I've never been to any of the 9292 Korean BBQ restaurants, but since I've only heard good things about them, I had high expectations for 9292 Shabu. It's a buffet-style shabu shabu place - the first of its kind that I've been to. If you're a vegetarian or pescatarian, I think you'd love this place because of the many veggies and processed seafood items available on the buffet.
If you're a meat lover like me, I honestly think places like J's Mini Hot Pot or Mini Hot Pot Deluxe are better. Why? Because you get a bigger portion of meat and plenty of veggies for a set price. At 9292 Shabu, you pay a price for the buffet ($9.99 lunch on weekdays; $12.99 dinner, weekends, and holidays) plus any a la carte proteins you get (between $3.99 to $8.99 per order) - unless you go for the all-you-can-eat (AYCE) meat option ($24.99 at lunch; $29.99 or $34.99 dinner, depending on the options you want). Personally, I generally tend to avoid buffet places for the cleanliness factor and don't need an unlimited amount of meat for shabu shabu, but the portion you get a la carte at 9292 Shabu is pretty small.
Buffet Pros:
- It looks surprisingly clean and well-maintained for a buffet setup!
- The spread is large and has pretty much every type of vegetable that you would typically want/expect to have with shabu shabu or hot pot, and all of the produce looks fresh.
- There are things like fish balls, fish cake, imitation crab meat, hot dogs, and frozen mandu (dumplings) if you aren't a vegetarian but don't want to get protein a la carte or AYCE.
- If you love noodles, you'll appreciate the variety they have available.
- There are hot, ready-to-eat food items, like fried rice, japchae (Korean sweet potato noodles), spaghetti with meat sauce, and creamy pasta. I didn't try the fried rice or japchae but thought the spaghetti and pasta were actually decent-tasting.
- The different sizes and shapes of plates are great because you can either get a large plate of items to make fewer trips to the buffet or various smaller plates to take up less room at your table.
Buffet Cons:
- Service is not good and unfriendly. There are buttons at each table that you need to press anytime you need anything - even refills of water or broth. The server will not just come around to check on you.
- There are no pre-mixed sauces available, so you have to make your own. (Note: There is a sign at the sauce bar with suggestions on what ingredients to mix to make your sauce.)
A La Carte Meats I tried:
- Prime Brisket ($3.99) - My favorite cut for Korean BBQ was just mediocre for shabu shabu. I wouldn't order this again.
- Ribeye - I tried both the Choice ($8.99) and Prime ($6.99) and honestly couldn't really tell the difference. Instead of being sliced into small rolls like the other meats, the ribeye was sliced into a few large pieces. Stick with the Prime Ribeye for $2 less.
- Pork ($3.99) - Honestly, this was better than the Brisket.
I didn't order any of the a la carte seafood items, but they ranged from Green Mussels ($3.99) to Scallops ($6.99) and Blue Crab ($6.99).
Overall, 9292 Shabu gets 3 stars for their good vegetarian/pescatarian buffet. I've dined there twice - not by choice - and liked how clean the buffet looked both times, but I didn't like the portion sizes of the a la carte meat and poor, unfriendly service. It's out of the way for me and my husband, so it's very unlikely that we would go back. read more