The last time i went to the shabu shabu house was 6 months ago. since then, the prices seem to have creeped up a bit again. the small shabu (10 slices of meat) is $12.98 and the large (15 slices of meat) is now $16.98. extra 10 pieces of meat is $6.50. the price increase does not seem to deter its loyal customers. it opens at 5:30 pm for dinner everyday (closed on monday). i got there at 5:10 pm and had to put my name on the waiting list. many people were already waiting to get in. i didn't even make the first round (with approximately 27 seats) and had to wait a half hour to get seated. i guess there's no way of getting out of waiting anymore. in the past, if i came anytime after it opened, i'd have to wait 1 - 1.5 hours just to get seated. of course, the food is always consistent and i had an excellent meal. with so many people waiting, i always get rushed out of there, but can you blame the owner? on another note, i happened to overhear the owner outside telling another patron he only uses quality, prime rib-eye meat.
iced coffee ($1.50) at the end of the meal is always nice also, but the owner doesn't like it when you stick around - better off taking it to go.
i forgot about the free 2 hour limit with validation. i was over by 2 minutes and had to pay $5. damn.
