How Chef Junzo Brought the Best Affordable A5 Wagyu to the DMV

Japanese A5 Wagyu is the highest grade Japanese beef can receive, and in the Washington region it has long been priced as a rare splurge. At Bourbon Steak in Georgetown, Japanese A5 Wagyu striploin from Miyazaki is $176 for 4 ounces, or $44 an ounce. At Del Frisco's Double Eagle in Washington, Japanese A5 Wagyu from Kagoshima is $90 for 3 ounces. Chef Junzo Miyajima, IVEA's Executive Master Chef, set out to change who gets to eat it. At four IVEA restaurants, Gyuzo, Gyu Shige, Gyusan and Genki Wagyu House, A5 now starts at $12 a piece, and the most generous dinners include it in a $98 all-you-can-eat price.

Junzo was born in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, and has more than 20 years of experience as a chef. He cooked at EN Japanese Brasserie in New York and ran the kitchen at Kaiju Ramen in Washington before building restaurants with IVEA. Gyusan's website credits him with producing three Japanese BBQ restaurants in the DMV, and the Baltimore Business Journal calls him Gyusan's chef and co-owner. All four restaurants in this story are IVEA restaurants, and this is our own account of how they were built.

When his first Wagyu restaurant opened in 2020, Japanese barbecue was still new to the region. Before Gyuzo, the only Japanese barbecue restaurant in the DMV was Gyu-Kaku in Arlington's Clarendon neighborhood, which calls itself the first Japanese BBQ in the DMV. Top-grade Japanese A5 was mostly a steakhouse item, sold by the ounce.

Gyuzo BBQ opened at 33 Maryland Avenue, Suite B, in Rockville Town Square in November 2020. Its all-you-can-eat sets run 90 minutes: Classic at $55, Premium at $68 and the Gyuzo Signature Set at $98, and every A5 cut on the menu comes from Miyazaki Prefecture. The most impressive single bite is Uni-Meets Wagyu, $20 a piece: fresh uni over seared A5 Wagyu with black caviar.

Gyu Shige followed on February 14, 2021, at 2980 District Avenue, Suite 100, in Fairfax's Mosaic District. It is the first U.S. location of a yakiniku name founded in Tokyo in 1988, and Northern Virginia Magazine called Junzo the creative force behind its menu. Gyu Shige sells A5 by the cut, so a table decides how much to spend: 3 ounces of A5 Wagyu for $58, about $19 an ounce and less than half the per-ounce price at Bourbon Steak. A 7-ounce A5 striploin is $128, and Premium Kobe Wagyu tops the menu at $238 for 7 ounces.

Gyusan opened at 4300 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 150, in Ballston, Arlington, in late May 2023, and a second Gyusan opened on October 7, 2025, at 6200 Valencia Lane in Columbia's Merriweather District. Dinner is all you can eat in three 90-minute sets: Silver at $58, Gold at $78 and Diamond at $98, with $10 off for members. In Ballston, Gold adds one A5 Top Blade per person, and Diamond adds one A5 Striploin and one A5 Toro Kalbi per person. A5 Wagyu nigiri is $12 a piece, and the weekday all-you-can-eat lunch in Ballston, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., is $28.

Genki Wagyu House brought the same idea to shabu-shabu in June 2026, at 870 Festival Street in Twinbrook Quarter, Rockville. Silver is $58, Gold at $78 adds one order of Japanese A5 shoulder per person, and Diamond at $98 is the only course with unlimited Japanese A5 brisket and shoulder. The partners told Bethesda Magazine the goal is "a fine dining experience crossed with the all-you-can-eat experience." A weekday Wagyu lunch is $38.

How the prices came down: the restaurants buy Wagyu together instead of one dining room at a time, which gives them buying volume and long-term supplier relationships. The kitchens cut the beef in-house. And the all-you-can-eat format turns A5 into a fixed price per person that a family or a group of friends can plan around.

For DMV diners, the result is, in our view, the best range of ways to taste A5 without a steakhouse bill: a $12 nigiri, a $58 three-ounce cut, or a $98 dinner with A5 for everyone at the table, in Rockville, Fairfax, Arlington and Columbia. The grill or the pot sits in the middle of the table, so the whole group shares it.

The next step is Wagyu Mega World, an IVEA development planned for a 42,000-square-foot former supermarket in Tysons Corner, with Wagyu barbecue and hotpot at its center and a Wagyu market for cooking at home. IVEA is aiming to open toward the end of 2027.

Where to go: Gyuzo BBQ, 33 Maryland Ave., Suite B, Rockville, MD. Gyu Shige, 2980 District Ave., Suite 100, Fairfax, VA. Gyusan, 4300 Wilson Blvd., Suite 150, Arlington, VA, and 6200 Valencia Lane, Space C110, Columbia, MD. Genki Wagyu House, 870 Festival St., Rockville, MD. Prices come from each restaurant's menu in fall 2026 and may change.