Great service and decor. The restaurant is very clean and organized inside. Everything is labeled and I love that you have drink options that include milk tea, passion fruit tea, and lychee tea along with the jelly and toppings bar. It's nice to have Shabu closer up north without having to drive down to Mira Mesa. The meat options were good. They were fresh. I appreciated the smaller portions to allow you to try different cuts without waste. Everything is labeled at the food stations, and they prepare the hot foods in smaller amounts and refill as needed. I really hope this spot continues to thrive. It's so hard for small businesses right now. read more

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​We went to Shabu Spot for lunch and had an amazing experience! Loved the blossom tree where you can write and leave notes, plus the awesome wall art on both sides of the restaurant. The food was incredible! We got the $36.99 AYCE, and it was definitely worth it--everything from the meat and seafood to the veggies was super fresh! They have such a huge selection. ​Don't skip out on the unlimited drinks and shaved ice, either--the Thai Tea and Lychee Peach Juice were my personal favorites! To top it all off, the owner and staff were extremely friendly and attentive! It's been a while since we've had service that great. Thanks again, Shabu Spot! We can't wait to come back and will definitely bring the kids next time! read more

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This is a newer addition to the plaza and we've come by twice for lunch. Once for malatang and once for their new AYCE lunch option! The service is always super friendly and helpful. They have also added some new lunch options and great deals for students. Overall this spot is solid, they have good meat options, lots of sides, and additional bites you can enjoy! I would definitely recommend if you're in the area and looking for some hot pot! read more

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This was our end of 2025 favorite place to go for hot pot. 1. they have lunch specials Mon-Fri for $11.99/lb (if you don't want AYCE) 2. great soup bases (the two I love were the tomato and Thai - both tasted homemade and savory!) 3. friendly staff (I've only ordered to go) 4. good sauce condiments I have NEVER considered buying a membership at any hot pot places but opted to do so here for $36.50. It gives you 15% off your purchase. That drops the $11.99/lb down to $10.20/lb and it's valid for your entire check/party. You also get a FREE bday meal with the membership so that covers the cost pretty much! We have only tried the beef belly and lamb. The beef belly is fatty (which I like) but has been chewy at times. Family seemed to like the lamb. I truly appreciate their to go packaging. They separate the broth and your items. The broth container is incredibly generous and ready to pour over your cooked items when you get home. I usually let my items sit in the broth for a few minutes before I dig in so the broth can infuse into the items. I can't attest for any of the hot food items on the buffet line. I did try a few pieces of fruit once (they had dragon fruit one day and haven't seen it since - boo). Can't wait to return to try a sit down meal with family/friends in 2026. read more

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Really enjoyed our lunch here! We came on a weekday and were impressed by the variety of food available at the hot pot buffet. There were so many choices, and everything we tried was fresh and tasty. Another nice bonus is that drinks and desserts are included, so there's a lot of variety beyond just the hot pot ingredients. We had a really good lunch and felt it was a great value for the selection. Definitely a place I'd come back to! Our server was also very attentive. read more

Friendly staff. Easy access from 56 fwy. Lots of parking. Well lit dining room. Self serve buffet style restaurant. Lots of seafood and veggies to choose. Everything was fresh and clean. The desserts were plentiful from cakes to jellies, to soft serve ice cream. Self serve soda fountain. Plus milks and teas. There really is not a lot missing from this place. The hits for me were the shrimp. They were large and sweet! The Chinese pickled cabbage (kimchi version) was the best Ive had in a long while. There were about 8 broths to choose from. I had the tonkatsu and Tom yum spicy. You can order 3 meats at a time, I think we tried them all except the chicken. Although I am a shabu shabu expert, the staff was very helpful in explaining everything. I would go back just for the Chinese cabbage. Every place is different and I appreciate different styles. I was surprised to not see a kombu (clear) broth on the menu. There was one labeled kombu veggie. Maybe I'll try that one next time. Or the mushroom broth. My family liked everything and my 2 1/2 yo grandson loved the tonkatsu broth. read more

