Hawaii Pot Shabushabu House

Heard about the «all u can eat» for $ 16.99, so decided to try it out. This place is very misleading!!! The AYCE only includes items found on the conveyer belt, which the only source of meat they offer is sausage and shrimp. No pork or beef! The rest of items are unappetizing and not worth eating more than once. Never coming back!

I swear, all we keep saying the whole night was «Soooo cooool» from the moment we stepped out of our car to the moment we were seated. Our night started off by watching our car park itself. Yes, our car PARKED ITSELF. And, then we walked into the restaurant and realized there was a CONVEYER BELT. It’s pretty cool to know that ingredients were right at our fingertips. But, the coolness didn’t stop there. When we sat down, we also realized that there’s no use of gas burners here because… the glass table heats up with a touch of a button and when I say buttons, I mean like the ones on a TOUCHSCREEN! We were concerned about burning other things, but apparently the burner only heats up when metal materials are placed on it. When we thought our «OoOo“‘s and «Ahhhh“‘s have come to an end, we learned that we have the option to get our very own PERSONAL POT!
Undoubtedly a cool experience, but we did find the broths to be just OK, definitely not as flavorful as the broths at Ichiriki or Sweet Home Café. The meat and sides are also not top notch quality, but good none the less. Our server wasn’t very efficient but was very nice otherwise. It’s also BYOB, which is a big plus in my book.

I recently got to try this semi-​new hot pot place! Tbh I had no idea this place even existed until my boyfriend randomly took me here. The idea of a hot pot place with a conveyor belt definitely will bring in the customers. I thought it was pretty cool and convenient since you usually have to grab what you want yourself anyways.
Located in this new building (forgot the name) behind Keeamoku Walmart. We didn’t know where to park, but because it was in the evening we meter-​street parked and walked over. My boyfriend had made a reservation for us, and when we checked in the host asked if we wanted to sit at the counter or at a table. We said the counter was fine, but once we sat there, it was a bit weird at first because you have your own individual hot pot. We then requested a table, however they said we couldn’t take the table they were cleaning up because it was for the walk-​ins outside, which I didn’t understand since we made a reservation… That didn’t bother me much though since I was hungry to eat.
I ordered the Tom Yum broth and my boyfriend had the House in our own individual pots. The Tom Yum broth was okay, nothing special, but the house broth was bland with no flavor (had to add some salt to it). We ordered a lot of meat… 22 oz of the rib eye and 4 oz of the cow tongue and pork belly. I think one order of the 4 oz dish would have been good enough for me. Service seemed a bit slow, but it was a little crowded with what looked like only 2 workers? What was strange was that there were pricing on the colored plates, and when we asked about the pricing, the server only told us the pricing of the black plate and how they are all different lol… One thing I really enjoyed though was their House special sauce.
Overall, this place wasn’t that impressive. I still loved the idea of the conveyor belt for grabbing whatever add-​ons. I wish there was a more broad selection of broth flavors.
Oh, also one thing I thought was also pretty cool was the sign outside the restaurant for customers waiting. It said that if you wait for a certain period of time for a table, you will get x% off your tab. I think it even went up to waiting 2 hours, although I’m not sure who would want to wait that long for food haha.

I’m always open the try a new hot pot place. Turns out that this place is just like the hot pot in Kapolei. However, this location has a conveyor belt! This location is also quite small. Looks like they had outdoor seating but I didn’t see anyone eating outside.
I’m glad we made reservations when my friends and I decided to go. It was a Friday night and thought it would be smart to reserve a table. We came from an event before and I had called to push back our reservations half an hour. No problem. They were so nice about it.
We got seated right away at a table. There are some tables and some counter top seating for smaller parties. There were four of us, and we each got an individual pot of broth. I tried the Thai Tom Tom. It was a little more sweet & spicy than I expected, and not the usual creamy Thai sauce.
Of course they had the conveyor belt with all the vegetables on it. Looks like they had more on the menu that wasn’t put out, but most of the food we wanted were there. They also had a sauce bar. I absolutely love the ginger & chives. I could just eat that with rice all night! I also tried the original house sauce, it was kind of like hoisin and teriyaki sauce. Great for dipping!
I would like to come back and try a different broth. I love that you have your individual pot so you don’t have to share the same pot with others! Lol

