Avenue Shabu — Restaurant in Huntington Beach

Saw Avenue Shabu pop up on my Insta feed and decided to check it out since it’s only been open for three months at Bella Terra.

🪑 First impression: Bright, modern, and spacious. Super clean and comfortable dining environment.

💰⏰ We went for their weekday lunch (Monday to Friday before 3pm) which comes with a 1.5-hour time limit. There are two lunch options:

🔹 Regular Lunch ($23.99): appetizer + 8 kinds of meat + self-serve bar 🔹 Premium Lunch ($27.99): appetizer + 9 kinds of meat + self-serve bar (includes sushi)

🥩 Their meats (beef, pork, chicken, lamb) are sliced really thin, about 3-6 pieces per plate. Quality was good, and all meats are made-to-order from the kitchen. Just mark your selections on the paper menu. Note: you can only order up to 3 meat options at a time per person.

🍲 It’s an individual hotpot style with 11 soup bases to choose from. I went for Tom Yum and my friend had the Szechuan spicy broth. Both flavorful and worth trying. Miso and the basic original broths were decent but nothing mind-blowing.

🍗 They also offer 6 appetizers (one-time order only): Korean japchae, tteokbokki, fried chicken, fries, spring rolls, and fried dumplings. Portion sizes were small so we ordered everything to try. Totally recommend doing that!

🥢 Self-serve bar highlights: • Two sauce stations with 13 sauce options • Noodles, fresh veggies, mushrooms, meatballs • Seafood (shrimp, fish slices, clams, mussels etc.)

The overall selection is smaller compared to many hotpot places in Asian plazas, but everything here felt fresh, clean, and well-prepared, which I honestly prefer over endless choices with questionable quality.

🍹 Drinks, alcohol, and Korean ice pops are extra to pay for.

🙍🏻‍♂️🙎🏻‍♀️ Staff were attentive. They cleared plates promptly and asked if we needed broth refills without having to wave them down. Big plus!

🚽 Restroom was clean.

Also love that their plates are not plastic ( it’s metal material) which adds to their elevated feel.

Overall, I’d say Avenue Shabu is a solid new hotpot spot with a clean, classy vibe. Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area!

📍 Avenue Shabu 7631 Edinger Ave Suite 1524, Huntington Beach, CA 92647 (Located just a couple of doors down from Solita Tacos & Margaritas at...

My usual Shabu spot is a place in Irvine called All That Shabu, and I'm using them as a baseline for comparison.

Price: $33 for dinner AYCE, it's $5 cheaper than my usual. Time is 10 minutes more (100 instead of 90). Good start.

Broth options: Stop stop, you didn't have to go so wide! Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean...you want Szchewan? Got it. Pho base? Got it. Soondubu? Check. Miso, Tonkotsu, Kombu.... Go curry! Tom Yum! 11 different options is WILD, most places only offer around six. I got the Szchewan, and it was perfect, not too hot or numbing, well balanced flavors.

Meats: heavy on beef, options for chicken, pork belly, lamb and tripe. I didn't get a good look at the specialty menu (which includes more and some sushi from the buffet), but one or two more pork options would be nice. Still, quality was solid; I ate four plates of the tripe alone, it was great, perfectly cut.

Sides: I only got the Furikake fries, which were a little under seasoned but still tasty, and the Gyoza, nice and crispy. I enjoyed both. If and when I come in next time I want to try the Japchae and Tteok-bokki.

Buffet Variety: solid range of seafood. Crawfish, squid, octopus, mussels and clams...leafy greens are the usual spinach cabbage and bok choy fare, and I believe I remember seeing kale. You're not lacking options. The sauce bar could use some Sambal, but the Thai Red Chili dip is a welcome sight.

Service: I will admit, it was a little slow to start, but eventually I got a lot of people asking me if I was good or needed more meats. Maybe a few too many times, but I'm not complaining! Better to be overly attended to than not. They were helpful with explaining how things work as well for orders and specialties.

Overall: This new little spot for Shabu Shabu is a 9.5/10 for me, easy. It's a little less heavy on the buffet range, but the flavors and quality are all spot on. I'm really curious if the sushi is as good as it looked, but for now, I highly recommend...

Everything in this restaurant is impressively clean, and the decor is modern and inviting—definitely a spot that looks the part. The staff was genuinely friendly, which made for a warm welcome.

We kicked things off with the tonkatsu broth for me and the Szechuan for my husband. For the meats, we basically did a Noah’s Ark situation and got two of everything. The angus NY and wagyu beef stole the show—absolutely top notch. Since we splurged on the premium menu ($37), sushi was included. It was fresh and tasty, though the selection was limited to about three rolls with no descriptions—kind of a sushi mystery box situation. Still, no complaints on flavor.

The bar was well stocked with a nice variety of noodles, veggies, seafood, and a buffet of dipping sauces. So far, so good… until we actually tasted the broths. Mine was underwhelming—pretty flavorless, even after I played mad scientist with the sauces. My husband swapped to the spicy miso and said it tasted like spicy water with ambition but no follow-through.

The bowls were also on the small side, so loading them up with your favorite goodies becomes a precarious balancing act. It’s a shame, because the meat quality was excellent—I wanted to love this place more.

Also, small but important note: for a restaurant that seems family-friendly at first glance, neither the men’s nor women’s bathrooms had a changing table. That made things tricky with a baby in tow, so heads up to fellow parents—it’s not the most accommodating for...