Price are average and food is fresh many choices ,My friend and I was very full Service not bad read more

Food came out fast and it's always GAS. Majority of my appetizers came out warm. I will be backk

Comes to this place many times at night because it close late. Order via iPad but it u want to order more, can ask servers to put in order.

You really can't beat Shabu Gen! Their AYCE hot pot is only $19.99, and for just an additional $8.99, you can add the AYCE sushi option. That's such an amazing deal! Everything was so fresh, and I love that they have a great variety of seafood, meats, vegetables, appetizers, and even dessert. The meat was fresh and delicious, and there were so many options to choose from. The service was also great--everyone was friendly and attentive. You definitely get your money's worth here! Highly recommend Shabu Gen if you love hot pot! read more

Reasonable pricing for lunch. Didn't take too long for the broth to come. A little wait for Saturday lunch, but not unreasonable. Nice ambiance and not too loud to talk. All you can eat, so I went to the buffet area and grabbed a variety of shrooms, meats and fish. They didn't have ice cream at the time but hope next time we can try! read more

Shabu Gen offers all-you-can-eat hot pot for $19.99 or hot pot and sushi for $28.99. We came here on a Saturday around 4pm and there was no wait for a table. We ordered the AYCE hot pot, which was really good and very filling. There was a tablet to order from at the table, but it only lets you choose 5 meats at a time, and then you have to wait 10 minutes before putting in the next order. We could each choose a broth so we got one tonkotsu and one house broth. They were both good, but I liked the house broth a bit more. Of the meats, I liked the prime rib eye the most. One order of prime rib eye comes with 3 slices of meat. We also enjoyed the pork belly, beef toro, and prime blade meat, but some of the meats were a bit fatty. They were out of brisket. The crispy soy garlic chicken wings, gyoza, and edamame were okay. We liked the sesame balls for dessert. They were out of ice cream because their freezer broke. In addition to the meats and items you can order through the tablet at your table, they also have a buffet bar with other hot pot items such as vegetables, mushrooms, noodles, and seafood. They had clams, mussels, crab, and shrimp. The restaurant was large with many large booths for large parties. The service was good, as in they delivered the ordered items promptly, but didn't engage, chat, or appear too friendly. For sauces, I mainly used the ponzu sauce. They didn't carry the Chinese bbq (satay) sauce, which I usually like with hot pot. Overall, we had a good dining experience because we liked the food and left pretty full. read more

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You're not going to find a cheaper cleaner. More delicious. All you can eat option Hot pot for $20 anywhere else. There is a big selection of veggie seafood sauces toppings. You name it to go in your hot pot! I came here for lunch with my coworker on a Friday exactly when they opened at 11:30 and we finish about an hour later and we were stuffed. Couldn't eat another bite. The tonkatsu broth was flavorful and it's cool you have your own little Hot pot vhs induction stove at your seat so everybody has their own Hot pot! You order the meats and appetizers from the tablet at the table. Here's a pro tip. Don't hit order after selecting an item. Wait until you select everything and then submit your order. Or you're going to have to talk to the server to submit your order for you and you can't order for another 10 minutes. Our hostess Nikki was super nice and helpful. Nikki helped us fix our faux pas ordering on the tablet LOL All of the staff was super friendly and very accommodating filling our water. Checking on how we're doing, seeing if we needed anything. It was a great experience I highly recommend! read more

Shabu Gen - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

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This is a decent late AYCE buffet when you are hangry and looking to get full. I highly recommend that you put yourself or group on their waitlist for faster service in case the wait times a crazy. Shabu Gen is location in a shopping center next to other restaurants and Best Buy. Our hostess was great and even though our full party wasn't there yet. We were able to be seated and start ordering we just had to follow the 90 mins time limit. The hot pot was decent. I don't think I got the actual broth I ordered, but it was fine. The seafood options for the hot pot was okay, the veggies were plentiful and the side dishes just okay. The meat options were pretty good, I enjoyed the ribeye, but my favorite was the pork belly. The price is definitely worth it for $20 and you will leave full. There is ample seating for small bd large groups and it very spacious inside. The decor is nothing special. read more

