Tabu Shabu

Staff was attentive, food delicious, and I really enjoyed myself while stopping in after a quick drive-​thru through this town. Good variety of meats, vegetables, and sauces, which is really important because I’m picky after living in Asia.
Highly recommend for dates and your hot pot fix.

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Great date night vibe. It is a super fun place to go and you get to play with your food. You essentially order and make your food in front of yourself. Similar idea to the melting pot but this place is more casual and this location only has bar seating but they might have a couple small tables nearby but it isn’t huge inside and it DOES get crowded.
We were here the lady offered us some lychee sake to tried and I fell in love. I have always loved lychee but haven’t ever had it in sake before and it became my new favorite. It is hard to find so if you are curious and a sake fan, or even a lychee fan, I would try this while here no matter what!

This place is by far my favorite shabu shabu. Service is excellent the food is awesome. I love the spicy miso broth and at the end put an egg in the broth… Soo good. Two thumbs up for me :)

It was busy when we came but we had
Drinks and waited to be seated and it was amazing definitely coming back!

Definitely get the Grassfed Ribeye! it’s super tender and flavorful! Tabu is definitely worth a try; they have four different types of broth bases and the typical ponzu and peanut sauces. Only reason I docked one star was because of the lack of space and elbow room, but overall, it’s really good!
*they have free hot green tea and free edamame if you check in on Unilocal

I went on a Tuesday and it’s buy one drink get one drink free so it’s neat.
Food: I did not like the broth for the spicy miso. I guess I just enjoy eating at other Shabu places more than this one.
Service: our waiter was nice.
Environment: a nice and open place to eat.

This shabu place is pretty nice. They’re different in that they have broths to choose from. Even though it makes it seem like hot pot (shabu is just water!)
I think the prices are very reasonable and there’s a lot of protein choices. It comes with a giant bowl of white or brown rice and you can change udon to yam noodles.
The veggies and meat is good for one person but might leave big eaters a bit hungry at the end.
My friend and I also got the egg porridge side that comes at the end. They mix your broth along with egg and ANOTHER bowl of rice. That thing is huge. Definitely have to take it home. It’s like a whole other main dish.
Waitresses there are friendly. It’s a good shabu place but not unlike most other ones.

Maybe I came too early yesterday or maybe it just wasn’t the day to go with the Western Conference NBA Finals starting and all… I mean, why be attentive to your customers when you can watch the game?
The plus side of going in is the happy hour. 20% on all food items. My cousin and I ended up going right after she got off work at 5ish. We got seated right away and our drink orders were taken promptly after. After getting our waters and having a few minutes to look at the menu, the girl that was there at the time took our order but with a bit of sass and attitude. My bad, did I come too early after you guys just opened? Shortly after, the basketball game started and the two guy servers there were totally into the game. I do give them props for being semi attentive to us. Overall, I didn’t have that amazing customer service I thought I would receive in the Costa Mesa area. (Yes i’m going to be shallow and rate the customer service based on area).
The food was great! Minus the dirt in one of my veggie bunches, I just threw that to the side and the guy server took it and told me it wasn’t dirt and since its hard to wash down the crevices its just veggie residue… Hmm… KK! You might be right but I still don’t want to see little particles on my veggies and expect me to consume them. The rest of the veggies were great! I love how much spinach they give you. The rib eye I got was very tender. I enjoyed it very much. Thought the broth, I got the spicy miso, could be a bit more flavorful. It was very bland. I ended up dumping my ponzu into my bowl of udon at the end to add the extra soy saucy flavor to it. The goma sauce was very weird to me. My cousin got a mixture of the pork broth and the spicy miso. The flavor was definitely better. I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong with it but it wasn’t my cup of tea.
Not the best shabu place i’ve gone to. I would definitely go again if my friends wanted to eat there but I’ll stick with my usual places. The price doesn’t help either… its pretty pricey!

After hearing a lot about this place I decided to check it out for myself, and I must say this is one of the top shabu restaurants in my book!
I ordered the kombu along with the wagyu kobe chuck roll. What I especially enjoyed was the large amount of veggies they give in one portion.
The service was good and the workers were attentive and made sure to check up on us to make sure we were doing okay throughout our experience.
They also have happy hour on weekdays where it’s 25% off when eating from 5−6pm. Definitely will be coming back, happy hour or not!

