Shaba-Shabu Thai Japanese

Doesn't Recommend

burnsis

Joined 4 years ago

worst dining experience ever. attitude from the minute we walked in the door, looked at like we were nothing b/c we didn't have a reservation. seated about ten mins later. took fifteen minutes to take drink order, and another fifteen to get our food order. food took about an hour, and then it took about another half hour after eating to get the check. we had our toddler with us, and no high chair was offered. food was too spicy, and not even warm, temperature-wise, when it arrived. would not go back. oh, and the name of this place is a misnomer, don't expect shabu shabu, it's only available to eight people at a time. and it would probably take a hundred years also.

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gracefulone

Joined 4 years ago

Great food, great atmosphere, hungry waiters.... We frequent Shaba-shabu quite a bit and most of the time we have pretty good service. The food and atmosphere is what really keeps us coming back, until now. We have had a few good servers...but this last incident just made me cringe. After we finished our dinner the server offered us to go boxes in which we declined so he takes our almost eaten dinners and clears the table. As he takes our plates I watch him grab the rest of the sushi off the plate and eat it!! I mean he could have at least waited to get to the back room but doing it on the dining floor and if that wasn't bad enough he promptly returns to the table with our check still chewing!! As if I wouldn't notice. I love this place so I think next time I will skip the waitstaff and just call my order in to go. I mean seriously...do I even have to mention how inappropriate that was?!

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Sarah111

Joined 4 years ago

Great Sushi!!!. My girlfriends recently took me to this place for my B-day and OMG! the New York Roll was amazing. The sweet black sauce (eel sauce?) was really delicious. I also love the Tiger's tear appetizer. For desert, we had the mango cake which actually had fresh mango in them!

Would definitely go back again

Doesn't Recommend

SB1

Joined 4 years ago

Terrible sushi bar. Last night we tried to go to our favorite sushi bar, Kuki, but it was closed for reconstruction. So, I suggested this place, much to my eventual dismay. We decided to sit at the sushi bar, which smelled like a fish house. The sushi looked like it had been there forever, hence the strong fish smell permeating from behind the glass. The avocados were brown and everything just looked dried out. The sushi roll was made by a Mexican that kept looking at his cheat sheet to see what the ingredients were. While we were sitting there our waiter was busy telling another waiter how "sh***y" something was. Nice!! Now I understand why the place was deserted when we got there and this is one more customer that won't be returning in this lifetime.

Doesn't Recommend

boosting

Joined 5 years ago

Un-Authentic, Poor quality, High prices. After a dismal first experience here about 6 months ago, I decided to give this place another shot. Well that will be the last time I let them steal any money from me. The food quality is terrible. The taste is worse than the food court. The exorbitant prices are surely a joke of some kind. I've had better service at Dennys.

I ordered the Chicken Cashew which came after 25min and appeared to be an appetizer size. The presentation seemed decent, although green and red peppers are not really used in Thai dishes. (I should interject here that my wife is Thai and lived in Thailand until she was 28, I also have been there plenty of times) There were literally 5 cashews in it and 6 pieces of chicken. I must have ordered from the kids menu by mistake. Other than being the most un-authentic Thai food I've ever tasted, the food didnt seem fresh or appetizing at all. My wifes dish was poorly prepared and once again tasted nothing like the food in Thailand. And after the whole experience, I left hungry and $40 poorer.

We complained about the food being spiced with what could only be guessed as all-spice instead of proper Thai herbs and were told that thats the way they make it. My wife couldnt stomach the food and asked for a to-go container, to which the waitress replied, I thought you didnt like it, to which my wife responded, we're going to give it to the dog to see if he'll eat it.

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raleighgirls33

Joined 4 years ago

Delicious food, luxurious atmosphere, dress up if you plan to go. First of all, Food is DELICIOUS here. Strong taste, variety in choices, new things to try everytime.

Being a regular customer, I just have to write a review here since ShabaShabu is just newly renovated. It?s now more luxurious, stylist, upscale. I feel like I?m dining in DC or New York city for real.

I don?t think I feel comfortable going in there with my casual clothes anymore since the atmosphere is too upscale. So Dress up if you want to dine there.

It?s a great place to go out on a date or to dine before I got out with my girlfriends.

