Shabu House

I love the food here, but the service the last couple times has been horrible. I come pretty regularly here because the food flavors are so good, especially with the spicy miso, but have noticed that the service has been getting worse. They have recently started to include gratuity into their bill without letting you know, so last time I doubled their tip, but double checked after thinking it was more expensive than I thought it would. Good thing I checked!
Now, it is written in their menu ’15% gratuity added bill 5 people or less. 18% added more than 5 people. Gratuity not required.’ Tonight when I came with a friend, they did not take off the 15% happy hour discount until I reminded them. Then came back to our table asking for more money, when our bill was fully covered. With our calculations, they either taxed on our tip, or tipped on our tax. Either way, I feel it’s wrong to add gratuity on the bill for only 2 people, and say it’s not required, but yet ask for more money. Tip should be from the price before tax, and definitely not taxed on the tip. If I didn’t love the food so much, I’d stop coming here! If you go though, be sure to check your bill!

Came here for all you can eat hotpot dinner, definitely stuffed and satisfied.
Meat are thin sliced, all beef, lamb and pork are great. Veggies plate consist of spinach, napa cabbage, enoke and Shitake mushroom, udon, tofu and carrot. This is pretty much it, food selection is limited. At the end, you get a scoop of either red bean or green tea ice cream. Service is good, wait staff pick up empty plates and ask if we need refills quickly.
We were seated at the upstairs dining area, that has 5 large tables for big groups. It is definitely quieter upstairs and more roomy. However, there is a strong detergent/​bleach smell in the area (probably from the bathroom?). Even when the pot is boiling, the bleach smell could not be masked, which is a really huge bummer.
Food is slightly above average for hotpot, variety is limited considering AYCE, but solid meat quality. Spacious and comfortable seating for the upstairs section, but strong cleaning detergent smell. Not a bad place for hot shabu, but I probably will try some other shabu place next time.

This was my second time coming here and it does not disappoint. This time around I just stuck with the beef and my boyfriend got a mix of pork and lamb, then just lamb the second time around. We did the all you can eat and damn it was hard no matter how hungry. I will not be doing the all you can eat again between two people. The service was okay and I like the look of the restaurant. Hopefully, it’s a place we will come to whenever I’m in town.

First time «hot potting» at a restaurant. I’m not a huge fan of hot pot and I usually do this at home so coming here to pay nearly $ 50 for 2 ppl was a bit on the expensive side. I came on a Tuesday night and it got pretty packed by 7PM. However this is a small restaurant and can only fit about 50 ppl.
Ambiance is dimmed so it can be romantic. Food was average.
Will I come here again, probably not.

3 stars for food
4 stars for customer service
A cold night calls for hot food!
$ 32 for AYCE meat for dinner!
They also have AYCE drinks & meat, but I think that was like in the $ 40s.
Normally I’d like to go to Shabu Club, but they were booked for New Year Eve, so my friends and I opted for Shabu House.
We booked a table for 9 people (last min) for NYE for not only celebrating the end of 2015 and the joy it has brought us all, but my boyfriends birthday as well (new year baby). I was surprised that they took us in for last minute reservations (called in the morning), and to fit 9 people on NYE!
When we arrived, they took us around the corner, cause it turns out there’s an upstairs that seats larger groups (6+)! They have their own slicing machine upstairs too! I’m not sure how the pots are downstairs, but the pots upstairs and smaller. they are probably about a few inches deep. Surprisingly it still cooked all our meats and veggies efficiently!
The only cons about upstairs is that if you are seated by the stairs and the door downstairs is slightly open, there will be a cold draft (sucks to be sitting in front of the stairs). Another con is that there is no air ventilation it seems for the pots, so maybe that’s why the doors are slightly open.
Their meat selection is good and consist of pork, lamb, and kobe beef. I love to just eat kobe beef only till I’m full, with a side of rice! They also offer a plate of veggies that consist of spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, enoki, carrots, and udon.
Great place for late night hangouts with large groups, or if it’s cold!

