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The Skinny: You can’t really beat all you can eat hot pot for $20. Great variety and deal. Atmosphere: Long tables with individual hot pots with some booth seating. Be prepared to share a table with others (but there’s plenty of room so it’s really not a big deal – though if you really don’t want to you can wait for a booth). Note every time I’ve been there it’s pretty busy so expect a wait (weekends and weekdays). Pro tip – Pacific Ocean Market is an asian super market next door that is fun to walk around while waiting (and we found that our beeper still worked there – at least towards the front). Food: Talk about bang for your buck. Tons of variety (veggies, soup bases, meats, seafood, noodles etc.) A quick rundown of how it works. You get a sheet of paper where you mark what you want. Everyone picks their own soup base, and then a bunch of items to share and cook. You can ask for more food at any time, or just get another sheet to check off food. Then there is a sauce bar at the back where you make your own sauces to dip your cooked food into (personally my favorite part). Huge variety for sauces and food, go crazy and try a bunch of different stuff! Bonus – you get free ice cream at the end of your meal (as if AYCE $20 hot pot wasn’t enough) Service: Quick and efficient. Price/Value: $$. AYCE so portions are however you want it – it’s such an amazing deal you really can’t go wrong. Would I come back? Yes! and do so frequently.

• House Of Shabu Shabu – Menu with Prices – 5394 Walnut Ave, Irvine
• Paradise Sushi & Grill – Menu with Prices – 119 4th St, Santa Rosa
• The Chop House Grand Rapids – Menu with Prices – 190 Monroe Ave NW, Grand Rapids
• Grand Chinese Hot Pot – Menu with Prices – 6967 Victoria Dr, Vancouver
• Zhangfei Hotpot – Menu with Prices – 43844 Pacific Commons Blvd, Fremont
• WHOS Gluten Free – Menu with Prices – 80 Mallory Ave, Jersey City
• Choga Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 6920 W 105th St, Overland Park
• Shiki Sushi & Hibachi – Menu with Prices – 1464 Mt Pleasant Rd, Chesapeake
• The Market Place – Menu with Prices – 3325 Sheridan St, Hollywood
• Sakura Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 1401 Greenbrier Pkwy, Chesapeake
• Haile Farmers Market – Menu with Prices – 5213 Southwest 91 Terrace, Gainesville
• Sushi Sushi – Menu with Prices – 246, 40 Country Hills Landing NW, Calgary

House Of Shabu Shabu – Menu with Prices – 5394 Walnut Ave, Irvine

I had never been to House of Shabu Shabu in Irvine before and had heard good things. I was definitely curious but I am not really one for AYCE unless it’s KBBQ. However, I’m always up to try new places. There are no reservations at Shabu places so I fully expected a wait. You walk in and put your name on the list. A wait on a Wednesday night around 7:30 pm was about an hour for 2 people. There was a large party of 9 ahead of us and a bunch of smaller groups so that was why. My thoughts were, “Yikes, this had better be good.” We both went with the AYCE Special #1 ($21) because I’m not one to order Kobe style beef just to boil it in a pot. If you’re interested in the $30 AYCE special, they offer a lot more items in red to show you what you’re missing from the first menu. I went with the Kombu broth because I like to season my own water and yes, I knew what I was ordering. I thought it was funny that our server had to clarify with me that I was ordering water with seaweed. My date went with the Sukiyaki broth. The service was agonizingly slow. We placed 2 orders of meat per person (Angus, beef belly, Halal beef, white fish), edamame, gyoza, udon noodles (x2), salmon roll, and more veggies. It all came out at different times, which was understandable, but the length of time was a bit of a joke. I expect appetizers to arrive at the same time. They did not. The salmon sushi didn’t arrive until we ordered our second round of meat and to be honest, we had forgotten about it. I had to ask for hot drops since they weren’t offered when he poured the sauces. I like that they bring out the pots with hot broth so you’re not wasting your time waiting for the broth to get hot. During the second round, we ordered the pork tenderloin, Halal beef, and Angus beef. I also asked for soup base but didn’t get a bigger bowl. Oh well, I made due with what I had in front of me. At the end, we got a scoop of ice cream each. They brought us out the check after the ice cream and even though we were chatting after our meal, they started to clean up our station while we were there, indicating that they wanted us to leave but did not outright shoo us. There were still people waiting by the door so I understood that they needed the spots but it felt rushed when our service felt so slow just prior. The check asked us not to tip which means, it’s a great deal to eat AYCE here. However, it also can’t be helped that the service will always be slow. We were informed by the server that the staff does get paid more because they are not fighting for tips, which I think is awesome for them. The food was good. Would I come back? Maybe, but my favorite Shabu spot is just down the street and they have a better wait system than the one at HSS.