Shabu Gen - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

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Awesome place! This is an AYCE hot pot and sushi spot. They have a screen at the table you can order from. You can select your soup base, order meats and sushi on the screen. I enjoyed their soup bases. They had a good amount to pick from. Some were miso, tonkotsu, house, spicy house mala and more. Their meat selection was good. They had some lean and some fattier cuts. Sushi was okay. Don't expect top notch sushi, but for AYCE, it was okay. The cool and unique thing was their buffet. This is where you pick up a lot of items to throw into your hot pot. They had seafood (shrimp, clams, muscle, dish fillets). They also had some fish balls and noodles and more. There was a sauce bar with kimchi as well. The only thing I wish they had was scallions! Overall, for the price, this place was so worth it. You are timed tough. Once time runs out, your screen with let you know. I will definitely come back! read more

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I always enjoy coming here. Came for dinner Friday night. It wasn't extremely busy but I still got on the waitlist via Yelp. I indicated I'd arrive within 20-30 mins & received a text that my table was ready as I was parking. I had both hot pot & sushi. I love the fried tofu & sesame sauce. I like their sushi as well. Ikura & salmon are my favs. Staff are always so nice. I love ordering via the tablets cuz I don't have to wait for staff. Definitely it's a lot quicker. I'll be back soon. read more

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I always love coming here for the ALL YOU CAN EAT hotpot. Meat options are really good with fresh veggies and other sides at the bar. The appetizers are also really good too. I especially love their Crispy Soy Garlic Chicken. Always a favorite :) Definitely recommended coming here for an affordable AYCE hotpot. read more

This place is an AYCE hot pot or both hot pot and sushi. You can choose both or just hot pot. We opted for just the hot pot. This place can get busy. We usually come early, before the dinner crowd starts. We always eat an early dinner, 5ish. You place your apps, meats, and soups orders on the i-pad. You can order 10 items per order and after your order, the next order cannot be place until 10 mins later. All of the vegetable, noodles, steamed rice, and other items are located their self serve bar. The food is decent and pretty good. I think the service is sometimes slow getting your ordered items out to the table. The staff are nice. The place looks pretty clean, but can use some more cleanliness in some areas. read more

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After a long hiatus, my husband and I finally came back to Shabu Gen for our hot pot fix. We came in around 8:30pm, got seated right away, and were greeted by their new kiosk ordering system. And as always, the AYCE dinner price is honestly hard to beat compared to other hot pot spots in the area. That said, a few things fell short this visit. My tonkatsu broth came out brown and murky instead of the creamy, milky white I've always gotten here. My husband's sukiyaki was also lacking the flavor it used to have. The meat quality was still good and came out fast, but I'd skip the appetizers entirely. The veggie, fish ball, seafood, and noodle variety is solid, and the sauce bar is a highlight as always. Service was noticeably lacking this time around. The servers only came by to drop off meat -- no check-ins whatsoever. The kiosk is convenient, but that's not a reason to abandon the tables entirely. Overall, Shabu Gen is still a decent spot for the price. You get what you pay for. Not sure I'd rush back, but if you're looking for affordable AYCE hot pot, it'll get the job done. we read more

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Pretty standard AYCE shabu spot. You pick your own soup base and everything is mostly self serve. Portions of meat are pretty small, especially for smaller parties, so you'll probably be ordering multiple times. Sauce selection is also a little limited. Overall, nothing special but you get what you pay for. read more

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We were starving and came here within the last 2 hours they were open for that day and I enjoyed the food. I liked my broth and my friends said they liked theirs too. Everything was tasty and I liked the appetizer options that were included in the AYCE, which is priced at $20. The staff was good and friendly even when it got close to closing time. This spot is in the same shopping center as Best Buy and Old Navy. read more

Some things have changed since we came last. Now they have little iPads for each table that you order from. BEWARE you must order everything you want before hitting order, otherwise, you will have to wait 10 mins before ordering again. We made the mistake of placing the order before actually being done and the waiter was able to fix it and let us order the rest. They were very busy, which led to mediocre customer service. We waited 1.5 hours for a party of 3 even after checking in online. We had to ask several staff members for water, utensils, bowls, and a bill (we never got). No one greeted us or asked if we needed anything. It felt like things went down hill especially because they have gotten more busy. I don't think we will return and I'm sad about that. read more

