Paper Pot Shabu Shabu — Restaurant in Diamond Bar

WORST SERVICE EVER!

Came here on the day after Christmas. Not crowded at all. Waited 17 mins to be seated. An older gentlemen seated us. He asked how many in our party. I informed him 6. He shows us to our table then proceeds to ask us how many chairs. Confused I look at him and tell him “6.” He asks “how many?” I repeat myself and say “six.” Our group gets a chuckle while he begins to pull chairs from almost every table. 5 minutes later we are all seated- 6 of us.

We had perused the menus ahead and were ready to go. It took another 10 minutes to flag down the same gentlemen that seated us.

There were 4 hot pot heating units on the table already. The gentleman who seated us returned with another hot pot heating unit. Proceeds to plug it in right in front of my 7 year old. I inform him that he’s not having hot pot. He continues to plug the unit in. We then end up rearranging the units to accommodate those eating hot pot. Self service to the Nth degree.

We ordered:

Prime Rib Wagyu Duck Ribeye Shrimp Tenpura

Food arrived after approximately 12 minutes.

So where does the 1 star come from? Where do I begin:

No one ever came by to check on how we were doing. We asked for water and NEVER RECEIVED any water until more than half way through our meals where we had to ask for water AGAIN. What was hilarious was the comment from the server “we are still making it.” Lol. Fast forward another 10 minutes and alas our waters come—- right as we were done with our meals. I asked for another napkin/chopstick/spoon set and unfortunately never received one. Also asked for napkins which we never received. The meat was good the sauces- both the soy and sesame was sour. Unfortunate.

The final wait was for our check.

Paid and...

I heard several people rave about this place and the idea of eating shabu shabu from a paper pot seemed really interesting to me, so I came with my friend for dinner.

There are a couple options of the soup base, a water based broth, a spicy Korean broth, and the Sukiyaki broth. I chose the spicy broth and my friend opted for the Sukiyaki broth. Then you get a choice of meat and I chose the beef chuck while my friend chose the lamb. We also upgraded to the Wow platter for an additional $3 which included udon, brown rice, rice balls, fish cakes, dumplings and a variety of other things on top of the veggies.

Overall, we both agreed that the spicy broth was more flavorful and tasty than the Sukiyaki broth so I would recommend ordering that if you like spicy. Also, we felt that the upgrade to the Wow platter was a little too much. We both walked away with leftovers for the next day. You can probably just share one upgrade between two people.

I liked that this place is clean and the ingredients are fresh, but I wish there were more options for the soup base and I would love this place so much more if they had seafood options as well. Prices are a little more expensive than Boiling Point at around $15 depending on what type of meat you order and if you add...

It's amazing to see how people find these places, because this is in a hidden corner of the plaza.

This place is a bit over hyped due to the paper concept that they've incorporated with the shabu shabu meals.

All it is just butcher paper which they've put into a wooden basket & there's a metal plate at the bottom of the basket that conducts electricity which heats up your paper basket to boil up your food.

Seafood shabu shabu: 2 stars Not enough seafood for $20, it was just a very small plate of frozen seafood.

I also ordered the extra sides $3, if I wouldn't have ordered this I think that I'd be hungry because the seafood plate they gave me was a tiny portion. -1

Service: C Decent in the beginning but waiter didn't even check up on us at all throughout the meal. We had to wave him down to get the things we needed.

Ironically, the check came faster than the service & we didn't have to wave them down for this.

Atmosphere: B Clean with long tables with big over head vacuum fans & shabu shabu stands which you cook your own food in.

Overall, just another concept restaurant that if you've been here once then it's just ok to say that you've been here already but it's not a favorite place that you...