Paradise Sushi & Grill – Menu with Prices – 119 4th St, Santa Rosa

Been here twice and enjoyed it both. Went AYCE and that’s my style for sushi. I eat a lot. I can grub here and fill up and not spend huge money AND leave satisfied so I don’t need a meal in 15 minutes. They clearly state you’ve got to finish your rolls before ordering another round. Don’t bitch about it. It’s gets wasted if you don’t eat your meal which not only is a waste but costs the business money. I get it. First time I went here for lunch and my wife didn’t get the AYCE sushi. She snuck a bite. 1 bite. When I was finishing my 7th roll they started to look at us. She took another taste at This late stage and we were warned if she had another she had to pay for AYCE. I cracked up and laughed bc I told her so. It’s not fair to the house to share AYCE. After 7 rolls they have to be kind of shocked and I understand. Can’t wait to go back again! I like this place.

The Chop House Grand Rapids – Menu with Prices – 190 Monroe Ave NW, Grand Rapids

Our waiter, John, and booth #12 (booth #13 would also be perfect!!) made this an evening we will never, EVER forget â?? we belong to a private dining club in Florida and the Chop House absolutely blows that away!!\n\nWe started off with Calamari (amazing!!), then, we told John our waiter, that we wanted to share a French Onion Soup and a Wedge Salad – he was so kind and had the kitchen split the soup and salad for us! So nice (and the Chop House did NOT charge us for splitting!).\n\nWe had planned on ordering the lobster tail and Dover Sole but we had become SOOOOOO full that we werenâ??t sure what to do. John was so kind and suggested that we share the Dover Sole â?? no guilt trip â?? no looking down his nose at us â?? just a kind heart and the PERFECT suggestion.\n\nWhile we were enjoying dinner, the friendly manager came by and asked us what we were enjoying most and if there was anything that they could do better (no!!).\n\nThis is a FIRST CLASS, non-uppity, AMAZING FOODIE experience!! Cannot wait to return to GR and ultimately, back to The Chop House!!!!

Grand Chinese Hot Pot – Menu with Prices – 6967 Victoria Dr, Vancouver

I wish I discovered this restaurant sooner. I am not one to usually go to AYCE hot pot, but from now on, this is where I will go. For $18.98 per person, you can order an unlimited amount of standard hot pot dishes from their menu. I enjoyed the sliced beef, sliced lamb, yam noodles, bean curd, lettuce, watercress, napa cabbage, tripe, and dumplings. Their meats are sliced super thin, although the beef is a little fatty, the quality is very good for AYCE. For the meat, it counts as 1 plate per order (see picture). The dumplings, despite being frozen, were so fresh and tasty, I think this was one of my favourite items here. I think they had pork and chives inside. The vegetables we ordered were all fresh, crisp, and recently washed. Some other items we ordered included meatballs, chicken liver, squid rings, baby octopus, and wontons. Sadly, a few things were sold out that day, so it may be better to dine earlier. The soup base is an additional charge of $8 for a regular size or $10 for a large. For the 3 of us, the regular was enough, and likely 4 could share too. You can get half/half broth, at half the price each. So for example, we got half a side of satay broth for $4 and half of the coriander & 1000 year old egg broth for $4, totaling $8. It’s nice that they don’t charge for half/half. I also really liked the satay broth. The items cooked in there had a lot of satay flavour after cooking. From the selection of sauces, you can choose 2 per person. There isn’t too much selection here, and weirdly, soy sauce is not an option. We just went for satay and their peanut/sesame sauce. They have some popular combinations as well, which I may try next time. The only thing is, service is a little slow. While we were there, there was just 1 waitress handling the entire restaurant. So, if we wanted to put in extra orders or ask for a soup or drink refill, it can take some patience. But I don’t mind at all, seeing as there is a 2 hour limit and hot pot is a slower style of dining anyway. The restaurant is nothing fancy, very minimal, but it is clean. I wish that air circulation was better, though, because my clothes definitely smelled like hot pot afterwards. For the 3 of us, it came to about $25 per person after tax and tip. That’s after splitting the cost of soup. At this price, and considering typical AYCE quality, I will definitely be back!

