Mo-Mo-Paradise — Restaurant in La Puente

My wife has wanted to try ShabuShabu for some time now, and I've been a bit skeptical of what sounded to me like a dainty and pretentious Japanese take on Chinese hot pot.

MoMo Paradise is not less than hot pot and I'm tempted to say it's more than a restaurant. They have carved from the corner of a just-like-any-other strip mall a modest little paradise where you can satiate yourself deeply on a well curated selection of high quality ingredients, boba delivery liquids, and some very good beef curry.

You're not going to have a million options bogging down your choices and leaving you with a mild food FOMO(if people still say that), but you're going to have terrible trouble budgeting your limited stomach space once you realize everything is just so good!

The meat and broth are really great, I tried the sukiyaki and dipped it in the egg stuff which I thought was insane and gross, but it somehow turned into the beefy french toast experience I didn't know I've been missing my whole life.

It would be unfair to review so glowingly without recognizing a few shortcomings. There's not much going on in the way of spice, though they did have a delightful flavorful dried chili powder. The two dipping sauces (ponzu I guess?) Just didn't funk it up like sesame paste and fermented chive sauce does in Chinese hot pot, but I honestly didn't even find myself needing anything but a little extra spice (as above). The waitress was a touch grouchy or something at first despite the automatically included gratuity, but not having to worry about tipping is actually really nice.

Also, unrelated, don't Google "Momo".

Very much...

This is my second time coming here. I only know about this place bc my in-laws looove hot pot and Mo-Mo lol!

Parking: They’re located in a big plaza, so finding a spot is easy. Free parking lot.

Ambiance/Environment: We made reservations by directly calling them. We dined for a total of 13. The seats and tables were clean. They have a large space, so it’s good for groups of all sizes.

Service: We encountered many servers. They were all quick and efficient. The only time you’d interact with a server is to order more meat. Other than that, everything else is self serve.

Soups: I ordered the Tonkotsu and Shabu Shabu. I absolutely enjoyed my soups. Some of my cousins ordered the Sukiyaki. They thought it was really salty at first, but after pouring more water in the pot, it diluted it a bit.

Meats: We took advantage of all the meats. My favorite was the “Eye of Round” bc it’s more lean while my cousin’s favorite were the “Short Plate” and Pork.

Sides & sauces: They have a side bar and drink bar that is all self served. It’s not the most cleanliest bar - they were a lot of spills everywhere. This is where they also serve the Japanese curry and rice. Unfortunately, we did have to wait a while for the curry bc they ran out. And when it did come out, it was lukewarm. My favorite part was the self serving drinks with unlimited toppings & refills.

Desserts: We’ll always have room for ice cream! They offered three different flavors. This season they had vanilla, black cherry, and coffee. My favorite was the coffee!

Prices: The prices are definitely worth it. Everything was unlimited. Perfect for dinner on...

Do not recommend this restaurant! ! ! First of all, the service is very poor. Their reservation system is useless. I made a reservation at the open table for 19:45 and arrived at 19:30 to complete the check-in. However, I still waited for more than half an hour. It started from 19:45. After waiting for more than half an hour, I was very angry! I was dropped into the queue of guests without a reservation. Terrible management! There were very few waiters. They did not take away the empty plates or add soup to our pots. They ignored us until our pots were almost dry. In the end, we added water ourselves. I don’t understand their service. How can you have the nerve to charge service fees from guests? They also openly charge guests an 18% service fee. I don’t know why an AYCE restaurant needs to charge a mandatory service fee. This is really disgusting, and their service is very poor! Let’s talk about the dishes. The vegetables are quite fresh and replenished in a timely manner. The ice cream after the meal was well received. It is a very high-quality ice cream. But the meat is not so good. We ordered three kinds of beef. The problem is that the quality of the meat is average. There will be a lot of dirt left in the soup after cooking. The meat is also average and feels old, not very tender. Meat. Overall everything is poor, especially the service! Very poor service and the forced service charge...