Kushi Shabu
123 S. Onizuka St., #305
Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 621-0210
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Garage, Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: No
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
34 Reviews for Kushi Shabu
My friend and I had a great experience here. The meat was tasty and the service was pretty attentive and overall the price was good. It was totally worth it, but satisfied my shabu-shabu craving so well that I have to wait a while before I'll be able to go again.
This would be the 35th review for this place, but people are darn informative! I am a new kid, all bright eyed with sharpened pencils to this style of cooking. I don't know if there isn't anything to already cover here to guide you into the wonderful world of shabu shabu. The name of this type of cooking reminds me of a city in Washington State. Walla Walla. A city so nice, you gotta say it twice. Well, similar to that phrase..... Take T. is so nice, you can say his name twice! HA!
Seriously though - thank you for your very informative shabu 101 lesson and just your overall company while you were on your shift, Take. I think all Yelpers would agree that its this kind of service that will make someone come back to a place time & time again. I would def feel comfortable coming back here and describing how to eat here from your lessons! The cliffnotes version: your meat will take a 30 second bath, dip into the two sauces with some rice and repeat as often as you would like. Eat some of the veggies too with your rice / meat concoction. Your Mom will be happier this way.
As others have said, come very hungry as the plates of meat (pork & beef) keep coming and coming....and you really won't want to stop!
I hope I was a good student!
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I admit it, we had supremely awesome service and a great time largely due to the fact Take T personally served our party and worked with me a couple of weeks ahead of time on the reservation. He went out of his way to email me the menu and to highlight the favorites including the all-you-can-eat $25.99 shabu shabu (about $32 with tax and tip).
He sat us in a small private room and kept us entertained, well-watered with drinks and happy with endless plates of meat.
He was very patient to explain to us how shabu shabu works as I and some others have never had true Japanese shabu shabu before.
I didn't think I could eat anymore after polishing off lots of plates of super thinly shaved beef and pork, not to mention rice, noodles, veggies, tofu, mushrooms all dipped in two delicious sauces (I liked the beef with the more watery sauce and the pork with the creamier sauce). But as it was, Take brought us a truly outstanding dessert; a mix of red bean, jello, fruit, brown sugar syrup all topped off with the best lychee ice cream I ever had. He said it was produced by a local LA company based in Little Tokyo. I'm going to have to hunt for this wonderful ice cream.
Next time, I'll have to try the kushi which Take explained this restaurant was originally started based on a kushi chain in Japan. From the othe reviews, it seems like it's definitely another cool experience.
I knew where this restaurant was but if you have trouble locating it, it's in the same shopping center as Orochon and Curry House.
And a big 5 stars for endless sake and beer! Huzzah, meat and booze, what more can a girl ask for?
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I normally don't eat shabu shabu so when you got a place like this, you really don't know what to expect. I was very pleased, not only with the food, but also with the service. We had a party of 12 so we were able to reserve a tatami room (where you take your shoes off). We all, I think, were forced to order the all you can eat beef/pork. Our waiter was awesome! He kept bringing us plate after plate after plate of meat with no end in sight! Then just when I thought we finished off those pesky vegetables, he brought us more! Bastard!
One of our friends' birthday was within 10 days of this visit so they gave us 2 bottles of champagne due to the number of our party.
Not only that, if you order 5 bottles of beer or sake, they're 30% off! So of course, being the lushes that we are, we ordered 5 of each.
Just a great experience overall and I'd come back if I get another chance to do so.
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Hands down best Shabu Shabu in all of Los Angeles.
the soup, service, drinks, and the location are all perfect! Specially since it's only a few blocks from my favorite cigar shop
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Shabu what? Had no idea what this was until I was brought here by a friend. Swish-Swish is what he told me Shabu-Shabu meant. In just minutes I knew exactly what it was all about. This place is very authentic, number one. Number two, the food and the "extras," are plentiful and replenished once you need more. More veggies, here you go. Need Mochi? Here it is. More broth? Watch out, it's Hot! The nice thing about Shabu-Shabu is that it makes for a perfect dinner with friends when you need to catch up or are not in a hurry to get to a movie theater. The meat quality and taste was excellent and the service right on. Lucky for me, my dinner date spoke Japanese so getting what we needed was easy. Make sure you pay attention to the broth and skim it out every once in a while. Some of all that goodness eventually rises to the top of your hot pot. Enjoy! - Skimmer is provided and free of charge!
