Shabuway Japanese Style Hot Pot

It’s actually been months since I’ve eaten here and it’s kind of sad to see the mixed reviews since I’ve always had good service (even from the newer staff whom I’ve never met before).
I have no idea when this new tonkatsu broth was added but it’s been that long and then some since I’ve visited. And boy, oh boy, do I like it more than the miso broth. How do I explain this… it’s like using a ramen soup base (normally that’s when you’d have a tonkatsu broth, ramen) for hotpot. It does get saltier as you go so if you want more broth try adding plain water or miso to prevent a saltier taste. This kinda goes for everything thats heated for too long, right?
If only chashu (sp?) Was available. You don’t even know! Anyway, the cousin and I got AYCE (duh!) And went about the lean, pork, kobe and prime meats. Lamb isn’t exactly our thing so we skipped with 2 sprites, gyoza, 2 orders of ramen and a bunch of greens… plus the 2 bowls of rice. We definitely over did it but we wanted to be sure we knew exactly which items we liked more than others.
Pork — both of us liked the pork a lot. It was tender but light. It helped lift the taste of beef from our mouths and helped us continue with our meal
Prime — definitely my favorite regarding beef options
Kobe — it’s pretty good too but I liked the prime more. I was told it could be the particular blocks and kobe is typically better (which I agree from previous experience)
Lean — I normally like the lean a lot but we probably decided to try it a few plates too late into our meal to really have a say about it
Gyoza — it came out super fresh, hot and crispy. Not like some other places where it’ll take forever to come out but ends up being cold and soggy like they completely forgot about it.
Ramen — are half cooked so we had to cook it some more but I had all the time in the world so I didn’t care.
The service was super on point. One of them accidentally knocked over my cousins sauce while dropping off a meat plate but immediately cleaned it up for us. He kept apologizing the rest of our meal — once is really more than enough. Some places won’t even care and expect you to clean on your own. Our drinks were refilled before empty and our next plates were put in before we finished our current plates but timed out to be brought when we were ready. Overall rating: ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend !!

I’ve never felt so satisfied after a meal in my entire life. This place rocks!
The service is so amazing and the food is high quality and amazingly delicious. Megan and I got the lunch special which was the best decision we’ve ever made because it was more than enough for the both of us! And it was only 1 lunch special. It came with an appetizer (we got the chicken karaage, which was alright), a vegetable plate and 1 kind of meat. We got some kind of beef that I forgot and then we ordered a side of udon noodles and rice. They were super nice and actually brought us two vegetable plates! I don’t know if it was complimentary or came with the lunch special but either way it was greatly appreciated. We got the half miso and half tonkotsu broth, both of which were super flavorful and delicious. Their peanut sauce is also so freaking delicious. I wanna put it on everything, I swear i went through the entire dish of that stuff. And believe it or not, this entire meal was $ 30 ($ 15 not including tip for us each since we split it). CRAZY AMAZING.
Service was quick and super nice and they were also super understanding when Megan forgot her card there and we had to go back after they closed. didn’t give us attitude or anything, I loved that.
I will for sure be back here!

The tables are oddly close together… when another party got up to leave, they passed between our table and theirs and their butts were right in our food. We had to move things away from the edges so their bags/​butts wouldn’t hit our stuff and knock it over.
Their food was good. We got the lunch special. They charge for splitting -$ 7! (Which was almost the price of the lunch special so we just got 2 lunch specials).
Their basic nori broth doesn’t have much flavor but their spicy broth was good! We got the beef and lamb, decent portions. I wish they gave us more mushrooms and noodles. Their dipping sauces were gr ewa t too, helped add flavor to the nori broth.

This place was pretty good. I ordered the all American Kobe with half spicy miso broth and half tokontsu (hopefully I spelled that right). The meat was really tender and they give you a good amount. The spicy miso was okay at first but the longer you allow the vegetables given to cook in it the better it tastes. The tokontsu was flavorful and sweet. The service was good as well. The girl who served us was nice and she was straight forward telling us not to get the other option broth — seaweed because it tastes like water. I would recommend this place to hot pot lovers! It’s a reasonable price and good quality.