As everyone knows, I’m obsessed with hotpot. I’m always looking for more options to satisfy my shabu cravings, especially since I banned myself from SHC (if you know, you know) and since Sterling closed.
Overall, I like Hawaii Pot. There are things they definitely need to work on, but I like the concept of having your own individual pot so you can custom make it to your liking. The «Genki Sushi» style of the ingredients coming around on a conveyor belt is an interesting concept too, however, they need to spread out the ingredients better. I feel myself waiting forever for items to come around because they are clumped together. If you don’t see what you want, you can always ask the worker and they will get it for you from the back.
I feel like the broths are a little on the blander side, but it’s a good thing that the sauces make up for it. Since my breakup with SHC, I haven’t found a place that has sauces as good as theirs. Hawaii Pot comes close. The sesame dressing and ginger & scallion are my faves. There is a large selection, and they are all so flavorful. As for the broths, I’ve tried the kimchi, house, miso, and mushroom. The kimchi probably has the most flavor, but I think I prefer the mushroom the best. My sauce mixtures that I create are pretty strong, so it balances out the bland broth.
Unlike SHC and other hotpot restaurants, Hawaii Pot offers a discount the longer you have to wait. Going with one or two other people I’ve never had to wait, but going in a larger group I’ve waited an hour, and got 20% off. The discount starts at a 15 minute wait for 5%, and increases as the wait gets longer. Great system!
The meat size portions are larger than competitors. You can either get a 4oz or 12oz. The 4oz is a little too much for me, and I can barely finish. When I do, I’m overly stuffed. The 12oz is good to share for 3 people.
They have implemented these great concepts to this restaurant, however, customer service is terrible. I feel like they need more than just 2 people working. I’ve had experiences where there were many empty tables and seatings for awhile that needed to be bussed, my meat didn’t come, my ingredients weren’t available on the conveyor belt resulting in having to flag down staff to get it from the back, and just unavailable staff in general. I feel like they are doing busy work, but they just need more help… way more help! Please hire more people!
After this long review, all in all, I keep going back again and again because the sauces are bomb!

I decided to check this place out today with a gf. This is a new place located inside 808 Center. They have lunch buffet price of about $ 16.99 and it includes broth and everything that comes on conveyor belt. Meats, appetizers and deserts are not included in the buffet price. Total came out to about $ 25 per person including tip and we left feeling pretty full. We ordered half Kim chee broth and half house original broth. We both loved the Kim chee broth better. Their house spicy soy sauce is the bomb too and I loved their ginger sauce too! We ordered 4 oz of premium beef and it was enough for the 2 of us. They have variety of sides including taro, fish cake balls, tofu, ong choy, bok choy, corn, broccoli, sprouts, etc. there is free valet parking in the back.

We have tried a lot of hot pot places in Honolulu, but this place beats all the others!!!
What I like most about this place is the fact that they offer combination veggie plates. They had mixed plates like bean curd stick and wood ear mushrooms, which were my favorite plate. We also got a mixed veggie plate, which had cabbage, carrots, broccoli, enoki mushrooms, and more.
The service was great and it started to get busy around 6:30pm. You can get a together pot or individual pots for the people in your party.
We decided to try the fried coffee ice cream dessert. It was good but we have had better. The coffee ice cream didn’t have a very strong coffee taste like we thought it would have. The portion was a bit small for $ 8! It was one scoop of ice cream, fried. Plus it was very hard to eat. It was impossible to get a bite of batter and ice cream in each bite.

I’ve been seeing this place pop up on Unilocal often. One day, my friends and I decided to try out this place. We came around 6:30ish and it was not that busy. I thought this place would be packed. I guess not. It’s quite hidden. It’s behind the Walmart and HMSA building area.
When we stepped in, the server asked us if we made reservation… in my head — it was empty, was it necessary? Anyways, a few minutes later she sat us down. We looked at the menu and started deciding what soup base to get. Four of us decide to do a family style dinner. We got half and half (Hawaii Original Pot and Miso soup) The big pot was in the middle of the table. If we were to get individual pots we have our own stove top. Cute. We also ordered the special combo meat 2 choice –premium beef and ribeye beef. Then we grabbed some plates on the conveyer belt. Now this is first for hot pot restaurants. Reminds me of Kuru Kuru Sushi. There’s also a sauce bar. The soup base was pretty good. We were pretty full after eating.
It was an outing experience but would not be back. It’s really expensive eating here. Our bill came to $ 70ish for 4 people. I rather go Sweet Home Café because we get free dessert there. I think the rave was the conveyor belt and the individual pot. It’s an interesting experience for most people.

