Jazz Cat Restaurant — Restaurant in San Gabriel

7 Years In LA, this is still my favorite restaurant.

Just like Monica in friends," SEVEN, SEVEN, SEVEN....SEVEN!!"

I moved here 7 years ago from Denver on a mission to eat good food. The first here I was here I splurged at every restaurant possible, American, Mexican, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, so on and within those genres of food breaking it down to specific specialties of the cuisine. When I first went to Jazz Cat it was a small location on Valley next to Noodle World/Boiling crab. At the time they were still using iron pots where they used petroleum jelly to light the fire to heat up the soup. Being that the restaurant was tiny and not meant for 50 people to light individual fires in the restaurant, it was too hot. Listening to their costumers, they opened a brand new restaurant with well vented tables and electric burners.

Fast forward 7 years later. My go-to broth is still the Spicy Seafood Essence (formally known as the Jazz Cat Spicy). Not sure why they call it spicy, because it's not spicy, it's just more flavorful than the original. If you're a seafood eater, try the seafood as your protein, if not stick with the beef as your protein.

MUST TRY side orders DO NOT leave without ordering what we call "awesome balls". Yes, I said it. The formal name for this dish is GOLDEN FISH BALLS! ERR MERHH GERRDDD they are so good....special surprise for you when you bite into them.

Second side you MUST order is Popcorn Chicken. Yes, fried chicken showered in jazz cat's secret dust....possibly MSG ;P hahaha. You...

If I was a Shabu Shabu fan in general, I'd give it 4 stars. But since I'm only just OK on this type of meal (I prefer hot pot), 3 stars is a pretty good rating in my book for this place.

Their pricing is very competitive to other shabu places since for $13 you can choose to have more MEAT and less veggies for the same price. Go go T-Rex!

There's also plenty of broths and sauces to choose from and I did enjoy my Japanese Cream Miso. My bf got the Rose Milk and it had real rose buds in the broth which he didn't bother trying lol.

Typically shabu shabu sets doesn't seem like a lot of food, but once you get going, the hot broth slows your eating pace and you end up REALLY full. (At least for me!) So the portion of the meal + the price is really decent for a shabu shabu place.

The WAIT, however, is a different story. Geez, there's so many people that wait here. But when you actually get seated, you'll notice that there are PLENTY of tables left. So what's the deal? Are their staff to slow in seating? Can they clean faster? Do they want the whole world to see that there's an insane line? I don't know. But there shouldn't be a reason why it takes so long to get seated.

In addition to the long wait, people are forced to STAND in the lobby or sit outside in the curb. Come on. At least install a bench on that cushy wall and let the older generation rest their feet! People are not sardines, and you shouldn't pack them in the lobby like they are.

TL;dr :

++ for price and portion Mega - points for wait time + lack of...

Haven't been to Jazz Cat in a long time because they normally have a long wait. My friend wanted to get hot pot and he suggested to go here because he saw that they had outdoor dining.

Once we arrived, we realized that they didn't open outdoor dining for dinner. Probably because it's cold and nobody wanted to sit there? Ok, so we just had to eat inside.

I ordered a premium beef with Taiwan satay broth. It didn't take them too long to bring our orders. I realized they have their own shape of hot pot that is the shape of a cat. That's pretty cute! What I like about this place goes downhill from here. The beef was not really cut for hot pot. They were too thick. They actually became tough once you cook them through. It's like three times the thickness of a normal hot pot beef slice that you could even get in a supermarket. On top of that the vegetable was not even cut to manageable size. I felt like they should give me a scissor so I could cut them myself. Were they that lazy to vegetables?

My friend ordered a fried tofu as appetizer and it was not even crispy. All in all, the meal was just not great. At the end, both my friend and I agreed that we would not come back again. It's a disappointment because I used to have fond memories of this place. Maybe they have changed ownership? I am not sure why it has gone down so much. Anyway, it's sad to see a place that was once a good hot pot place to go...