Corporate has recently decided to sacrifice quality of food to maintain their current, competitive pricing for shabu shabu.
They switched tea distributors and their current tea is a smörgåsbord and undecipherable. Their standard veggie plates no longer come with mushrooms and now is primarily (rinsed, not washed) cabbage. Their premium veggie plates have shrank in size, but the pricing remains the same. The cabbage was bitter and inedible on our last visit and even though we upgraded to the premium veggie dish, there were no mushrooms.
What appears to have been hit the hardest is their staff. The staff always seem overwhelmed and stressed. There needs to be more servers during their peak evening hours and on weekends.

This review is an for all the staff. I’m not sure what happened but customer service has been outstanding!
There was once a time when my family and I weren’t even acknowledged at the door and they completely disregarded the list. But now it seems like this staff really has their stuff together. They’re kind, patience and very helpful.
The food itself has been fantastic but couple it with great customer service means that I will be back many more times in the future. Thanks guys!

Been planning to go eat some hotpot for a while now and Shabuway really satisfied my whatever you call it.
I went on a Tuesday afternoon and the parking lot was so packed though, took me at least 15 minutes to find parking. I was freaking out!
Super nice, clean interior. Service was quick to ask us for our drinks and what we wanted to order. I recommend going during lunch because their lunch special is AWESOME! We got the lunch special with a plate of Kobe beef and a lil’ bowl of Udon as well.
As an appetizer we ordered Chicken Karaage. I wish they had double fried it or something because it wasn’t crunchy and there was not breading on all of it. It was ok! I have had better. Didn’t take down a star just because that dish was not the point.
For the soup, we got medium level spicy of Tonkatsu and Miso. I recommend going with the Miso, I thought it tasted better. When the Kobe Beef came out it was so perfectly cut and marbled I wanted to cry. Udon was awesome as always and they gave us 2 plates of lettuce stuff too which is always awesome.
They gave us the check without us asking at the most perfect time.
I would for sure come here again. You wanna know why? Because look at my pictures and guess how much that was. That was only $ 30. And the service was really awesome too!

Not sure what was going on with previous reviews, but our experience was excellent. Servers were courteous and available. Food was, as always, delicious. I LOVE Shabuway. American Kobe is my favorite followed by the pork and the lamb. My only slight complaint is that the udon noodles used to be included with the plates and are no longer. I often forget to order and they are SO yummy!
The price is fantastic as well. 4 big eaters with multiple bottles of sake and pitchers of beer for $ 160 with tip? Can’t be beaten.
Good for kids if they’re old enough to keep their bits out of the boiling water ;).

You get options for the type of meat you want to shabu shabu & you can pick out 2 soups. I got a regular Angus beef which comes with vegetables & it was great! My partner go the lean Kobe. I doubt it’s real Kobe, it’s too cheap & you can only get it in Kobe but it’s still good. I would come here all the time if I can! Very healthy way of eating mean & vegetables in a fun DIY environment! Friendly & quick service.

Amateur hour over here. Came in on Sunday 7pm. Long waiting list of people but the 4 bussers are too busy chatting to clean tables. After they do manage to clean the tables, and cleaning takes literally 10mins, they have a hard time figuring out who’s who in the list. The guy managing the list is weak in approaching patrons, asking «is this you?» are you «so and so?». Just call a name twice, if they aren’t there, move on. They probably got tired and frustrated from watching empty seats not getting filled.
See the pic, half the seats are empty with 15 patrons waiting.
Some one needs to own this place.

