Shabuway Japanese Style Hot Pot

I lag big time. I have 91 pages of Unilocal check-​ins, and they go all the way back to 2011. This was my oldest check-​in in 2011, so when catching up on my reviews I guess I will go backwards from here!
Shabuway is average. They don’t really have anything special about it. It’s expensive for the amount of meat that you get. I have not been to many shabu places but I feel like other restaurants give more. I usually get the Kobe with spicy miso broth. The Kobe is marbelized like most Kobe beef but it wasn’t the best I’ve had. I’ve tried most of the broths and the spicy miso broth has the most flavor. I can’t remember if I’ve tried anything else it’s been so long.
I’ve taken my supplier here a few times and I’m not really sure how they liked it because they are from Japan and I’m positive they have much better shabu over there in Tokyo.
Anyways, if you are in the area and have a shabu craving then I guess it will do! I personally would rather have a hot bowl of tonkotsu ramen =)

Delicious, if a little pricey, Japanese style hot pot. Their spicy miso broth is absolutely the way to go. Their sesame dipping sauce is amazing.

Ohh gosshh yaaassssss!!!
Shabuway i love you…
Been going and eating here for years and still think about eating shabuway everyday… Lol
All u can eat baby… 7 orders of meat
I love you will you marry me shabuway!!!

I love this place. Some times there is a wait but it’s worth it! I’ve been to a few different shabu & this is one of the best!

The all-​you-​can-​eat Shabu Shabu is the way to go! The other plates are a bit pricey so we went with all you can eat to get our money’s worth.
The meats are delicious (although the meats kept switching every time we got a new plate of meat even though we ordered the all you can eat that had one meat choice) and the all you can eat is definitely worth if you enjoy mushrooms. (enoki, oyster, shiitake, etc)
The broths are great, I suggest the spicy miso over the tonkatsu since the tonkatsu gets very heavy over time.
Overall a great place!

I like Shabuway.
The meats are good quality, the broth is tasty, and the service is pretty good. I know exactly what I am going to get when I come here, and I am fine with that. Shabuway is consistently good and I have been coming back every couple of months for a couple years now. It might be a bit expensive in comparison to some other hotpot places but in my opinion the quality and cut of the meats are well worth it. Sometimes when I am really hungry I go for their all you can eat option, which personally I am able to get a lot of value out of.
I will obviously be returning.

Three years down the line, I’ve come to know Shabuway as an option with good broth and some great meats, but maybe not the best variety or pricing. Now I’m confident Shabuway can hold its own against the other contenders.
Compared to the old days, there’s been some good additions. There’s now a third broth option — Spicy Tonkotsu. It’s a light broth with that pork flavor, but don’t get your hopes for a concentrated ramen taste until 80% of the water is gone. It’s not as good as spicy miso, but definitely probably preferred to Traditional’s tasteless accents for many.
They’ve also expanded their meats to include a couple seafood options and a couple all you can eat packages, previously a temporary special. Personally I didn’t think the shrimp potstickers were worth it, but the fresh seafood for sure. And the all you can eat definitely is an achievable package — you’ll get your money’s worth after two plates, and you can only go up from there.
Thanks for upping your game Shabuway. I’m glad I don’t have to drive an hour to get a light, great tasting meal.

luv luv luvvvv the portion and how thick the slices were. Very attentive on sauces and drinks. My parents were pleased :)

Overall, pretty underwhelming. We got half (extra spicy) tonkotsu, half seaweed broth. The tonkotsu was good, a bit on the strong side. However the seaweed was so bland and flavorless, I don’t know how they can get away with serving it as ‘broth’; it was basically boiled water with two little pieces of seaweed floating around.
The vegetables were also pretty mediocre, nothing you couldn’t get from the grocery store. The meat was good (we got a large kobe beef and medium lamb for the two of us) but I didn’t think the meat was enough. Normally when I go to hot pot, I like to get more meat and fewer vegetables. However, because you have to choose a combo meat and vegetable platter here, you end up getting more like half meat, half vegetables, even though the price is similar to other hot pot places.

I love Shabu… It satisfies my meat cravings very nicely.
shabuway would be my 2^nd favorite place. Their «Kobe» is ok. But I think there are better quality out there that they could’ve used. Their lamb is good though!
Broth. I usually like the more traditional ones so I can actually enjoy the meat. Which… I usually end up not eating any sauce. But Shabuway made me do the opposite. Their seaweed broth is too bland… And since their Kobe had a bit «beefy» smell, I end up eating with the sesame sauce. So together with the sauce, the Kobe was good. The Lamb was awesome with the vinegar sauce (remember to put some garlic and radish in there).
Overall… Pretty good experience.