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I loved my experience here and am so excited to have this in the local area! The shopping center is conveniently right off of the 56 and has easy parking. I came early on Sunday with 3 adult friends. We enjoyed our lunch time there. The quality ingredients, the wide array of items-- I have not seen that many kind of seafood balls before! I was impressed by how clean it was, even on the extensive buffet line. There were noodles, fresh veggies, mushrooms, sauce bar, desserts, and beverage options. The meats came quickly and it was AYCE. Service was friendly and the atmosphere was welcoming. I look forward to coming back soon! read more

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AYCE was average. Limited to only 4 types of meat. Typical selection of veggies/tofu/noodles/mushroom. Free drinks and small fried food selection. Nice that they had fish fillet available. For the lunch price it was reasonable. read more

Food is incredible and the device is fantastic. I crave this spot all the time now. A little on the expensive side, but the food is always so yummy and the staff is so kind read more

Shabu Spot - Hot Pot Near Me - San Diego, California

Shabu Spot is the newest Asian eatery in this corner of the Highlands Village Place in Carmel Valley. For $36.99 per adult, the concept was all you can eat hot pot with a time limit of 90 minutes. For kids, there was a 50% discount if you were under four feet tall, and the price was free if you were less than 32 inches. There were marks on a post by the doorway for measuring the height which I thought was amusing. About twenty tables were spread across the dining room so we're talking a capacity of fewer than 100 customers. The hot and cold buffet stations were set up in the back of the room adjacent to the kitchen preparation area. Along the left wall when you walked in were the beverage stations and dessert bar. A portable gas heating unit was placed at each table to warm up the soup bases of which there were nine different types. Ten kinds of meat made up the proteins that you ordered by placing a request with a server. We came for an early Sunday dinner when there was only one other party seated. By the time we departed, the place was nearly 100% full. While waiting for our first set of meats, we checked out the back stations and filled our plates with various hot foods and raw items to bring back to cook in the simmering broth. Our soup bases were the Spicy Mongolian and the Umami Mushroom that were separated by a divider within the communal pot. The meats we tried across two rounds were the following... * Beef Belly * Chuck Tender * Eye Round * Lamb Shoulder * Pork Belly * Top Blade The belly cuts stood out again because their marbling gave the meat more texture that the leaner cuts didn't have. The Bottom Round, Chicken Breast, Chuck Eye, and Pork Shoulder Butt were the varieties we passed on. To be honest, it's hard to distinguish between some of these meats after they have been cooked (e.g. Chuck Tender vs Top Blade). I also got my fill of seafood items like fish tofu, lobster balls, and squid from the cold station. For dessert, I tried the taro iced jelly while I drank multiple rounds of milk tea from the beverage dispenser. The price was inclusive of unlimited trips to the buffet stations, the condiment/sauce bar, and the beverage fountains. Some places will charge up to $4 just for access to the sauces or hit you with an a la carte price for soft drinks. If you live in North County and don't want to drive south to Mira Mesa or the Convoy District, then Shabu Spot is a solid option for AYCE hot pot. read more

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Came to this new hot pot place, i think its by the pound during the day and AYCE at night. We came at night so it was AYCE ($37) You can choose up to 2 different broths as the pot has a divider in the middle, we chose the spicy Mongolian and the umami mushroom. I much preferred the mushroom broth as the Mongolian was a bit herby. They did not have the pork shoulder but we tried most everything with the exception of the chicken breast. i think my favorite was the top blade. My least favorite was the lamb shoulder, it was too gamey for me. There is a large self serve area which is broken down into veggies, mushrooms, tofu, noodles, fried foods, seafood, drinks and dessert. Each was labeled on the back incase you didn't know what each item was. The veggies were fresh, and i really appreciated the large tofu section, there were many different types of tofu products to choose from. I like the rolled fried bean curd skin the most. I also liked that the noodles were still packaged and portioned out. I like to get noodles last when they broth has picked up all the flavors of the meat and veggies that you've cooked. I chose the fresh packaged ramen, it was so good, but just be careful not to over cook it. The fried section was pretty good i really liked the pot sticker (fried gyoza), they were crispy and tasty. The egg rolls were kinda soggy inside so a bit of a let down. I liked the condiment station, i took a bunch of garlic and just dumped it into my broth just to give it more flavor. I liked the dessert station i was surprised how much i liked the taro ice jelly. There was also a bing su station but there was no shaved ice in the bin and a sign for only employees to touch the machine. I was full anyhow and the taro ice jelly was delicious. The walls are painted with japanese art work. Service was kind and helpful. They came around and refilled waters, and inquired about ordering more meat. One thing i found odd was the burners are not built into the tables but rather portable burners placed on top. I think it would be more cost effective in the long run to put the burners in the table and just pay for gas rather than pay for multiple canisters. Over all a great experience, Id definitely return read more