Disclaimer: My work paid me to eat here or else I’d give this one star.
During lunch hours, there’s at most three staffs working. As much I blame for no service, I would like to blame management for understaffing just to save those few dollars.
Let’s get to the food. I didn’t think you can screw up the veggie set, but you certainly can if you reduce the quantity and uses leftover from last night ay.
The meat portion is pretty horrible. To be honest, most shabu shabu uses the same source such as imperialwagyu so the only difference is how lazy the guy cutting and how crappy the machine is.
Well, this place hit ²⁄₂ of that mark. The guy was too busy serving 6 tables while cutting the meet and damn those slices are inconsistently cut and some would just tear apart when you pick it up with gentle force.
Just avoid the appetizer, by the time I finished eating the shabu, the karage wasn’t even done. Luckily I cancelled the order because when the karage was on a third degree burn when it came out from the kitchen.
At least the experience wasn’t called miserable, but at least it can give disappointment a run for its money.
Quality: ²⁄₁₀
Quantity: ²⁄₁₀
Price: doesn’t take AMEX/​10
Verdict: I hope you weren’t craving for shabu when you drove into this mall.

Love this place!
All you could eat premium meat & veggies $ 30 or all you could eat for $ 25. This is a fantastic deal for people who really like to eat– like me. One large meat platter is nearly $ 20 so it’s totally worth it.

BAD. Bad service resulting from lack of staff. They ran out of Kobe beef, and we weren’t notified before our sitting. Do not try to get their tea, because it taste sketchy and bad (the water too, a lil). The beef and pork was ordinary at best, but at a higher price point than I anticipated, it wasn’t worth it at all.
All in all, the restaurant’s environment really made this experience a disaster. I couldn’t order any longer because of this shit so I just went somewhere else to eat later. Waiter had an attitude, restaurant was sketchy/​messy, and food comes really slowly. Truly suggest you to stay away from this restaurant! But if you do, tea station is nearby and I went to eat their wonton soup to eat some actual food in an actual eatable environment.

THIS PLACE IS SOOOOO GOOD! I came by on a Sunday afternoon and it was relatively busy. Had to wait for about 20 to 25 mins.
Service (5 stars)
When we were seating, even though they were clearly understaffed, our server, Toboki? Or something like that LOL hopefully, brought all our sauces and allowed us to order right away. We ordered the wrong soup and he still allowed us to change it! He was great and also the met guy was really nice during our time there as well.
Food (5 stars also)
EVERYTHING was great. The soup was flavorful, medium was a great amount of spice. All the veggies were nice and the meats were thinly sliced to lower any prolonged cooking time. The sauces were sooooo good. The food along with the service was a1.
EVERYTHING WAS GREAT AND DEFINITELY WORTH THE PRICE AND THE WAIT LOVE YOU GUYS.

Great experience, no wait on a Saturday night, had the Kibe and Angus beef platter along with the California veggie platter. The sauces were prepared just right, and the quality of the neat and veggies was great. The price was reasonable for a shabu shabu.
I love to have my green tea with dinner and a star is taken away for the quality of the tea served, it was anything but Japanese. Maybe being picky, but I think the ultra clean bathrooms show the pride a restaurant shows in keeping everything clean, and I did not care for the sticky bathroom floor
All in all, great restaurant, friendly staff and great fiod.

Expensive for what it was. The meat was really premium quality or something (but too bad I’m not a really great judge of that). It’s about $ 20 for large a plate of meat (your choice) with a side of rice and vegetables that you cook yourself in a pot of boiling soup. The vegetables consist of napa cabbage, enoki mushrooms, tofu, and carrot. There’s also an all vegetable shabu shabu, if that’s your thing. They have two options for soup — spicy miso and seaweed soup (essentially water with seaweed, rather bland). We actually ordered one spicy miso and one non-​spicy miso (the latter not on the menu, but you can order it). They also come with two dipping sauces — peanut and ponzo (a citrus-​y vinegar). Both were pretty good, but I still prefer the Chinese sacha (bbq) sauce.
It’s nice that they have a children’s menu that’s a bit cheaper for the kids, so everything really is individually portioned. In my opinion, there really isn’t much food for the large at $ 20, and you might leave being slightly hungry still. For $ 25, you can get all-​you-​can-​eat of one of the meats, but not the Kobe beef (that’s $ 30 for AYCE).
Service was just okay… they forgot to bring out our water until halfway through the meal, but at least they apologized for it. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that it was a one-​off mistake.
The ambiance of the restaurant is quite nice. They’ve been able to keep it relatively clean, and the novelty of old-​school fans automatically waving back and forth overhead keeps the room lively. There was a also a good crowd there around 6:30pm on a Thursday evening consisting of a range of ages — families with children, young adults, and seniors. Doesn’t seem like there’s ever a wait, which could be both good and bad.

