Blue Sakura Shabu All You Can Eat — Restaurant in Boston

I had a terrible experience at Blue Sakura All-You-Can-Eat Hotpot with my girlfriend. I was excited to try it out, but it turned out to be a complete letdown.

First, what kind of ayce hotpot place doesn’t include meat options? Our soup base was bland and watered down; we actually had to use salt packets just to add some flavor. The sauce station was small, messy, and poorly maintained. It seemed like no one cared enough to clean or restock it. Some of the supposedly clean bowls had an orange, greasy residue and even water in them – absolutely unappetizing.

For $20+ each, we ended up with food that looked like it came from a flea market – frozen fishballs and sad-looking vegetables. The dim sum dishes were passable but tasted like cheap, supermarket frozen foods heated in the back. I also ordered a beef bowl over rice, which inexplicably had chicken and pork in it and was served cold.

The appetizer portions were tiny, and our edamame order arrived toward the end of the meal, much later than expected. Shockingly, about a quarter of them weren’t even fully cooked. Uncooked edamame is actually toxic, which is a huge red flag for food safety. Slow serving rate is something I wouldn’t normally mention, but with both the slow service and raw edamame, it felt like the last straw.

To make matters worse, it was freezing where we sat. I’m not sure if it was because we were by the kitchen window next to their walk-ins or if there was an issue with the AC, but my girlfriend was shivering, even while wearing both her jacket and mine. She had to run to the bathroom just to warm her hands in hot water. Ironically, the bathroom was warmer than the dining area.

The food presentation was just as bad. Everything came packed into a single white plastic bin, with frozen fishballs crushed at the bottom and vegetables spilling over. It was hard to tell if the food was even handled in a sanitary way. The restaurant also used flimsy plastic cups, which felt wasteful and out of place in 2024.

Service was abysmal. No one checked on us except when I flagged down a server to point out the dirty bowl and when we asked for the bill. Our waitress awkwardly stood over us, watching us pay, which felt intrusive, especially in a crowded restaurant. They also gave us only a few napkins for the entire meal, and the ice cream portions were laughably small – maybe three bites’ worth.

Leaving the restaurant, no one even said goodbye. We paid over $20 each just to boil some unwashed veggies and reheat frozen fishballs. If I could leave zero stars, I would. Normally, I don’t leave reviews, but this was an experience I won’t forget – for all the...

This is late review but I was here the third night they opened. I went with three of my mates. Let me preload by saying, I am pretty typical standard palette when it comes to authentic foods and have become standardized to the “American style” of those types and generes from all different ethnic foods

Now, simply this is a 10/10. You walk in, nice ambiance, nice atmosphere but service and professional hospitality is apparent. It is truly meant to feel like an independent experience and the staff all take their time, to casually ask you how you are and explain the basic style of ordering and pay structure. Recommendations are made and there is no sense of being rushed or moved along. The food comes relatively quick and is fresh, especially when I say I have an American pallete everything here is on point. Dozens of options and hot pot with very reasonable priced options (meats and seafood, not cooked yet) to be added. Throughout the meal, you are checked up on, offering sauce suggestions and made sure if looking for something in the restaurant, that you are greeted and led in the proper direction.

Our waitress (I do forget names, but was a nice Latin younger woman) the manager (a younger tall asian American man) who greeted us, the service workers who brought us the food and talked with us. And also a shout out to (not our server, but came and put a mix of flavor sauces together for me) we’re all great. I wish I can remember their names and not descriptions, but a shorter younger Asian man. From beginning to end- it was a winner. It was their 3rd day and they wanted the feedback on how to improve. Well, they had it down well to start.

Don’t miss this spot, well priced, well treated and well...

This was my first dining experience with Blue Sakura with my family. It came recommended and was genuinely open to trying their food for the first time. The hostess made it perfectly clear when we arrived that their kitchen closed at 10:30 and they were closing at 11. We all understood and made it known that we would abide by this. The music was very loud where we found ourselves talking even louder to conversate with each other. An employee was emphatically stacking and throwing dishes in a cart so loud it was beyond disruptive to the point where we’d stop talking because it didn’t feel through it to shout to engage with each other. At 10, 10:10 and 10:20, we were approached multiple times for the iPad because the kitchen was closing at 10:30 despite someone in my party wanting to order another item when we were EXPLICITLY reminded 9 times that the kitchen would be closing at 10:30 and had to be out by 11. Multiple people hovered over the table waiting for us to close out our check while we were still eating and proceeded to ask us how the experience was despite feeling like we pressured to eat and leave faster than we came in. One person in our party put down the card we were using to pay the bill. When she intended to only cover the bill with her card, the hostess came over asking what was wrong with the experiencing after seeing we didn’t leave a tip. Although we intended to leave cash, we weren’t even given a moment to do that without feeling manipulated to leave a tip despite how we felt about the dining experience once we walked through the door. This was my first and last time at this establish and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for a later...