SHABU-WORKS — Restaurant in San Diego

Food: 4/5 Service and Setting: 3/5 Value: 2.5/5

Nestled in the corner of Mira Mesa near Chuck E. Cheese, Shabu Works is serving good all-you-can-eat hot pot. The interior is clean and everything but the meat is self-serve. Unlike many other all-you-can-eat spots, drinks and a shaved ice station are included. The drinks even include more premium teas which is a huge plus. All of the food stations are well stocked and cleaned but I will say that the bingsoo shaved ice kind of gives me anxiety since everything is cold and slightly sticky, but I will report that I have not gotten sick the few times I have eaten here. Service is relatively fast and the servers are attentive. Shabu Works used to be a good mid-priced option, but with recent price increases, it is getting harder and harder to justify coming here.

The Mongolian: 3/5 This is the “traditional” hot pot base that I am used to. Milky and loaded with Chinese spices, this is probably my favorite soup base. Because it has so much flavor, it will affect the taste of your foods greatly, so keep that in mind. Here, they use just water to cook a broth sort of seasoning mix that tends to get overly salty and bitter as time goes on. A lot of surrounding hot pots are more Japanese leaning so getting this Mongolian style broth is hard, so I usually get this despite its drawbacks.

Wagyu Meats: 4.5/5 The Wagyu here is good, but I find the beef belly to be way too fatty. The chuck tender and beef round are honestly almost indistinguishable. The meat has a full and rich flavor and is very fresh. No signs of age or off flavors. Highly recommend.

Vegetables: 4.5/5 All of the vegetables here are very fresh and I haven’t seen any signs of rot or poor quality. I particularly enjoy putting in tomato to add umami to my broth and having a treat at the end to eat with my meat. I really enjoy eating the plain tofu as well.

Roe Fish Ball: 5/5 My favorite fish ball is stuffed with liquid roe. The fish ball and filling do not have a fishy flavor and inside is a total savory bomb. The flavor only gets better as time goes on. Be careful eating this straight out of the put, the filling will be molten!

Karaage: 4/5 This was shockingly good and a good change of pace from the boiled meats. Well seasoned, crispy, and juicy, I was frankly impressed.

Sauces: 3.5/5 I think the sauce and ingredient station is pretty standard. I wish they had more dry seasonings like MSG and offered a Chinese sesame paste over the already prepared sweet Japanese version.

Drinks: 4/5 The mango and lychee teas are pretty good for being “free” but not the level of a boba shop. I always mix the teas with Sprite for a new refreshing vibe.

Bingsoo: 3.5/5 Can the ice be finer? Can the station be cleaned a little more often? Can they have more selection? Yes, but having this included with your meal is great and a perfect way to end the meal. Fruity pebbles and condensed milk make for a mighty good end to a...

Well, first and foremost, the food is always excellent - both hot and cold. Their broth selection is phenomenal, and I personally recommend the Sichuan Ma-La! Spicy with a strong oriental flavor. There is a dessert bar which they call "Bing Su" which is like a build-your-own-bowl, with the bottom-most layer being shaved ice (if you want, of course.)

One can also find a nice selection of beverages to choose from as well, including house iced teas & the Coca-Cola myriad machine. This will be a self-serve situation, but with the cozy layout of the restaurant, the drinks are not a far walk at all. The Bing Su bar is right next to the drinks and I recommend getting some popping boba balls in your drink for extra flavor!!

Lastly but definitely not least would be the atmosphere and service...and of course they are both great! The music has more of a modern energy and selection, which isn't my choice but you know you can't win them all. This absolutely isn't a problem at all though because it's played at an ambient volume so conversation isn't intruded upon nor is it annoyingly loud.

Finally, to mention the actual staff service: Top Notch! Friendly and professional, these servers come with a seriousness fitting for any of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants, yet carrying a kindness and politeness you'd find at a local diner. This description befits the 5 different servers I've personally had the pleasure of being served by over the last two years (good employee retention by the way,) but the most outstanding one is Suki, who actually ended up helping me save probably hundreds of dollars at this point due to her suggesting getting the Discount Tee-Shirt! You save 10% on every visit when you wear it, so naturally after ten visits it pays for itself. Outside of the suggestion though, she is the -most- attentive and considerate server. Not even just to me, but I can attest to how she flies around the floor clearing tables and getting everyone their meat plates promptly. It really seems like she genuinely enjoys her work. As a past-server myself, it makes me proud to see such dedication.

Anyway after such a long-drawn review, I'll say that it's always a treat to eat here, and I'm glad the quality and selection is always consistent. One of top my favorite spots here in San Diego whenever I have a little extra cash lying around. I hope this spot never closes and that the same servers stay for as long as they're happy to, because that's part of what makes it so great. Thanks for...

Was gonna give 4 stars for the food but the service was bad enough for my whole experience to be a 1 star. Here's why:

My family and I got there around 115-130pm and put our name on the waiting list. There was 5 parties in front of us so we waited patiently for our table since the restaurant was a little busy. When we got our table around 215pm, they informed us that last call for ordering meat was at 230pm since they closed at 3pm. We put our order in for meat and never got the order after waiting 20 minutes. We wanted to give them time to give us our meat but I had to go and ask the front desk if we can get our meat. They apologized and said our meat should be out soon. 5-8 minutes later we got our order. After eating all the meat quickly we wanted to order more but found no waiter in sight because they were all tending to the other side of the restaurant. When we finally got our waiter after waiving one of them down, he informed us that it was the last call for meat and ordered as much as we can. He also seemed annoyed with our table and helped us with an attitude. Dirty dishes were left on the side not being picked up and they gave us the bill while waiting for only our second order. We get our second order of meat 10 minutes after and continue eating. We felt rushed the whole time because we knew they were closing, but we couldn't do anything about it since we only got our seats at 215pm. Our family usually agrees with how much we tip according to the service, so we tipped a little lower than usual. The same server that gave us attitude taking our order looks down at how much we tipped, and had the AUDACITY to ask us why we tipped so low. He said in his own words, "We always get a lot from tips, so why are you tipping us so low"? We told him it was due to service being bad even though we gave them time since the restaurant was a little busy, but we shouldn't have had to walk up to the front to ask for our order and wait that long with a lot of servers.

I get this may sound like I bug on the smallest things they did but having to ask customers why they tip low is pretty rude and not professional. Our family is usually understanding of waiters being busy with other customers, but they looked fully staffed. w Wouldn't have tipped anything if I knew it was going to be like this. I never usually write reviews on restaurants but this one was an experience I'll never forget...