California Shabu Shabu Fairfax

This is a traditional Japanese style shabu-shabu hot pot place with high quality meat hidden inside of a local strip mall in fairfax. please don't compare this to Korean or Chinese All you can eat hot pot as it's a different category. From the ponzu and sesame dipping sauce it immediately reminded me of Shabu-Shaba restaurants from Japan town in San Francisco. (Not sure if that's where the inspiration came from for their name of the restaurant itself.) As soon as I sat down to take a glance at the sake menu, I knew this place was serious about the attention to detail with picking the sake and the quality of food. My personal favorite being the 'demom slayer's Wakatake Onikoroshi a Junmai Daiginjo & Dassai 23 another Junmai Daiginjo which pairs perfectly with shabu shabu in my opinion. The sake was also served perfectly chilled through a Hario ice dispenser ( glass funnel-like concoction that has ice in a separate glass so you don't dilute the sake and it's self-served). Before we could finish the first bottle Duke provided a bottle of Amabuki, a rose colored sake that was made with black rice. So for the food, first of all, this is not an all you can eat hot pot place but focus on quality meat and seafood .For beef ribeye you have an option between choice prime, Kobe and over the top. A5 wagyu . I went for the middle of the road prime ribeye and honestly the King Kong portion of prime beef is perfect if not a little large for a single person. When we visited with the large party of 10 plus on a week day, the entire staff were very accommodating and the service was also attentive. The edamame and sweet potato fries were favorites for my young kids while the prime beef shabu shabu was with standard Kombu broth was just perfect. A few of our friends tried the spicy miso which was also great. As far as the meat goes, I thought it was perfectly sliced and had great marbling. Everyone, including the staff and especially Duke the owner came out to make sure everything was perfect throughout the meal. thank you for an excellent meal we'll be back

My family tried Fairfax branch of California Shabu Shabu. We enjoyed the choice prime rib and chicken Shabu Shabu with spicy miso combined with pork based broth. Our boys enjoyed the chicken wings and Cajun fries. Ingredients were freshly prepared. We recommend you to try out too.