All you can eat was awesome– my favorite was definitely the thin-​sliced beef that was just melting in my mouth! I’m not a huge fan of lamb personally but lamb and pork were also great and thin sliced meat cooked fast! Variety of vegetable along with it for the perfect balance as well! And I could taste the freshness in all the food!
I highly recommend spicy miso broth which was just delicious. Dip it into the sauce and enjoy! Also don’t forget to get ice cream that comes with it! (Green tea was awesome)
The service could have been better however, and when the check came out, I was surprised by how much more expensive it was than listed– I am not sure if there was an added gratuity (there were three of us) but I added gratuity on top of that too so I am not sure what happened there. But oh well, it was all worth it!
I would come here again when I am back in the area for this delicious food!

If you’re in SF and looking for a place to eat I highly recommend Shabu House! It is by far the best hot pot place I have been to! My friends and I did all you can eat and it came out to about $ 30 per person because we got 15% off of our bill since we came to the place as soon as they opened. Their happy hour is from 5 P.M.- 6 P.M. and it is 15% off of the entire bill.
I ordered the spicy miso broth and my friend ordered the ginger chicken broth. The spicy miso is mild on a spicy scale, but if you cannot handle spicy at all I suggest ordering the ginger chicken. Both broths are absolutely amazing! So try both! You can do half and half, that’s what we did. With the broth we ordered the Kobe Beef and the Kurobota Pork. Both were high quality meats, but my friend and I preferred the beef over the pork. The all you can eat option also comes with ice cream. Do not except that much from the dessert because it’s a sad scoop of ice cream.
I would give Shabu House a ⁵⁄₅ for their food, but the reason they’re getting a ⁴⁄₅ is because of their service. Our main waitress was not around that much and we had to keep asking another waitress for more meat, noodles, and vegetables. It took a long time for our waitress to get our drinks (water), she took forever to take our orders, and to give us our check.
Another reason I’m giving Shabu House is that they charge a service fee of 15% of 5 people or less and a service fee of 18% of a party of 6 or more. I’m not sure how they got these percentages, it makes no sense to me.
But judging solely on their food, it is amazing.

We anticipated with high expectations before coming to Shabu House. Not too long ago, we visited Shabu Club and loved their American Kobe beef! Unfortunately, the service there was a letdown. After reading a lot of good reviews about Shabu House, we decided to give them a try especially since they also offered American Kobe beef. We got reservations for 8pm and arrived on time. It took them roughly 15 minutes to get us seated… no complaints there. The service was decent. Nothing to rave about, but nothing to complain much about either. Thinking that the American Kobe beef here would be as extravagant as the ones we had at Shabu Club WAS A BIG MISTAKE! The quality of the meat here is very disappointing! The meat was sliced a bit too thick to begin with. The marbling of their meat was terrible. It didn’t even seem like it was Kobe beef. I’ve had USA prime beef that had better texture! Unfortunately, we went the route of AYCE so we tried to get our money’s worth… we left really full, but not with a happy palate. ~sigh~

Anyone that reads this review, please don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate this place or anything, but it was a huge disappointment to me despite the fact that it had pretty high rating.
I looked up some AYCE hot pot places as a birthday dinner for my friend on Unilocal and saw that this place seem to have pretty good reviews. Unfortunately, I didn’t look close enough that they had a limit of pretty much everything you will see at other hot pot places.
Maybe due to it being Japanese style it was different from the typical places. Honestly this place felt like a rip off, it seems as it was just overrated. I’ve heard a lot about this place or the chain itself. It sounded pretty good. So there I was making a mistake.
The food was not bad, but very limited of choices. We all decided to choose AYCE and was seated up on the second floor with a party of 8. We had one server and one food preparer. We ordered half and half for the broth which was the spicy miso and the traditional one. Then the server placed some veggies on our table and asked us beef, lamb or pork. She also mentioned no seafood. I thought she meant as in no shrimp, crab but it also means it was just beef, pork and lamb. Oh and veggie.
As we were eating the food, I love spicy food and tried that side of the broth first. Hmmm… not much of a taste. I tried a few more beef. Still nope. The broth was actually really diluted and didn’t really have a taste in it. I had to add pepper to make it «spicy». You guys probably think I just had some weird taste buds. But no even my friends that typically didn’t eat spicy food said that it didn’t really taste like anything.
After eating for about an hour, my friend was mentioning how it seems like we were eating the same food over and over again. I hate to admit, it was true. We didn’t get much food and was pretty much stuffing down beef and some veggie.
Two hours later we finished eating and had ice cream as dessert. The servers were rushing us out saying there’s a reservation for that table. I understand and took the bill. Then I was in shocked. The bill came out to be $ 328! We planned on treating the birthday girl so we split it to 7 ppl and the total for each person was $ 47, gratitude included. Meanwhile everyone was taking pictures and posting it on social medias on saying how expensive this meal was. I honestly haven’t paid that much for Hotpot especially when it was just some meats and veggie.
Now the beef was pretty decent, but it honestly wasn’t worth my money. I can go to another place get even more food and pay way less.
Overall this place in my opinion was that this is not the typical Hotpot place, it had a limited choices and was way too overpriced.

