It's been a while since I've been to Shabu-Zen, but I found it expensive, and more trouble than it's worth. Maybe it's just me, but why would anyone want to pay to have to cook their own food? Plus,... More

It's been a while since I've been to Shabu-Zen, but I found it expensive, and more trouble than it's worth. Maybe it's just me, but why would anyone want to pay to have to cook their own food? Plus, hotpot is not particularly vegetarian friendly. I mean, they have veggies, but the broth's usually meat-based, and if you're eating in a group, then most likely the other people will be dumping their miscellaneous meats into the same pot as you. It gets fairly crowded too.
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Shabu Shabu is a style of eating where you cook your own food in a boiling broth of your choice. We had a big group and sat at the bar area because the whole place was PACKED. This sort of made... More

Shabu Shabu is a style of eating where you cook your own food in a boiling broth of your choice. We had a big group and sat at the bar area because the whole place was PACKED. This sort of made for non intimate dining, which was one of the down sides to eating here. The waitress brought over a bunch of frozen tofu and vegetables for us to cook and you submerge your food in the boiling broth and wait for it to cook. They give you three different sauces that you can mix up to your taste. One spicy, one sweet, and one sour and also some scallions. It wasn't bad but if you don't like to cook or have a limited time for dinner this is not the place for you. It took us 2.5 hours to eat!
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Shabu-Zen serves great authentic Japanese shabu shabu cuisine. Excellent hot soup dishes in a tiny an unique setting. This is a very popular hotspot with the young area Asian crowd. The service... More

Shabu-Zen serves great authentic Japanese shabu shabu cuisine. Excellent hot soup dishes in a tiny an unique setting. This is a very popular hotspot with the young area Asian crowd. The service here is very friendly and it is priced rather inexpensively. Not best suited for take out due to the liquid nature of the soup, and parking in the area is very difficult.
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The place is located in Chinatown, would never have noticed it until a friend recommended it. The two times we went there, we were seated promptly. We set around the middle stool/bar area. The... More

The place is located in Chinatown, would never have noticed it until a friend recommended it. The two times we went there, we were seated promptly. We set around the middle stool/bar area. The waitstaff and hostess were nice. They made sure our soup was not boiling too much. At the end, you get a nice dessert/drink. During dinner times with large parties, you may have to wait some time before being seated. It gets really busy.
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For the uninitiated, Shabu-style cuisine is a Japanese dinner-style, where each customer essentially boils their own meal at the table. At Shabu-Zen, every place setting has a deep hole in the table... More

For the uninitiated, Shabu-style cuisine is a Japanese dinner-style, where each customer essentially boils their own meal at the table. At Shabu-Zen, every place setting has a deep hole in the table which holds a 2 pint metal container with broth (you can select which flavor of broth to start with). There is a small hidden burner of some kind that heats and boils the broth. One orders thinly-sliced meats, fish, (and tofu) and that comes accompanied by different spices, garlic and broth, noodles and vegetables. The customer cooks pieces sequentially at the table, in the broth, and generally eats them from a small secondary plate after heaping some spicy combination of onions, garlic, and other more obscure spices. The combination is flavorful. Shabu-zen is in the middle of Boston's Chinatown, the only obviousely non-Chinese place there. It fills up with local folks who are likely to be speaking Japanes, Mandarin or Cantonese, which (for those of us who don't speak those languages) gives the whole experience a layer of authenticity you won't find at Appleby's. The pricei is really tied to the meat, fish and shellfish that you order, but with drinks we ran up about $15-24 per adult. It was a long slow and very entertaining meal.
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Shabu-Zen does not specialize in sushi or teriyaki, like most Japanese restaurants. Instead, Shabu-Zen focuses on shabu-shabu, which is a style of Japanese cooking that involves you personally... More

Shabu-Zen does not specialize in sushi or teriyaki, like most Japanese restaurants. Instead, Shabu-Zen focuses on shabu-shabu, which is a style of Japanese cooking that involves you personally cooking your food in a pot of broth. You can pick from seafood, beef, veggies, etc. Your meal comes with a vegetable platter (that you also cook in the boiling broth) and dessert (an Asian bean dessert). The two problems with Shabu-Zen are 1) you are usually seated right next to other people and 2) the steam from the boiling broth can be distracting and overwhelming for a calm, relaxed meal. However, shabu-shabu is fun, healthy, and inexpensive! Shabu-Zen also has a variety of Asian sakes and beers.
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