Shabu Gen - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

We went to Shabu Gen for my birthday. It's wonderful. The only noise we heard in the restaurant was the background music. We didn't hear chatting at the next tables or dishes clinking when they cleared the tables. The lighting was set just right to put us in a mellow mood. We were able to enjoy our dinner leisurely while conversing with people at our table freely. Since it's our first time there, the waiter was gleefully explaining how to order, etc. We chose to have the hot pot and sushi option. I loved having our individual bowls so we can choose different soup bases based on our individual preferences. After we placed our first rounds of meats, sushi, and our soup bases, we headed to the bars to get fixings like vegetables (bok choy, woodear, Napa cabbage, spinach, ...), mushrooms (king, enoki, seafood, ..), noodles (udon, wide rice noodles, rice balls, rice cakes, ...), tofu (fried, steamed, ...) seafoods (fishballs, large shrimps, clams, mussels, octopus, ...), sauces, and fruits. I appreciated the variety of the trimmings offered. The only thing I was disappointed was the clams, which were very low in stock and most, if not all, were submerged in water. I didn't take any clams. The sushi was very nice. We found the Golden California rolls (little sweet and crunchy) and the volcano scallops (little scallops in every bites) particularly delightful and we ordered these two twice. We finished off my birthday with an ice cream!! We enjoyed this place very much. The prices are great too! $20 for hot pot only and $30 for hot pot and sushi. We will be back for sure!! read more

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This is my personal experience and it is my pleasure to share it , it may help you make your decison . Service : Servers weren't rude , their kind , just not as active in checking in. They only checked in once near the end of our meal. Nothing in between to ask if we needed anything . I had to look around to seek for people to get things. Food: Hotpot: soup comes out cold and the burner takes longer to burn. Works like a Temu. I ate at a good number amount of restaurants that offers individual hot pot like this and I notice this one takes much longer to heat up. With the soup being brought out cold extends the time to heat up. The soup base also lacks flavor and I got their signature . So I kinda expected signature to be a signature grade. To put a positive comment into the hot pot . I would say their topping bar for their hotpot has a good wide variety selection . Sushi: oh god I don't know where to start and end with this one . Two words . Very disappointed. I'm a big sushi person and a person that loves loves fish. So I know what I'm eating . As you can see here the tuna coloration spells low quality . Their lions king roll salmon tasted like freezer burnt salmon and smell like it. It was just not fresh at all. That was our first round of sushi and we didn't even finish it and asked them get rid of it and downgrade our price selection to hot pot only and never order sushi after that. I do want to appreciate the downgrade in pricing they accommodate for us . Value : $19.99 all you can eat hotpot or $28.99 for sushi and hot pot . Okay I get it people can say for $29 included sushi all you can eat what more do you expect ? Well here let me tell you, I can add $6 more to get way much better quality sushi at pier 50 ($34.95 2026 price) and not worry of getting upset stomache . For $29 with sushi included I'm not expecting a 4-5 star quality, I'm just expecting sushi quality that is edible without any weird smells or worry of getting sick. Even the basics, their crab meat for sushi taste weird. It just seems like they lack consideration and care of the sushi part. Something I notice when you go to a restaurant that serves more than one focus food option . Like hotpot and sushi or hotpot and kbbq , one option tends to lack priority of care into it . Overall, I feel like this restaurants doesn't serve up to its quality for the price . It priortize low cost and connivence. Their appetizer plates is all throwable and just don't matched their gold aesthetic plates. Is like tryna be fancy restaurant but feeling like you at a take out restaurant. read more

Shabu Gen - Sushi - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

Another day celebrating my birthday week - and this time it's at Shabu Gen. It's an all you can eat (AYCE) Japanese establishment. -$20 for the hot pot and add -$10 for the sushi. The value for the hot pot is unbeatable compared to other places. If you can manage to make room to eat sushi then the additional -$10 for sushi is well worth it considering a single sushi roll costs about $15 - $20+ anywhere else. You place your order on a tablet kiosk attached to the wall. Make sure you keep ordering your selections because if you press "order" then you are locked out for about 10 minutes before you can order again. We accidentally hit order before adding the appetizers but no worries - the waitress can add your items for you (pro tip). The selection bar, which has all the veggies, supplements and add-ons to your hot pot had plenty to choose from. Shrimp, clams mussels, cilantro, mushrooms, spinach, etc. I was impressed with the freshness - and all fully stocked. There are 6 sauces you can try for your hot pot. I picked the spicy miso and my date chose the tonkatsu. Both tasted great. Next time I will definitely try their spicy house special. There are plenty of choices for the meat. All thinly sliced and fresh for the hot pot. There is a time delay for when you can order additional meat but it didn't seem to be a factor. We ordered plenty and never seemed to be a wait factor. Overall, Shabu Gen is Shabu-lous!! I can't wait to go back. read more

