand-selecting each cut of Wagyu and allowing the customer to finish cooking their steak on a "sizzling hot stone". It's for these reasons and many others that Fleming's made it onto Tasting Table's best steakhouse list, which is no small feat. Along with the other steak offerings, the A5 Wagyu at Fleming's is top tier.
Methodology
After engaging in some initial research, I realized that I would have to split the article into two categories of chain restaurants: steakhouses and upscale burger chains. Most fast-food burger restaurants that specialize in red meat, like McDonald's or Arby's, have included limited-time Wagyu menu items in the past, but it felt more important to highlight chains that prioritized Wagyu on a more consistent basis.
I tried to focus on finding restaurants that specialized in Wagyu burgers at first, but after landing on HiHo early on, I encountered the same problem over and over again: most hamburger chains, even the fancier ones, don't use Wagyu as a go-to promotion. Finally, I remembered a burger restaurant from my youth, Bareburger, that always liked upping the ante when it came to their meat. Lo and behold, they possessed a pro-sustainable beef presence on their website similar to that of Hi-Ho, with multiple Wagyu items.
The remaining four spots all went to steakhouses of varying styles- Japanese BBQ, Korean, Brazilian, and standard American. Each steakhouse chain had their own interpretation of Wagyu, with the advanced accompaniment always appearing on the menu as an addition to the meal, although some truly went above and beyond when it came to preparation.