Shabuway added more broth choices! Definitely a fan of the tonkotsu broth. This place beats One Pot now that One Pot made some horrible changes to their menu :(
The veggie plate here always looks like it has been sitting in the fridge for a while (condensation and the vegetables are kind of limp), but service is great.
Also, the Unilocal deal is outdated.

Solid. The spicy broth was quite spicy and too much for our friends with delicate taste buds. The Kobe beef and pork were tasty. I thought the filling in the shrimp dumplings was too finely minced/​ground but others at our table seemed to enjoy them. The chicken karaage was fresh from the fryer and crunchy — only 6 pieces so good for an appetizer to share. I’d check out other hot pot places before returning since there’s plenty of options.

The miso broth had great umami flavor, and is the best one in my opinion. The meat was good but it was a bit old, and for the price, I definitely expected better. Everything was delicious but definitely not worth the price. There was not enough meat to justify the $ 17 price point.
The wait on a Thursday night was around 30 minutes, so be prepared for a long wait.
Would not visit again.
Although I guess a positive is that you get your own pot if you sit at the bar.

How can this place be so unrated! It is amazing, fresh meat, delicious soup broth and pretty fast service too.
We arrived around 730pm and the place was packed. Thankfully for us, a couple were just done and we were seated promptly.
They have a minimum spend per person. Each person has to order one meal else an additional surcharge of $ 7 per pax.
We ordered a medium Kobe Beef and a Pork set. Each set comes with the traditional vegetables which is a mix of vegetables, mushrooms, tiny bit of noodles.
We went with a half & half broth, mild spicy Tonkatsu and very spicy miso. They were splendid!
The beef and pork were very fresh and tasty. The sauce for dipping were amazingly good too.
The staff were prompt in serving us. Cup was never empty!
Absolutely love the food here. We are definitely going to come back for this, perhaps we will go for the Eat All You Can meal!

Came on a Thursday night @ 7pm. As my friend had not arrived yet, I sat down on a waiting chair. Found it strange that no one came up to greet me or ask if I wanted a table.
We ended up just sitting at the bar which was pretty empty. If you sit at the bar, you can have your own pot too which was nice.
This place is just OK. The portion sizes are very small in terms of the veggies platter. The meat portion size was fine. This place is also a couple $ more than some of the other hot pot places (One Pot, Little Sheep, Tai Pan) Got the spicy miso broth and it was very flavorful. Also liked the tonkatsu broth but it needed a little more kick to it.
Service could be improved. We weren’t checked upon. Our garlic condiments were almost out and at one point, even though I still had meat left on my plate, they turned down my hot pot to the lowest setting without asking if I was done yet. If they could add a little more customer care it would bump this up a little bit more.

This place sucks.
They took a really long time to take my order and also a really long time to get my meat out to me. If anything, the meat should be out first or even shortly after everything else. However, we waited like 10 mins for the meat so we could start eating. We ordered the spicy miso and spicy tonkotsu broth. Both broths were very bland, which sucks because hot pot revolves around the taste of the broths. If you can’t perfect the broth, why open a shabu restaurant?
As for meat, we got the Americans Kobe beef and the aged prime angus. They were good quality meat and was very soft when cooked.
There are extra charges everywhere. Extra 1.50 $ for the tonkotsu broth. Extra 7 $ sharing fee. Extra .50 $/​each to sub white rice for brown rice (which we were not informed of). Ok whatever, that’s fine.
Our server did not come to our table to ask if we needed anything or to refill our water. Maybe serving isn’t for you because it wasn’t even a full house. I would understand if you were super busy but I seent u chilling bruh. You aren’t getting tipped well if you’re only showing up to drop off the food. Another server had to give us our check and pick up the check.
Step up.

Did AYCE shabu and left full and satisfied! My table got half spicy and half seaweed broth — the spciy one was pretty freaking spicy (I can’t hang when it comes to spicy food though), but the seaweed broth was basically water.
I really enjoyed the lamb, while my friends downed plate after plate of the kobe and pork. Veggies were good too, and also AYCE! I saw a lot of other reviewers complaining about the service, but when I went, it was totally fine. I definitely plan on coming back!