High quality tender beef with delicious sauces! There was no wait on a weekday for dinner. Service was attentive and friendly.
The regular size beef ($ 19) was enough for one person unless you are super hungry then I would go with the AYCE. The beef with the sauce is SO GOOD. I highly recommend it. It also comes with a large plate of vegetables, udon, and bowl of rice. You can also add toppings like garlic or green onion. The spicy miso soup base was delicious and added a little kick to the flavor.
They also give you a bowl of red bean or green tea ice cream at the end. Both were really good and not overly sweet.

This place is so good! I love coming here for their $ 15.95 lunch special which comes with a ton of veggies, one choice of meat, noodles and rice! The best part about it is that the lunch special is valid 7 days a week. Also, they include gratuity so no need to add tip unless you want to!
I always get the ginger chicken soup base and lamb (my favorite meat). They give so much that it definitely feels like its AYCE. Usually my group gets all the different meats and we all share.
The place is pretty small so be prepared to wait if it’s during peak eating hours. Parking is street parking only and it can be a pain to try and find parking.

Order the spicy miso broth, don’t bother with the ginger chicken broth. It isn’t too spicy and still has great flavor to it. As for meat, we ordered the large beef, with an extra large lamb meat. Keep in mind this only comes with one dish of vegetables and sides but it is still a good portion for two.
Overall, we had a great experience here — the restaurant itself is very cozy with televisions lined along the bar to watch games. Lastly, my favorite is their ice cream. The red bean ice cream especially was a perfect end to our meal.
They also have AYCE & drink options for $ ³²⁄₄₂.

The weekend was nearly done; our group was returning home from a Napa wine tasting trip. How better could we process some real world thoughts again than by having hot pot?
On our shared table were the following items:
–3 All You Can Eat Pork
–4 All You Can Eat
–1 All You Can Eat Beef
–1 All You Can Eat Lamb
–1 House Sake Large
–2 Egg
–Aladdin Junmai
Now, don’t get me wrong, I giggle a little bit when there are any numbers higher than «1» in front of «all you can eat,» but I presume that just goes for assigning how many people that much food could be allotted for. There was sooo much!!!
If you’re new to the world of hot pot, these [especially meat] items are presented raw in front of you, and you get to cook them individually in a sizzling broth at the table directly. It’s kinda fun, actually.
We were a bit tired after the whole weekend, but this was a good stop to feed our brains back up again before parting ways.

It’s just not my thing!
I tried Hot Pot for first, and probably Last time.
The meat was very flat flavor… flavorless. Very few broth options — just 3, and all are very plain.

I am a huge lover of hot pot, and this place did not fail to satisfy. They had a great assortment of veggies and the meat is fresh and sliced super thin. We decided to get a ying/​yang style pot with 2 different broths, spicy miso and ginger chicken. Both are really good, but if you can take spicy at all, I would highly recommend just going with the spicy miso. The American style kobe beef had great marbling and bursts with flavor in your mouth.
Overall, great experience and would definitely go back if I’m ever in the area again.

