Cameron S.'s Profile

The interior is cramped and bustling, and it can be difficult to get a table at any time of the day, but damned if this isn't the bes, most tender maguro and shiro maguro I've had in the neighborhood. I've taken to sitting at the sushi bar and ordering in small waves of nigiri; it keeps the meal light, relatively cheap, and super fresh. The chefs and servers are all attentive and friendly, and the hot towels you get at the start of the meal are the icing on the cake.

When the nervous, shaking crowds of Comic-Con descended on the Gaslamp, we were forced to look of the main drag for food. By god, I'm glad we did. Boasting the finest crab-cakes and shrimp cocktails, a beautiful art deco interior, a mighty wine list and an array of delicious ultra fresh seafood, it was the most opulent meal I've had in a while. We received excellent and attentive service, despite the fact that I was dressed in shorts and flip flops. A little on the pricey side, but definitely worth it.

No.

My mouth is watering as I think about what adjectives I use to describe this.

I had heard about shabu shabu, and had wanted to try it for some time, so when I noticed the grand opening banner, I gave it a shot. I google'd directions on how to prepare and eat the unfamiliar meal, because I didn't want to look like an idiot, and in I went.

Among my impetuous decisions in life, this was among my finer.

If I hadn't done my research, the staff still would have taught me the basics, they're friendly and helpful. The interior is clean, slick and modern. And the food... oh lord, the food..

At this point, I should pause to caveat this review in a few ways:

- I've only ever gotten the shabu shabu
- I've only ever sat at the bar, with my own hot pot.
- I'm predisposed to enjoy food with an amusing preparation style. I like being an active part of my dinner.
- I'm not an authenticity snob, and have since only tried one other shabu joint. I don't know, nor do I care, if this is "real".

With those in mind, I've never had anything but a delicious, filling, fresh, healthy and pleasing meal. It's easily in my top 5 favorite meals.

It's an amazing production involving multiple plates and dishes, and it can be overwhelming, but it's worth the effort. Once you've seasoned your sauces, got the broth rolling and added the vegetables, it's time to begin:

The thinly sliced meats are incredibly tender and flavorful, even when cooked. The sauces are gentle enough to not overwhelm the natural meat flavor, but uniquely tasty in their own right.

Once the full plate of high quality meats are devoured, it's on to the soup that you've seasoned and prepared throughout the process. I'm particularly partial to the chicken ginger broth, which doesn't skimp on the ginger; the spicy miso is just as marvelous, with beautiful little peppers floating in the broth

The vegetables take a little practice to time right, but when the proper order is achieved everything comes out at the desired level of crispiness, having absorbed the broth and flavor from the beef.

If you aren't already stuffed to the proverbial gills, it comes with a small dish of green tea or red bean ice cream to cap of the experience. All for a very reasonable price.

It can get a little crazy on the weekend nights, so I suggest coming for your first meal in an off time to test the waters. If you like wholesome, flavorful, simple ingredients with complex flavors and a dining experience outside the norm, you can't do much better than Shabu House.

I'm writing this review to counteract the overwhelming negativity of the previous reviews. While subjectivity is a factor in all reviews, there's a line between voicing a valid negative opinion, and being a whiny bitch. You can decide where you would like to fall.

At any rate, Watami is clean and well decorated, the service is quick and friendly, and every bowl of ramen I've had was tasty, fresh and memorable. The veggie shabu shabu, as ordered by Hugh, was fresh, tasty, and eminently affordable. As for the stale noodles, we must all be eating at different restaurants. The fresh noodles I got were the perfect texture and size.

Sure the Ramen is a little on the expensive side, but cowboy the fuck up. You live in the most expensive city in the state. You know a better, cheaper bowl of ramen? Go for it.

You want to have the authenticity argument? Have at it. I don't care if it's not "The Right Way". I've had all sorts of ramen, good and bad, 'authentic' and 'inauthentic'. All I care about is if it tastes good, and Watami has never disappointed.

Some of these complaints border on the ludicrous. You wanted the kimchee in the soup, and not on the side? I've got a real simple solution for that, and it doesn't involve a screed of righteous indignation on yelp. It involves picking up the kimchee and moving it six inches.

I know the internet has given you all license to shout from your digital soapbox, but this doesn't mean you should stop any filtration of your stream of consciousness.

And Nobu K., I think you'll find the caps-lock button on the left side of the keyboard, you might want to look into that. After that, maybe you can locate a thesaurus and some perspective.

Pita Pit - I'm only marking one star on this review because I can't give one and a half.

I'm only giving you one and half stars (in spirit) because there was nothing... actively horrible about the food.

Just fantastically bland, and dry, and boring.