I’ve been to a few different Shabuways now, and the basic experience is the same no matter where you go. Pick your protein (s) and your broth, and you’re off, basically. They will bring your broth, rice and veg first, and then the meat after it has been sliced.
I’ve always enjoyed the food. Simple and clean feeling, and you cook your items so they will come out however you like.
The service at this location was a bit lacking towards the end. It appears that we may have been dining right in the middle of a shift change. Even with three employees working the floor and the restaurant not even ¹⁄₃ full, we had to ask for our check after clearly being done eating for 15 – 20 minutes.
There was a guy who was passed out at the dining counter when we arrived who we later found was an employee when he woke up, changed, and started working. Doesn’t give the best impression when you have your employees knocked out in the dining room.
I don’t know that this will stop me from coming to this location, but it doesn’t help.

Since he moved up to NorCal, I have been spending more time with the sibling. He was craving Hot Pot and I wanted to make a Paris Baguette run for my mother in law. We opted for this place.
The service was the worst. Maybe it was because it was lunch. or maybe it was because I wanted to sit in the back. who knows.
If you are pushy and wave your arms you get what you need here apparently.
After 15 minutes and two other customers that came in after us got their orders taken we flagged someone down. Their lunch special did not have some of the items (they were out of a lot of stuff). So the option was pork … or pork.
The fried chicken and gyoza was decent… we did the half seaweed/​half spicy broth.
We got our meat but they forgot to give us our rice and veggies. it took a minute to flag down and ask…
I had high hopes in light of my fellow SBCer reviews… maybe I should have come here in 2011.
Will not be back.

********************* 1273 **********************
Shabuway Japanese hotpot is another popular spot on a cold night or hangover! My Broski and friends took me here after a long night of drinking.
Good quality of beef, thinly sliced but larger portion for dipping. The veggies plate was a disappointment. The broth wasn’t flavorful enough this time around.
Service was hit or miss depends on how busy the night was. I prefer the Mongolian Little Sheep more.

3.5−4 STAR.
Shabuway is a great option if you are super hungry and want to get the All You Can Eat (AYCE) option. Not the best Japanese style hot pot place we’ve been to, but decent enough for us to come back.
I’ve been to this location in San Jose off of Saratoga Ave and the 280 three times over the last year and a half. Each of the 3 times I’ve been there, we have decided to go with the AYCE option. They have 2 options for AYCE: $ 28.99 for all of the meats and $ 23.99 if you want to just get the option to order only Angus Prime beef and nothing else. Both options come with the choice of broth (spicy miso or traditional water), an assorted veggie plate (comes with napa cabbage, spinach, tofu, mushrooms, and carrots), and the dipping sauces (ponzu and sesame pâté). I definitely recommend the spicy miso broth over the traditional water, and I recommend you take some garlic and add it into your broth and ponzu sauce.
As for the meat itself, if you got the $ 28.99 option, just order all Kobe Beef. Don’t even bother with the pork. Lamb is ok, but beef is what you are there for. They start by giving you a large plate, and then each plate afterwards is a medium sized plate. My wife, friends, and I can handle about 4 plates total (each). We are pretty sure that is past the breakeven point, and that’s how we know we’ve succeeded. Don’t even bother eating the rice with it. Maybe avoid eating the veggies too. Just stick with the meat, and you can only leave when you start getting meat sweats. Haha, just kidding, but seriously, make it worth it.
If you’re wondering what other locations I recommend for Japanese hot pot, check out Shabu House in Milpitas. There are a number of other Shabu Houses as well, but if you’re in the San Jose area, Shabuway is a decent option. Too bad they got rid of the option where you can get AYCE and it came with a number of available appetizers too. Now it’s just a meatfest. Go big or go home.