Shabumaru

Prime location next to the Westin hotel, 2^nd floor lobby level, within walking distance of the Prudential Center, relatively new place and rare find, fair price, meat is fresh, good variety of vegetables, not overly crowded… no doubt Boston has great seafood, but if you love Japanese (or maybe Chinese-​fusion) Hotpot too then you will find this restaurant refreshing, I certainly did

Get on this please!
Much better than it was a couple of months ago!
They now serve delicious sushi, addicting broths, high quality meats, and various specials.
Their Kimchi broth and new Schezuan broth are to die for.
I would hands down go for the wagyu everytime. I’ve had the A4 once and the A5 three times (once you try it you wont want anything else), and honestly, it is some of the best meats I’ve ever had for shabu. Its so tender and tasty, it almost melts in your mouth.
The veggies are extremely fresh so thats a plus as well.
I would recommend this spot for anyone who is looking for high quality and fresh foods.
The only negative that I have about this place is the placement of the pots at the bar. Its a far reach so it will be a mess at the end of your meal. Reminds me of Michael Jordan in Space Jam.

Hot pot isn’t ever really my idea of a good meal. Boiling meats/​veggies in broth? That’s called soup and I hate soup. But I surprisingly enjoyed myself at Shabumaru. Everything, from the raw meats to the bucket of shrooms was exceptionally fresh! The dipping sauces were different from Chinese style hotpot. Here, they were light and tart, which I preferred. The service was great too. Unlike other hotpot spots, I might actually not cringe at the idea of coming back here for a meal.

Came here for the first time and loved it! The staff was super friendly and the food was great. I love the entire idea of hotpot and everything was fresh! Looking forward to trying it again!

A hip, upscale modern hotpot restaurant in a great location. This is one of those hotpot places where you’ll bring people who have never done hotpot before. Everyone gets their own individual hotpot, with their selected broth and meats. Service was good, the waitress actually explained to us the how-​to of cooking the meats and vegetables, as well as the condiments. This is something you hardly ever get in most hotpot places i.e. they just assume you know. Extra star for the service.
Other than that, the vegetables and meats are fresh. My only complaint is that for what the platter is priced at, it’s not enough food. Suggest u choose the rice option when getting the platter. Lunch prices are also slightly cheaper than dinner.

Very hip hot pot spot compared to any other place I’ve been to around Boston!
I only ordered a lunch special of lamb with assorted veggies for my Kimchi broth. The broth itself was super tasteful and didn’t disappoint me. Along with your hotpot, they give you sorts of seasonings like crushed garlic, chili pepper, etc.
Pros:
+ cute décor; tin cans for your veggies than your average plate
+ fresh veggies and meat
+ we sat right by the employees freshly cutting the meat
+ attentive service
+ udon noodles that were included were SO GOOD.
+ everything just tasted fresh, i can’t describe this enough
Cons:
— took us forever to realize it was inside Copley Mall
— the pot itself was far from my seat so it was hard to not be a slob
— menu is very small/​limited
— could be pricey definitely more towards the higher end of $$

We loved this place. We went with a very well behaved 2 and 6 year old and this place was great. The kids had edamame and sushi and they were both great. Then they had the moochi dessert — wow. Amazing ;-)
The wine was great but the food was the best. They make everything from scratch in house and it really shows. All veggies are sourced from local farms — I assume the meats are too but it wasn’t as clear — and the meal was lovely. I had the house chicken broth with pork and my husband had the kimchi broth with the sirloin beef. YUM. We just loved our dinner. Everything was so fresh and delicious.
We had kids so didn’t stay long but I would have been more than happy to have stayed and had a few drinks and a longer meal.
Definitely go if you are thinking about it

This place is average tasting with poor service. Go to shabu zen instead!
Note: it is in the Westin hotel