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This was our first time trying shabu shabu and it was a fun experience for the family. We went on a Tuesday evening. There weee a handful of other customers otherwise it was a quiet evening of hot soup, cooking thin slices of beef, fish balls, and seafood. We will definitely come back here and cook the proper way as we were advised toward the end. Meat, Noodles, then veggies! My kids loved the boba and shave ice bar. We were too stuffed to try it. Next time. read more

Overall good experience! They have a nice spread of cooked as well as raw items you can select from the shared bar (see pictures). The first three meats listed in the menu is the most marbled/fatty, which is my favorite! The others were a bit too lean or tough. Dinner is AYCE at $37/person, 50% off for kids. It's still in its opening phase so not too many people yet. Each table has one stand alone burner (they need to replace the canister if it runs out). It's a bit pricy but the quality and variety is great'! They also have drinks included - from the standard variety of sodas to mango, lychee and milk tea drinks and toppings. read more

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My partner and I visited Shani Spot on a Thursday evening around 6pm. We were immediately met at the door with a friendly greeting and sat at our table. The dining room was small and we noticed two other sets of guests at nearby tables. The server gave some recommendations, but we went with a two broths we were looking forward to trying, the tonkatsu and tom yum. The drink bar is self serve with sodas, water and a boba station, but the restaurant didn't serve beer or wine which would have been nice with the meal. The spice/sauce bar is nice, but quite a few of the containers weren't labeled. The custom sauces had pictures on how to create them, but I was a little confused as to which ingredients were which. I could have asked, but I ended up going with a sauce mixture I already knew well. All of the shabu vegetables looked good. I enjoyed this area the most. The seafood area was also well organized as well. I can see where other reviewers could potentially feel a little squished in this area, because there are only two ways in and out and the seating is a bit close to the end, but it didn't really affect me and that part isn't reflected in my own rating. The meats arrived at our table, and two of the three were tasty. The pork belly wasn't for me as it was far too fatty, but that's just my preference. I have to say that neither of the broths were very flavorful, and this is probably where my biggest disappointment was. The price for two dinners with no alcohol was $85 minus tip. Overall, I think Shabu Spot has solid potential and a truly kind staff, but in my opinion the dining experience wasn't what I had hoped for, and I would want to read better reviews before being comfortable returning. read more

Shabu Spot - Storefront sign - Hot Pot Near Me - San Diego, California

You need to be about "$37 Hungry" for AYCE. Can you do it? I think we just barely did. The "Shabu" name might have you thinking Japanese, but it's certainly Chinese. (Signage, text, receipt all with Chinese) It's hotpot all the same, and here you can get half-half Tonkotsu Pork Bone with your Sichual Mala spicy broth. Even at "Medium" it was good and spicy. Our table of four was allowed to order three meats at a time, which was just ok. Some plates ran out quickly, others were bigger. The meats were really tasty with good variety with beef, pork, lamb cuts. I liked it. Service was good. The main issue is access to the buffet where you have to self-serve the veggies and noodles and other things. There are two tables that were fully seated and pretty much pinching off access to one side, so everyone had to go in the other side.. just felt awkward each time, and you do end up making a lot of visits. They need to keep both sides clear, because I'm sure those tables got tired of "Excuse me" banging into their chair. There's a shaved ice machine but it was mostly off-line. Lychee and Mango drinks were tasty, but pretty sweet. I would have liked just a regular hot Chinese tea or green tea, but didn't see it. There are frequent coupons in our mailbox, for $20 off, so with tax and tip it came to $162 for our table of four. Pretty good deal. read more