Zhangfei Hotpot – Menu with Prices – 43844 Pacific Commons Blvd, Fremont

ANOTHER HOT POT RESTAURANT IN FREMONT?!?!? Boiling hot pot in Warm Springs area is probably my favorite, but because this new hot pot place is a little closer to me on the North side of Fremont, my boyfriend and I decided to give it a try. I looked on their Yelp, had some great reviews, and decided we’d pop in on a Friday night. Did not have a Yelp waitlist or any way to put our names down without physically being in the restaurant, so we called and asked how long the wait would be, or if the hostess would be able to put our name down for us since we didn’t want to sit and wait in the restaurant for 40+ minutes. They don’t do that, so you have to physically come into the restaurant to put your name down. The waitlist also lets you put your phone number down, but they do NOT call your phone number. You have to periodically come in and check on the list. The restaurant is pretty small, I would say it doesn’t seat more than 30-40 people at once, MAX. There are a couple larger tables for parties of 5-6, but most of their tables are for smaller parties of 2-4 people. The space is kind of aesthetic, with all white tables and a nice entrance area with cups for water, and a bookshelf. It was very well lit inside the restaurant, and was very noisy! We showed up around 8 PM, and didn’t get seated till around 8:40 PM or so. They close at 9:30 PM, and I think they stop seating customers around 9 PM. Service was a little slow, but understandable because this place is pretty new so I’m sure not all the staff have gotten the hang of their busy Friday nights yet. Something really cool though is that the manager is middle eastern (?) but he speaks perfect Mandarin. I love it. This hot pot place is not AYCE, but prices (for two people) came out to about the same as AYCE. After tax and tip we paid around $70-80. We split the large pot in half, but both sides had the house spicy broth. My boyfriend likes adding garlic, cilantro etc into his broth, so we split because I don’t like those in my broth. Waiter will also ask how spicy you want the soup base to me – we opted for mild spicy just because we weren’t sure how spicy the soup would be. We ordered 2 different beefs, one beef belly and the other marbled beef. We also ordered tofu, fish filet, fish balls, wide noodles and a Jia Duo Bao (herbal grass jelly drink). I didn’t know there was unlimited dessert until I just read some reviews right now.. guess I’ll have to go back again soon to try those desserts. They do have a sauce station with various different sauces, and it’s self-serve so after you’re seated, you can go grab some sauces. There is no limit to sauces. The beef is great, beef belly was my favorite. It was thinly sliced, great quality. Marbled beef was a little too thin for me.. once I dropped it into the soup, it kind of flaked off into several pieces. It was kind of impossible for me to pick it all up in one piece. Fish filet were great quality as well, and they do give an ample amount. Same with tofu, they gave us an entire long plate of soft tofu. LOVE. We didn’t order a ton of food, but it was definitely very filling. We will definitely be back soon, and many more times when winter starts coming around. Hopefully by then the lines won’t be as long anymore!!!! So glad I found my new favorite hot pot place, where I don’t feel like I have to stuff my face just to get my AYCE money’s worth :).

WHOS Gluten Free – Menu with Prices – 80 Mallory Ave, Jersey City

My mom was diagnosed with celiac in the ice age. Okay, maybe not the ice age, but she was diagnosed by Dr. Haas. Anyway, I told her I was taking her to a gluten free cafe and she got SO excited. When I looked up the distance, I could have sworn it said only 2 miles away and we were like, oh, no big deal, we’ll walk… well, 4 miles later we finally got to Whos Gluten Free. Opps. The staff at Whos Gluten Free is Fantastic. We walked in at 3:30 and the staff informed us the kitchen was closed because they close at 4. Oh. They had some broccoli soup still. We bought a whole bunch of goodies and the soup. The soup was delicious, nice and hot and with gluten free croutons! The goodies. Let’s forget about the gluten free part for a second. That nutella sandwich cookie. wholy Whos! (Yeah, I went there). That cookie was amazing. This is also the FIRST time in my LIFE I could share my desserts with my mom. Everything we got was so good. It didn’t even taste gluten free! The staff was so friendly, nice and accommodating. My mom can’t wait to go back! She already has her next “to try” items picked out. She wanted to go back the next day, but she said she would settle for at least a few days. And not to worry, next time we plan to be there bright and early, and not right before closing time.