I haven’t done a review in a long while, so it must show how much I loved my dinner! :) I came in with my boyfriend a little bit after an hour before closing and they welcomed us with smiles and didn’t rush us at all.
Love their paleo option because i eat low carb. I got chicken breast as protein and spicy miso as my soup base and it was amazing! I usually don’t care for dipping sauces (I know, I’m weird to some people lol) but their sauces were pretty great. Both of our servers were awesome, but I only got one of their names which was Jose. Oh my gosh, he made our experience incredible and officially made Tabu my go-​to for shabu now. He’s the best server I’ve had a long time :)
Will be back, thanks guys!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS PLACE! This has become my all time favorite shabu shabu spot. If I didn’t live an hour away, I would go here alllll the time!
I went here for the first time with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago for lunch on a Tuesday and everyone who was working was so welcoming and nice to us. Since it was our first time there, they walked us through the menu and their recommendations. We were both debating on getting their miso broth or tonkotsu broth and they let us try a sample of each before committing to it. We both ended up getting the XL Angus ribeye with tonkotsu broth and it was amazing. Everything in it was just soooo good! I had definitely fallen for this place after that.
After we finished what we had, there was an option to turn your leftover soup into porridge. They had their own «designated porridge man» to make it and it was all being done right in front of us. Oh man, that porridge was also pretty damn good! By that time I was sooo full and I wanted to keep eating more cause it was so delicious but I couldn’t. Overall, I will DEFINITELY come back and tell others about this place.
PS. Ask about the Godzilla challenge! It sounds pretty tough even the staff says they haven’t seen anyone try it.

I’ve been here twice before and Ive always thought it was one of the better shabu shabu places I’ve been too.
Marbled ribeye: good flavor very tender
Salmon: sushi grade so you can eat it raw. I usually prefer salmon shabu shabu to be in strips rather than a large flat piece of sashimi. There is a good amount of salmon. I couldn’t finish all of it.
Service: all the waiters/​waitresses are attentive and nice. They did mess up our orders multiple times but fixed it quickly. They also didn’t give us any utensils until we asked.
Pros–
–Multiple broth flavor options– spicy miso is my favorite
–multiple protein options
–can substitute udon noodles for shiritaki
Cons–
–only bar seating, so it gets crowded and loud

I can’t even believe I had never walked in here before. It is literally across the street from my house and AMAZING!!!
It looks like a little hole in the wall but it’s super nice and cute inside. Everyone sits around the bar because you are cooking your food in the broth of your choice. I ordered the shrimp extra veggies (you can get extra veggies if you order paleo style instead of noodles or rice) in miso. I’m embarrassed it took me so long to eat here — this place is right up my alley! Healthy, nice but casual, not too pricey.
The wait was really long and my friend and I waited outside. They apparently called our names and we didn’t hear it even though we were standing right there so listen carefully and check back because they gave away our table and we had to wait again after arguing with the host that yes we were instead standing right there the entire time. They were not overly concerned. The service was a little like «um, you’re welcome for letting you eat here» but the quality of the food and the experience made up for it.
Skip the truffle edamame. It sounds weird and is, in fact, weird.

Decided to check this place out for dinner with a friend on a Thursday night. It wasn’t completely empty but wasn’t poppin’ either. I ordered the Certified Angus Ribeye with the Spicy Miso since that was their most popular broth. I really wished I just went with the Kombu (original) instead.
They give you hot drops in your sauce if you like spicy. The broth was spicy but I didn’t really taste the miso flavor. It just tasted a bit sour to me. The ribeye was good but there were small pieces of bone in it which I’ve never encountered before having ribeye at a shabu place. The meat was tender though but the bones really threw me off.
Free edamame if you check-​in on Unilocal.You get to choose from Crunchy Garlic or Truffle Oil. I went with the truffle oil. The edamame had a very light truffle flavor but I liked that the it came out piping hot.
Overall I think the broth and bones in the meat threw me off. Service was really good, our server explained everything to us and checked on us often. She even helped cook my veggies and noodles and they give you ALL of your broth. They literally pull out a huge bowl and pour everything out lol. You can also take your leftovers home, which you don’t see very often for shabu places.

Shabu places with choice of broth (Spicy Miso, Sukiyaki, Kombu, and Tonkotsu Pork), portion serving, meat, level of spicy in the sauce, and porridge!
I got regular serving of Chicken with Tonkotsu pork broth. It comes with a plate of assorted veggies (soft tofu, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, udon noodles, spinach). Whatever is left, they can make porridge at the end. The porridge is more of an risotto, super flavorful. I’ve seen this done at other places but porridge might be the first. It’s great that nothing goes to waste! With the porridge, the regular meat serving was more than enough for me.
The service was excellent; friendly and attentive! They are all available in the center of the bar after all so help is readily available.
The parking is no problem, restaurant is small, bar seating style, and has purse hooks. Regardless, I’d say this place has been added to one of my top Shabu places to go to in OC. I don’t live exactly nearby but without a doubt, I will be back!

I’ve been trying different shabu places around OC and this one is so far my favorite.
Ordered a combination of wagyu kobe short rib and salmon with kombu and my mom ordered lamp shoulder with sukiyaki.
Their beef and lamp are both freshly cut with the giant machine and in good quality. They also use sashimi salmon. The sauce they provide (yuzu ponzu and sesame sauce) are both tasty and not too salty or anything.
They give you a decent amount of vegetable, udon, and comes with either white or brown rice.
My favorite part is when you’re ready for your udon, they actually have this bonito flakes condense sauce they made to add to (as for me, my kombu soup doesn’t have much flavor) my soup with udon. It was yummy and I just add some green onion and garlic on top!
As for my mom’s sukiyaki, it was a bit too salty which I’m glad I didn’t get it.
It is a bit far for me but if I’m ever in the area, ill def come and eat!