First off, this is basically a sandwich shop with mundane ingredients plus fakey Mediterranean ingredients.  I guess the vegetables were edible. But black olives? I saw a picture of a kalamata olive on the poster out front.

And you're gyro meat was frozen prefab. And that pita bread was dry and crumbly.

That soup? The potatoes tasted reconstituted, and I could feel the clump artifacts of the condensing process. Also, it was bland. And boring. And shitty.

Oh yeah, a dollar extra for hummus? On a pita? That's like charging for mayo on a BLT. (I stole this line from Orion K., so he can't use it.)

You are aware that hummus is made of garbanzo beans, which can be acquired for very little money? Of course not. Because that hummus was freeze dried and powdered.

The kids working in your clean, bland, boring storefront were nice, but they can't make a sandwich. Seriously. Tell them that putting all the tatziki sauce in one corner of the pita defeats the whole purpose. Oh, and your tatziki sauce sucked.

Also, you're overpriced. You sell low quality cheap domestic vegetables and frozen pre-cooked meat on dry flat bread. Get over yourselves.

Also, fuck you.

Santa Barbara Ice Creamery, why must you be between all the good lunch restaurants and my office? Don't you know how weak willed I am?

Is it really necessary for you to have a flavor selection that runs the gamut between the average and the exotic, and locally made to boot? Must you insist on being run by a delightfully friendly little old man who will make any absurd concoction you ask for?

(Last week he poured hot caramel and peanut butter yogurt in a blender. I think the only reason I asked for this was because I knew I could...)

If you continue to be the only ice cream game in the neighborhood, and delicious, and fun to visit.... well then we're going to have a talk.

EDIT: Closed. Gone. Kaput. I cried.

Why Silver Clouds, why? If I wrote this review after the last time I visited your strangely uninviting yet cheesy innards, it would have been three stars. But you screwed up this time....

To be fair I've never seen you after dark, because, well, screw Karaoke, and screw the Marina after dark (I work here, it's the last place I want to spend my free time.)

Some of your food is passable-to-enjoyable. That Salmon Fettuccine thing? Pretty good. It didn't have caviar on top, like the menu said, but hell, I didn't expect it. But recently, it's just been sad.

That fried seafood platter today? Two tiny shrimp, two bitter scallops, one oyster that tasted like it was fished out a toilet, and one sad skinny piece of cod half the size of a playing card. The vegetables were clearly microwaved and recently frozen in plastic. And that potato? One tiny boiled Idaho, skinned and cut in half? Please. I'm Irish, you can't pass that shit off to me.

And what about Tim's 'Korean Beef'? I swear you just microwaved some roast beef slices and dipped them in vinegar and sesame seeds. Have you no pride?

To top it all off, the mixed drink was watered down, and you shut off the jukebox after only two of my six songs played. Why not just be honest and tell me to get the fuck out as soon as I rolled in?

Oh, Isotope, I miss you. It's not that I don't like comics anymore. I just fell off the wagon. You're the only comic book store in town that I would dream of going too, I swear.

I love you because for so many reasons. No dusty dark interior, no cardboard cutout of Slave Leia, no grim and torn cardboard boxes of back issues of Starbrand... Just a beautiful, clean, modern storefront, and staffed by the hippest comic book jockeys this side of the Mississip'.

I came in the first time because I was looking for something similar to Box Office Poison, and within moments, a dapperly dressed James had laid out of stack of little black and white masterpieces that I could scarcely believe. Pretty soon I was there every week...

You've got a terrific selection of big name superheros (to which you broadened my snobby tastes), and a positively mind bogglingly vast collection of small press, indie, mature and foreign titles. It didn't take long before I started spending more on comics than I was on food.

I don't know what happened... I started working more hours, and my time for comics shrank. But some day I'll be back... I find myself lying  awake, wondering whats happening to Yorrick and Ampersand. Plus, one of you still has my "Call of Cthulhu" DVD, and there's a new Fell and Ex Machina trade coming out... hmmm.... is tomorrow good for you?

City Cuts, I think it was Jason who told me about you. He's directed me to my local dentist, doctor, and now to my local barber. First of all, you're cheaper than Super Cuts. I don't go to you to get the latest style, or to get my hair colored; I just want to get my savage and unruly mop tamed, and you do that with grace and aplomb. For a simple trim customer, you always treat me right: you check the length on each section of my head before you start cutting so I can adjust accordingly. You ask me all the right questions before the cutting begins, and you even trim my sideburns, and compliment my hair color. You do have a strange habit of blow-drying and teasing my hair up after each cut, so that I look like a 50 year old man for a few minutes, but I'm going home to shower off the little itchy hairlets anyway, so I don't mind. And with prices so reasonable and service so friendly, you could put makeup on me before I leave, and I would still come back every two months.