My job here is to clarify this underrated establishment (three stars is poor deserved, especially after reading the rationale of the low rated reviews). Hopefully you, the curious foodie that you are, want to be enlightened, and will continue to read my dictionary of a review.
I was, like many others, a skeptic passing judgment whilst looking through the glass windows inside the Copley Mall, tsking at the lack of my favorite staple in Shabu, Chinese BBQ sauce. Let’s just say this experience has changed my outlook entirely.
First off, I have to explain that a good majority of the negative reviewers are hotpot fanatics (like myself) that are used to Shabu Zen /​Kaze /​most other hot pot places we’re used to in the good, cold Boston area. Good, you’re grouped in the category that I’m in, who LOVE… non-​Japanese shabu.
WHAT you say? BS you cry. I lie, you insist. Well, it’s true. The hot pot we’re most used to, with that oh so savory bbq dipping sauce, is more of a chinese/​mongolian style (the original) despite the marketing of the restaurants as «Japanese» (the word shabu itself is a Japanese word so the confusion is wholesomely understood). Real Japanese shabu (although not up to par with the high-​reaching Japanese culinary quality) is what you’ll find here. So, strip away your narrow-​minded tastebuds and be open for a new way of eating shabu that you may not be used to. After all, you can enjoy both, and appreciate the art and history of both (I myself love greasy Chinese American food, as well as real, authentic Chinese food. they can both be labeled as «Chinese» but we all know how different they are).
Now, I’ll admit, I was a bit disappointed this place didn’t at least have some BBQ sauce in the back for patrons like myself — I’m sure they get asked quite often, so taking feedback and at least having some in situations like these would have been a good business acumen to have. Therefore, I was REALLY skeptical when I asked, and all they said was «no». However, the promises of the best Wagyu beef I’ll ever have lured me in, hook, line and sinker. Was it? Really close. They do a great job here, and the prices (for Wagyu) is fairly good. For lunch, six generous pieces (with veggies and noodles) will run you $ 28. The pieces were perfectly marbled with fat, and weren’t too thin, so you’ll be able to enjoy a good portion of the meat. Most importantly, it isn’t FROZEN, which most other shabu places in Boston serve, and was extremely fresh. The short ribs, a mere $ 15 for a lunch combo, was also top notch and just as fresh. Meat is A++++!
Another point, is the sauce. Lots of people complaining about how «weird» the sauce is. I’ll admit, after coming from a hardcore fandom of BBQ sauce with my shabu, it took some adjusting for myself too. But, traditional Japanese shabu uses two staples of sauces — sesame, and ponzu (soy sauce). The sesame sauce here was fantastic — I was dipping away like no tomorrow. The ponzu, was a bit sour (I’d have preferred higher quality ponzu, which should have been sweet). In addition, they provide a few other condiments to mix your core sauces with — spicy oil sauce, scallions, creamy hot mustard and minced radish. Mixing these all together will create an interesting but tasty sauce.
As for the veggies, I’ll agree with everyone else here. High quality. Super yummy. And after dumping everything into your pot, it makes a hella good soup (it’s absolutely bland at first, so skip drinking the soup until at the end of the meal, the way it’s supposed to be done traditionally)! Notably within the veggie platter that comes with the combo, is the japanese yam, japanese cabbage, lotus root, Bunashimeji mushroom and king oyster mushroom. Unique and very japanese, loved it! The cabbage especially made the soup extra good, adding a slight sweet flavor. I do wish they had a small piece of tofu — normally, I’d expect to see it at both a standard hotpot restaurant as well as a Japanese one.
Udon. Best I’ve ever had in Boston, and super comparable to the ones I’ve had in Japan. Extra chewy, tasty, amazing. I must find the source of their vendor.
Lastly, layout. All the real Japanese restaurants I’ve been to, provide one pot per person. Even at the table. THANK YOU. No longer are the needs to share ONE side of a pot with another person. and something TWO other people. Seriously, nothing frustrates me more than cramming six people around a table with one pot that’s split into two sections. You won’t have this problem here, although table space is fairly limited, so you may have to end up at the bar.
PHEW. I wrote a novel, like always. But again, I feel the public needs to know this poorly misunderstood gem serving rare, authentic Japanese cuisine. C’mon people, stop being so Westernized. That’s so last decade.

I really wanted to like this place, especially because I’m a hotpot fanatic. It’s right in back bay in a great area. They don’t have much variety, but that’s not a deal breaker. I hated the broth, it was very bland. Also, the dipping sauces tasted very odd, so there was nothing that could’ve made my meal tastier after being cooked in tomato broth that tasted like how water would taste after you boil tomatoes in it. Don’t recommend at all. I ended up not finishing my meal. They only had soy sauce, not even sriracha. Very unfortunate. Go to shabuzen or Q. Don’t waste your money.

Stopped in and ate around 5pm on a weekday. Totally empty. it’s expensive for hotpot and they serve the dressings/​sauces kind of weirdly. You leave hungry (didn’t even know you could do that at a hot pot place)
The biggest pro to shabumaru is that the veggies are fresh so they’d taste good no matter what!
Overall you could do much better for food in Boston.

