Shabuway — Restaurant in San Mateo

This is my favorite restaurant for healthy lunch. If I don't ask too many bowls of white rice, Shabu-shabu hot pot is low-carb, high-protein meal with good amount of dietary fiber, therefore I go to Shabuway at least once a week. The owner always carefully purchases the quality meats. When he could receive a good quality of beef blocks, he recommends Angus beef, for example, with confidence even I was about to ask Kobe beef which is higher priced. The owner is such a honest guy yet low-key usually. The meats are such carefully chosen, and the sesame souse is the best part of this hot pot. I can buy several Shabu-shabu sauces from Japanese supermarkets but no one can beat Shabuway’s rich and flavorful sesame sauce. Because Shabu-shabu is a self-service cooking, you have to careful heating the thin-sliced meat in the boiling broth. I prefer nice and pink medium-rare cooked, so I tap the meat only for 2 to 3 seconds in the broth. If you cook too much, it loses the texture, flavor and fat then the meat turns like a piece of cardboard… so be careful for heating and find your most...

I love this place. Even though it's chain, it's definitely one of the best Japanese Shabu restaurant in the bay area. Every chain is a bit different, but this one in San Mateo can be considered the original. The place gets really full during peak time, so it's best to come early. Up until a few years ago, you can only choose the seaweed soup base, which is already excellent. Now they have the spicy soup base as well. They also started to have lamb on the menu. I believe it used to be beef only. Their peanut sauce is amazing. I've tried making it myself, buy from stores, but nothing can beat the peanut sauce from this restaurant. I'm a big eater so I usually order the large portion, but there's also a smaller portion. On the side, I like to order an extra ramen to be eaten after everything is finish. You just dip the ramen into the soup for 30 seconds or so, then dip it into the peanur sauce. Amazingness in your mouth. Seriously, go try this place...

Tasteless broth. Really way below my expectations.

Was craving for some hot pot and decided to try a different place from our regular list of hot pot places.

We ordered a Kobe beef set and a Pork set. Chose the half half pot, one of which is spicy miso and one is the seaweed broth.

The meat didn't taste that fresh. The broth was just bad. Both the spicy miso and the seaweed was bad. The seaweed broth tasted more like just plain water. Thankfully the sauce they provided taste pretty good, we were dunking the meat endlessly for more taste.

It's pretty disappointing given that for hotpot places, their key two focus are awesome broth and fresh meat. Unfortunately, both did not quite work out when we visit.

Will certainly be my first and last visit. Decent service and ambience but can't make it up for the poor soup...