Shabu Shabu Kagayaki — Restaurant in Montreal

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with a warm welcome. We were seated socially distance from a couple on our left.

I went to the bathroom immediately to wash my hands and I was pleasantly surprised by how clean and renovated the entire place was. The art work and ambiance of the restaurant is sublime. I was most taken aback by the photo of Mount Fuji and the little souvenirs they sell for $5 in the glass case.

The U shaped table is unique to me and a very interesting and new way of hosting people for dinner. I loved how much access our waiter had to us. It was a very refreshing experience with the Hana Awaka that we drank in chilled champagne glasses.

The soup has a very traditional flavour and I know that it is not made from a generic frozen soup base. They put a lot of effort into the presentation of all of the dishes.

Everything was delicately placed on the table and plates. The waiter informed us of the cooking times for each ingredient which I found super helpful and informative.

After eating a delicious meal, we chose green tea ice cream as dessert. The wafer was a special touch to the ice cream in my opinion. It reminded me of a childhood memory of eating the cone of an ice cream on a hot summer day.

The service was impeccable and very attentive. I have 0 complaints. Our waiter was kind, friendly and had a great sense of humour.

It was all in all a great experience and it holds true to the authentic way of enjoying hot pot with family in a relaxing atmosphere.

I will...

Overall, quite pricey for the quality of food and service. Every plate of vegetable and rice is clearly prepared well in advance (the rice was quite dry, obviously not fresh, by the time we received it for example). It took well over 30 minutes for our order to be taken, and another 40 for food plates to arrive. Entrees and drinks were served last. My disappointment over the experience stems from their inability to cater to dietary requirements. I do not have particularly difficult ones to accommodate - I am lactose intolerant and have to avoid tofu for health concerns. Each meal comes with a plate of rice cakes and tofu. I asked to please not waste food and not to bring me the tofu since I won't be able to eat it, but if at all possible would like more rice cake to compensate. I was brought the tofu plate, being told substitutions were not possible (which is fair... but I still can't safely have tofu, and no other solution was offered). Then came dessert which was included. My options were a scoop of Oreo ice cream, or espresso with vanilla ice cream. Other menus had melon for dessert so I asked if I could possibly have that instead seeing as I am lactose intolerant, as they were told... I was replied "no". For a restaurant which has, on its menu, "please inform us of any food allergies or dietary requirements and we will be happy to accommodate you", it fell quite short...

Saturday November 6th 8:00 PM — My girlfriend and I took a combo which included 3 types of meat (Beef, Pork and Lamb) and 2 types of broths (we chose Sukiyaki and Kombu & Dashi) and all the other stuff that comes with it (Vegetables and Noodles)+ a 2 small dessert. And we also took two appetizers (Kimchi and Kaiso).

The food and broth were very good and the portions were generous. We had enough food for 2 people. And price was fair.

The service was relatively fast for the things that we ordered on the menu, however for every other requests, the service was extremely slow.

It took almost 20-25 minutes before someone took our orders and I had asked 3 times to have more water before someone actually gave me water. I’d say I had time to finish my meal before I even got a second round of water (a little bit too late), I was thirsty all dinner.

They were 2 waiters and 1 of them was super rude and the other one was very kind. We mostly got served by the rude one.

I get that maybe it was busy and he was in a rush, but I don’t think it is an excuse to give a poor customer service. Especially if his other coworker was able to be nice despite the situation.

Overall, 4/5 for food, but 2/5 for service.

I really liked the food, perhaps it was not a good day for the waiter. So, definitely will try again...