BAD is the word that I can think of.

Very delicious and ingredients are fresh! All soup bases were wonderful! You have to try their shrimp balls and prime beefs!

We stayed at the Westin Copley so we decided to check out this place. Since we very frequently visit Japan we had higher expectations on the shabu shabu here and unfortunately we could have had better.
The broth options were confusing (not what we’re used to in Japan). We decided on Miso and the server heated up the hot pots. The broth boiled the whole time and at many times seemed to just be overheating but the server was unattentive.
We ordered the Wagyu Beef that was $ 55 per person. Since it was expensive we hoped it would be a satisfying meal and it wasn’t. Just very overpriced!
Our drinks were not being refilled and the server went around having personal conversations and not being attentive to us.
The vegetables were fresh but could have also had standard japanese options instead. We realized it wasn’t mean to be an authentic shabu shabu restaurant once we arrived but expected a better experience for how pricey it was. We would try a different shabu shabu restaurant next time.

Honestly I dont know why this place has such a great rating. I’ve tried few shabu places. So far the best one is shabu-​zen. And I will not visit here anymore because here are some few points. Compared to shabu-​zen (relatively same price)…
Pros: good quality!
Good atmosphere
Good décor lol… That’s it haha
Cons: VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF FOOOOD!!!
I got seafood plate (²⁄₃ of one scallop (Really thin), 3 salmons, 3 codfish, 3 clams, and i dont remember theres one more) and vegetable that comes with any type. (no taro no fishcake very small enoki mushroom nothing special!!). I was not full and of course my boyfriend was still hungry.
He got a meat plate and he got 10?12? pieces of meat?
He literally drank the whole soup to make himself full.
I can tell they tried to spread the seafoods and meats on that big plate. But it looks so empty lol
NO RAW EGGS LOL
(We always make porridge with egg and sesame oil. The waiter told us that the restaurant does not have ANY RAW EGG… Lol ok really?
It is very Japanese style restaurant. Good quality small quantity. But if they want to have authentic Japanese restaurant, they should pay attention to details. Make it really high-​end restaurant or give special Japanese vegetable or something…
I think I will stick with shabu-​zen for same price and more food!

5 stars for the food, 3 stars for the service. This was my first hot pot experience and I will definitely be venturing to more hot pot restaurants in the future. I love hands on dining experiences, and being able to cook everything at your table is pretty cool.
I ordered the Sashimi trio appetizer, which was so fresh. The seafood was cut perfectly, and it was the right size for an appetizer. When you order your main course, you order your choice of protein and broth, and it comes with fresh seasonal veggies and rice or noodles. For my hot pot, I ordered the Prime Ribeye with Miso broth and noodles. The presentation of the meat itself was beautiful. The ribeye was sliced super thin and great quality. It took like 5 seconds in the broth for the meat to be cooked to perfection. I loved the experience, and the food was delicious. My co-​worker ordered the Wagyu beef and it literally melted in your mouth, so good!
Location seems to be pretty convenient too (in a mall). I knocked a star for service as we sat for about 30 minutes after we were done eating waiting for our check. Our waitress was standing feet away from us the entire time too. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Even with this blunder, the food is worth it! Check it out!

Three stars for great quality meat and vegetables, but minimal choices and not great quality in broth. The venue feels nice and modern, but the service could have been better.
Shabumaru has tough competition from area hot pot restaurants. What you will find here is a more Japanese style of hot pot with good quality meats and vegetables.
In spite of this, I will say that the broth, which is really the heart and soul of any hot pot dinner, was seriously lacking. You are given two choices: chicken broth or vegetable broth. These are very simple broths that don’t add a whole lot. I wanted other spices and herbs added to deepen the flavor. I wanted other choices like spicy broths or miso broths.
The service was also very odd. It was hard to get a hold of our waiter. My broth boiled down and started to burn my noodles a little. Our waters were constantly empty. You have to pay for refills on soda!
Lastly, I do think that the menu items were overpriced. It’s hard not to walk away without having paid $ 30 after tax and tip. I don’t think this meal justified that high of a price.
With other really great options in Boston for hot pot, I don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon.

