Shabu Works, an all-you-can-eat hot pot restaurant, recently opened. The restaurant replaced the Mira Mesa location of Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot. I’ve been hoping for an AYCE hot pot option in San Diego, so I was quite excited to check this out.
In addition to hot pot ingredients, the set price also includes drinks and a shaved ice dessert bar.
Most of the ingredients are laid out buffet-style at the center of the restaurants. They offer a decent variety of vegetables and seafood.
They also have small section of cooked foods.
Drinks are limited to a variety of hot and cold teas.
Tables are equipped with a large split pot. The broth poured into the pot is just broth. They have a section in the buffet area where you can choose from a selection of “flavor bombs” to customize your soup flavor.
They also have ingredients to make your own dipping sauce.
The hot pot meats are not in the buffet area. Instead, you have to order through the servers and you’re limited to three orders at a time. Here is some of the food we had:
Our favorite was the US Wagyu Beef Round. The marbling was quite nice and gave the meat a good flavor.
For dessert, they have a shaved ice bar with a variety of toppings and syrups.
Overall, we had an okay experience here. The highlight for me was the choice of wagyu beef but most of the other hot pot ingredients offered weren’t ones I usually look for when eating hot pot. The concept of the restaurant reminded me of the hot pot buffets I had in Asia though Shabu Works is much more limited. I also found the meat ordering experience frustrating as our meat orders got delivered to the wrong table several times. I am happy to see an AYCE hot pot place finally open though and hopefully more will follow. Currently, dinner is priced at $28.99. They have a cheaper lunch price, but it does not include the wagyu.
Menu:
Shabu Works
9821 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92131
