Halves Boiling Pot + Grill | Japanese Hotpot Shabu + Yakiniku BBQ — Restaurant in Lake Forest

Edit: revised from 5 to 2

tonight my wife was sick and she still wanted Halves. Went on line and the online ordering through services was an absolute nightmare. Cannot order a simple Mongolian spicy pot... Tried calling in like their website and Google says you can, and was refused. The people working there actually refused to take an order over the phone, said online only to go. So I asked if I could come to the store and order, was told I could not order "to go" food inside the restaurant.

We were in shock.. I have a sick wife with a craving for their Mongolian spicy hot pot and now we are doing Udon from elsewhere.

I have never had this kind of response from any restaurant anywhere. We have gone here like once every 2 weeks for a long time... And now, not sure if we will ever go back, no matter how good the food is.

Sorry, but just horrible customer service guys.

We have been meaning to try this place since the day they opened many years ago, but for some reason we just never got the chance... Boy did we make a mistake.

Halves is hands down one of the best shabu/grill concepts I have ever visited.

I personally am more a fan of Chinese hot pot over shabu shabu mainly because I have always felt that shabu shabu broth just doesn't have much flavor... Halves completely destroyed that belief. I had the hot Mongolian and the wife had the tonkatsu(?). Both were good enough to actually drink the broth. Amazing, will 100% be going back within the next month.

Great service, good music, great food. Eating here isn't a cheap meal but the quality is high. Most definitely worth it...

Great concept for putting grilling and hot pot in one serving. I felt like having Japanese style hot pot one day and did some research, halves had great review so I decided to give it a try with my friend. Very clean set up, great layout, the bar with liquor and TV set, great atmosphere.

We arrived in a weekday afternoon, not so busy, waiter came immediately, extremely knowledgable, very patient, explain all my questions for ordering. I decided on the seafood combo with lobster tail in it. The order came very quickly, very big portion, great representation. Waiter suggested we grill the seafood and hot pot the meat due to freshness reason. Great idea, the soup was great after putting the soups and veggie along with the meat. Super tasty! Seafood is very fresh, they gave you their special butter for grilling, smell very good when grilling.

My friend order some extra beef, it was pretty soft, we were stuffed when we are done.

We were left very full and super satisfied, at the beginning, I had some doubt about eating this way, but afterwards, feeling like you have so much varieties. Price is not cheap, but very fair for what you get.

Highly recommended, will go back...

It’s the best of both worlds when you can combine shabu shabu and teppan grill! Halves is located in a plaza at the intersection of Auto Center Drive and Towne Center Drive in Foothill Ranch. There is plenty of parking except during peak hours. Our servers were attentive but also a bit too introverted.

Halves offers a decent beverage menu, whether you like your drink leaded or not. Besides sake and wine, they also carry craft beers so of course I had to try one on my recent visit. For dinner, it’s a no-brainer to go with their best seller which they coincidentally named the “Halves”. Enjoy two tender meat selections of your choice (I opted to boil the American Wagyu and grill the Angus Short Rib), fresh vegetables, and noodles in a savory broth of your choosing while grilling premium ingredients on their smokeless bbq grill. I always appreciate when you can customize what you’re eating. I enjoyed the bbq dipping sauce for items off the grill and the sesame dipping sauce for the shabu, but the ponzu sauce was disappointing and too sour. If you enjoy DIY dining, shabu shabu, Yakiniku or both, then you def I recommend paying a...