Shabu Restaurant - Chatswood

This place started off promising fresh Wagyu indulgence prepared in two distinctive ways - Shabu Shabu (hot pot) or Sukiyaki (skillet method of cooking). I am a huge fan of the latter although curiosity prompted me to investigate Shabu Shabu, after all, it is the name of the purveyor.Greatly disappointed. The broth was plain and the meat was not as fresh as it was presented in their website. I went away feeling lighter in my pocket as the total bill came up to nearly $50 because I ordered soft drinks - it seemed to me that they are trying to charge huge margins from drinks. But again you can say I've a penchant for punishment. I thought I'll return to try the Sukiyaki to see if the restaurant can redeem itself.Let me sumamrised my second and definitely final visit was driven by these findings:1) Wagyu was not fresh, you can't taste the sweetness of the meat, the marbling were bland2) Who on Earth trained that waiter? He started the broth boiling and threw in all my vegetables before the meat came out - fancy some soggy overcooked greens, anyone?3) I was promised a bowl of rice. It took nearly the time for me to painstakingly stretch my dinner consumption time for that damn bowl to arrive - in the end, soggy, stodgy lump of rice in a bowl, served with no love - it was 90 minutes before closing time, what was the kitchen doing?!4) For $38 per person, this was absolutely culinary robbery at its best.In fact, the only thing they had excelled in doing is to keep turning customers away with their unbelieavable service. The staff was skeletal, unmotivated and it's never a good sign when you have more empty seats than patrons. No wonder they stopped trading lunch hour.I had no idea how long they can survived and if they do, I tend to lean on my conspiracy theory, with such low value and poor quality food served by evenly more abysmally trained staff, and the high prices they charged, this front could most probably be a wheeler dealer rather than a bona fide Japanese restaurant!Learn from my ill-fated food adventure and save your money. If you are hankering for good Sukiyaki, just go next door to the Japanese competitor by the corner. Now that one is a success story itself - always full, chirpy and good value, and yes, their Sukiyaki kicks some serious boot, plus weekdays they have Japanese beer at happy hour! What's not to like?

Excellent, perfectly cooked and presented. The atmosphere is lively and enjoyable. would highly recommend this restaurant for a great dining experience.

This restaurant initially showed promise with its fresh Wagyu dishes prepared in two unique ways - Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki. While I typically prefer Sukiyaki, I decided to try the Shabu Shabu out of curiosity. Unfortunately, I was greatly disappointed. The broth was bland and the meat did not live up to the freshness advertised on their website. The bill came out to nearly $50, with inflated prices on drinks adding to the cost. Despite my initial disappointment, I decided to give the restaurant another chance and try the Sukiyaki. However, my second visit only confirmed my initial findings: the Wagyu was not fresh, the waiter seemed untrained, the service was slow, and the overall experience was not worth the price. I would recommend avoiding this restaurant and trying the nearby Japanese competitor instead, which offers better value and quality dishes.

They really had a bad night.

My go-to place for a quick feed in Chatswood.