Tabu Shabu

Food was amazing. Service was prompt and everyone was friendly and polite. Top notch! Thank you

Karina Martinez

1st timer here! I read through the bad reviews and happy to share some advice. As far as wait time, it’s to be expected for this type of dining. I went in with the expectation of waiting, just check in and they will text when ready. As far as the quality, everything tasted fresh!! You get a full plate of veggies with tons of oils, sauces, and spice to add to your broth. Make sure to ask questions about the broth, some are simple so that you can add your preferred flavors. It seems like this isn’t a typical traditional hot pot set up and I’m totally okay with it. I actually enjoyed having my own pot and I was able to eat the entire thing. Paid a little more for the premium meat, ribeye and short rib… I regret NOTHING! I guess I’m only sad that I didn’t have more of their pumpkin slices - pairs so well with the meat!!

Connor McMorrow

Tabu Shabu scratched an itch my wife and I have had since our SF days—and wow, did it deliver. The whole setup lets you cook everything to your own liking, which makes dinner feel like an experience, not just a meal. We loved building our own bowls and dialing in the flavors just right. The ingredients were top-notch, the food was delicious, and the staff made the whole thing easy and enjoyable. Safe to say we’re officially back on our shabu kick thanks to Tabu.

Joe T

Fist of all, I'm not into hot pot but I thought I would give it a try. I was impressed and happy with the food and delicious flavors which you can almost make yourself with all the things you add to the pot. There are lots of ingredients, sauces, spices that you can add to your taste and can't go wrong. As for the ingredients, all are very fresh, great choices and variety of veggies and lots of great meat choices too. Highly recommend, even if it's your first try.

Judy Judy Judy

This is a fantastic Westernized hot pot style restaurant. The food is awesome!!! The servers were more than pleasant, very informative, friendly, and always smiling. Menu selection covered seafood and most meat selections. Sake menu was well rounded. We actually split a regular, 2-combination dinner of sushi-grade salmon and ribeye, veggies, with sake and wine. Our leftovers were made into 2 large, wonderful soups we took home for next-day lunch. I would eat here on a regular basis if I lived here!!!

courtland kusmierz

OMG .... I came in hangry... cranky ... I Love sukiyaki ... my mom made it when I was little, hard to find good sukiyaki,. I told my hubs would love to find a place that had good sukiyaki, Bless his heart, he found it ... and everyone, our Hot Pot assistant was Hayden, was SO NICE and HELPFUL!! (swish, swish, swish) I love you get to cook and eat at your own pace ... 😁 The sukiyaki was SO GOOD... We will go again soon ... and we've been sharing with friends! They don't take reservations😔, and we waited about 10 minutes! Well worth the wait even when you are hungry and cranky 😊 Highly recommend!!✨️

Sarah Wynn

Fantastic experience and delicious!! Waiter guided us beautifully with all of our safe, gluten free choices, and the food was seriously fantastic!! Great great food, really attentive service, and I will definitely go back with my family and friends and make it a regular stop!!

Brenda Millan

It was our first time being here,what I really like is that the guy that attended to us was really patient and he explained well how the whole thing works, the only thing he forgot to ask is how we wanted the orders to be taken since we were 1 big group but we needed 3 different checks other than that it was really good,I think we would come back another time. Also thank you miss Rachel for your patience too.

Tiffany Franklin

We stumbled upon this shabu shabu restaurant while visiting Encinitas. We walked in and immediately felt like we had been there before. The Shabu shabu was excellent, fresh, crisp taste, all the right flavors and all the right ingredients nothing was missing. The Sukiyaki broth is our favorite base. We pleasantly discovered this restaurant has several locations and we had experienced the Huntington Beach location s couple years back. These two restaurants serve the best Shabu shabu we can find. Can't wait to go back. Really wish there were a location close to home in Redlands, CA.

