Shaba-Shabu Thai Japanese

03/25/09

Terrible sushi bar

by SB1 at Citysearch

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.

• Pros: none
• Cons: sushi bar

11/07/09

Don't judge a book by it's cover...

by anonymous88 at Citysearch

I have been to Shaba-Shabu twice since moving to NC in 2006. I had excellent previous experiences, and convinced my boyfriend to take us here for our date night. We called in a reservation, and a table was ready for us upon our arrival. We had a friendly waiter who took our drink order and made us feel at home.

We ordered our appitizer (sushi roll) and entree's and up to this point, I was very impressed with this restaurant. Then my opinion went down hill. I was not pleased with the Taste of the Sushi roll, the presentation was great, but the taste - NOT so great. Then our entree's arrived. The ratio of noodles:shrimp (meat) was Ridiculous! There was enough Pad Thai noodles to feed four people, and 5 shrimp. Tiny shrimp that were not very flavorful at that! My boyfriend was making a funny little comment, when the waiter overheard him and grabbed the Manager. He came over and told me that there were supposed to be 5 shrimp, but that he would buy us dessert to "make up" for it. I told him that was unneccessary.. but he kept mouthing (er.. talking) until I finally said ok.

Now - I understand that the economy is not as it once was .. but FIVE shrimp was UNacceptable! I work Part time in a VERY nice restaurant in downtown Raleigh, and can understand "cutting back a little bit" but this was ridiculous! The waiter was VERY nice, and tried very hard to make up for the manager's attitude. The ambiance and warmth of the restaurant made up for the taste of the appitizer, but I will not be going back to Shaba-Shabu again! It was not worth the money or aggrevation...

• Pros: Ambiance, Attentive waitstaff
• Cons: Manager, Portion size

10/11/09

Wonderful place... disregard the nasty review below.

by kaleidoskope at Citysearch

Judging by the tone of the review below, I think the attitude problem lay with the diners. We order takeout from ShabaShabu almost weekly, and dine in about once a month. The staff are always courteous and the sushi is fresh, well-presented and (most importantly) delicious!

Last time we were there we ordered a bottle of wine that turned out to be unavailable that day. Our waiter, who was very personable and enthusiastic, recommended a similar offering... it was more expensive, but they charged us the price of the bottle we originally wanted, saving us around $10. Overall, the prices are very reasonable; I'm not sure why, but sushi in Raleigh tends to be WAY overpriced in general. I've been to pretty much every sushi place in town, and the quality you usually get at a comparable price is terrible (I'm looking at you, Sushi Blues).

I don't really like Thai, so I can't speak for that half of the menu, but the Japanese offerings are stellar. The seaweed salad is the best I've had anywhere. Try the Hurricane roll, Yummy roll, or good old-fashioned Futomaki. For dessert, try the green tea ice cream. You won't be disappointed : )

• Pros: Best sushi place in Raleigh, with courteous service!
• Cons: none!

08/29/09

Verbally attacked at Shaba Shabu

by JohanMichael at Citysearch

My partner and I were given a $150 gift Certificate to this "restaurant", we went to dinner there and met some very nice people at the bar that were also having dinner. We ended up going over the limit of the gift and spent a good bit extra. We paid the extra and left a normal tip for the service we received. On the way out the waiter that we found out later was the owner's nephew had the nerve to ask why we didnt leave more of a tip. We did speak to the manager Peter, if he is even that, about what happen. He pleaded with me not to tell our friend what had happend and ask us to come back as his guests. Which we did two days later. When we got to the restaurant, we did eat and have drinks.

In the process of our dinner we observed other parties having some difficulties with both the service staff and Peter the manager. I actually heard this man raise his voice and demeanor to a woman who was half his size. My partner and I ask to speak with him to say thank you for dinner and wanted to leave. We waited over 30 minutes to speak with him and he never came back to our table. We saw him at the front and was about to go and thank him for the meal, when a very sarcastic waitress ( I wouldnt even call her a young lady) said something that was completely uncalled to the effect of "they couldnt have done it without us. When we spoke to Peter, he stood there like I was speaking with my feet. Then we were verbally attacked by two other members of the staff. After all of this the so called "manager" stood there like the useless piece of furniture that he was and said nothing.

While we were in the parking lot speaking to one of the other FOUR parties about their horrible experiences, another member of the staff came out and again verbally attacked my partner and I.

The food is overall not bad, the restaurant is really pretty on the inside, but the staff and the management are more than just lacking. I will NEVER go back and will do every thing I can to make sure that my friends, business partners, and family do the same thing. I have never been so insulted by a company in my entire life. Please save yourself , friends and family the hassle of having to deal with being insulted and offened, just order your local Chinese food from home.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Abusive Staff and Ignorate Management

08/03/09

worst dining experience ever

by burnsis at Citysearch

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.

• Pros: nothing
• Cons: bad service, rude, crappy food, expensive, not kid friendly

05/29/09

Great food, great atmosphere, hungry waiters...

by gracefulone at Citysearch

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?!

• Pros: atmosphere, dj, decor, food
• Cons: waitstaff

05/19/09

Great Sushi!!!

by Sarah111 at Citysearch

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

• Pros: Great food
• Cons: none

03/20/09

Un-Authentic, Poor quality, High prices

by boosting at Citysearch

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.

• Pros: I was able to keep the food down
• Cons: food, service, price, no authenticity

03/07/09

Delicious food, luxurious atmosphere, dress up if you plan to go

by raleighgirls33 at Citysearch

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.

• Pros: tasty food, nice ambience, good music until after 11 pm
• Cons: techno after 11 pm on fridays and saturdays :(

10/07/08

Good Food Bad Manager

by chrisdeshaz at Citysearch

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.

• Pros: Great Food
• Cons: Male Chauvinist Manager