First time at Shabu Spot, and it will not be my last. It was clean, and the buffet selection was extensive. We selected the ala carte shabu option for $13.99/ pound. There were so many items to choose from (variety of noodles, meats, vegetables, sauces, seafood) which you grab with tongs and place in a huge plastic bowl. Once you have met the weight minimum, you hand your bowl to the staff and you choose your broth base (ranging from tonkatsu pork broth to tom yum soup). You can also select how spicy you would like your soup. Everything is cooked for you and brought to your table. Soft drinks is an additional $2.99 , and dessert buffet is an additional $9.99 per person. The shabu was delicious, customized to my liking! I will definitely be back! read more

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It's nice to have a shabu place in the neighborhood. Service was attentive. There are quite a number of broths to choose for. However, meats were sliced too thin and end up tasted a bit dry for me. read more

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Went on a weekday and only one other party was there. We had a toddler with us and asked for a high chair and the hostess just pointed across the room. Sat down and was handed a menu, but it only talked about AYCE, even though there were signs for per lb pricing. We asked the waitress and she had to check with someone. It obviously was not set up for per lb. There were no bowls or tongs out, the meat options were very limited and not available when we went through. It was very disorganized. We weighed our food finally and then waited a very long time for it to arrive. I think this place should stop advertising for per lb options because they were not set up for it and made our experience not great read more

Love the variety and selection of thinly sliced meat. Everything was fresh and delicious. The value is great for the two soup base selections per pot and unlimited shrimp, meatballs, fish/cuttle balls, and fresh veggies . To top it off, they have a shaved ice machine and toppings bar as well for dessert. read more

It's so cool that there's a new shabu place opened other than convoy or Mira Mesa area. This place has wide open space and it is very easy to park. The food options here are so nice, and of course a lot, especially seafood and mushrooms. We tried their sukiyaki and Sichuan mala spicy hotpot soup base flavors, I think both are delicious. We loved the lamb in Sichuan soup and fatty beef in sukiyaki. I'm also impressed by their delicious desserts, they have shaved ice buffet bar and taro ice jelly soup. Please leave the room for these! Their service is very nice as well, friendly and helpful. I'll definitely come back. read more

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I just heard about this spot from my mom actually! My family is a big fan of shabu shabu so when you throw in the AYCE aspect we just had to check it out. I reserved a dinner slot through Yelp which is convenient. It wasn't busy when we arrived on a Monday, the place is beautiful and clean. The servers were attentive and careful with suggestions for the broths. I was impressed with the selection of different add-ins for the hotpot itself. Big fan of the squid tentacles and the chewy glass noodles available at the bar. Their meat selection included lamb shoulder, a huge favorite of mine! There were also ready-to-eat options like veggie eggrolls and french fries. A surprise delight was the red bean dessert and taro ice jelly dessert! Overall, I will come back soon because I have a membership with them (free to sign up for btw) read more

Shabu Spot - Tonkotsu pork broth (left), and mild spicy mongolian (right), veggies from the bar - Hot Pot Near Me - San Diego, California

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Become a regular since it opened. Spotless clean. Good price for great food and service. Fresh meats and vegetables, delicious sauce bar, tons of drinks and dessert to choose from. Perfect place for any occasion. read more

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Great Hot Pot restaurant on Highlands Village Pl. near Westview High. Found a flyer on them and decided to go and they are incredible. Tons of food. There's more food than the pictures I posted. Food was very fresh and excellent and great healthy servings. Restaurant was very clean. Service was very nice and attentive. Highly recommend. read more

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Very good selection and quality for hotpot AYCE. Price is right... $20/person for lunch and $30 for dinner.