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I really liked this place. They have all you can eat Shabu Shabu for $25.95...you can pick between pork or beef. If you have a group though, everyone has to order the AYCE. But one plate of meat is already about $20 so it makes more sense to just get the AYCE. The slices of meat are thin. But it makes the meat very tender. It also comes with AYCE miso soup, rice, and vegetables.
They used to have an All you can drink too...but I guess some people imbibed a bit too much so they canceled it =( But if you order 5 or more bottles of beer or sake...you get 30% off. So a large bottle of beer comes out to just $4. They also give you a dessert bowl with jello and fruits.
We had a large group of 11 so we got the private tatami room. The service was excellent! They made sure we had everything we asked for. You can find street parking a few blocks away or park in the lot. It's located on the third floor of a plaza.
Next time I'll try the Kushikatsu...the reviews make it sound really good.
Today's Topic: Kushikatsu 101.
Guest Speaker: Yuko Y.
Good morning all.
I know Shabu Shabu is tasty and all, and Kushi Shabu's all-you-can-eat Shabu Shabu deal is great for sure. But what is up with 24 out of 26 reviews are about Shabu Shabu? What happened to Kushikatsu part? The place is called Kushi Shabu, (which suggests they offer Kushikatsu and Shabu Shabu) for crying out loud!!!
So now, let's talk about Kushikatsu, shall we? I'm sure many of you hip LA people have tried Yakitori already and know exactly what it is. Yakitori is a Japanese version of kabob, where different types of meat, veggies, and seafood are skewered and grilled. Kushikatsu is a deep fried version of that. No, not tempura style, it's breaded.
First and foremost, you must sit at the counter as the chef will fry your orders right in front of your eyes and hand you the blazing hot items. Sitting at the table will delay the delivery of the fried items, resulting in you receiving them in not so ideal state of consumption, a.k.a. luke warm. Even if you ordered like 20 items all together, chef will give you 1 to 2 skewers at a time, enabling you to enjoy each item without worrying about the rest of the items getting cold in front of you.
Second of all, enjoy the variety of additions that you get on the table. You see this very weird rectangular plate in front of you. It's divided into 5 little sections, and you might be confused as to why such weird plate? This is the almighty plate where you can put on all your seasonings. There are Tonkatsu sauce, mustard, soy sauce, and rock salt to garnish your items. Most of the fried items go well with the mixture of Tonkatsu sauce and mustard, but sometimes using rock salt on simple veggie items works great. Let's not forget about the raw veggies (cabbage, celery, daikon, etc) that you get in the small bowl as well. Do not eat it all as an appetizer salad at the beginning. This is there to clean your pallet, as you will get tired of eating fried items one after another. Use the Miso dip available on your table, and eat it between fried items.
Now to the real juicy part. Between my friend and I, we must have conquered about 30 skewers at Kushi Shabu. He had more of meat and veggie items, and I had more of seafood and veggie items, so we pretty much covered good chunk of what they offered there. None of them disappointed us in any way, but I especially loved their Kamaboko with Shiso leaf, shrimp wrapped in Shiso leaf, bacon wrapped asparagus with mayo, bacon wrapped cherry tomato, stuffed Renkon (lotus root), gizzard, and squid tentacles. Some of them were recommended by our chef, with a comment like "oh this one goes so well with beer." How can anybody resist from such recommendation? And boy was he so right!