I love hot pot places. Living in Hawaii, there’s quite a few to choose from. This place was decent but not my favorite. They have a nice concept going. It’s the first hot pot restaurant that has individual hot pots, so everyone gets to have their own broth. The food also comes out on a conveyor belt so you don’t have to get up to fetch it. The different color plates will let you know how much the item is. The yellow plate is $ 2.99, green plate is $ 3.99, red plate is $ 4.99, and black plate is $ 5.99. Some of the items that we got were shrimp, fishcake paste, meatballs, imitation crab, shumai, calamari, tofu, fish roe in fishcake, udon noodles, taro, cauliflower, and broccoli.
In addition to the different color plates, they also offer meat that they slice up in the back and bring to your table. We ordered the premium beef and chicken. They were sliced paper thin, so it was fast to cook. The meat was also super fresh.
They have quite a few dipping sauces to choose from. Most of them that I tried were pretty good. My favorites are the sesame dressing and the house dressing. Their house dressing is made with sacha and a blend of their own seasonings. Yummy!
They offer eight different broths: kimchee, mushroom, seafood, Thai tom yum, miso, hot and spicy, healthy vegetarian, and hawaii original pot. For my individual pot, I got the seafood. The base was just salty without any flavor to it. I did get three pieces of small clams in there.
While I like the fact that we all got to have our own hot pots, the broths weren’t as good as the other places. The prices are also a little more here.

Hotpot place with Veggies running on a belt??? Say What?! that’s the icon of place.
Think Genki/​kuru kuru except with veggies for hot pot. The same concept, color of your plate determines the price. You still have to order your meat and they offer some appetizers like fried oyster and fried scallop.
They are located in the same building as infinitea, or you’ll see Urban bistro on the corner of the street. Parking is right behind but usually is valet… Suggest you park at Walmart and walk it. :)
If you have to wait, they have a sign that tells you how much discount you’ll receive for waiting. I think that’s awesome to keep customer happy!
Interior of place is nice and modern. The seating is either counter or tables. On the counter in the middle are stoves for your personal pots. The tables have 4 spots for your personal pots and one in the center in case you wanna share. Personally I think it’s a great for who just don’t wanna share or can’t agree on a same
broth.
Let’s get to the food! I went there today with my friend and I got Thai Tom Yum and Kimchi broth. Both broths had good flavors. Kimchi one was a bit bland but that’s cause I love spicy food so maybe just me. We got cow tongue (4oz) and ribeye (4oz), they have option of 4oz or 12oz on meats… Intentionally we ordered 12oz ribeye but only got 4oz plate. Surprisingly the 4oz was enough. Meat was good and had its freshness.
Service is good here. They came by to check on us a few times. The only down side is this place is a little pricer. Didn’t feel like I had a lot of veggie plates.
Try out this place if your friends and you cannot agree on same broths, you can all have your own personal one!

Conveyor belt shabu shabu place? I was intrigued. Plus I really enjoy shabu shabu so I thought I’d give this place a try. They give discounts if you end up waiting which is a nice concept. However, we went on a Sunday night and no wait was needed. One drawback is that the restaurant shares restrooms with other establishments in the building so you’ll need to get the code from the cashier at the front.
Now, the important part… the food! You order the broths from your server and choose the meats you want since those aren’t located on the conveyor belt. Oh yeah, there’s a conveyor belt filled with delicious hot pot goodies. They have your normal hot pot fare: various veggies, fish balls, noodles, tofu, etc.
They also have a pretty well stocked sauce station and the employees are more than happy to refill anything at the station that’s low. The flow of the sauce station is a little weird and it does get backed up if someone decides to mix a lot of sauces.
The meal was pretty pricey but not shocking as I think it’s just slightly more expensive than other hot pot places (e.g. Little Sheep, Sweet Home, etc.). Just gotta watch how much you get from the conveyor belt and how much meats you order. The most disappointing part, however, and the reason I won’t be returning to here was the broth.
We order three types of broth: seafood, house, and the mushroom. Unfortunately, the seafood and house broth had barely any taste. I kept tasting it over and over, hoping flavor would magically appear, but alas, it had not. The mushroom was the most flavorful out of the three, but it was still lacking. My favorite part of hot pot places is trying the broth, and this place did not meet my standards. However, the broth did taste MUCH better after we cooked all the items.

