[Mission Viejo] [Japanese] Shabu Shabu USA Inc

Shabu Shabu USA Inc
28201 Marguerite Pkwy #9
Mission Viejo, CA 92692
(949) 347-0075

It has been soooo cold lately.  Perfect weather to have shabu shabu.  After a quick search online, we found the only two shabu shabu restaurants in South Orange County.  They are both in Mission Viejo.  We decided to try Shabu Shabu USA first.



We got there around 6pm.  There were already people waiting for seats!  Luckily there were just two seats left so we got seated right away.




The restaurant is small comparing to California Shabu Shabu and Shabu Shabu Bar.  Also the decoration is not as "trendy".  The people we saw in California Shabu Shabu and Shabu Shabu Bar are mostly young people.  But here at Shabu Shabu USA, the customers were all family with kids.


Broth

The broth was made with one piece of kombu seaweed.


Rice, Ponzu Sauce, Sesame Sauce & Kimchi

I heard the husband/wife owners talked to each other in Taiwanese.  When they came to talk to us, I told them I'm also Taiwanese and started speaking Mandarin to them.  Then they gave us free kimchi.  haha....  We didn't see them giving kimchi to other customers.  Or... they only give kimchi to Asian customers?  Also they didn't give the sesame sauce out to other customers.  They had to ask for it.  But they served us both sauces without us asking.  Asian perk or Taiwanese perk?  The ponzu and sesame sauces here didn't taste as good as the ones at the Japanese owned shabu shabu places though.


Vegetable Plate

Cabbage, zucchini, carrot, mushroom, tofu, green onion, seaweed, and udon on the vegetable plate.  We thought the portion of vegetable was quite small.  And there was no green veggies.


Lamb (Large) ($16.95)

I ordered a large Lamb.  It looked like a lot of meat, but the meat were paper thin.  A little boy sitting next to Dr. P asked us what did we order.  He thought we ordered bacon.  haha....  I liked the lamb.  It tasted really good.  You know how meat kinda shrink when you cook it?  The paper thin lamb all shriveled up to become a tiny little bite.  So I just with it was a little thicker.


Beef (Large) ($17.95)

Dr. P's Beef wasn't good.  As you can see in the picture, the beef hardly had any fat.  It was healthier I guess, but didn't taste good at all.  It just tasted dry without the fat.  Again, we thought the beef was sliced too thin.


Udon Noodle Soup

Unlike the Japanese shabu shabu restaurants, they only gave us an empty bowl for the udon noodle soup at the end.  There was no soup base.



But they did gave us a lot of seasonings to add to the noodle soup.



The Taiwanese owners are very very nice.  I like them a lot.  Unfortunately, we thought the food was not that good though.  We still like Shabu Shabu Bar the most, then California Shabu Shabu second.  As for this place, we probably won't be back again.

[ad#ad-unit]