Normally I avoid ""mall restaurants"", especially in the Hollywood and Highland complex -- a place with a higher turnover than a CalTrans grafitti removal team. I let my pal talk me into eating lunch here on a Saturday afternoon -- the concept of shabu shabu seemed interesting. The almost- young- enough- to-need- a- work- permit hostess responded with the typical SoCal ""what happened?"" after not hearing my seating request. Our table was covered with greasy palm and fingerprints from the people before us, and one of our cloth-covered chairs was worn threadbare. What is this, a Reno Best Western? It seemed like our waitress was the only server for half the restaurant, and she spent an inordinate amount of time at a larger table before finally swinging by ours. We had to loot extra chopsticks off an adjacent table. After bringing our first set of shabu shabu (thinly-sliced meat and veggies), we didn't see our waitress for practically a half hour. We had to sic a busboy on her, despite overhearing a gaggle of wait staff gossiping behind a wall partition. Another busboy thoroughly cleaned the table immediately behind us while we were still eating -- I say thoroughly because he used about three gallons of misted ammonia or bleach out of his spray bottle, most of which drifted into our faces while we tried to eat. We were also treated to a cacophony of clanging potlids as he hurriedly cleared the table, despite there being nobody waiting for one. Our bill wasn't cheap either. A note to Hollywood tourists: eat at Kabuki on Sunset and Vine instead!
Pros: Plenty of space and lighting, decent air conditioning
Cons: Mediocre food at not-so-cheap prices, slow service, clueless busboys
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