I am a huge fan of shabu shabu. I love throwing all kinds of meats and seafood along with veggies into a pot to create a savory and flavorful broth to slurp up later. Shabu shabu always hits the spot for me, so when I heard about this place, I was eager to try it out!
Hawaii Hotpot Shabu Shabu House is located in the brand new 808 Sheridan Building, which also houses Urban Bistro and Infiniti Tea. The place is spacious with a long wraparound counter and tables and chairs for groups.
The menu is simple. First, pick your broth flavor. There is something for everyone’s palate, including vegetarians. You can share a split pot so that you and a partner can try different broths. Next, pick your meat. There are various choices of meats available. Then, go over to the sauce bar and create your own dipping sauce. The sauce bar reminded me of Little Sheep.
What sets Hawaii Hotpot Shabu Shabu House apart from the other shabu shabu joints in town is the conveyor belt! Just like kaiten sushi, kaiten shabu shabu allows you to pick plates of ingredients to plop into your pot without having to leave your seat to go to some refrigerated case. All the plates have different colors and each color represents a certain price. Your bill is totaled up by the number of plates and colors. Ingredients are endless from various vegetables, types of noodles, and seafood.
I ordered a personal pot (I am selfish when it comes to shabu shabu) of the original broth with ribeye beef. I added ingredients, such as bok choy, corn, squash, and mushrooms. The best part of a shabu shabu meal is the noodles and broth. I added long rice. SO DELICIOUS!
I really enjoyed eating here and can’t wait to return. They are open for last lunch and midnight snack! So awesome! Now I have no excuse to not come here.

Any local will tell you, anything cooler than 70 degrees is winter weather in the island. A friend and I were craving shabushabu for the past week, and instead of hitting up our usual hot pot faves, we chose to dine at the second Hawaii Pot Shabushabu House location, in the new 808 Center behind the HMSA building on Keeamoku.
Parking was free valet, which was super cool! They feature the only fully automated garage system. The valet will drive your car into the concrete structure, and machines do the rest! Note that departing from the 808 Center takes a little longer, since the machine will need to re-​call your vehicle, which took about 10 minutes when we left, around 8:00 PM.
Hawaii Pot Shabushabu House is on the ground level, facing Sheridan Street. Their unique décor starts with tables outside, equipped to eat hot pot outside if you choose. Upon entering, you’ll see that their shabushabu ingredients are on a conveyor belt, pretty neat. Tables to the left of the belt have one large burner in the middle, to host quintessential divider hot pots. The counter seats and tables to the right of the belt feature personal burners, where servers will bring a smaller pot for individual shabu-​ing.
The night we dined here (12÷7÷2015) there were approximately 6 other customers besides us. It was strange that the servers tried to seat us in the middle of the conveyor counter, since we would be the only customers not at a table (there were several unoccupied tables). Once seated at a table, we waited about 5 minutes for service. When the server finally came around to take our orders, there was no explanation of their menu, popular broths or anything! We ordered beers, and were told they didn’t have any beers. We then asked if they had any alcoholic drinks listed on the menu, we were told they were still in the process of obtaining their liquor license. So for now, they are BYOB.
My friend chose the spicy broth and I had the vegetarian broth. The spicy was pretty spicy, not inedible, but I would not choose it for myself in the future. The vegetarian broth was excellent; not too salty or too thick. Similar to other hot pot establishments, chilled meats are ordered through the server. Shabu selection was pretty meager. There were several types of fishcake (in different shapes– I thought one was tofu! But ended up being fishcake in square shapes), udon, ramen, other seafood (including white fish, clams, oysters), and veggies (which there was the least amount to choose from). I was excited to see chrysanthemum leaves as a choice; they were wilted, soft and I was disappointed to see that the leaves in the middle section were brown just old in general. Another selection I was disappointed in was the bokchoy, also wilted and I found TWO snails!
Sauce bar was my favorite thing, great selection of creamy, spicy and expected sauces. My fave items included fresh ginger, garlic and their house sauce.
Their menu offered appetizers and desserts, including tempura ice cream, but no servers came around so we opted not to try any. Again, service is slow, and their staff don’t seem to notice when customers are in need of things. Our bill for two came out to about $ 60 before tip, a little pricey considering we didnt have drinks or desserts.
Overall an unimpressive first time at Hawaii Pot Shabushabu House.

