Shabu Melbourne

User Reviews of Shabu, Melbourne

Displaying: 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

2.8 Not Recommended

Food 3 Ambience 2 Service 1 Value 5

This place is not authentic shabu shabu. Just a typical chinese hot pot place on a conveyer belt. Staff was friendly at first but 20 minutes before my time is up, they collected all my bowl, plate etc to make you leave even if you have time left. Okay value but nothing special and will not recommend.

Jan 20, 2011

panda28
3

6.8 Recommended

Food 6 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 7

If you're looking for an authentic shabu shabu experience, keep walking. However, if you're after an affordable all-you-can-eat conveyor belt type experience, then this is it.

For $25, you've got 1.5hrs to fill yourself with a never ending supply of frozen fishballs, frozen slices of beef and chicken, fish, frozen prawn, mussels, vegetables, tofu etc.

It's an experience but I don't think I'll head back there anytime soon. Maybe in winter when I'm craving something hot and cheap.

Good: cheap, clean, trendy, friendly staff. Bad: small selection of average quality food, frozen food, uncomfortable chairs, extremely loud music.

Jan 12, 2010

homeiyi
39

3 Below Average

Food 2 Ambience 2 Service 5 Value 3

As I am Japanese, I know authentic style of ShabuShabu. I don't consider this is ShabuShabu. Soup stock is completely different and a slice of meat is too thick. And no seafood is used for it. Tofu should be silken, not firm one. The source is not proper either. It needs to be served with soem spices you can add in. It's ok for me if it's not called ShabuShabu.

Aug 24, 2009

osakachick
1

7.8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 8 Service 8 Value 7

First time I went here with friends, was when the shop just opened. Although there were plenty of food on the belt its just repeats of the same stuff over and over again. However, I went recently with a mate and it has changed so much. A much wider variety of seafood, constantly being sent out with meat and veges and lots of other cool stuff. Shabu with beer with mates, in your own individual pot, good nite to be had by all.

Aug 17, 2009

luvmelbfood
3

3 Below Average

Food 1 Ambience 2 Service 7 Value 2

Loving a steam boat we thought we would give this nook in the wall a try, well there was a lot of steam! Perhaps, we struck a bad night, but we found the whole experience awful. While the fitout and concept of individual steam-boats was great, the food was miserable: incredibly fatty, low quality and unidentifiable meats (most looked like strips of low grade bacon!), endless frozen fishballs, and prawns that looked like they'd been dug out of permafrost.

Only the noodles were edible, and at $25 a head they were bloody expensive noodles. We asked if there were any vegetables but, by 8.15 on a Friday night, they had run out of them. The main complaint was that everything was tasteless: very low quality produce that had no flavour whatsoever, we thought this and heard the party next to us saying the same thing.

The steam in the atmosphere was extraordinary, there is no exhaust so the room is like a murky sauna, infused with the fat of all those weird meat offcuts, we could scrape if off our skin! We ended the night having to pick up takeaway pizza on the way home, before showering and washing all our clothes to remove the layer of smelly grease that had settled all over us.

The staff seemed keen and well intentioned: get an exhaust fitted and some decent quality produce and you might have a hope!

Aug 10, 2009

wingster
27

0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

9 Highly Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 10

First time I went here was with a couple of friends found that it was a really cute sushi-train and all-u-can-eat hot pot combined (theres no sushi, the food is delivered on the train). Not a large restaurant but have been on a night where a big party took up the whole belt and we were left to sit on the group table. Lots of selection, and drinks are quite tasty and affordable.

Staff were very friendly, as you walk in they all say hello and are pretty attentive the whole time filling up your drinks or soup. Would definitely keep going back.

Jun 12, 2009

obsessedsushigirl
5

7.8 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 8 Service 9 Value 7

A small but great restaurant with lovely staff members. Waiters and waitresses were really friendly and helpful. Good selection of food is on the train and moves around to everyone. Buffet includes interesting selection of sauces, soups, meat (beef, pork, prawn, scallops, fish balls etc) noodles (egg, white) and vegetables (Chinese cabbage, asian mushrooms, greens).

I would definitely go back to this restaurant, however, on the down side, I wouldn't recommend going in large groups because it's sort of catered to fit small groups of people, with 6 maximum fitting on a table.

Dec 02, 2008