We came to Shabu Gen on a Saturday evening for dinner. Before our trek out there from Vacaville, we saw online there was a long waitlist, ~1hr 23 minutes (ready ~7:13pm), so we got on the waitlist. We ran into some traffic, so we arrived around 7:24pm. We went inside to check in and were told it would be another 5-10 minutes wait, but ended up getting seated after 7:50pm. Once seated service was fast, we were promptly greeted by our waiter who took drink orders and explained how everything worked. We each order our broth flavor as each seat had their own burner to boil the soup. For just the Shabu Gen AYCE Hot Pot, it was $19.99/person. If you wanted AYCE Hot Pot plus Sushi, it was $28.99/person. From 7pm-11pm, Soju, Wine and Beer are 50% off. We chose to have Hot Pot only. For parties of 4 or less, you can choose 5 meats per round. For parties 5+, you can choose 10 meats per round. They have 6 broths and 11 appetizers to choose from for their Hot Pot AYCE meal. For the veggies, seafood and dipping sauces, you go and get your own at the buffet bar. The waiter was very attentive and came by frequently to ask if we were ready to order more meat and for water refills. Their policy is that you have to be finished in 90 minutes, but I don't think anyone really tracks the time to the minute. The broths we ordered for our party of 4 were Original House, Spicy House, Sukiyaki and Tonkotsu. All the broths were decently flavorful. There was a nice selection of vegetables, mushrooms, seafood and dipping sauces. The sauce area can get a little messy, so it could benefit from an employee wiping it down a little more frequently. Ambiance is what you would expect from an AYCE restaurant, lots of groups of people all enjoying the food and chit chatting. If you are into hot pots, sushi or AYCE meals, this is a nice place to eat at for a budget price. My son who brought us here said they are much slower and he had no wait for a table at lunch time on a weekday versus the long wait for a table on the Saturday evening we were there. read more

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This place has gone downhill. Not only did they implement a self-ordering iPad system at every table that is very restrictive, but the quality of the meats and food is not what it used to be. Service was slow and wrong orders were brought to the table a few times too many. If you go with a big group, you're out of luck because you can only order a maximum of 5 plates of meat, and each plate only comes with 2-3 thin slices, which is so little. There is also a long timer of 10 minutes, and if you don't time it right or pay attention you will miss out on placing orders. Even though they kept their marketing price of $19.99 for hotpot, it's not worth it anymore because you get way less food. I'd rather pay more at another place with better service and an actual all you can eat experience. This restaurant is not giving good vibes. read more

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My significant other and I ended up coming here one night to try since I've seen many posts about the ayce shabu at a really good price! We came on a Tuesday night and while we didn't have to wait at all and were seated immediately, it was pretty packed! I got the spicy house broth and my s/o got the regular house broth and I thought both were okayy. The spicy house broth wasn't spicy at all in my opinion and I was adding more chili oil to make it a tad spicier and it still wasn't spicy.. The meat quality was also okay, we weren't exactly sure what we were eating half the time it came out but I think i liked the brisket the most. I did really like the buffet style for veggies, seafood, sauce, rice, and noodles! It makes it easy to get what you like and portioned it to how much you prefer as well so I found that fun and enjoyable but it could be stressful when it's super busy and there's a lot of people around trying to grab the same items! My s/o and I agreed it was pretty good for the price but we probably would choose other shabu spots and wouldn't come back unless it was after 9pm and everything else was closed already! But I am glad we tried it! read more