With positive reviews for this place in hand, my bestie and I heading there for dinner last night hungry.
We got there a little after 530ish. It’s really a cute little place! They have tables outside if you want to dine in the moonlight lol. And when we approached the doors to go in, one of the workers came running to open and hold the doors for us. niiice.
Seriously, this place was so clean … I mean really clean.
It wasn’t packed when we got there, there was only a couple that we were seated by and one table that was filled. The restaurant did start to fill up after 630ish.
This was my besties first time eating hot pot so he let me order lol. We got the pot to share instead of doing individual. I decided to try the miso and I have to agree with Victoria M … its better as a just soup instead of for hot pot. The miso was really good and I would’ve been content with just that and a bowl or rice: D It was that good!
We had the combo of rib eye meat and lamb. And I let the bestie pick things off the conveyor belt. Which ended up being enoki mushrooms, shrimp, octopus, choy sum and noodles (I forgot which ones :/​)
Now, I’m going to say right here that I DID NOT take any pictures of our hot pot … why? I forgot. AND I was preoccupied with eating lol Sorry … next time!
This is what I needed since I was feeling under the weather. The service was outstanding, we were never without empty water glasses, our table was always cleared of plastic wrappers, and we were always brought endless napkins … for me hot pot always gets messy, or maybe it’s cause I’m a messy eater …
We even tried the dessert! Fried vanilla ice cream. oh man, not too many places get that right. BUT THEY DID!!! hahaha it was so good!!!
We were asked by mostly all the workers if we enjoyed the food … heck yes I did! I really enjoyed this place. But, I think the next time I will try a different soup base.

I’m a sucker for hot pot, so when I heard there was a new hot pot place opening up at the 808 Center, I was pretty excited to give it a try, especially considering there’s no way I was willing to head to Kapolei for their other location.
Being a new eatery, the seating are and presentation are nice and neat. The tables and seating area were clean, and the staff was very attentive and friendly. If I had to describe their business model to anyone, I would say it’s as though a hot pot place and a kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) place had a baby. Veggies and other yummies are constantly moving around you and you can pick and choose to your heart’s desire. Or if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can just order directly from the waiters. A fully stocked sauce bar in the back of the restaurant is also available, which I embarrassingly admit to taking all the cilantro. Haha.
The coolest thing about Hawaii Pot Shabushabu House is their burners. Each tables has the burners for the hot pots built directly into them. But it’s not just one stove. There’s one large stove in the middle, but also each table setting area has their own small, personal one. Super convenient and modern, and I’d love it if this became something more places decided to adopt.
There were multiple broth choices and the variety and flavors were pretty good. The veggies for the most part were fresh, although there were some things (ex. the napa cabbage) was a bit wilted and not the greatest looking. But for the most part I had no real complaints. And although I didm’t eat meat, the people in my party that did voiced their approval. Things being as they are, I’d probably have given them 4 stars. However, what knocked them down a star in my opinion is their price point. Of all the hot pot places I’ve been to, Hawaii Pot Shabushabu House is one of the more pricey ones. I’m not sure if I’m being a bit too cheap but i feel as though for the amount we all paid that we’ve gotten greater variety and/​or more food elsewhere.
Maybe it was an off night, but I wasn’t really blown away. But I would be willing to give them another shot, especially considering their commendable wait policy, which the proudly boast through a sign by the entrance. Depending on how long you need to wait for a table, you can get a discount off your meal. Such a progressive and customer-​friendly policy and definitely gave me a favorable impression of the ownership/​management.