Autumn Rezac

Food was amazing. Service was prompt and everyone was friendly and polite. Top notch! Thank you

Pearl Can

Perfect shabu shabu experience. They have a good selection of protein and order comes with standard plate of vegetables.

Todd McLeod

This place was amazing. Great service, great food, great atmosphere. Spicy broth. Autographed Anthony Bourdain novel on the wall. Loved it. 😍

Sean Song

A pretty nice place to enjoy shabu shabu. Great service and the food is.... as good as it gets

Linh Quang

Everything was great quality, friendly and clean , def a great food experience

We had a great time at Tabu Shabu! The wait staff was friendly and attentive, food was good.

It's definitely a culture change for us. We identified as 1st timers, and our server walked us through the entire process. Kudos to her. The food was good, healthy and a lot of work. We probably won't go back, but this style is a growing trend. Go try it. You'll definitely be healthier when you're finished.

J Foster Finance

We had a great time at Tabu Shabu! The wait staff was friendly and attentive, food was good.

Peggy Stackle

It's definitely a culture change for us. We identified as 1st timers, and our server walked us through the entire process. Kudos to her. The food was good, healthy and a lot of work. We probably won't go back, but this style is a growing trend. Go try it. You'll definitely be healthier when you're finished.

Extremely friendly staff and enjoyable atmosphere. Personal hot pot is a great way to create your own recipe and cook your own food. Easy parking.

Susan Ding

Extremely friendly staff and enjoyable atmosphere. Personal hot pot is a great way to create your own recipe and cook your own food. Easy parking.

If it wasn’t so expensive, this place would have 5 stars. It’s an experience and you can’t really blame the restaurant if you don’t like your meal, because you cooked it yourself! I appreciate Dylan’s attention to his patrons, super kind and always on top of it. Will be back

Tee Ell

If it wasn’t so expensive, this place would have 5 stars. It’s an experience and you can’t really blame the restaurant if you don’t like your meal, because you cooked it yourself! I appreciate Dylan’s attention to his patrons, super kind and always on top of it. Will be back

I can’t consciously give this more than 3 stars. Let's start this off by stating that this "Shabu" thing is not for me . . . or my wife. Too much work. Why would I again pay so much for a lunch meal for two that I essentially do all of the work (~$91, no cocktails, tip included)? Most everything on the menu was an up-charge. I guess traditionally, Japanese food is careful to artfully plate for presentation. Well done Tabu. However, my customer experience guided me to accept only mediocrity in its most blatant form on all other touch-points. The quality of the food was decent, but seemed to rely solely on fresh, yet somewhat lacking the ‘good’. The broths were sloppily mixed directly in front of us, poured haphazardly into the Shabu pot and placed on an induction burner at each bar station. That just began the process of placing everything and then more on the already crowded place setting. I had to get creative with placement, because having something in the wrong spot could mean the difference between eating or wearing the item. Too much crowding of the utensils, tongs, ladle, water glass, ice tea, plate of protein, plate of vegetables etc. etc. etc. The front seats just inside the door seem to be where all of the “newbies” sit since it’s most convenient after the owner/manager would say “sit wherever “. I began to think I was sitting in the wrong restaurant. Kinda disgusting seeing the ventilation system overhead has allowed the steaming pots of broth to begin corroding the fixtures. I kept feeling as if I was doing something wrong or was otherwise incorrectly doing the "Shabu" thing. The way the roundabout construction of the winding 'bar' is set up, I kept catching momentary eye contact with multiple people that were observing me flail the mess into my mouth . . . or the counter area and induction cooktop. I didn't find any way of not making a mess. Maybe this is the latest craze for healthy dining, but I think I can find a more suitable way of spending my lunch money. Dicks