It’s been years since I have been to this Shabu House and the place is same. Very good Shabu Restaurant with quality meats. We ordered the AYCE at $ 32 per person. On the first order of meats Beef, Lamb, and Pork they gave very generous portions. On the wall behind the bar seats the TV’s were turned on to the 49ner game. Service was excellent and I snagged rock star parking right in front of the restaurant. They automaticlly add a 15% service charge. The flavor of the spicy miso broths and the ginger chicken was ok. There is a public parking lot right around the corner. They also have a large banquet room upstairs.

A branch store of a chain
This place does not disappoint!
When we got there around dinner time there was a wait. It’s well worth it though, because the food is awesome. Since it’s part of a chain it has the same menu, and the quality of the food is just as good as the other branches. The sauces have lots of flavor, the portions are huge, and because it’s all-​you-​can-​eat you can be sure you’ll leave this place everytime being FULL till you drop. The beef is really tasty
Worth coming whenever you are hungry and looking for a full stomach of good food!

Come on a tuesday night for early dinner… it got a little busy around 6 but it slow down sometime after 7 pm. I guess not much people come on a tuesday night
for some reason their food were just average for me today. But it is fun chilling and cooking your own food with friends and family.
There were 3 workers… one was cool and quick, know what she was doing and can tell she work there for a while. The other two, hard to get their attention/​slower and one of them seems to be new…
Did ayce for $ 32(make sure you’re really hungry if you want to do ayce): your choice of broth, your choice of meat, plate of vegetable, and ice cream.
Had the spicy miso broth. The broth wasn’t so spicy. Tried all of their meat which include lamb, pork, and beef. The lamb has that after taste especially if you boil it for too long. I would just stick the the beef.
Had the red bean ice cream. Able to cool our body down after a hot meal

It’s all about the broth bout the broth… repeat
I love Shabu House: Yep it is sorta a weird layout if your dinning in their second dining room around the corner and up the stairs.
That being said the décor and layout is nice, clean, sleek, and modern. The tables are nice and large. Service is pleasant and efficient.
Food is pretty stellar: We had one of everything and listened to all the Unilocal reviews touting the amazing Spicy Miso broth (get it). The broth is really the most important part… yeah the meat and veggies have to be good and fresh and they are.
All three meats were delicious: great pork, beef, and lamb shoulder. Loved the veggies (awesome mushrooms, tofu, and leafy greens). Adding the noodles to the broth is also just amazing.
I absolutely loved the two dipping sauces: Ponzu and Sesame paste… omg
Seriously I do not know how anyone could do the AYCE as the large servings are pretty generous.
I would definitely check this place out… it is really great for a group of four.

This Shabu House may have been my first experience with shabu. I first went years and years and sooo many years ago with a friend who lives close by. At the time, I was versed in hot pot only since that’s what I had growing up from time to time. I’ve been in love with shabu shabu ever since that visit.
Last year, one of my gfs wanted to take me out for my birthday. Since it was just the two of us, I thought, let’s meet at the original Shabu House! We’ve both done the all you can eat option, but I wasn’t in the mood for AYCE, so we just decided to order a la carte.
To drink, we started with the «Karatamba» ozeki ($ 16 for small). It was dry and crisp which is exactly what I like in a sake. We also decided to get an app and ended up ordering the Tempura soft shell crab salad ($ 8). We sat at the bar, so we each got out own soup pot. I got the Spicy miso since that broth is my favorite. I ordered the Large dinner combination with American style kobe beef & Kurobuta pork ($ 20.49) and my gf ordered the Large dinner with American style kobe beef ($ 20.49). Both shabu shabu entrees came with assorted vegetables, udon, rice and ice cream.
I’ve always like the meat here. Super tender and flavorful. And their dipping sauces are great! I love adding the green onions, garlic, hot sauce, etc, to their ponzu/​soy sauce type of sauce. I typically skip the peanut sauce since I’m not a huge fan of peanut sauces in general.
Service is typically pretty good. Since I haven’t been doing AYCE, there’s not much to do after serving the food and alcohol. The server last time was good about refilling my water and checking up on us.
Overall, I have a fondness for Shabu House since this was my first experience with shabu. The Geary location can get a little busy, so sometimes I prefer going to the quieter one on Clement. In any case, this location is a quick hop off the 38, so I can drop by on the way home when the craving hits!