Shabu-Zen

This place was phenomenal. I had never been to a tabletop hot-​pot restaurant, but this was such a fun experience!

I’m new to Boston and am originally from California. I loooove shabu and since I’m from Cali it’s hard to find places in Boston with foods that can compare. I ordered the kimchi soup base (which you have to pay extra for (ugh)) which was ok but not worth the extra 4 $. My sister got the chicken broth (the free one) and it was alright but a little bland. If you want the traditional shabu where your just dipping your meat and veggies then the free soup base is good. The veggie plate is smaller than I’m used too but still pretty filling since I’m a girl. Haha. Also my sister and I got the prime beef meat that was 15 dollars. Overall it satisfied my shabu craving but I’m not sure if I would go out of my way to come back to this place.

It’s been decided… this is my favorite restaurant in Boston. My husband and I go here 2−3x/year, and it’s always the same, great food. I find I have a craving for it when it’s been a while. We like to bring family and friends from out of town here, as well. It’s so tasty, and I never leave hungry!

Had an amazing meal. Staff was great despite all our group’s questions. One man we were with was very agressive with the ordering and continued to throw spices into the pot despite the staff’s attempts to stop him, but the meal was still great. Will be back!

Went there 3 weeks ago… sadly got a bad food poisoning. I thought it was just me… turns out the person I was with that day, also got sick …
Wasn’t my first time eating hot pot… and my last eating from there :(

Food is ok. Service is not that good. It keeps you waiting even though 50 percent of the spaces are empty. Q restaurant has better hotspot, but the line is longer…

Shabu-​Zen was so much fun! When we asked our hotel concierge for a recommendation she tried to explain Shabu-​Zen … The concept of «hot pot» sounds odd, but she was right, it’s awesome!
Essentially, they bring you meat, noodles and veggies to cook in your own personal pot of broth. You cook it yourself, right in front of you, which is way more fun than it sounds.
Our group of 7 had no issues finding a seat together, we were able to sit at the large bar in the center.
Most of us had the A5 which was pretty standard meat and veggies. We got the leeche sake, which we really weren’t fans of. It was less like sake and more like an overly-​sweet wine cooler.
The staff was very nice and dealt with all of our annoying questions. They quickly served our big group without any errors.
Overall, a very fun place to visit for dinner!

Great food and set up. Did not have to wait long

Decently priced meal with fair portions. The assorted veggies actually included a good variety, with enoki mushrooms, cabbage, bok choy, and others. I had the beef and pork combination, which was enough for one person to eat. I appreciate that the meal included noodles (or rice) as well, because that helped to make it a filling meal.
The best parts were the Szechuan soup base and their dipping sauce ingredients. The soup base was spicy and authentic, and transferred well to the ingredients. The garlic, scallions, and other components of the dipping sauce made it fantastic, I would recommend combining everything but the soy sauce, and dipping it into the soy sauce first then the combination of the other ingredients.

I love this place for individual shabu shabu (Japanese version of hot pot where you don’t drink the rich soup). Not only are there a ton of options (e.g., meat, seafood) for shabu shabu and sashimi, you can get fresh fish paste served tableside.
This place is packed during lunch. So, go early or late to beat the rush hour when service may be slow due to being short on staff. Parking can be tough in Chinatown on the streets unless you park in the lot.

A1: meat quality is good. Udon is nice and thin. Veggie plate is small. Beers are 5 $. Garlic chili oil is soo good .
A1 has a jumbo size don’t forget, I sure didn’t see it at first.
Service is quality and everyone is nice .
Restaurant is clean and very spacious .
Parking sucks. You’ll be lucky if you find front parking .
Highly recommend

We love this place on cool fall and winter days. You can order so many combination of meat and seafood. We always get platters cause it comes with nice side of veggies and you choice of noodles: vermicelli, udon or ramen. They also have nice variety of broths to choose from. Mongolian is nice and spicy hot. You get platter of raw meat that you cook in the broth, set in front of you. The broth gives the meat and veggies flavor, so yummy. The service is also very nice and helpful. It’s our hotpot spot to go when are craving.

Feeling adventurous, our lunch group went here on recommendation of a regular. I was skeptical of cooking raw meat in soup, but was very pleasantly surprised.
You’re given your choice of meat (vegetarian option as well) and a side plate of raw veggies and noodles. You cook it all in front of you in a boiling pot of soup! The soup adds extra flavor and allows you to cook to your individual liking.
Not to mention a fun way to spend lunch!

It was decent. Not too expensive. They try to provide a Japanese style Wajyu, but that is not easy. 15min waited for seating while half of the restaurant was empty. Waiter sometime forgot our order.

Shabu-​zen is a go-​to restaurant for me. It is fantastic and the best hot-​pot I’ve had in Boston. You get a HUGE plate of veggies (including tofu) and if you’re vegetarian you can get an even huger plate of veggies. You have your choice of broth, of which they have a large selection, and you cook everything at the table. I usually get the beef and it is good quality and they have a very large selection of other meats and seafoods to order. I can’t comment on the cooking as my food is usually overcooked as I struggle to pull it out of the broth, but that’s on me. Also, their wontons are really really good and they have really interesting and delicious cocktails. I felt a little weird ordering the Hello Kitty but it was TOTALLY worth it.