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I didn't have high expectations due to some mixed recent reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised on my visit. We went to Shabu Gen to celebrate my mom's birthday. We had a Friday 5:30pm reservation and our table was ready for us with a high chair as requested. My dad (who can be tough to please) was really impressed by the $19.99 value and that we all got individual hot pots, so we could each control what we want. Decent selection of veggies and seafood at the bar. Initially thought the limit on ordering on tablet would not be enough for 5 adults, but server said she could double up on our order and we can order in between with her directly. Was a little worried about what my toddler would eat, but he happily filled his belly with fries, corn, and oranges. Luckily, he's short enough to be free! Overall, very pleased with the value and service received. Would definitely visit again! read more

Shabu Gen features all-you-can-eat hot pot and sushi. The ambiance is welcoming and sleek. Staff are friendly. You get your own hot pot, help yourself to the items at the food station (veggies, meats, sauces), and place your sushi order with the wait staff. Overall, I feel Shabu Gen has plenty of variety to choose from at a reasonable price. The food was average to pretty good. read more

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i typically enjoy my time at shabu gen. However we recently went for my friend's birthday dinner and had an unpleasant experience. we were sat in an area that was not prepared for guests and upon receiving our meats we noticed how thinly sliced the chicken was ... paper thin. and to top it all off we saw baby roaches crawling up the wall near our table ... I have attached photos as proof, i don't think i will be recommending this place any longer which is very disappointing. read more

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This is so affordable for an AYCE, this is my favorite spot to have whenever I want AYCE hot pot. Their broths and meats are also super great too, pretty good quality. Veggies and seafood are fresh too! They now installed tablets at each table, so you can order whenever. The tablets can be glitchy though, so make sure yours is working fine before ordering. They pre-bus the plates fast, so makes room for a new round. It's pretty big in there with lots of seating. I never wait too long whenever it does get busy read more

Shabu Gen - tonkotsu broth - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

Not a bad spot for affordable AYCE. Third time visiting. What brings me back is the affordability of the meal. Without sushi, it's $20. Can't beat that. I came and did the combo with sushi. Service was good. Orders came out quick. Followed up on refills. Meat quality just okay. Won't get pork anymore - not my favorite as it's too fatty for soup. Seafood and veg options were good. But what stood out that was interestingly not good was the bulgogi option. I tried it in my soup, and immediately regretted it. The cooked meat didn't taste good since it was marinated - didn't go well with my soup choice. The sashmi and nigiri was good, just really small pieces. Presentation on point. The carpaccio was great. Flavor was there. Overall a place that I will keep coming back to because of the price. Just note they do become strict in the 90min window especially if they are busy. We pushed out limits just a bit and we felt the servers presence hovering over us to wrap up and leave. read more

Shabu Gen - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

No idea what happened in the last 6 months but the quality has definitely gone downhill, and the cheaper shabu price of $19.99 is definitely a representation of that. I was happy to see they're still in demand though, since it was quite busy for an early Friday dinner time when we came. The broths looked so much more watery this time and tasted quite flavorless, which is sadly probably another way to cut costs on the actual broth used. All of the appetizers came out in little paper trays, which got super soggy with items like the cucumber sunomono. Many of the plates at the buffet line were still wet or had pieces of food stuck. Our table was so close to the ones on either side of us, it was hard to walk in and out every time and you'd have to scoot in to let others behind you get out too. This was just so disappointing compared to past visits. Overall there are just way better shabu options in Elk Grove but you'll be paying more (which in my opinion is worth it!), so if you're not too picky and don't want to pay as much then this is the one for you. read more

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90 minutes, all-you-can-eat, unlimited appetizers for only $20! There was another more expensive option to get sushi but I think the standard is already too much food! We got there when they opened at 11:30 am and the place got full very fast. Waiters came around every few minutes checking on our table asking if we wanted more plates of meat or more appetizers. They were playing some really loud music while a lot of guests were talking so it was hard to hear what my group was saying when they were trying to speak. They had a decent amount of seafood choices that I preferred having octopus and shrimp over the meats. The only thing is that you can't take leftovers home. If you're planning a get together here, skip breakfast and save room for this awesome hot pot meal. Definitely worth the price! read more