Choga Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 6920 W 105th St, Overland Park

I’ve always been a fan of Korean bbq since I know about it but it’s too bad not a lot of restaurants are doing it especially AYCE style. So I’m so happy that they added All You Can Eat Korean bbq in their menu recently and I’m in town at the right time. At the price charged ($26.95/person before tax), meat options and given rules, I think it’s a good deal if you are a meat lover and great eater . We arrived around 1 PM and the lunch time ends at 2:30 PM, so figured we’ll have plenty of time to eat. Unfortunately we had to wait for almost 1/2 hour to get our 1st set of meat (2 different meat/person every order) and have to fulfill our empty stomach with the side dishes first . They also forgot to give our complimentary kimchi soup… We didn’t get to try all the meat options (they were ran out of spicy pork at the time) but the meat are good quality. I’m sorry that I didn’t include the meat pictures as we’re too eager to get them as soon as they arrived . My favorites so far are the rib finger meat and spicy pork belly. We ended up paying close to $90 (with additional 1 kid rate)after tax & 18% minimum gratuity and finished 7 sets of meat platters (could’ve been more if the kids aren’t there ). So overall it’s a really great place for AYCE korean bbq and it has become our new favorite must come place in town. We’ll definitely be back for more .

Shiki Sushi & Hibachi – Menu with Prices – 1464 Mt Pleasant Rd, Chesapeake

Came here for a quick lunch with my fiancé. He’s told me some great things about this place and honestly the bento box is a great deal. You get soup or salad, an appetizer, your choice of a hibachi dish, and your choice of sushi all for less than $10 unless you choose steak. Food came out super quick and was tasty and filling for $10!! I mean really it can’t be beat!! The service was pretty good too. Our waitress was really nice and came to check on us often and was on top of our drink refills. This place is a little far out from where we live but if I’m on that side of town I’m stopping there again for sure.

The Market Place – Menu with Prices – 3325 Sheridan St, Hollywood

My experience over the years with The Market Place has usually been a visit to pick up beautiful steaks or fish with freshly prepared sides of vegetables, salads, prepared Quinua or pastas, soups and just about anything we needed that we could bring home and grill with these well prepared side dishes. Even during the holidays, The Market Place prepares everything we needed to take home. Of course, there have been times my wife and I have been laid up sick at home where this has been our go to place to pick up fresh Tuna Salad, Meat Loaf and Chicken Meat Loaf and always Matzah Ball Soup. I usually do not like to bring home prepared foods to heat up, but every time we bring in food from The Market Place, it is just as fresh as if we prepared it ourselves. When you walk in, the presentation of these dishes are so appetizing, I wish I could take home some of each of them. MY NEW EXPERIENCE with The Market Place!!! Turning the clock forward to this last year, as I have developed a new passion for Grilling and Smoking Meats, I have had a great experience ordering my meats from here: Whole Briskets, Beef Ribs and Rib Roasts and several times at that. I can call The Market Place to have them prepare or trim Briskets, check on their inventory on any of the meats I need to order and sometimes can pick up the same day. They have never let me down. Every time the end result of smoking a Brisket or Beef Ribs has been outstanding. These cuts seem leaner and more tender than I have had from other places in the past and I never have to worry about how they come out in the end, as long as I do my part on the smoker, I can always depend on their meats. The Market Place has every cut of meat you can imagine a great variety of fish and shell fish, every side dish and pasta dish as well as displays of dry grocery items to compliment your meals, including marinades, sauces, stir fry sauces, vinegar, olive oils and canned goods. Loved seeing the Raos Spaghetti Sauces here. Great quality, and most of the items they stock are specialty items, not the regular brands that are in the chain grocery stores. There is also a whole shelf section of specialty chips and crackers. The staff here does not take long to get to know you once you come here regularly and they treat you special every time and seem to remember what you like when you come in. Very rare these days. Keep in mind that this is a Gourmet Butcher and Specialty Market. If you want to be assured about quality and service, it is going to cost more than the usual grocery stores or box stores, but that is why I come here. I know what I am getting every time.

