This was a nice place 20 years ago, but no longer. Poor quality meat. Absolute terrible lazy and rude staff.
The staff was really helpful and patient - they made me a bowl of mixed flavors, walked me through the process, will definitely be coming back.
Hope you enjoy hot pot without soup base as well. Don't order udon here. Other materials are of high quality.
The food was quite bland due to no broth being used and the very limited sauces available were not great. This place is also woefully understaffed so expect to wait for everything if you are not the only group there.
Excellent well ran friendly Shabu Shabu hot pot resturant. High quality meats and veggies with organic options. Great place for first timers or veterans ZZ more Japanese style than Chinese (you get hot water you flavor wirh various things if you want or keep it simple to just enjoy the food you cook).Gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan no problem. Can handle most allergy or food intolerance issues.No reservations unless you want a table that seats four together, otherwise all counter seating.Restrooms.Parking lot out back, sometimes pay on the evenings. Another lot across street under brick building. Some meter parking.Credit cards OK.
instagram: @eat_saw_telleEat / Drink: Ribeye Plate, Seafood Plate, Miyazaki A5 steakSaw: Slices of red, DIY chef, worth the wait, generous staff, salmon stripes, full of regulars, surf over turf, Japanese import,triumphant return, mizu fullTell(e): 8.41/ 10Hi-bite: salmon, crab, miyazaki A5Lo-bite: none
Came here for the first time. We impressed about the service and foods. We really enjoyed it. Thanks very much
After seeing this place closed for over a year it was nice to see the pots boiling around several tables, far apart from each other. Service was very attentive- refilling our teas and making our dipping sauce (while other hotpot places have unreasonably returned to pre-covid stations of build-your-own condiment sauce mixes).Appreciated the fresh seasonal veggies and quality meats. Wish the broth could have been more than just kelp and water. Or add more broth options.
Cool place upscale shabu been going for probably 25 yrs this place had longevity the food is high quality but a little pricey.......I agree a little flavored broth would kick it up a bit ....but great sauces especially the sesame one ....
On a good note, customer service was good. Other than a that, this place is totally different from traditional Shabu-Shabu. I presumed this would’ve been the case but I celebrated my birthday with friends this was the only Shabu-Shabu restaurant near Culver City.The broth was literally water with a 1.00 x 0.50 inch strip of kombu. I brought my own kombu after reading the reviews. It didn’t really help because it takes about 30 minutes to an hour to make a flavor kombu broth and we didn’t have any bonito. They had other garlic, ginger, scallions and chili oil on the table. It wasn’t sufficient to make a tasty broth to cook your meat and vegetables.We were hungry and just jumped in. Our server didn’t give us the entire menu. There are side options that can make the menu more affordable and reasonable. We ordered a side clams for $10 from the reserved menu which was enough to add some flavor to our broth. Every selection of meat is a la carte without any combination plates.Its restaurant design is pretty much a bar which takes away from the communal dining tradition of Shabu-Shabu.Every person has their own broth pot. It was an annoying setup to not be able to look at your party. The restaurant does have 2 tables that sit 4 people. I forgot to check if they all had individual broth pots.The vegetables provided were a joke. Kale and mesclun lettuce dominated the offerings. I literally had 2 small mushrooms, 1 small slice of kabocha squash. 1 slice of yellow squash, 2 carrot slices, 2 stems of dandelion. I didn’t use them all. They are included in the meal. You’re paying for the meat so enjoy the meat and don’t upgrade to organic vegetables unless you’ve on an exclusive organic diet.The sauces were very limited. They were good though. I had to ask for soy sauce. They don’t have wasabi.All in all, it could be an enjoyable experience if the broth was flavorful and ready. We were served water. We literally had to cook our own broth. We had to ask for a bowl which was really small. They gave us plates and it’s hard to enjoy the meal that way as you construct it.I wouldn’t return because it is just wannabe Shabu-Shabu. Another positive note, they have free parking in the back. Meat quality was good. One friend paid about $35 for her meal which is okay for the area. I’ve paid about $50 for 2 people near Torrance and had more variety in our meal.