Shabu-Shabu House — Restaurant in Los Angeles

A revision of a long standing Shabu Shabu restaurant that was closed about a year ago. It is now called Shabu House and although the sign on the wall says "Since 1991" the experience has more differences than similarities. The beef cut with a deli slicer is still present now in the rear of the restaurant in a glass display area. The horseshoe counter has been converted to have seating on both sides, increasing seating but appears to limit staff movement. The food has also been changed with the classic shabu shabu ingredients supplemented with more pan-asian hot pot offerings like fish balls, fish cake and potato and lunch offerings have been changed to include dishes like Korean-style ramen and kimchee fried rice.

The shabu shabu comes as a set with three tiers of pricing starting at 30 dollars which includes a vegetable and fish cake assortment and beef with the second tier adding shrimp and a possibly larger serving of beef. The 3rd tier is the most expensive and says it includes Wagyu beef. The serving of meat on the first tier was generous and filled a large tray. It was sliced paper thin and had decent marbling.

The transition of the horseshoe allows for more seating but makes the counter feel more cramped. The dish set up is made up of two trays with metal serving bowls. Shoyu, chili sauce, chili oil and ponzu sauce are included at the table as well as minced garlic and spring onions. Goma (sesame sauce) is provided in a small dish with the meal and was used up quickly. No ladles were provided and the grey foam from the cooking meat quickly built up and coated the food. A Chinese spoon was included and at attempt to remove the foam filled up the serving dishes on the vegetable plate over the course of the meal.

Service was attentive though seemed to go through waves of availability. On arriving at the restaurant it was unclear if you sat yourself or if the staff were supposed to seat you. Tablets are at every seating for staff free ordering. A tablet was positioned by the door but it was not working. Attempts to flag down staff after waiting for them to notice someone at the door took some time as they were running around bringing food to various stations. Once I go a server's attention I was quickly seated and the food came immediately. Staff came to ask if I needed anything about 6 times over the course of the meal though did not appear to anticipate issues like running out of sauce. Checkout was at a counter at the front of the restaurant and after I was noticed standing at the counter a staff member came over quickly and took care of the bill.

Overall it is nice to have a Shabu Shabu Restaurant back in Little Tokyo Village Plaza. The price seems high but this is likely not the restaurant's fault considering the rapid gentrification of Little Tokyo. The service is earnest and friendly though appears to be experiencing some...

• Tip: bring cash and come very early to sign up on the waiting list as soon as it’s out.

Visited recently and arrived at opening time (5:30pm). To my surprise there was a waiting list 1.5 pages long already. They had a total of 3 sheets available to sign up, half of that amount was already taken before they even opened. I appreciate the guy (who calls you in to sit) letting us know the wait from this point was 1.5-2 hours. Arrived at 5:30pm and seated around 7:30pm and not any earlier. By the time we were seated names were half way down the 3rd sheet of paper.

Food - great just as I remembered it. Regular portion is 10 slices while Large is 15 slices. I love their ponzu sauce - wish I had a bottle for home use. Something to note: You are boiling your food in water. At other shabu shabu places they may have a mild kelp/seaweed type stock. People have a misconception mistaking it for Chinese hot pot where the liquid is super flavorful. This is not that. What makes this delicious are the delicate marbled pieces of beef and your choice of dipping sauces, ponzu and sesame. There are little condiment containers, I put a lot of garlic into my ponzu sauce. Yum!

They start preparing for the next round of eaters before the current group leaves. As they get closer to seating a group, he will call whoever’s name is written and ask for your entire parties order before hand. Other workers will start slicing the portions of meat arranging them neatly on individual plates, cover it with saran wrap, and place them into the fridge until you are seated. This helps to speed up the process so there is less wait time. As soon as a party leaves, their area is cleaned, a new pot and veggies were placed. He will call groups in and you are hopefully within ears reach or will be passed over. While their rules are strict, it makes sense considering the number of people needing to be served.

Parking - think typical downtown, metered parking and paid parking lots. I always park across the street in either the structure or the driveway directly next to it (on the left side) which is another parking area but outdoors.

The restaurant is very small and not good for large groups or parties with young kids/infants. All the seating is counter style, the only table I saw was a kids table no one was seated at. Great meal on a cool or rainy day! Next time I’d come earlier and would hangout...

I am a huge fan here! The only down about this place is that it is SO POPULAR that there's always a long wait before the restaurant even opens! I would recommend coming here 30 minutes before opening to get in without a wait. Seriously, it is that popular!

The menu is simple. It's a shabu shabu restaurant where you basically dip your slices of beef and veggies into boiling hot water to cook. You would then dip it in your preferred sauce and enjoy! What makes this place stand out from all other shabu shabu restaurant are their quality meat and sauces. You simply pick from their sesame sauce or the ponzu sauce (sour soy sauce taste). They have two choices, medium or large. I would recommend getting the large unless you eat like a bird.

My recommendation on how to enjoy your shabu shabu here:

-Put all your veggies in the pot, so it's nice and soft by the time you want to eat em' (minus the noodles at dinner time) -Eat one slice at a time. If you put all your meat in there, the beef gets tough. -sesame sauce (put plenty of greens onions and a scoop of garlic) -ponzu sauce (put a big scoop of the turnip and garlic) -get a spoon and enjoy your broth

The lunch and dinner prices have about $5 difference, but the portions are about the same. So, the lunch menu is a better deal if you can make it.

I always laugh about how serious the restaurant is because there are so many signs! You're not allowed to use your cell phone and I joke about how they're going to have a sign of "NO TALKING"! They use to allow credit card for payments, but now it's only CASH.

There's free parking in the Japanese Village Lot if you get your ticket validated when you pay your check. The lot sometimes charge you ahead of time, but you can always get your money back if you show your validated ticket. I'm not sure how long the validation is good for, but at least...