Shabu Gen - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

This is a solid AYCE spot in terms of value, service, and location. For the price, it's a good deal overall. The meat quality is decent, though the selection could definitely be expanded -- there were only about eight different options available. The veggie bar was fairly large for the space, but the variety was limited. Many of the meatballs and shrimp balls didn't taste like the best quality, and the sauce selection was also pretty minimal (they didn't even have sesame oil, which was surprising). The sushi options were good, though the pieces were on the smaller and thinner side. As for the wings, I'd recommend skipping them. They were all dry and seemed to be the same basic wings with different sauces drizzled on top depending on what you ordered. Overall, I'd come here specifically for the hot pot with simple veggies and meats, without expecting much beyond that. Even with its limitations, it's still a good value for what you get. read more

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There's a new tablet connected on the wall you use to order food. Makes things complicated and also it feels like they're limiting your "all you can eat". Limit 5 items per category. The moment you submit "placed order", the tablet is disabled for 10 minutes. You cannot order anything until 10 minutes later and there is a countdown so you cannot bypass the screen. Why fix something that wasn't wrong? Go back to the old ways, have workers take the orders because it was more efficient and workers actually swing by more often to check on you and refill your drinks. Also - bring back the quail eggs. read more

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This place recently updated their menu to $19.99 for hotpot and has gotten a lot busier, but it's still on the bottom of my list for hotpot places. The broth is very bland and their sauces aren't the greatest. However for the price, it isn't a bad option for a date night or family gathering. The restaurant is large, a little on the dark side if you want to be romantic. The service is really fast and the owner always comes out to check on people and hop in to help the staff when needed. However, when we hit our hotpot time limit, they gave us the bill asap and didn't really allow us to eat our food and stared at us pretty much the whole time so we could get up. Then we wanted to sing my mom happy birthday real quick and the hostess just was like uhm it's time to go. I thought it was so rude. We weren't planning to eat the cake there, just didn't want to sit in the cold. read more

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One of my favorite places to go in the area. AYCE hotpot and sushi are two of my favorites. Plus side because they are super affordable. Every time I've come here, it's been pretty busy but they accommodate large parties pretty well. You get your own pot of soup and they have a large selection veggies/seafood/meats and a few snacks you can order from the server or the iPad. Pretty big inside with plenty of tables to sit at. Can be pretty dim inside. Definitely worth checking out. read more

Wait since when was there a fricken ayce sushi AND hot pot spot in Elk Grove? Why did no one tell me about this? Oh I don't have friends ? Ok that make sense now ‍ So I thought this was the other shabu place and almost went to the wrong spot. I added myself to the waitlist like 45 minutes ahead and was number 18 for a billion years but thank goodness there's a bunch of random things in that plaza to kill time. New Yemeni coffee spot next door ‍ anyways recommend you plan for this and like add yourself to the waitlist so you don't have to stand outside for an hour. For two people we got seated in the long communal connected table. But it's plenty of room. And allegedly the price went down??? Like when have you heard of places decreasing in price lately I swear I saw a menu from like last year and the price was higher. But that's a nice surprised. It's less than $30 like what The hot pot was pretty good. Like good broth. Order whatver meat you want . I kinda like that they give 2-3 pieces of meat per plate cuz I tend to over order this way it's not like wasteful. And there's a bar with a bunch of extra toppings for your hot pot. They refill it plenty of time so the food is fresh. One problem - and it's my problem and not anyone else's problem - they don't have roe ball which is my favorite kind of balls The sushi was also pretty good. You only can do 10 nigiri at once but they come to take your order like all the time so like you can race eating as fast as you can and see if they come back by then jk don't choke. We like the baked roll the one with scallop is our favorite. There are some one per person special like the chirashi but those give you a lot of rice so I'd skip that of I were you and stick to nigiri. Also I wish they have rolls with lemon slice. Lemon is my life. Overall ate too much. Spent less money than anticipated. Feel like I'm winning 2026. read more

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Stopped by on a Wednesday night and we were seated immediately. Angel, our server noticed one of the burners was broken so she proactively told her manager and got us moved to another table immediately. Natalie and Angel both got our meat orders in super quickly. Food was delicious and service was fast! Will be coming back for the $19.99 AYCE hotpot! read more

Shabu Gen - We devoured everything! - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