Came here tonight and it was amazing! Definitely one of the best hot pot places in Boston! The staff are really friendly and helpful with any questions (though I already knew how to do it!) and the food was really good.
I ordered the seafood platter, which came with a «bucket» of veggies of various sorts as well as a side of rice or noodles (i got the yam noodle, which is this clear white noodle that sorta looks like vermicelli). My significant other got the prime beef with veggies and the risotto. The broth choices are simple, just chicken or vegetarian, but they give you all these garnishes to flavor it with as well as 2 sauces (ponzu and sesame). The sesame sauce is really yummy and goes well with the veggies and beef.
Everything was really fresh and simple; the waitress even offered to cook our veggies for us! we politely declined but it was sorta cool that they would do that. The pots apparently keep a high heat so the soup was never too bubbly and the food came out really soft and tender yet never too hot to eat right away. The fish cake was probably the best I’ve ever had and they make it in the restaurant apparently. Usually I dont like fish cake since its usually premade packaged stuff but I definitely could take the difference. The seafood combo also had lobster (even though it says king crab on the menu) which i prefer more anyways.
The beef was really good too, and cooked very easily. The noodles were a little slippery to grab but when cooked, definitely tasted amazing. The risotto is served after everything else is finished, so if you have the time definitely take this option. I never had this done before anywhere else in Boston so this was something new. They cook the rice in the leftover broth and then garnish it with special herbs and dried seaweed. The flavor of the broth cooked with the rice and condiments was really unique and delicious.
This is a quaint and quiet place located right off the Westin so its a little hidden gem right now. This is definitely my new fave hot pot place in Boston!

This place opened quietly a few weeks ago but I’m curious to see how it progresses! It has a great atmosphere, and I feel it adds enough uniqueness to the growing set of shabu shabu restaurants in the Boston area. For context, I’ve been to most other shabu places in the area: shabuzen, Q, kaze, hot pot buffet, shabu & mein, and swish shabu. I grew up eating Japanese food and shabu shabu is one of my favorite dishes!
Here, I had the kurobuta pork with the chicken broth, turned into risotto (rice porridge). My thoughts on the place…
Pros:
— the atmosphere is great, very chic and I like the bar area.
— the location is also great — in a hip area without similar restaurants nearby.
— this place has the most Japanese flavor of any in Boston, like with its sesame and ponzu dipping sauces, and daikon topping. All other places have a strong Chinese flavor despite using the Japanese name of the dish.
— the «risotto» is amazing and reminds me of home cooking. They basically mix fresh rice in with your used broth, and put in a really good wasabi salt. I’ve never seen this elsewhere in Boston but it’s done in Japan!
— they currently give free mochi ice cream as a dessert
— everyone gets their own pot
— everything is extremely fresh and sanitary (many other places are a lot dingier and use obviously frozen mean)
— the service is extremely friendly and cool!
Cons:
— the pots are a bit far away so it’s easy to spill
— the menu could use more variety, in terms of broths or sauces.
— the assortment of vegetables is a bit weird — broccoli, butternut squash, and carrots don’t go too well with these Japanese flavors, and I’d rather there be more Japanese add-​ins instead, like enoki mushrooms, tofu, or watercress.
Overall, this place has high potential if they just expand their menu a little!

I been waiting to see when this place would open. So we went here last night. Sat at the bar, the décor looks fantastic. Glad there were hooks under the table. So our server Alexander started talking to us about how to hotpot, which I already know how as I do it about probably once every week. This hotpot is more modernized though and a bit different. Nothing is going to overflow because the pot is made of a different metal but somehow retains the hot temperature needed to cook your meat and veggies. He actually put all of our veggies in for us which is very different. I am use to doing that on my own and putting it little by little throughout my meal.
We started off with a drink– they don’t have mixed drinks so I got a beer which was Sapporo. We ordered the sashimi trio to start which had 2 pieces of tuna, yellowtail and salmon which were all delicious and beautifully presented. I got the yam noodle with my hotpot and we both chose chicken broth as the other one is veggie. I would highly consider adding more choices as it was kind of plain and guests normally come for the different broths. We got broccoli with our veggies and carrots which is different. This of course meant that there wasn’t my favorite veggie which is spinach. My friend ordered the risotto which the server mentioned comes at the END of the meal which is legit as you finish all your meats and veggie and THEN they bring it out! The risotto reminded me of congee. They cook the risotto in your soup.
The placement of the pot was kind of far. But it’s already did built in so I doubt anything can be changed about that. We both ordered the prime rib eye which was okay.
It’s definitely not the best hotpot I’ve gotten but they have time to keep improving as they are new. The service by Alex and his co-​worker was amazing though. I am thoroughly impressed. They were very present and kept refilling our drinks and making sure we had what we needed. Props to that!!!
The mochi was fantastic as well! Thank you!