Wow, how haven’t I been here before? I hit up Q and Hot Pot Buffet all the time… little did I know that there was a less expensive, more delicious hot pot place right around the corner all along!
Hot pot is great for sharing, but here you have the option to get your own personal hot pot too, if you sit at the bar or the counter. The only downside is that if you want special broth besides pork, chicken, or vegetarian (I’d recommend the hot Szechuan broth) you each have to pay ~$ 4, as opposed to normally where you’d pay $ 4 total for one big pot.
The condiments are a great! A meat combo will run you $ 16 – 30, and is enough to feed one person heartily or two people sparingly. I also added a plate of fish tofu for $ 3, which was fresh and a generous portion (about 8 small triangles). Of course, there’s less variety than AYCE, but I still left satisfied.
There’s almost always a crowd, so be prepared to give your number and spend a bit of time wandering around Chinatown. The crowd also impacts the service; we didn’t get water until we were halfway done!
So why not 5 stars? I ordered a lamb/​beef meat combo ($ 16), but the waitress accidentally delivered a deluxe meat combo ($ 24). Of course, I didn’t realize her error, since piles of thinly sliced meat tend to look alike. After I’d already eaten part of it, she came over to explain and ask whether I wanted to switch the plates. I really didn’t care, and when I asked what would be best she said that she couldn’t take back the half eaten plate (implying that I should keep it), so I did.
When the bill came, we were charged for the more expensive meat! Then the waitress ignored us for a solid 20 minutes while we tried to wave her down to correct the mistake. Eventually, we were able to get it fixed, but I’m surprised that I was charged for the mistake in the first place. What if they’d accidentally brought over $ 50 worth of wagyu? I’m guessing this was a product of the waitress’s inexperience rather than the most confusing upsell ever, but it was still inconvenient.
Overall, the food is awesome and very fresh, but the service could be better.

I mainly chose this restaurant because of the setup. I was in town only briefly and wanted a quick bite by myself for dinner but was craving hot pot like crazy. This store had a row of tables set up in a circle and allowed each customer to have their own small pot (instead of tables where a bunch of people sit around 1 big pot). This suited my needs perfectly.
When I got in, I had a selection of different meat options and chose a lamb+beef combo, which was only about 15 bucks. This main meat dish came with a side of pre-​selected veggies including cob of corn, mushrooms, cabbages, etc. Plus I got to choose between udon, vermicelli, and rice as a side that also came with the main meat dish (I picked vermicelli). For broth, I just went with the basic (some sort of chicken stock with certain herbs in it), it was a bit bland, but the sauces they provided (including garlic, Shacha, red Pepper flakes, and green onion) made up for it.
Everything was delicious! And the portion was just right for me. I can see how a larger guy might think this is very little food for hot pot, but for someone like me, I was contently full after finishing everything, including the rest of the broth at the end.

Located in Chinatown, Shabu-​Zen was a pretty solid hot pot establishment — especially on a fall rainy night. Also we have been eating quite a bit of seafood & italian food during the course of our visit, so we wanted to change it up!
We came here on a Friday night just before 7pm. So glad we came here before the rush because the wait times were definitely long. The area is set up with a U-​shaped bar/​counter in the middle of the restaurant and booths and another bar/​counter area lining the walls.
The food was pretty decent & fresh and I like the fact that we each had our own individual pots. Each main course (ie, meat plate) comes with veggies & tofu, udon or rice and the basic soup broth (pork, chicken or vegetarian). If you choose to have a specialty broth, it’s an additional $ 3. I chose the tomato & veggie broth, but I would suggest to just stick with the complimentary options. More bang for your buck!
We ordered the short rib & rib eye. Both were solid choices. Actually thought the rib eye was better. However, the veggies were an interesting mix & the udon was unappetizing.
Overall, a good experience and service was great!
PS, your dipping sauce comes with spicy sauce, satay sauce and garlic. Ask for the peanut sauce/​sesame oil etc. which are complimentary!
And sorry no photos, phone completely died by the time we got here.

What an experience! It was my first time at a shabu establishment and I’m sold on it. The first good sign was the long wait (about an hour). Fortunately, there are plenty of places to check out nearby to keep you busy. We came back and waited about 5 more min for our table and met some incredible Bostonians who, upon learning we were from outta town, didn’t waste time in selling Shabu-​Zen as one of their favorite places. We were feeling REALLY GOOD about this decision heading to the table.
The inside isn’t beautiful by any means, unless you’re talking about authenticity. It is the classic chinatown staple where the focus is on the food and not much else. After all, that’s what everyone attending is focused on, too!
We ordered the «Finest USDA Prime Rib Eye of Beef», three different broths (Japanese Miso, Mongolian, and regular pork), beef tongue, some chilled sake, and kimchi. Everything was delicious — the steak was indeed very fine. The service was spot on, the ingredients were fresh, and the prices reasonable!
Overall we had a great time. I would say Shabu-​Zen is a marvelous restaurant for a group to go out and have fun while eating fine food.

