Miyabi Shabu and Grill

C E 2 months ago

There are restaurants that chase perfection and there are restaurants that simply make you happy you walked through the door. Miyabi falls squarely into the second category. No, this isn’t the best beef I’ve ever had. If you’re hunting for the most exclusive wagyu or the rarest cuts imaginable, there are places that will happily charge you two or three times as much. That’s not what Miyabi is trying to be. What it does, it does exceptionally well. My wife and I came for the lunch special and by the time we left we both looked at each other and said the same thing. We’re definitely coming back. The value is outstanding. The meat is fresh, beautifully sliced and generous. The broths are clean without being bland. I went with the kombu while my wife chose the yuzu and both were excellent in completely different ways. The real surprise was the ponzu. Most ponzu leans too sweet or too salty. This one somehow lands perfectly in the middle. Bright, balanced and exactly what I wanted with every bite of beef and vegetables. The vegetable bar is another thoughtful touch. Extra greens, scallions, grated daikon, garlic and everything is there whenever you want it instead of waiting for so

Alan Sung 6 months ago

Miyabi Shabu and Grill is located in the Irvine Village Center at the corner of Jeffrey Road and Irvine Center Drive. The restaurant specializes in Japanese hot pot (shabu-shabu) and grill items. Our first visit was during their soft opening way back in 2013. Good for them that they have withstood the test of time, but we haven't come back sooner because of the long wait times to be served after being seated. On this, our second visit, it appears there has been no improvement in wait times to order and reorder AYCE due to shortage of staff. PROS: - Offers both a la carte and all-you-can-eat options - AYCE pricing is very reasonable for all that's included. Silver tier is where it's at! - During our recent visit, our server Alyssa was working the entire restaurant solo because they were shorthanded again. I wanted to commend her for her patience in answering questions and taking the time out to do a cost analysis of à la carte vs AYCE for our party, all while doing her best to provide top notch service for every restaurant patron. She is a valuable asset, so give that woman a raise! CONS: - I love Shabu but I've enjoyed much higher quality meats and Wagyu at other establishmen

wj 8 months ago

We had a very disappointing experience at this restaurant. The service was extremely slow — not just a little slow, but unreasonably so. Items we ordered took a very long time to arrive, and many simply never came at all. We asked for napkins multiple times and never received them. Even worse, the soup base was left boiling until it almost dried out, and no one came to refill it unless we repeatedly asked — which often still didn’t help. We ordered the Diamond-level All You Can Eat, which is supposed to include meat. However, throughout the meal, very little meat was served, despite multiple requests. If it’s advertised as “all you can eat” but you’re not actually served the main items, that is extremely misleading. Overall, the experience was frustrating and not worth the price. I would not recommend this restaurant and will not be returning.

Frank Biermann 9 months ago

Have been here a number of times now and the meat is always consistently good. I’ve sampled a few different meat options here and always find myself going back to the lamb for some reason. A bonus is if you’re dining in they’ve got refillable veggies included in your order. Always a great experience here.

Rich AMeN Gill a year ago

Parking: hard to find, Location: Okay, Service: Good, All you can eat: Alacarte: Yes, Overall: First time try and it was just a fluke stop. But sometimes flukes can be nice places overlooked. The one shining spot on this location was the ladies we had as our servers. Being new to Shabu they showed us the proper way to do both incooking methods to get the most of our experience. They even gave us a little extra time as we came in a bit late on the All You Can Eat lunch. If I am ever in the area again I would stop by and try more of the meats the offered for the lunch menu. Until then, 4.3 stars!