Mike L.
Yelp
It used to be better in offering, quality, and service, now it's just a typical AYCE hotpot/shabu shabu ~ average. Come here for lunch only. Service is not 18% worthy
The tallish student-looking host seems very indifferent, like he doesn't want to be there. It was hard for him to make eye contact and speaks with disinterest. Lol I felt I offended him by walking in. It's like I walked into a freshmen Gen Z classroom and asked about their day. I hand him the check, he seems displeased, hands it back with a thank you staring at his own hands. He didn't help with our dining experience; it felt off. Also why do you need both my name and phone number if I don't have a reservation and you sat us down immediately, really weird. I don't need to give personal info if there's already like 6 open tables available.
The server got our broth wrong ~ tonkotsu and tomato (very good and tasty), he brought tonkotsu (meh, not much flavor) and sukiyaki? Lol maybe long day? Not a big deal. He was helpful and checked the difference between the goma sauce at the table vs counter (vegetarian). Btw I tried 1 meat in the sukiyaki....it was more salty than sweet, really salty.. I'd get tired of this broth after 20 minutes.
Meat quality is good, for $38 it's really pushing it though. You got other hot pot/shabu places beating this. I had to remove scum from my broth several times, that's when I feel the meat quality is subpar, especially for shabu shabu.
By the way, all the sauce dishes/bowls at my table and at the sauce bar smelled like chlorine water from the dishwasher like it was a cheap Chinese buffet. Maybe that's why some things didn't taste good or seemed off.
The ponzu was really sour and kind of astringent, not really the type of acidity I'm used to in mid to premium quality ponzu. Idk it tasted cheap or something is off. The gomadare wasn't too bad, seems more watery now. Their sauce bar is kinda lacking - they have that watery soy sauce/jalapeno (spicy shoyu) sauce that you can find at some Chinese takeout ~ not bad but not what I'm expecting at MoMo. The veggie choices are still not bad, but don't call that stuff farmer's market choice cuz it ain't, more like casual-market generic (except burdock and konjac). Where's the enoki btw?
Separate drink instead of being included made me a bit resentful...I used to come here for the drinks being included, but it's dinner prices plus another $4 (tea quality is still great though). It's $43 AYCE basically; Imma go down the street to eat elsewhere. Bye MoMo, it was nice while it lasted.