One of my favorite shabu shabu places! It’s also close to Sidecar Doughnuts if you want to pick up a treat before or after ;)
They have a great check-​in of a freebie Truffle Salt or Spicy Garlic Edamame. Both are delicious.
There’s also a great happy hour from 5 – 6 PM that I couldn’t take advantage of until recently because of the long holiday weekend that allowed a Thursday visit. It’s 20% off everything!
Soup choices are simpler than other places, it’s just Kombu, Spicy Miso, Sukiyaki and Tonkotsu Pork.
Spicy Miso and Tonkotsu are my choices to alternate as well as the Ribeye and Pork meat choices.
One of my favorite options is to replace the udon noodles for the shirataki noodles. FOR FREE. Shirataki noodles are a gelatinous noodle made of konjac. It’s chewy and so good!
They also have a rice porridge upgrade for the end of your meal for $ 2.50. They make a risotto-​like mixture from a fresh bowl of rice and your soup, and add in more seasonings and garnishes to make a really tasty porridge. It’s worth it because you can take it to-​go for lunch the next day!
Yum, definitely a fan.

I just finished my volunteer shift at Hoag and I was really craving shabu-​shabu. LOL my cravings. Luckily, this was really close Hoag so I made a quick lunch break here at Tabu! What really struck me was the fact that Anthony Bourdain ate here before and everyone knows that he is like a true foodie genius I believe this is the second time that I’ve tried eating somewhere that Anthony Bourdain had been to (the first was somewhere in Illinois) and I feel very honored.
I like how this place has options for your broth. I got the spicy miso as my broth and the regular prime level marbled ribeye. It was really good! The meat was fresh and the broth was not spicy at all. Though, it was definitely a tad bit saltier than the regular water broth than other shabu-​shabu places but it has great flavor and I kinda expected that. I think I will stick to the regular broth next time.
Lots of parking and with a Unilocal check-​in, you get a free bowl of sea salt truffle edamame! OMG THAT EDAMAME WAS FUCKIN AMAZING I finished it clean and honestly, I can eat that and be satisfied already. Will come back!

Outstanding! I’ve been to a few shabu places and this was definitely one of my favorites. Just so sad that it’s all the way in Costa Mesa and I live in LA. :(buuut whenver I come to the OC I’ll make sure to stop by here!
I came here before the Lion King show in Costa Mesa and what pushed me to pick this place from other places is that I am such a fan of Anthony Bourdain and he said it’s the ish!!! So that jut made it for me and he was not wrong.
I love that they have different broths for your base. The options are Kombu, spicy miso, sokuyai and tonkotsu pork. I ended up getting the large (6oz) spicy miso, I chose the prime level marbled ribeye for $ 26 — just simply delicious.
Oh and how can I forget… the spicy crunchy garlic edemames! The best I’ve ever had! So freaking delicious!
I also forgot to mention how we got great service from the moment we came in. I definitely want to come back! :)

I usually don’t go out of my way for shabu, but I met a friend here recently for lunch. Overall, I think Tabu Shabu is definitely one of the better shabu experiences I’ve had to date.
Like all shabu spaces, the music is loud; the seating is shaped in a horseshoe; the prices are not wallet-​friendly.
Unlike other shabu places, Tabu offers different soup bases, including tonkotsu pork, spicy miso, and sukiyaki (in addition to plain kombu). And they even offer more low-​carb options like shirataki noodles and extra veggies for those of you on diets.
$ 16 bought me a regular plate of marbled chuck roll for lunch. Meat quality was good, sauces were on point, and vegetables were well-​portioned.
The best part of the meal, though, was the porridge. A mere $ 2.50 will buy you an entirely separate meal. That’s right, a whole other meal.
Basically, the server comes out with a fresh bowl of rice (either brown or white) and then proceeds to dump it into a bit of your leftover broth. The entire ordeal takes a few minutes as the server stirs, adds liquid, stirs, adds more liquid (as if making a risotto), adds seasoning, adds an egg mixture, stirs, stirs, stirs… and finally, pours the porridge out into a huge white bowl and carefully adds toppings (chili oil, white sesame seeds, shichimi powder, green onions, and grated radish).
The extra best part? My server drew a flower with the toppings for me. It was like a savory version of latte art. So awesome and so freaking good.
I felt that the service was above average here. It’s always the little things that get me (e.g., one of the servers stealthily turned my quarter-​eaten plate of meat 180 degrees so that the meat slices on the other side of the plate were now closer to me and easier to reach). All of the servers were very nice and accommodating, and they spoke to us exactly the right amount so that my friend and I could focus on our own conversation without being interrupted.
Other notable pluses:
— They infuse their water with lemon
— There is 1 purse hook per every 2 seats (though I wish each seat got its own hook)
— Hot green tea is free