With the ubiquitous hot pot concept in Hawaii, it’s often difficult to choose which one to try. Hawaii Pot Shabushabu House, despite its long name, should be on your short list. The entry to the restaurant is on the mauka side of Rycroft, with parking on the ewa side of Sheridan. Parking is limited and tight, so another option is to park at Wal-​Mart, ground floor, at the Rycroft/​Sheridan corner and walk across the street to the restaurant. Maybe pretend to shop at Wal-​Mart for a pack of gum first (we actually worked in a shopping trip afterwards).
When you enter, there may be a wait if you prefer a table. Otherwise, if you’re content at the counter you’ll find a seat fairly quickly. Be sure you don’t mind the people you’re with paying more attention to what’s passing by on the conveyor belt and the steaming pot in front of them, than to you. And at the counter, you’re not really sharing from the same pot, as you have your own. That works for some people, too!
First you will pick your broth. I chose the house broth which was very flavorful. You’ll also be able to choose a meat or seafood. You can’t go wrong with the premium beef. And then you can completely customize your own ala Genki Sushi style, where you grab your accomplishments from plates of various colors coordinating to prices. My favorite part was creating my dipping sauce. Their sauce bar is the best I’ve seen with ponzu, special sauces, spices, cilantro, green onion, sesame oil, ginger, fresh garlic, etc.
The tricky part is accessing the restaurant but once you do, you can savor a hearty and satisfying bowl of broth, meat, vegetables, rice (extra cost), and other fillings for under $ 20/​person. Be sure to take home any leftover broth with an even deeper flavor the next day. I also took home some extra sauce. Staff is very friendly and quickly cleaned up a spill.

I really liked it here! I loved that the tables have either a central hot pot to share or you have your own burner for a personal sized hot pot.
When you order, you first select your soup base and your meat. I chose the hot and spicy broth with the ribeye. Then you can help yourself to the items coming around on the conveyor belt. If there’s something you don’t see, you can order it from your server. In addition to the plates of one item, they also have some assorted dishes with a combination of items like seafood or veggies. They have an extensive sauce bar in the back too.
I thought the quality of all the ingredients were delicious and fresh. I love the concept of a personal hot pot!
Located at 808 Sheridan. Valet parking is available for$ 2.

Hawaii Pot is one of the latest eateries to open in the new 808 Center on Sheridan Street. The restaurant is equipped with a conveyor belt ala kaitenzushi style that brings around veggies and other goodness to fill your hot pot. The other unique feature of this place is that you can order your own personal size hot pot for yourself, if you’re not in the mood to share with others or are a germaphobe.
I tried the Kim Chee Broth and my friend had the Tom Yum Broth. Both were tasty and flavorful. We also ordered two mushrooms, veggies, and the premium beef (22 oz) which was too large for the two of us to finish. The sauce bar was well equipped and the service was good as well. Upon a second visit, I noticed they also had a Veggie broth as well.
Parking can be a hassle at this place, so you can chance it at Wal-​Mart, park on the street, or shell out $ 2 at the valet.
Why the 3 stars? I think for the variety and amount of food you get, there are a few other hot pot places in town that have better value and tastier broths. We each paid about $ 26 per person for lunch which included broth, 2 mushrooms, cabbage, and beef. I will occasionally stop in, but with a larger group next time.

Came here for lunch today after hearing that this place now has a town location from the original in Kapolei. The location itself is quite nice it’s located in the new 808 Sheridan complex and has outdoor seating as well as indoor seating.
The indoor seating will remind you of a Kaiten sushi eatery w/​the conveyor belt to pick your vegetables as it comes by. Or you can opt to order directly from the waiters. They also have a sauce bar which you can pick and choose your own variety of sauces.
The tables you sit on you’ll find a stove for personal or for party sharing. It’s state-​of-​the-​art and quite nice. I find it very convenient since often time you’ll want to have your own personal hot pot.
All the ingredients that we had was fresh, the meat was also very good and tender. My friend ordered the kim chee broth and I ordered the Tom Yum broth both of which were very tasty. I’d recommend coming here with a larger party because eating on your own can be quite pricey. I would say that’s the only knock on this place is that things cause get pricey when you compare it to other hot pot eateries in town. We paid $ 26 each and that was only for the meat, enoki mushrooms, the king mushrooms and napa cabbage. I feel like that’s what we spend at other places for a little more variety.
In conclusion however, the taste was very good, the service was excellent and I left happy which is what counts. Parking can be a problem if the lot in 808 sheridan is filled but you can always opt to park on the street or sneak onto Walmart.