Plenty of parking in this plaza. The restaurant is decently sized. This is an AYCE place so bring your appetite! You have 90 minutes. The meat comes on platters brought by staff. I thought the quality was pretty good as their beef was lean the way I like it, and shaved very thinly. Seafood, veggies, and noodles are buffet style set up in the back. It's not refilled super frequently so some containers do look quite empty sometimes. There's also a variety of sauces you can mix up. There's a variety of drinks including mango juice and lychee juice which were refreshing. Service and quality weren't as top notch as Haidilao but if you're coming hungry, this is a much better deal! It's also a more relaxed and casual dining experience which I like. read more

My favorite Shabu spot in all of San Diego! This is a hidden gem. This all you can eat shabu stands out due to the QUALITY of the food and meat compared to other shabu spots in Mira Mesa. It's also the first shabu spot I've considered taking home the broth! lol. My favorite is the Tom yum broth. The restaurant is very clean and service fantastic. read more

The newly opened hot pot restaurant is currently in its soft opening phase. At lunchtime, they serve spicy hot pot (malatang) and spicy stir-fry hot pot (mala xiang guo), priced by weight at $13.9 per pound. In the evening, it's all-you-can-eat hot pot for $36.99 per person. Both prices include sauces and soup bases. The hot pot dining is limited to 1.5 hours per session. My friend and I didn't realize they didn't serve hot pot at lunch, so we tried the malatang and mala xiangguo instead. The meat options for the dishes were somewhat limited. We arrived after 2 PM, and many of the sauce stations were nearly empty--seems like it's quite popular even during lunch hours! For the malatang, we chose the pork bone broth, which was incredibly fragrant--you could tell it was freshly simmered and refreshing enough to drink. The mala xiangguo was spicy but unfortunately lacked depth in flavor. They're currently offering a 15% discount for the opening period, making it a great time to try it out! read more

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...the name is shabu spot. no ig account that i could find and very very new. off the 56 at camino del sur, in torrey highlands. if you're into ayce hot pot, the variety of veggies, noodles, and seafood is pretty impressive. desserts like taro jelly, sago red bean, even bing soo shave ice! their beef cuts were generous, and very fresh. i ordered the tomato broth at medium spicy level and it was pretty friggin hot. start with mild. highly recommend. thanks to james the butcher for hookin up the primo cuts read more

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this place is not my regular shabu place I mean it's not absolutely terrible but definitely not a place I'm gonna go again. The soup was just fine it tasted good no complaints on the soup besides hard ginger and some very hard green onions. The meat was definitely either frozen or just not fresh in general but it wasn't bad. The lettuce in the green onion and the udon was not fresh at all the vegetables were old and the udon is packaged. The people there were kind so no problem with that. Just not my cup of tea read more

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After our usual Shabu spot had a 2+ hour wait with no reservations allowed for Valentine's Day, my husband and I landed here and we are SO glad we did! The buffet selection had so much to offer, honestly so much better than some other shabu places I've been at in the past. There were various desserts and the meats were all so delicious. The entire staff was very kind, knowledgeable and helpful when ordering, even if you're a hot pot pro. This is definitely our new spot moving forward. read more

