Hinabe — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

My friends & I have been wanting to try this place for a while now — as before they officially opened, we got a tour of the restaurant while waiting for our ice cream in the ice cream shop. So we were super excited to try, yet extremely disappointed. The concept is cool: a hidden “high end” restaurant in an ice cream shop. But if you’re going to be a hidden restaurant that people have to find, you better have the best food/drink/service.

The waitress wasn’t very knowledgeable about the menu and wasn’t very attentive. There was no bar menu. The hotpot is overpriced for the quality (do NOT get the sweet soy broth — it tastes literally like straight soy sauce with a little water added). We never got our appetizer. We got the diamond package for meats and split it between four people — we each got additional broth + noodles/rice — as apparently it’s “per person” but there was PLENTY of food. I just think they try to get away with charging you $70-$165 (depending on the package) per person by saying it’s personal size. The wagyu meat was good in my opinion, but that’s all they have — there’s no selection of meats.

The music was very loud we were yelling to each other to try to talk. Whenever we finally got our food, there was a loud group at the bar & they break out a mic and a girl starts singing karaoke. I think one of the guys either owned the place or was a friend…it was just very weird. Very weird experience all around.

We probably won’t be back. I get they are new & need some time to grow & work out the small issues. So we’ll see down the road but they have a long way to improve. SHOUTOUT to the bartender Huy though — he’s awesome & if you go there...

Food selection and options are slim but probably Hinabe has the intention of focusing on their specialty, wagyu beef. The food was somewhat tasty for those who have an average standard. Other Asian restaurants in town are more authentic, flavourful, and provide a higher level of Asian culinary experience.

I am assuming that Hinabe’s intention was to provide a classy 5-star dining experience, setting them apart from other Asian restaurants by having their servers unveil a memorable culinary performance. However, our experience fell very flat. Our server was not quite familiar with the menu, did not know the fish they were serving, referred to the scallops as hamachi, did not know how to turn on the burner for the hotpot, etc. We waited 30 minutes for our broth to boil because we learned that the burner was not actually turned on. The server put more broth because he thought it will make it boil faster but of course it just prolonged the process. Everything was underwhelming. It is well overpriced for a very flat culinary experience.

Overall, it’s not a restaurant for Asians or those who really know and appreciate true Asian upscale dining experience.

It is a restaurant for those who would like to have sake and have a hangout place to have overpriced hotpot soup. I don’t think we...

Last night, we were very lucky to snag a soft opening reservation for Nabe, the new wagyu-focused hot pot restaurant in the Dellagio Plaza in Dr. Phillips, and it was as luxurious and delicious as we hoped!

Nabe is located inside of Nola's Ice Cream (FANTASTIC post-dinner dessert, btw, delightful Vietnamese-inspired ice creams) through a hidden doorway. The space is beautifully decorated (and the lofi beats playing were absolutely my jam), and the staff members were warm and welcoming, explaiing the menu thoroughly and setting up the hot pot perfectly.

Since they're in soft opening, they have a limited menu and no beer/wine/alcohol yet, but it was still very satisfying!

We dined on the king crab roll topped with uni (opulence, they have it), seafood crudo, and silver wagyu hot pot set. The hot pot comes with a choice of three broths, and we chose the sukiyaki. I may lean to the kombu broth next time as we found the sukiyaki broth a bit too sweet, but that's our personal taste. The meats and vegetables were perfect!

We really enjoyed our first time at Nabe (and Nola's!), and we can't wait to go back to enjoy their full menu! Congratulations to the entire Nabe and...