Chinese meet Japanese. Hot pot and Shabushabu. Why choose? You can have both here and it’s kurukuru style! Say what? Conveyer belt style hot pot? This is the first of its kind in town, though they have had a location in Kapolei for awhile. This location is in the 808 Center tucked away in a side street near Walmart. There’s street parking or you can park in the fancy Japanese style automatic 72 space garage.
Anyways, this place has a small appetizer and dessert menu which we didn’t get to try. We came here for shabushabu! So if you haven’t had shabushabu, here’s what you do…
Step one: choose a soup base
–kimchee, mushroom, seafood, tom yum, miso, hot and spicy, healthy vegetarian, and Hawaii original hot pot
You can choose a personal pot or together pot. The personal pot is so cute, it’s like a little crock pot and ranges from $ 4-​$ 5. The together pot is the typical communal style hot pot and you can get split pot as well, which is two broths split in a big pot. The together pot ranges from $ 8-​$ 11.
We tried the Hawaii original pot which had different seasonings but mild flavor which I liked and the tom yum which had a little kick but not too much. We each got our own personal pot; we had to since they were so darn cute! You can enjoy cooking your food in the broth and not getting sauces if you want or you can still get sauces and dip your soup broth infused food. Totally up to you. One of the coolest things here is the tables have stoves built into them instead of having a mini stove or a burner. And the controls are right there on a touch screen that’s simple to use and you can use it instead of the waiter adjusting the temperature like most places.
Step two: pick a meat
— premium beef, lamb, ribeye, beef tongue, pork belly, chicken.
You can choose 4 oz or 12 oz. 4 oz is about the size of a small plate of meat (ranges from $ 5-​$ 8) while the 12 oz is small platter which is good for two people to share ($ 14-​$ 22). You can also get a combination of two meats for $ 22 which is good if you want variety (12 oz). Make sure you get the pricier meats if you do a combo so you get the best value like premium beef and lamb. The meat was cut super thin so it cooks fast.
You’re probably wondering why there is no seafood on menu. Well it’s because all the seafood options are on the conveyer belt.
Step three: grab seafood, vegetables, noodles and other items like dumplings on the conveyer belt. Each item is saran wrapped which I liked and I could put something back if I saw something else I wanted more too! There were so many options but you can also ask the waiters if you don’t see something you want. The pricing does go by plate color.
Yellow $ 2.99
Items such as bamboo shoots, Napa cabbage, udon noodles, bean sprouts, kabocha pumpkin
Green $ 3.99
Items such as ong choy, gyoza, spinach, quail eggs, green beans, choi sum, crown daisy (one of my favs)
Red $ 4.99
Items such as little sausages, mushroom varieties, clams, fish balls, a mound of meat to make small meatballs in the pot
Black $ 5.99
This is the good stuff. Items such as scallops, oysters, shrimp with the head on, squid
These are just some of the items I listed, there is a good variety of things on the conveyer belt. I will say that the green leafy veggies all do look similar like ong choy, spinach, choi sum, etc. And another cool thing is some plates have half and half items so you can get more variety but less plates (such as cauliflower/​broccoli together).
Step four: Make your dipping sauce from the sauce bar.
The sauce bar had a good variety of sauces and items ranging from ginger and scallions (my fav) to red curry sauce, soy sauce, hot mustard, mashed daikon, chili peppers, garlic, etc. Look at my photos of the sauce bar to see what’s offered.
The waiters were a bit hard to understand because of their accents but they’re very nice. There are small tables that can seat up to four people by the belt or you sit bar style next to each other. It’s great for small groups or even dining alone.
Overall, I really enjoyed this place. For a new place, we didn’t have any issues at all or experience any kinks to work out. There was good variety and top quality meat and veggies.
It’s great that I could just pick what I wanted and not having to get up and carry dishes back to the table. I only had to get up to make my sauce which I love to do and enjoyed the different sauces and additions.
The only thing is, watch how many plates you grab! The bill can add up fast and sometimes your eyes are bigger than your stomach. Shabushabu is much more filling than some would think because of all that broth.
Right now for their grand opening, free soup broth for the month of October.