All the staffs were friendly and helpful. Very good tips and recommendations were given to us throughout the night. When in doubt, or not sure what to order, just simply ask the chef. He'll magically come up with some amazing dishes that'll bring out smile on your face. See, you must realize how valuable this joint is, as I have not yet to discover any other restaurants that serve Kushikatsu in LA. That's right, people, as far as I know, you can't eat this style of Japanese food anywhere in LA but here. We are lucky that the place is right in the middle of LA, with great staffs, and great quality of food. I almost didn't wanna share this info with you guys, but that wouldn't have been fair to any of you foodie, would it? Oh no, no need to thank me, people. I'm just doing the right thing as an yelper, but if you must, I'll take a drink or two next time you see me. Ok?
Well, enough with my blabbing now, so I'll let you guys go after one last notion. I'd like to thank our fellow yelper Take T. for being our head chef for the night, frying us fantastic skewers, making recommendations, sharing beer with us, and making our dining experience so special with such hospitality. You are the best!!
Ok people, thanks for sitting through my lecture. Now have a happy gobbling!
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Kushi Shabu is my favorite spot for some shabu shabu. I love that they have all you can eat for a great price, and service is great. They have a wide variety of sake! They used to have an all you can drink special, but they got rid of it, um probably because we Asians drink alcohol like whales. They were probably losing money. Anyhow, i love the whole setup they do for you. 2 dipping sauces, rice, daikwang, the most amazing miso, veggie plate w/ noodles, and of course plates of meat! They have private rooms too! Overall, this place is just a great cozy shabu place, without those ridiculous lines over at that other place across the street.
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Best Shabu? No, wait till you try Kagaya. You'll find it under my reviews.
After watching and listening to boys argue about what to eat for dinner, I called shabu shabu and we all came to an agreement. By the way...I didn't know boys were so picky about what they eat. It was interesting.
So...this past Saturday we had a very filling shabu experience. It's AYCE shabu shabu for about $26 so of course the boys filled themselves up to their necks with meat. I, of course, didn't feel like I got my money's worth because I only had about a plate. I don't do very well with AYCE.
The service was good. They kept the veggies and meat coming. The only thing is...they don't make you the porridge afterwards like Korean places. Other than that...it's not bad for an AYCE shabu place. Actually this is the only one I know of that's AYCE.
Edit: Just found out from Take T. that if you ask for the porridge at the end...they'll make it for ya~!! :)
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Kushi Shabu... Service here is welcoming and helpful. Taki, if thats how you spell it, (Sorry if I messed it up) help my boss with the directions to the restaurant. He is a pretty cool guy too. We got the private room where you have to take off your shoes before entering, that was pretty cool.
We ordered the all you can eat beef plate. Since there was 5 of us we also got 5 bottles of Kirin beer, cause of the drink special. lol Okay maybe cause we're club promoters and we drink like fish. lol (The image of a promoter... -_-)
As we were eating, my friend was being a smart ass and told Taki to bring more meat in about 10mins. Cause we'll be done with the 10 we had. He really brought out more plates 10mins later and said, "hey, you guys slowing down..." lol I found that funny. But yeah, it's a great place and I'm glad I went here. Forsure I'm going to be there again. I know a few ladies that love Shabu Shabu. =)
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I went here for my birthday a couple of weeks ago after reading the great reviews here. I had a group of about 10 people. I had never tried shabu-shabu before, but had tried sukiyaki once and loved it, so I figured I'd love this place too.
No so.
1st off, this place is a bit hard to find if you don't know the area. It's on the 3rd floor of the complex, and look for "Astronaut Ellison" in the street name, cuz "Onizuka" is more of a secondhand name, which I didn't notice at first, and neither did my company.
The accomodations, at least, were nice. We got a fairly private room with a nice sized table for all of us, decked out w/ the shabu-shabu preparations. We immediately felt out of place the way patrons and staff stared at us as we went to our table. One of the servers proceeded to gesture impatiently for us to take our shoes off, which we did, and he seemed offended that we didn't know to do this immediately. Not one person in the party was very familiar with traditional Japanese dining, so I'd hoped the people working there would realize this and fill us in on how we should do things. We got no such assistance.