I’ve been on a shabu binge, or at least recently… My friend took me to one in OC and I loved it, but didn’t love this one too much…
First of all, they weren’t that busy, but it looked like they only had 1 server and 1 server in training. Which we felt bad for the one in training because he didn’t have a clue on what he was doing. He even forgot to turn on the stove! The girl server was totally stressed and overworked.
The broth: so bland, it was no good… mostly tasted like water and no seasoning. We got the mixed broth, spicy miso and regular. Disappointed on how bland the broth was. The meat was also dry… wasn’t as good as other shabu places… but it wasn’t horrible. They did give you a decent amount… I got the kobe beef (which is what you should get only) and the pork (way too dry). I did like the amount of veggies, especially the cabbage.
Usually at shabu places they have the option of making it more spicy by adding the spicy driblets but this one didn’t give us that option, or the servers were too busy to ask us. We couldn’t get their attention for service either.

Shabuway was delicious, definitely recommend the American Kobe beef. It was so soft and tasted amazing with the dipping sauces. (Though the ponzu was a bit sour for me)
However, the service was absurdly slow. It took us 15 minutes to be addressed by the staff when we walked in, and then another hour until we got our food. It’s expected that a large party would have to wait for a table, but we had to wait 45 minutes even after the previous large group left because the staff avoided cleaning and setting up our table.
The food is worth it, but it’s not a place for bigger groups.

Came here a couple days ago. We were a group of 3 (my first time). We were seated really fast. The ordering process is really easy: choose the broth and the kind of beef you want. We all got the kobe beef. We ordered the spicy miso and the traditional seaweed broth. The spicy miso broth was really good. It added a lot more flavor to the meat and veggies when you cook it. The dipping sauces they had for the meat was pretty bomb too. On top of that you also get a bowl of rice too. Our service was exceptional. We were constantly checked on by our server: from refilling our waters without having to be reminded to asking if we were doing ok.
Ultimately, 4 stars for the food, service, a clean store, and an easy to access restroom. If I’m in the area during their lunch hour, I may just have to use their $ 9.50 Unilocal deal. Thanks guys.

The honey and I won’t be back to this Shabuway.
We dropped in here again after becoming regulars at the Japantown Shaburi, and the difference is astronomical.
To start off with the price is $ 5 more here for the EXACT same dish. Add in that this location doesn’t have the Seafood broth (also soy free) thus the only choice for non-​soy folks like myself is the EXTREMELY bland seaweed flavor.
It is literally so bland I feel like I should bring my own flavor packets.
The service is also pushy… I understand it’s near closing time, but lock the door if you are no longer taking customers, I shouldn’t have to feel like I’m eating just to GTFO by the exact time you close.
All in all we probably won’t be back. For the $ 10 extra I’d rather drive to Japantown and enjoy my broth and meal in my own time.

I still love this place but did the entire staff get replaced since the last time I was here? Newbies!
I’m white and even knew the sauces are ponzu and goma-​dare. Had to school the new girl much to the embarrassment of my even whiter friends! Good luck shabuway… Looks like you on a decline!

Honestly, now I see why this place has horrible ratings. Went back to grab a weekday lunch special for $ 9.50 on Wednesday. Figure, since I had a great experience last time, I should bring a friend over to enjoy it as well.
With a sparkling age of 21, and those genetic looks that make me look 18, I tend to experience bad service. If you know what I mean… The way it goes is the younger you look, the worse service you get. And I don’t appreciate that. Servers treat you nicer if they know you’re gonna tip, young people don’t tip. You get me? Please bear with me. Basically…
–Arrived at 1:14PM for lunch and placed in name for table for 2
–Group of 2 who came after us got seated before us (worker noticed but didn’t care)
–Made multiple attempts to place our order (two tables after us [seated next to us] got service to put their order in first)
–All other tables got complimentary fruit
–Asked for water (never got it until we got the bill)
–Chicken Karaage mean inside was pure pink (Salmonella)
–Waiter refused to take that into consideration due to store closing in 20 minutes
–Saw them sit down a couple before closing but denied them the right to order due to kitchen closing (okay seriously, what’s the point of this one, right?)
With all these problems, I was pateint and considerate with handling them, but all ended with no luck for any better service. Of course til the end when we got our check. They only got a $ 3 tip for the $ 23 check (for two people).
I understand this is a long story, but this was a horrible experience. I take back all I said in the last review I placed Sunday!
The only pros of this place is it has decent meat and a clean dining area. The cons are the staff is unprofessional and rude (diner staff is better) and we didn’t receive the full benefits of the Check-​In Special Lunch deal! What’s the point of placing a Unilocal deal special if you don’t follow it?
The star is only for the cleanliness and food.