Food is authentic. They have all sorts of sushi roll there. Thai food is especially amazing there. Maybe because the owners are Thai. The serving portion is HUGE, never finish all of it, but I get my money worth. I?d recommend is Tiger?s Tear or Tom Kha Kai for appetizer.

Now to the best part: You must try a piece of COCONUT CAKE for dessert! It?s homemade by the owner. Its icing is whipped coconut cream with coconut flakes. The cake is made from coconut juice. It?s the kind of cake you?ll never have somewhere else.

One thing I do not like about the place is loud techno music after 11 pm on weekends. arghh

all in all, I will keep going to this restaurant for Asian food.

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chrisdeshaz

Joined 5 years ago

Good Food Bad Manager. I came down for NCSUs homecoming and had a fabulous time and decided to go out for sushi with my friends. We decided on ShabaShabu. The decor of the restaurant was beautiful, the food was spectacular. However my desert wasn't. My cheesecake was frozen on the inside. The manager Peter took it back and made another one for me. The second slice was frozen. I asked the waiter to have Peter come back to the table. When he returned I told him that the second slice was frozen and I didn't want it he became very rude. He spoke to me in a very condescending manner as if it were because I am a female. I tried to remain calm but he pushed me over the edge. If the desert was good I wouldn't have complained. Plain and simple.

Peter (the nasty manager) walked away from the table and didn?t return. The waiter returned with a new bill, however the manager added 20% gratuity not only to my check but my four other friends checks. Unbelievable!!!! I didn't ask for everyone?s check to be adjusted. Just mine!!! And, gratuity is only to be added when there are parties of 6 or more. We had 5. It didn?t matter to me at the time. The waiter was nice and he deserved a decent tip.

Great Food, Great Atmosphere, Terrible Manager. Will I return to this restaurant? ONLY IF PETER DOESNT WORK THERE.

Doesn't Recommend

kmng

Joined 5 years ago

Voted the best sushi restaurant by metro magazine...are you serious???. I visited this place a couple of weeks ago and just because of the fact that they won the best sushi joint by metro magazine I decided to give it another try. I don't understand how the voting system works but there must have been a mistake.. First of all, this place has terrible kitchen food...and the sushi...mediocre at best...and that's me being generous. Am I missing something here? I understand Waraji and Mura among the top...but how did this place get the first place....that's the last time I trust magazines to choose my next meal.

Doesn't Recommend

Pollyanna23

Joined 5 years ago

Expensive and not worth it.. Unlike other poor reviews, my waiter did a good job and I have no complaints about the service. I do agree with prior reviews that stated this was not a good restaurant to bring children to. There was no kids menu and one partially broken high chair. The restaurant's decor is attractive and the bar looks very "happening". My complaint is the food. Our food was overpriced and can be described as mediocre at best. The appetizer we ordered tasted strongly of burned sesame oil. The entrees were bland when they were advertised as spicy, lukewarm, and completely unsatisfying. I had really looked forward to some good Thai food, but I did not find it here.

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unseabunni

Joined 5 years ago

FAKE Bluefin. I just recently moved to Raleigh in the beginning of January. Shaba Shabu is the first sushi restaurant I've tried in the area. I like the atmosphere & large sushi selection, and was excited to see Bluefin Tuna on special one night. I ordered the Spicy Bluefin and Salmon Crunch Roll. The Salmon Crunch Roll is awesome, however, the Bluefin was NOT bluefin! It was regular tuna. I think anyone who has had it once would be sure to recognize the difference. The tuna was bright red (like normal) and had the same texture as the regular tuna. Bluefin is more purple/blue (hence the name), and this roll was most definitely NOT made with real bluefin. I thought that maybe this was a fluke, so the next time I went I ordered the same thing, and was extremely disappointed AGAIN to find that what I had was NOT bluefin. I saw no point in arguing this with the waiter, I know they wouldn've insisted that it was authentic bluefin anyway. This was EXTREMELY disappointing to me. Bluefin is one of my most favorite items at a sushi restaurant, not only was I disapponted TWICE, but I believe that offering something that isn't available is FALSE advertising. I hope that someone over at Shaba Shabu gets wind of this and rectifies this problem.