Lisa R.
Yelp
Eric R., Melinda C., and I had a really fun outing here last Friday night as we braved the torrential downpour to drive north on central expressway. We can get hotpot in our little Kansas town, but not shabu shabu. Melinda C. had never tried shabu shabu either. We decided to order a combo for two people with 5 proteins to share, and the third person would cost $9 for veggies, noodles, rice, and sauce. We chose NY strip, choice ribeye, wagyu ribeye (extra cost), salmon, and scallop. We were given teriyaki, sesame peanut, and ponzu sauces, which were adorned with garlic, grated daikon, and green onion. Eric R. ordered a sapporo on draft but it came out in a bottle. They explained it the menu was wrong but lowered the price for him. Melinda C. and I ordered a yuzu lemonade which was really delicious! The menu also mentioned matcha lemonade, so next time...!
Our server was very friendly and explained everything to us. Eric R. added a tonkotsu base, I stuck with traditional konbu but asked for the sides of bonito, nori, and jalapenos, and Melinda C. ordered sukiyaki base which came with an egg. Eric R. got ramen, and Melinda C. and I chose udon noodles, but clear glass noodles are the gluten free option.
The server really wanted to show us how to do things, which is nice, but she kept trying to use the same pair of wooden chopsticks to demonstrate. She started with Eric R.'s bowl and tried to use those chopsticks to touch my vegetables and broth. I had to tell her multiple times I do not eat pork and do not want these chopsticks from his pork broth in my food. I must have told her three or four times to stop using them near my food, and Melinda C. even told her once. Then another worker tried to use them because they were put in a communal utensil holder with what should have been spoons for us to use, but now I could not use those either. I had to tell him not to use those either.
Besides that, we enjoyed our food. I asked for a few cubes of tofu and was given a giant bowl of it, and then when our soups were made with the finished broth and noodles, the tofu I added in there was taken out by the server which was a bit weird. To make soups at the end, they mix a soy sauce and fish sauce base and add the broth from the finished shabu shabu pot, the noodles, and any remaining veggies. They also offered to add the garlic and green onions too.
All of us were stuffed so we took our soups to go and ate them for lunch the next day. It really is a good deal to get two meals out of it and it is cool they do not restrict people from taking the soups to go after eating, which some hot pot restaurants do. I would consider returning if I could make sure I can control my own cooking and utensils, but I think they are so eager to have us enjoy the experience that they were not thinking about cross-contamination or allergy restrictions, so I do not think it was intentional. We just had to speak up a lot to prevent me from not being able to eat any of my food. Itadakimasu!