After going over the menus for a bit, 5 or 6 of us decided on the AYCE shabu-shabu, and the others, a vegetarian included, opted for something else. To my disappointment, we were told the AYCE option is only available if everybody at the table orders AYCE, so in the end we decided against it. I guess I understand that they don't want people sharing food they didn't order, but if over half of the people at a table wanna go for it, I don't see a big problem. Oh well.
After the orders were placed, the male server came by with a tray, and gestured that he wanted something. Apparently, if you're not ordering shabu-shabu, you can't have the shabu-shabu sauces. I guess he didn't know how to impart this in English, so it took 10 minutes for everybody to figure out what he wanted, and to pass the sauce bowls down to him, as he sat at the end of the table looking frustrated.
We were confused, asshole. Calm down, we're new at this.
They provided us with free sparkling wine for my birthday, which was nice, and I started with hot sake and Kirin. The beer glasses unfortunately do not allow for sake bombs, so a heads-up to my fellow drinkers.
The shabu orders arrived fairly promptly, which was nice, but that left 3 of us with no food, except for miso soup. I had no idea what the shabu process was, and the server made no point to help us there either. We asked her to demonstrate how to cook the meat, and what to do with the vegetables. Once she understood what we wanted, she showed us by dumping some vegetables into the pot (whatever it's called), then motioned to dip the meat in after that. Then she left. We were still confused, but thus far, nobody there seemed very interested in helping us out, so we winged it.
The meat was pretty good, albeit sparse for the price. AYCE is definitely the only way to go. I ate a few of the vegetables, but I really had no idea what to do with everything else boiling in the pot, so I left it for the most part. The mochi was like slugs in minutes. I don't know what the hell I was supposed to do with that stuff! The meat was pretty much all I ate.
Those that didn't order shabu sat waiting for around 30-40 minutes before my boy Carl got up to go find somebody and see what was taking so long. A few minutes later the rest of the food was served. Between the delivery of the shabu and Carl leaving the table, not once did anybody stop by to see how we were doing.
We ended up having some fun with the experience, and our collective disappointment and confusion. Carl had to go get somebody again after another 20 min. waiting to ask for the check after we had finished eating. That process went fairly smoothly, thank goodness, cuz we all wanted to get the hell out of there ASAP.
Not one person we dealt with spoke much English, and nobody there was very helpful. The whole time we felt out of place and confused by the experience, and had it not been for the great group of friends I had as company, my birthday dinner would have been a complete disappointment. We did not feel welcome here.
I'd be willing to try this place again with a couple of people, with at least one fluent in Japanese, and/or experienced w/ shabu-shabu. I would order the AYCE, and make the best of it, for the meat.
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Cold weather makes perfect timing for Shabu shabu.
As Sam would say "Swish, Swish", but what does he know? It's not only about the "Swish, swish", kid. It's all about the dipping the meat one by one into the boiling water, then into ponzu and peanut sauce, let some of the sauce drip a lil onto the rice each time and off into my mouth.
It's not about the about dumping all the vegetables and meat into the water and let it cook, this is not Hot Pot. Take, please back me up here.
At Kushi Shabu, I had the all you can eat meat and one Asahi big beer bottle which they sum up to 35 per party, and I still think it's an awesome deal. I am very pleased with the meat too, it was better than I expected. Normally when you hear all-you-can-eat, I get the eww face and it's always the bad quality kind, but Kushi had a better than average kind of beef and pork.
Yes, I enjoy taking the time with my shabu shabu and appreciate every moment of it.
Quit rushing me, Sam.
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The all-you-can eat Shabu Shabu is definitely worth it here. I can never get to the noodles at the end though. You're supposed to traditionally finish off with that but Whadyevas.. I'm gonna get me full on some Meat.
