Garden Shabu/Hot Pot & Grill — Restaurant in Little Ferry

Garden Shabu is an excellent AYCE hot pot restaurant that offers a decent assortment of fresh ingredients with good service at an affordable value. The last time I came to Garden Shabu was pre-Covid 2 years ago hence the way things operate have changed. They no longer offer a self service buffet for vegetables, noodles, fish cakes, and sauce bar. Instead you order what you want and the wait staff brings it to you. You have a choice of ordering All You Can Eat or ala carte (meats and seafood). Argentinian BBQ is now offered also. We did the AYCE. An assortment of vegetables and fish cakes are provided. Some of the vegetables included were watercress, napa cabbage, bok choy, spinach, mushrooms (wood ear, Enoki, king, shitake, button), etc. (Just to name a few) Their choices offered, while vast, are definitely less then before though. Sauces are also brought to the table by the wait staff. You order what you want and they bring you individual bowls of each along with an empty bowl for you to mix them together. You order the meats and seafood that you want. Basic and Premium meats along with Seafood are all included with AYCE. There is a Seafood Combo Platter that includes a sampling of everything they offer. Appetizers are also part of the deal, including Japchae, Spring Rolls, Fried Dumplings, Fried Rice, and California Rolls. Also included are cooked Beef Short Ribs and Pork Ribs. Soft serve ice cream (vanilla and/or green tea) are offered for dessert. All the food was fresh, clean and tasty. The misses were few and minor. I thought the cooked Pork Ribs were too fatty. Scallops offered were Bay Scallops so they tend to disappear in the broth due to their size. Fish (according to menu) was tilapia. I didn't like the way they cut the fish and frankly prefer a different species but to each his own. Service was good but not outstanding. Occasionally it seemed a little difficult finding our server but nothing egregious. Requests for refills or new orders of items were completed promptly and courteously. I wish they provided tongs and ladles, as tablespoons and chop sticks are not always conducive to fishing out certain items. (I didn't ask if they have them or not) All in all I thought Garden Shabu provided a great experience. The food was good and fresh. Service was good and while a little pricey, I considered it a good value for what...

Came to Shabu Garden for lunch on Saturday (they have all day dinner and lunch at the same price on Saturday and Sunday). We were really impressed with the decor. It is very modern, super clean looking and airy. In the very center there are an island of ingredients for shabu shabu such as vegetables (their vegetables are very clean and well presented - thank you!!!) fish cakes, some appetizer to whet your appetite such as kimchi and pickled vegetables. I think Shabu Garden have more types of vegetables and fish cakes that other AYCE help-yourself Shabu place. Everything is placed cleanly on big tray supported by tons of ice on the bottom of the tray - which I really like as I don't have to reach up and select the veggies and fish cakes that I want (most Shabu places around here have refrigerator that have four levels of trays which makes it hard to select the top items). They have five types of soup. Three are vegetarian and two are meat broth. Our server Sunny is literally like her name - super sunny, friendly and attentive!! I was worried about the degree of spiciness of my soup and Sunny brought up the plain broth that we choose along with some of the chili to make the soup as spicy as we like! That was pretty awesome. We went for the basic shabu ($16.95) as we are not really a big meat eater and I am allergic to shellfish. Even for basic shabu, there were so many things to choose from. Everything is meticulously cut and it is such joy to select the things that I want. A tad bit of this and a tad bit of that - and off it goes into my shabu pot. While waiting for my food to cook - they have vegetable tempuras, fried gyoza, some california rolls along with some vegetable rolls or kimbap for you to sample while you are waiting. I love that idea. There are two counter of sauce station with a LOT of sauces and toppings. Their sauces range from spicy to sour, sweet and savory. I mixed some peanut and sesame sauce and tried the house sauce. It was pretty fantastic and go well with my selection of Shabu ingredients. Love this place. It has such a relaxing environment. We can see that this will be our favorite Shabu place!! Job well done. (p.s - I took a lot of photos but all the photos that the yelp users posted will give you a clear idea of the restaurant ambiance and the food...

11/09/19 It's baaaaack! Yes, and even better. Now with dinner and weekend hotpot buffet comes with regular shrimp and big shrimps, tasted like lobster, octopus, fish fillet, clams. And yes, price is up a bit @$19.95 each. See my pictures for the comparison of the big and regular size shrimps.

11/03/2019

It's back! Included shrimp cocktail,fish fillet and shrimps are back with weekend , holidays and dinner allyou-can-eat! Must be the pressure of so many new hot pot restaurants are opened. Fresh as always!

10/05/19 New rule, no more inclined all you can eat shrimp and fish for basic hot pot. Now, sushi rolls weekdays for lunch noon to 2:30 and dinner 6 to 9pm, weekend and holidays all day long.

7/20/19 New weekend price list as attachment.

7/13/19

Brand new, basic seafood is included in the weekend buffet. Priced @18.00.

*New: all you can eat, lunch: vegetables only 12.99, vegetables and all you can eat meat 16.95, meat and seafood 18.95. Dinner and weekends are a little bit higher. Check out the picture I upload for details.

Situated at the old location of Minado, Garden Shabu has the same big and airy seating area. It's the first Hop Pot restaurant in this area.

Lunch is under $13 per adult, dinner is under $19. All you can eat and self service vegetable, noodles, fish balls and ice cream. You can order meat and seafood on the side for additional fee.

The way to eat hot pot is order broth base. (All the vege and meat come raw, cleaned and without seasonings. You will be the chef.). pick dipping sauce at the sauces stations. (You can start with the house sauce. I prefer spicy, vinegary and low salt, so mine was scallion, garlic, red vinegar and sesame oil.) turn on the induction stove and start cooking!

Bon appetite!

02/08/2019 New longer business hours, see picture.

5/4/19 Check out my pictures for pricing of different time vs. selection.

7/13/19

Brand new, basic seafood is included in the weekend buffet....