Mokkoji Shabu Shabu Bar — Restaurant in Orange

This place was ok but definitely not for me. I'm VERY critical when it comes to shabu. 1st off, they ran out of rice and only 3 out of the 4 of us got rice, honestly from that point the experience was ruined for me. I could've got up and left but they had already started the broths and brought out the veggies and I would never do that. The beef and chicken was pretty good but sliced too thick. I rate Shabu based on the goma... this goma tasted like it had Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce somewhere in the recipe, it was too tangy and sweet. We ordered garlic edamame and by the time they remembered we ordered it we were almost done with our meal so we told them we didn't want it anymore and not to make it. They also don't have spinach, which is a must for me. The sukiyaki didn't come with an egg, or they forgot it, and did I mention they ran out of rice. I wouldn't be so upset about the rice if it was the end of the day, but they opened at 11:30, and it was a little after 2 so someone had to have known they were low on rice, we should've been told before we ordered. I personally won't be back, but I wouldn't say don't eat here, try it and see what you think. The place is nice and clean looking, so that was a plus. The cold brewed iced tea was good but never got a refill...

My cousins brought me here to celebrate my 25th birthday. I love shabu, and I have yet to try this spot out.

Parking: They're located in a medium sized plaza, and there's plenty of free parking.

Ambiance/Environment: It's very clean inside. There's a decent amount of seating. We visited on a Thursday night, so it wasn't too busy.

Service: Our server was efficient. We didn't catch her name, but she was knowledgable about the menu when we asked questions. Throughput was under 15 min after ordering. After receiving our orders, our server checked on us a couple times.

Soup & meats: My bf and I ordered the 'specials for 2' and went with the shared brisket set. The soup was decent; wasn't too salty. My favorite part were the briskets. It came with a generous amount of briskets. The toppings were also fresh. This special included beers...

Food was pretty good, but like some of the other reviews have mentioned, the service was extremely slow and almost non-existent. Management seriously needs to have at least two more staff working the restaurant so customers aren’t waiting 5-10 minutes to be given a menu and additional 5-10 minutes to have their order taken. I want to say the guys working yesterday did their best, and when they did approach us, they were super friendly and got us what we asked for/needed, but again, just felt like it was way understaffed or just needed to pick up the pace considering there were only maybe 10 other people in the restaurant for lunch on a Thursday. Didn’t feel like it was worth a $40-50 meal tbh....