The Goma-dare everyone speaks of is actually made from sesame seeds and not peanut although the sauces may taste similar. But yeah, they should just serve that up in a bowl cause I can never have enough and I get embarrassed asking after the third time.
Feasting on Kushi-yaki is mighty tasty but can get pricey.
It's a FUCK YOU FRIDAY!
So I'd never had shabu shabu before. That's right, I'm a chef and a food snob and last night was my first time. Fuck you if you've got a problem with that. Anyway, my friend Masoto wanted to go for the all you can eat beef shabu shabu but apparently they turn away solo guests. So he asked me and I said sure, I was only going to have my patent fettucine chicken alfredo (reheated), so off we went.
Twenty six bucks a person. Not so good if you have a dainty appetite like Masoto's. Perfect for me. The multi-tiered platters of beef strips kept on coming, and we must have worked through about a dozen plates. I know somebody's got to make a profit but fuck you, I like to get the most bang for my buck (not literally). The veggies were good as long as you didn't pile in too much at a time and let them get all pale and brownish around the edges. The two seasoning sauces were good, I preferred what I assume was some kind of sesame mixture. But fuck you, they were just tiny dishes. I had to get refills a bit more than I liked.
Masoto was being a bit of a lech, staring at the total babes seated next to us (well, two babes, and one had bigger arm muscle than I did) but the one sitting next to me looked a lot like my ex-fiancee so I was getting rather irrationally annoyed at my friend. Then when they were paying the check he struck up a conversation in Japanese. Fuck him very much. I picked up my chopsticks, grabbed his left earlobe with them, and dragged him aside to have a little talk.
Good thing he's such a good-natured guy. Otherwise I'd have to go reduce the rating I gave his store.
Anyway, the food was good and if you think you can consume twenty-six bucks worth of beef (they have marbled beef all you can eat for forty-two bucks or so but fuck them, the regular beef is marbled perfectly) and veggies, I would certainly recommend this. They didn't even express any horror at how much I was consuming, which was polite. But fuck them, anyway.
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Noting that its expensive and that too much meat can be sickening I don't want to give a 4 star also because there was a lack of service since only one of the servers actually was helpful to us. We were one of the first customers that came in at opening time 5:30 pm which was a shock and my girl friend doesn't eat beef or pork she had to break that habit for me. It might be sometime before I revisit.
I went there last night and it was better than I thought it would be. Nice and quiet atmosphere, good prices and the waiters were really nice. We had the all you can eat shabu shabu for $25 and since it was wed before 7pm, we got 20% off. We got unlimited veggies, meat and rice, (dessert at the end) for under $50. maybe 44? i dont remember. Too bad the plaza is ghetto looking now. I would go back again with my girl friends next time.
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I love their peanut dipping sauce!!! The meat is high quality and very tasty. Bring a large group of friends or family and get the all you can eat combos! You will be surprised with how many plates you can finish.
this place is all you can eat shabu shabu which means swish swish. i learned there the proper technique to eating shabu shabu. the meat was all fresh, tender, and good. we got ice cream and fruit and beer and take really took care of us. i ate so much i basically passed out after i ate. its very authentic style and my new spot for japanese shabu shabu. i still heart korean style but this is just as good!
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I definitely like Shabu shabu! All you can eat shabu shabu? NICE.
This is a great place, with a cozy and warm atmosphere. I went for the $26/person all you can eat beef shabu shabu. They come out in stacks of round wooden trays with a dish of beef inside. How many trays did i go through? I think i personally went through 3 or 4.
The miso soup and vegetables (cabbage, assorted mushrooms, tofu, green veggies) were great too. Not sure what the green veggie is called, but i asked for another plate just of that veggie and it was not a problem. There's this other thing that comes with the veggies that is frozen, called rice cakes. A few minutes in the pot and they become mushy and soft, good stuff!
Definitely come check it out.
When it comes to eating - it's usually quanitity or quality - pick one or the other....