Sakura Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 1401 Greenbrier Pkwy, Chesapeake

This is a new restaurant opened in the last month or so. The food here was very good. My colleague and I ordered the Lunch Box, consisting of Soup, Salad and a choice of two rolls or three pieces of sushi or sashimi and one roll. We chose the latter so we could sample the other’s selections.The Miso Soup was hot and delicious. The salad had a ginger dressing that was good, but had a bit of a bitter taste.The star of the show is the seafood. I had the BBQ Eel Roll and the Spicy Tuna Roll, she had the Spicy California Roll and the Salmon Roll. All of them had excellent flavor and tasted very fresh. They had a buy one get one half off special, coupons are in the local newspaper frequently, but the server gave it to us automatically. They also have an ‘All You Can Eat’ option for both lunch and dinner. The server said at lunch if you have only 30 minutes or so order the Lunch Box, but if you have longer then the AYCE was the best value. The reason is that to accommodate everyone, they make sure you get the first round of selections, then after each table has received their order they come back to see if you want more and the process repeats. I will have to go back and check out the AYCE when I am really hungry. The lunch box was a good size and very filling for me. The only drawback i found was that it was a bit noisy and sometimes hard to hear my dining companion.

Haile Farmers Market – Menu with Prices – 5213 Southwest 91 Terrace, Gainesville

Definitely check out Ed W.’s 5-Star review. His review is great and pretty much sums it up: A local market that offers something for everyone from local vendors, organic farmers and innovative artists and businesses. It’s a great way to spend your Saturday morning and pick up unique items to eat, cook, enjoy and take home. We picked up some fresh, living, green wheatgrass to take home for only $2 per unit and it’s hard to find in Jax. Located in the quaint “downtown” of Haile Plantation with plenty of street parking for visitors, they have signs to get you there. It closes at 12pm so make sure you try to come as early as possible because the early bird gets the worm. They are open 8:30am to 12pm every Saturday. Some of the highlights for me: Visiting The Tempeh Shop’s booth since I have a freezer full of this stuff. They offer samples of their Ready Tempeh [prepared tempeh] and the guy working the booth gave me good advice on how to prepare it at home. It’s suppose to be really good for you as it is a fermented soybean product locally made and distributed. The variety of certified organic produce available at this market is a dream for those looking for local organic veggies and fruit that aren’t tainted with pesticides and other poisons. The presentation is beautiful, but you will need to get there early because they do run out of the more popular produce in season. I missed out on the organic beets. Bummer. Here are some of the vendors available here: Strega Nona’s Oven Wood Fired Pizzas, Price Creek Farm, The Tempeh Shop, Rosie’s Organic Farm, Fehrenbacher’s Artisan Sausages, Possum Hollow Farm, Archer Market Garden, & The Green Mango…just to name a few. Check ’em out.

Sushi Sushi – Menu with Prices – 246, 40 Country Hills Landing NW, Calgary

If you’re looking for some authentic sushi joint, you’re probably better off elsewhere. Like most Japanese restaurants in Calgary, this is also owned and ran by Chinese people. I came here with a large group of 10 and we went for the AYCE option ($25.95 per person). I would say this is one of the better AYCE sushi places in Calgary due to the variety that is offered in relation to the price point, since most other AYCE is usually priced closer to $30pp. They have a menu of raw food as well as cooked food. For sashimi, they only offer limited options (salmon, white tuna, ebi. and I believe red snapper). For sushi, their list is a bit more extensive (salmon, smoked salmon, white tuna, hotategai, special scallop, jellyfish, baby octopus, octopus, squid, hamachi, tamago, masago, tobiko, saba, shitake…etc). They seem to have a smaller/less appealing list of rolls compared to their sushi. My brother who is a fan of California rolls did not enjoy their rendition as much. However, I was pretty ecstatic that my favourite negi toro was offered. For their cooked food, there is a wide variety as well, and for the most part, it is quite tasty. We ordered a mix of everything – gyozas, edamame, yakitoris, donburis, ramen, agedashi tofu, tempuras, ahi tataki, beef tataki, grilled salmon, cucumber sunomono, octopus sunomono. The only complaint I have about their food menu is that dessert is not included in AYCE. C’mon, just a scoop of green tea ice cream would’ve rounded the meal to a complete satisfaction. Within our group, we had individuals who don’t eat raw food and/or seafood, and they enjoyed it as well. I would definitely recommend this place if you’re not looking for high quality legit Japanese food – but I mean, you’re eating AYCE so that’s probably not what you’re going for anyways. I like this place and would return. One of the highlights for me is that this restaurant seems to be under the radar for many, so I enjoy the fact that it’s usually quiet. It also helps that not many are aware of their AYCE option. But I guess the news is out now…