Catch me here tomorrow! Lol Shabu Gen was our Friday night, last-minute stop on the way to Sac for a work conference, and it definitely lived up to the hype. PRO TIP: Check the waitlist before you go. We joined the online waitlist about 25 minutes out and were quoted 35 to 45 minutes, but it moved SLOWLY and didn't update even as our spot changed. You must check in when you arrive, so don't rely on the online waitlist alone. After killing time at REI, we were finally seated a little past the quoted wait, but honestly, it was worth it. It was still chaotic inside, which is a good sign of popularity and loyalty for the spot. For $20 AYCE, I get why this place is packed. Believe the reviews: Toro is number one, ribeye is second, and the premium blade is a close third, which is perfect for red meat lovers like us. The salad bar is a total giver with bulgogi, shrimp, crab, and endless add ins. Although I opted for none, lol. We eat red meat once a week so best believe I was gonna get my fill! We went with the sukiyaki and house broth and I recommend sukiyaki for more flavor. You do need to some loading up on garnishes like salt, garlic, and cilantro. Service was great but slow since servers handle everything, so give them grace. I would absolutely come back and could easily see myself eating here multiple times a week. They have an option for sushi, but we did not go that route. Also, last minute note: they measure kids height, so there's no lying about age. We watched a kiddo get measured against the wall and his parents had to pay the adult price. They were NOT happy. read more

Shabu Gen - Menu as of 1/22/2026 - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

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Took my son here for his first hot pot experience and although it was good there were some hiccups. Let's start with the lunch price, for $20 per person you can't go wrong with the protein choices. But kr was the afternoon and we were told a few times they were out or meat. Then they didn't bring out all of what we selected. The chicken was slices so thinly you could barley remove it from the plate. The reason the review is a three is that several of our apps that were brought out were cold and I mean ice cold. The spring rolls came out hot But the gyoza, wings and various items were not. We actually and to dip them in the broth to warm them up. Nice staff, cool location it is only a 3 out of 5 for me. read more

What a deal! $19.99/pp for AYCE shabu! This was my first visit on the eve of thanksgiving with family. I made a reservation for the Wednesday through Yelp for 4:30p only need to move the reservation out a couple of times due to family coming to town later than expected. It was probably a 50/50 chance they answered the phone because they were so busy that day. Thankfully they were able to accommodate us when we arrived because waiting with elderly Asian parents would've been an ordeal! There was already a line out the door of people waiting when we arrived a little after 6. We all ordered the shabu meal. You can add sushi for an additional $9. Everyone selects their own soup base for cooking which is nice. They let us order several selections at once however keep in mind each meat order consists of as little as 2 super thin slices of meat so you have to stay on top of ordering. There is also a buffet with sauces, fruits, veggies, seafood and noodles for the picking. Service was attentive and responsive. We enjoyed ourselves and will definitely be back (just maybe not during their peak meal times)! The restaurant was busy and bustling the entire time but the staff did a great job managing the crowd. The quality of the meat and seafood was very good and they had a good selection of veggies. Give this place a try. What a nice addition to Elk Grove! read more

Shabu Gen - Tonkotsu broth, veggies, gyoza, tofu and seafood selections. - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

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Shabu Gen offers such a great deal with their $19.99 AYCE hot pot. This price covers your choice of broth, unlimited meat and appetizer orders, and the sauce and toppings bar. I liked the sukiyaki broth, and all of the crispy chicken appetizers had a good flavor. The sauce and toppings bar included a variety of items you could add to your hot pot, including shellfish, fish cakes, mushrooms, vegetables, noodles, tofu, eggs, and more. They also had some sauces for dipping the meats into, as well as white rice. We had a party of four people, so we were able to order five different meats per round. The beef and pork weren't as high of a quality as the meats they offer at other hot pot restaurants, and some of the cuts only included 2-3 pieces per order. However, the overall price and unlimited rounds of ordering meat more than made up for these factors. The servers were very attentive and they checked in with us often, too, which made it easy to order more meats and appetizers. Will definitely be back when I'm in the area! read more

Shabu Gen - Seafood - Hot Pot Near Me - Elk Grove, California

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For $19 you can't complain too much. You get what you pay for! The meats are super super thin and you get like 2 pieces per order, but it's AYCE, so you can just order more. The sauces are limited and just okay. The crabs looked good but are super mushy and inedible, and it was mushy last time I tried this place as well. I had the sushi last time but it wasn't good quality so we just opted for the hot pot only this time. Overall, I think I rather pay a bit more for better quality food. read more

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