Shabu Shabu House Restaurant Los Angeles

Beef Shabu is very real deal! - Cash Only$$ Very famous restaurant for Beef Shabu in little Tokyo (Los Angeles). Highly recommend to get here around 5pm and sign in immediately. You might be in for the first round!! Pay attention to their biz hours before you plan to come. I like the fact that the sign up for “ no cell phone - no text messages “ that means you here to eat!! I would repeat.

*** Tip: bring cash and come very early to sign up on the waiting list as soon as it’s out. Visited recently and arrived at opening time (5:30pm). To my surprise there was a waiting list 1.5 pages long already. They had a total of 3 sheets available to sign up, half of that amount was already taken before they even opened. I appreciate the guy (who calls you in to sit) letting us know the wait from this point was 1.5-2 hours. Arrived at 5:30pm and seated around 7:30pm and not any earlier. By the time we were seated names were half way down the 3rd sheet of paper. Food - great just as I remembered it. Regular portion is 10 slices while Large is 15 slices. I love their ponzu sauce - wish I had a bottle for home use. Something to note: You are boiling your food in water. At other shabu shabu places they may have a mild kelp/seaweed type stock. People have a misconception mistaking it for Chinese hot pot where the liquid is super flavorful. This is not that. What makes this delicious are the delicate marbled pieces of beef and your choice of dipping sauces, ponzu and sesame. There are little condiment containers, I put a lot of garlic into my ponzu sauce. Yum! They start preparing for the next round of eaters before the current group leaves. As they get closer to seating a group, he will call whoever’s name is written and ask for your entire parties order before hand. Other workers will start slicing the portions of meat arranging them neatly on individual plates, cover it with saran wrap, and place them into the fridge until you are seated. This helps to speed up the process so there is less wait time. As soon as a party leaves, their area is cleaned, a new pot and veggies were placed. He will call groups in and you are hopefully within ears reach or will be passed over. While their rules are strict, it makes sense considering the number of people needing to be served. Parking - think typical downtown, metered parking and paid parking lots. I always park across the street in either the structure or the driveway directly next to it (on the left side) which is another parking area but outdoors. The restaurant is very small and not good for large groups or parties with young kids/infants. All the seating is counter style, the only table I saw was a kids table no one was seated at. Great meal on a cool or rainy day! Next time I’d come earlier and would hangout in the area.