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| - TLDR: Reasonable prices; offers sukiyaki as well; edamame or soft drink with check-in; full sushi bar menu
Swish Shabu Shabu now operates only in their Chinatown location as a new owner has bought out the Sahara location. My friend and I have been wanting to try Shabu Shabu recently and we were lucky to stumble upon this location.
Confessional booth time: I just found out what Shabu Shabu was. I honestly thought it was just hot pot, but boy was I wrong! This meal is like kbbq meats (see what I did there?) hot pot meets soup. Having learned it's the sound it makes when you swish the food in the pot, we were excited to try it for ourselves.We even tried the traditional raw egg dip. You can find out more about shabu shabu and sukiyaki if you just ask them. I think they love newbies. Just make sure you get the spicy miso.
So the first thing you need to do is check-in and either get a free serving of edamame of a soft drink. Next, decide what at meat to get. Now, it is my personal belief that an 8 oz portion is good enough to share between two people if you treat the meal as a soup, especially with all the vegetables and small serving of udon noodles. As a pescatarian/sometimes-vegetarian, I enjoy the 8 oz of salmon for $15.95. First off, where can you get 8 oz of essentially salmon sashimi-style for $15.95? It gets even cheaper at lunch time and if you just want chicken sukiyaki, it's $12.95. You'll sure be full, especially after the napa cabbage, carrots, onion, button mushroom, and tofu slices.
Service is generally good. I always have to ask for a refill or make eye-contact with a server to get their attention. It seems like there's one server and 3 helpers/bussers/cooks who cannot function in a waiter/server capacity due to a business model, but I guess that's on them.
If you're in the area, I recommend coming here. They sure won't disappoint.
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