This place is more like a Chinese shabu fusion (expected since this place is in chinatown). My rating basically reflects what I thought of the food and the experience.
We each ordered a half lamb and beef combo with udon and pork broth ($ 15). Disappointed that the veggie plate had some random veggies and not much napa cabbage. This was my first time eating shabu with a tomato, broccoli, bok choy, and corn. We also had to ask for sesame sauce which I found to taste really strange (burnt). They said it was house made when they saw that I wasn’t using it. Even the ponzu tasted different and I found myself barely using that too. We thought the meat was good and not dry. I usually like my udon round and chewy but the udon they gave us was cooked dry and skinny.
Halfway into the meal, we had an awkward conversation with our server:
Server: I forgot to ask in the beginning. Have you eaten here before?
Me: No, I haven’t. It’s our first time here.
S: Oh, okay. Let me show you how to eat shabu?
M: Yes, we know. We’ve had shabu before.
Don’t really understand since we were half way done with our meal and he along with other servers were watching us eat the entire time (we were the first table next to the kitchen counter). I just felt a little uncomfortable with people watching and then him asking this.

This place is such a fun, relaxing, and delicious restaurant! We came here on a colder evening and were happy to find that the food service is quite fast. In addition, you get plenty of food with each order. Every meat dish arrives with a plate of veggies that includes mushrooms, a piece of broccoli, and some tofu.
The broths are also pretty good. I actually ended up liking the chicken better than the pork house broth. The dipping sauces make the meal fun as well. You can mix your soy sauce with garlic, scallion, hot sauce, or sa-​cha sauce.
Finally, the quality of the ingredients is great. The meats are fresh and nicely sliced and I was really satisfied with the vegetable platter that had some vegetarian fish balls too.

Such a fun meal! First time at a hot pot restaurant and I loved the experience. 2 friends and I sat at the counters in the middle, which was actually better than waiting for a table because we each got our own broth! Sitting at the corner kept conversations easy.
I agree with many other Unilocalers that spicy tom yum broth is the way to go! (If you can handle the spice, of course.) I ordered it with the beef, which was very tasty indeed. The udon noodles were great — if you’re still hungry after just a little meat and the veggies, I’d recommend ordering an extra bowl of noodles. The waiters were helpful guides to our first hot pot experience, and didn’t make a stink when we sat and stayed about an hour after paying the bill.
5 stars, so fun and delicious!

This place was pretty full on a Sunday night. The hostess took a bit to get to asking us how many were in our group. The restaurant itself was clean and very big. There’s a center individual hot pot bar seat area and then tables with joint hot pots around the perimeter. We chose to sit at a table and share one pot. The server didn’t come by our table till 15 mins after we sat down. Then after we ordered food and drinks, the food came before our drinks did… and only after we asked for them.
We chose the Japanese miso and Mongolian broths and had a split pot. The miso broth was mild and good if you like the flavor to be more in the sauce not the broth. The Mongolian broth was not super spicy but still flavorful. We got the meat combo plate and a seafood platter. The meat was pretty fresh, though not a big portion. The prices are a big on the high end. The plates come with vegetables and your choice of udon, vermicelli or rice. The vegetables plate includes corn, enoki and shiitake mushrooms, Bok choy, Napa and some other greens. Overall decent place but not very attentive service.

Amazing hotpot place! I’ve been going here for years– no where else I’ve been to can top this hotpot spot. Everything is FRESH. We usually get the Surf & Turf combo with beef, alongside with some appetizers like salty beef tongue and salty baby clams. Each order comes with a complimentary veggie plate and udon/​rice bowl. That’s the way to go.
Their mango smoothie is delicious! I wish they kept their peach smoothie though. I used to get that before mango– but mango is still refreshing and yummy!
Everyone is really nice. Never have I ever had a bad experience with Shabu-​Zen. 5 stars all the way.

I remember while I first visited Boston in 2008, we couldn’t get in Shabu Zen because of we were large group and the wait was over 1 hour. After 6 years, I visited Boston again with hubby and I decided to give it another shot and see if we could get in, and… YES!!! Finally!!! They told us we have to wait for 30 minutes but it ended up we only waited for 10 minutes.
We ordered Prime Rib Eye of Beef and Seafood Supreme, the portion is Ok for a girl but probably won’t be enough for a guy. The meat, however, is really fresh, I would recommend you not to order the regular beef plate but to upgrade it to Prime Rib Eye or other better beef options cause you get what you are paying for.
One more thing, the correct way to eat Shabu Shabu is using the chopsticks to pick the one sliced beef and then dip the meat into the hot broth and quickly cook it. Cook the sliced meat for about 15 secs –20 secs (or while color turned) and then they are ready to be eaten. I saw some people put all meats into the pot at once and keep cooking them, the meats probably will not taste good in that way cause if you overcook the meat, it will just become dry and tasteless.
The waiters are very nice and they speak really fluent English, if you are not sure where /​how to start, they will be more than happy to give you some advices.

Never seen this style of food before, I think is good but you just need to know what to ask