CritDicks

I can’t consciously give this more than 3 stars. Let's start this off by stating that this "Shabu" thing is not for me . . . or my wife. Too much work. Why would I again pay so much for a lunch meal for two that I essentially do all of the work (~$91, no cocktails, tip included)? Most everything on the menu was an up-charge. I guess traditionally, Japanese food is careful to artfully plate for presentation. Well done Tabu. However, my customer experience guided me to accept only mediocrity in its most blatant form on all other touch-points. The quality of the food was decent, but seemed to rely solely on fresh, yet somewhat lacking the ‘good’. The broths were sloppily mixed directly in front of us, poured haphazardly into the Shabu pot and placed on an induction burner at each bar station. That just began the process of placing everything and then more on the already crowded place setting. I had to get creative with placement, because having something in the wrong spot could mean the difference between eating or wearing the item. Too much crowding of the utensils, tongs, ladle, water glass, ice tea, plate of protein, plate of vegetables etc. etc. etc. The front seats just inside the door seem to be where all of the “newbies” sit since it’s most convenient after the owner/manager would say “sit wherever “. I began to think I was sitting in the wrong restaurant. Kinda disgusting seeing the ventilation system overhead has allowed the steaming pots of broth to begin corroding the fixtures. I kept feeling as if I was doing something wrong or was otherwise incorrectly doing the "Shabu" thing. The way the roundabout construction of the winding 'bar' is set up, I kept catching momentary eye contact with multiple people that were observing me flail the mess into my mouth . . . or the counter area and induction cooktop. I didn't find any way of not making a mess. Maybe this is the latest craze for healthy dining, but I think I can find a more suitable way of spending my lunch money. Dicks

The best thing I like is the individuals hot pots. The worst is the upsell. There's the basic pricing but then if you want something different it's more. Why would you charge more for different style noodles, and a $7 upcharge for packing up leftovers. Not going back.

food was good(you cook yourself). service avg because seemed like only 3 service staff for 20 customers. Shabu is more ongoing service intense for adjusting flame on hotpot, drink Refills, etc (our party of 6 celebrating Fri dinner time). also note only bar seating avail. very poor parking.. ended up 8 min walk by CVS pharmacy a block away. total experience 3 star.

Gordon Gee

food was good(you cook yourself). service avg because seemed like only 3 service staff for 20 customers. Shabu is more ongoing service intense for adjusting flame on hotpot, drink Refills, etc (our party of 6 celebrating Fri dinner time). also note only bar seating avail. very poor parking.. ended up 8 min walk by CVS pharmacy a block away. total experience 3 star.

I've eaten at many Shabu places and Tabu Shabu didn't appeal to my taste buds at all. What makes a great Shabu is the combination of meat, sauces and the soup base. Although the meat was fine, the pork bone soup base was extremely salty. Worst parts are the ponzu which was vinegary, and instead of a sauce, the sesame was a paste that was grainy. From the very first bite, I was not happy. Tabu was also the most expensive Shabu place I've ever been to and based on other ratings, was very excited to try it. Unfortunately, it didn't even come close to my expectations. I thought maybe it was just me, so I asked my wife how she liked it and she too said it was very salty. Definitely not a place I can recommend.

Jaed Arzadon

I've eaten at many Shabu places and Tabu Shabu didn't appeal to my taste buds at all. What makes a great Shabu is the combination of meat, sauces and the soup base. Although the meat was fine, the pork bone soup base was extremely salty. Worst parts are the ponzu which was vinegary, and instead of a sauce, the sesame was a paste that was grainy. From the very first bite, I was not happy. Tabu was also the most expensive Shabu place I've ever been to and based on other ratings, was very excited to try it. Unfortunately, it didn't even come close to my expectations. I thought maybe it was just me, so I asked my wife how she liked it and she too said it was very salty. Definitely not a place I can recommend.

I m a regular shabu eater, in fact I only eat shabu due to my keto diet . This one went down to be one of the worst due to its overpricing and smaller portion and you're forced to order rice and noodles. I guess it can be a good intro to shabu or hot pot if it's your first time doing anything like it but truthfully this is not what I call authentic experiencr and there's plenty more options in SD. We had our hope up because of the Online Pictures and that's what got us but never again