We came in for the malatang, not the AYCE so this review is specifically for that. There was a large sign facing out which advertised malatang for $11.99 per pound which is a very reasonable price so we decided to give it a try. It appears as if they expect most people to do AYCE as they did not even have the tongs and bowls ready. It was 11:20am, 20 minutes after open so it is odd that this is not part of their opening procedure. One of the first items that was available to put in our bowl was the chinese donuts which my son loves. As my wife was getting a couple, I noticed that there was a clear spot of mold on one on the top. There are two options for meat for malatang: lamb and beef belly. Neither one was out when we arrived and we had to track somebody down so they could bring it out. When they brought out the meat, we noticed that they were cut thick which is odd since the AYCE hotpot meat that I saw on people's tables were thinly sliced. My wife and son chose the beef bone soup flavor. We inquired about the drink and appetizer bar option and was told that it would be $2.99 extra. This is a reasonable price but we declined to add this on because the appetizer bar was not even stocked yet (again, this is 20 mins after open). After sitting down, we noticed that there is a handwritten sign in chalk advertising malatang lunch special for $13.99/lb. This is $2 more per lb than what is displayed on a different sign posted prominently in the window. I don't know if this is negligence or if they did that on purpose to try to draw you on and then charge you a higher price after you're already eating but they need to change this. The food came out pretty quickly and we started eating. Within 5 minutes, my son said his throat was uncomfortably itchy. He has a peanut allergy so we asked one of the servers if the beef bone broth has peanuts to which he replied that it does. Note that this is not mentioned anywhere on the sign for the soup bases. When we discussed this with the server, the conversation got a little heated because he initially tried to blame us by saying that even though it is not on the sign, it is stated on the menu that any allergies should be brought up with the server. For malatang, there is no menu since you are putting food directly in a bowl for them to cook so this tonedeaf response was inappropriate. He then tried to say that his son has a mild peanut allergy and hasn't had a problem with the beef bone broth. Do you even realize that there are varying levels of allergy sensitivities? I cannot remember a dining experience this bad in a long time. I will steer anybody and everybody that I know away from this place. read more

So happy to have a new Shabu restaurant in this area! The meat quality is honestly so noticeably better than other places I've been to recently, the meat is super tender and feels pretty high quality. The service is also amazing, the workers there were so nice and attentive. They were very chill and helped create a really friendly ambiance to the restaurant. Would love to come back again! read more

So many options at the buffet area! The service is great. Highly recommend this place - great food & great price!

Place is fairly small for an ayce hot pot. Most places have more tables with 2 or 3 burners to accommodate bigger parties. But this place only had maybe 2 tables with multiple burners. The veggies & seafood choices were good and plenty. Not much for their hot foods though. 1st time we went there, there was hardly any out and the few dishes definitely had been sitting out for a long time. 2nd time we went they seemed to fill it up more frequently. Our favorite broth has to be the thai tom yum. Its very flavorful and right amount of spice. They probably could use another server. We went on a Saturday night at the place filled up completely. The 2 servers were running non stop between cleaning tables and taking meat orders. We felt bad trying to ask them to turn the shaved ice machine on so we just skipped it altogether. read more

Great new spot! Good value for the large selection. Clean and airy vibe. Great service. Large variety of desserts. read more

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Shabu Spot was amazing! Helen was fantastic and very personable. It was my first time here and our experience was great. Our group did AYCE. Definitely will be returning. Great service and good quality! read more

Nice clean sleek tables with an electric hot pot warmer. Large variety of fresh vegetables and hot food to choose from. Staff were very friendly and helpful making sure our broth was enough for dipping. The restaurant itself had really cool art and a cherry blossom tree where customers made their wishes. It was a great dining experience. read more

Just when I didn't think we would be getting any more options for Asian food in North County, especially hot pot, now we have a DIY hot pot spot here on the 56!! I like to reference this concept as chipotle style where you get individualized portions paid by per pound. It's simple, quick and easy! There are an enormous amount of options to choose from for ingredients including fresh pickled veggies (you normally find them packaged in other places) which is something you don't normally see! This place has all of the standard ingredients with mushroom, tofu and veggie variety. My server was also extremely passionate about this place as hot pot is her favorite meal! You can tell with her enthusiasm and knowledge for this. The atmosphere, spacing, and lighting all made this place feel very inviting and upbeat. Definitely will be a repeating customer! read more

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Food perfect Price amazing Vibe shy but cute Service is the best Best place with great broth and amazing meat sadly no picture but trust it's good also you can't do To go Which is sad but I see y They food makes you want to come back read more

The food was absolutely delicious and the staff were so friendly and attentive. We'll definitely be back! read more

Shabu Spot - Good Tasty, you can adjust spice levels. very honest. - Hot Pot Near Me - San Diego, California