You know you have found something special when a place can offer both. Kushi Shabu is not for those that are NOT hearty eaters. Make sure your stomach and pallette bring their "A" game as you will cause animal activists to have a "cow" as you gorge on tasty boiled semi-kobe beef.
All you can eat shabu shabu that tastes decent is hard to find. There are normal shabu joints that may have thicker slices of beef, but the "All you can eat" option quickly puts to rest any attempts at comparison. Sauces are up to par, the interior is wooden and traditional.
Never packed, always fun - especially when the sake is flowin.
Minus one star for serving lukewarm sake when we ordered the cheapy sake. Had to upgrade, then ahhhhh - so oiishi!
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for about $26, its worth it bc its all u can eat!! tho i still like shabu shabu house better (they have better quality meat and a not-so-tangy ponzu sauce), i still come to kushi shabu when im like super starving.
I LOVE this place! Their all you can eat shabu shabu is like a three course meal. You get the miso soup and the appetizers, then the all you can eat beef or pork and veggies (plus mochi! yum yum), then the dessert (which is all you can eat too)... choose from lychee and green tea (and other flavors that I forget) ice cream with a dish of jelly, fruits, and red bean paste. Their meat comes in plates, all thinly sliced and fresh.
Hint: Skip the miso soup and drink the broth that the meat and veggies create when you're done eating (mixed with a little bit of ponzu sauce if you want)... yummmm.
You can always order more of something off the veggie dish too (like more tofu, or more mushrooms), you don't have to suffer the whole plate like most places make you do.
The service here is always great. Everyone is friendly and helpful =)
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The ever so popular make your own food is always expensive.. have you noticed? But Kushi is something worth writing about. This place is a random place located on the 3rd floor of Weller Court in Jtown. It has ALL YOU CAN EAT SHABU SHABU for $24! The 1st round of meat is delicious, but I have noticed the more you order, the crappier the meat gets.. but hey, $24 is the price I have paid for 1 plate of 10 pieces of meat! You get really salty miso soup (which I would skip) a plate of vegetables including mochi, and some mysterious yet tasty dessert. The waiter I always get is really cool. He gets the honorable employee of the month award from me. You will be able to spot him. Huge dumbo ears and glasses in a blue robe. The coolest guy ever.
Here are some also notable facts:
* $15 buys you 2 hours of UNLIMITED drinking of Sake, Beer, Wine, you name it! Frat boy heaven!
*Come on Tuesdays and Wednesdays before 7pm and you get 20% off entire bill!
*Come on your birthday or 10 days within your birthday and you get 1 free bottle of Champagne for every 5 people in your party!
*Free private tatami rooms!
If you really like Shabu and you want to eat a lot, come here!
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I've been to shabu-shabu restaurants before, but I never found out the proper way to go about it, (I'll Google it later) beyond cooking the meat and having it with veggies and sauce. The lunch special was very generous, with thinly sliced beef, pickles, tofu, noodles, and lots of napa cabbage. The boiled meat was very tender and flavorful, and went well with the sauce (some kind of sesame paste, I think), green onions and pickled daikon. There are shorter waits than Shabu-Shabu House, and it's located in my favorite plaza in J-Town, Weller Court. Recommended.
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A family birthday with my brother and his enormous stomach was a great experience at kushi. This being his special day, we had a complimentary bottle of champagne. The service was excellent, especially our server who was so entertaining, she was right out of an anime comedy.
We all ordered the all-you-can-eat beef shabu shabu. In retrospect, we should've taken advantage of some other types with seafood, but all-you-can-eat has to be the same for everyone in the party. They use modern stoves for the water pot, which worked out fine even if I did miss the traditional stove. The beef was very good and the vegetables were more unusual for standard shabu shabu (enoki, a green herb and what I thought was daikon but instead a gluey root vegetable). I really wish that there were more vegetables, although we didn't ask for more and I'm sure they would've accommodated us as the staff was so friendly and helpful.
If you know shabu shabu, you know that the sauces make or break the meal and these here are wonderful. The manager came by to suggest some spicier options (good for novices).
They even have Orion beer, which is often hard to find in restaurants. This is a great, reasonably-priced spot and right next to Kinokuniya.
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We went for the kushiage (deep fried skewers). Turns out this is the only place in the US that has this style of Japanese food that I fell in love with over 20 years ago in Osaka.
I wasn't wowed by anything except the kamaboko with umeshiso (fish cake with plum paste), but then I love anything with umeshiso in or on it. And as the Simpsons taught me, anything deep fried is delicious. The only thing I had I didn't care for was the asparagus, which is odd because I love asparagus, and Japanese mayonnaise. I don't know why, it just didn't work this time.
The atmosphere seems authentic low-class Japanese, just like you would find in Shitamachi Tokyo, or parts of Osaka. I found it endearing.
This place is expensive. Three of us had the 12 skewer course and the bill was $95, including one person's sake order, but not including tip.
4 words: All you can eat.
Indifferent service, but just keep asking and they'll eventually bring you plate after plate of veggies, noodles, tofu and thinly sliced beef in the raw. A boiling pot of water is your cooking vessel, and two sauces and some garnish are your flavoring. Since you do the preparation, you can only blame yourself if you don't like it. It's a clean, healthy way to eat - low oil, low fat. Terrific on a chilly Winter night. Make sure to hit the Marukai market on the first level of this shopping center for some fun Japanese snacks.
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As you know, shaba shaba usually come with one plate for very thin slice of meat, and dats all you can. Not in Kushi Shabu, you can order all-you-can-eat shabu shabu. It's unlimited meat, veggie and noodles. The meat quality is not the best, but it's raesonable.
I came on my birthday, and i got a free bottle of champagne. oh wait!! it's a bottle for 5 people. we have 7 people, and they took the second bottle away.
The service is great!!! the waitress is always around to get you MORE meat. It's a great place to catch up with a friend over dinner and some sake. =)
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If you like fried food and you like breaded katsu, you must have the kushikatsu. The only place I know in LA that serves KUSHIKATSU. Everything comes on a stick with 3 pieces, I tend to get a set course, but you can do a la carte. There's also omakase (chef's choice) for what the best ingredients are for that day. My favorite is the prawns wrapped in shiso leaf.
private tatami rooms available. free andre champagne for every 5 in your party for birthdays. cheap beer and sake. its fun getting a group drunk in here.
This is a true LA gem in that you can order all-you-can-eat shabu shabu for under $30 per person, and on top of that, can order all-you-can-drink for $20 more. Most of the drinks offered are pretty watered down, so it's best to go with the cold sake since it's lighter than beer. The waitresses will have no problem bringing more alcohol to your table if you opt for the AYCD and will often times encourage you to "ikki ikki" if you've started to babysit your sake cup. Upgrade to the Kobe beef instead of the regular stuff and I guarantee you'll go home a happy man or woman.
Perfect for bday parties and getting shitfaced, but probably not some place you'd go for a first date.
this place is AMAZING. comparable to the place i always go to when i visit my parents in japan. the first time we went, the service wasn't THAT great, but it wasn't bad so i can't complain. it might've been because we were in one of those private rooms (there were 4 adults, plus my one-year-old nephew).
last night, however, they seated my friend and me at a table...and the lady serving us was great. my friend went to the bathroom for like, 3 minutes, and when he came out, all the food was out, ready to be cooked. they first brought out 4 platters of meat, then we asked for another 2. BUT the lady brought out another 4 platters (numbers 7-10), and told us, "eat more!" we stopped at our 8th platter, unfortunately.
the meat is good quality, thinly sliced, but not so thin you have a hard time getting it off the plate. cooks fast, so you can start eating a few minutes after you put your first batch in.
i HIGHLY recommend this place if you're looking for great all-you-can-eat shabu shabu. i live in irvine, so it's about 45 minutes to an hour away (plus traffic), but it's the second time we've been in 2 weeks!
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