We did the weekend AYCE hot pot and sushi lunch ($34.95 per person). I would recommend just doing the AYCE hot pot. The sushi was very average and it came halfway of our meal (only order two rolls); we almost forget we ordered it. If you're looking for AYCE sushi, I would recommend a different location as this location doesn't have as much variety as others. AYCE hot pot service is fast. They have a dipping station to create your own dipping sauce. A variety of options for AYCE hot pot too. Quality was good. I would recommend it if you're in the area, but I wouldn't go out of my way to try it. Most people go here for the AYCE hot pot. read more

Overall very good hot pot! They've increased their prices recently, so AYCE hotpot came out to $35 per person. They do upcharge slightly ($2-3) for flavored broths, which is tacky but I digress. We had the Tom yum and clear mushroom broths, which was a great combination. They also have a sauce bar that is amaaazing. We had a variety of meats, seafood, and vegetables. Highlights for us were the ribeye steak, pork, ma la beef, gyoza, Bok choy, and varieties of tofu. Pretty good quality! It seems the only thing they're missing is fish balls and additional meatballs. Service was nice and efficient - some hovering as noted in other reviews, but they're just trying to do a good job. I'd like to try the AYCE sushi soon, although I don't think the sushi + hot pot price is worth it necessarily. read more

Ibasaw has all you can eat sushi and all you can eat hot pot and you can choose to do both. We chose to do both and believe it was $35 per person which is definitely not bad at all for the variety and quantity. We got a one person scorpion bowl was pretty classic and was pretty good. For all you can eat you can eat a variety of different meats from beef to chicken to lam to pork and more. The clams were definielty a favorite as well as the flat noodles. They had so much to choose from for sushi as well. The salmon was pretty good quality and the special roll was super good. Would definitely recommend this place for hot pot/sushi! read more

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Came here for the AYCE Hotpot and will definitely be coming back! They also have AYCE sushi and AYCE sushi and hotpot! AYCE hotpot includes the veggies, meats and seafood! It was pretty expansive list of options to order so you really can live your hotpot dreams!! The price was very fair. There are many broth options as well. For our party of 4, we ordered 4 different broths (white creamy, mushroom, chengdu hot and spicy and tom yum kung). All had great rich flavor, but my favorite was the mushroom and chengdu hot and spicy! At each table you find a list of all the ingredients and you check off what you want and they bring it to you. The only thing that is self service is the DIY sauce station. The service was friendly and quick. The ingredients were fresh and plentiful! Cant wait to come back! read more

The food were really nice~ You know how important the broth is for hotpot, and I hate it when it's too watery. The broth was spot on, and there was decent selection of food for an AYCE place If you want to see how the place look like: (wasn't crowded btw which was really nice) Instagram: @HungryVichu read more

I ordered sushi through Uber Eats. I really enjoyed the Alaskan Roll but some of the other rolls had a sauce I did not recognize. I've had better sushi before in Boston, but this still satisfied my craving. Next time I would try some of the non-sushi options. read more

Ibasaw - Sushi and Seaweed Salad - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

A solid 4.5!! This place is the place to go if you want the biggest bang for your buck! About $32 per person for AYCE hot pot and AYCE sushi for weekend dinner, which is a STEAL!! I'm not sure if it was just where we were seated, but the service was amazing! Our orders were taken quickly and our meats, veggies, sushi, etc. were delivered so quick. Waited at most 5 minutes on a Saturday night (which is crazy quick!). The spicy chengdu broth was pretty oily & the sushi wasn't the best, but it's AYCE- can't really expect the best. But I did leave really full and happy :) The sashimi was pretty good and both the sushi & hot pot menus had a lot of yummy options, like QUAIL EGGS (which I don't see that often at AYCE hot pot places!!). The staff takes a lot of precaution and seating is every other table. It was nice to see all the COVID-19 guidelines in place (hand sanitizer, taking temps, masks & gloves, one time use utensils, etc). Extra points because they were playing old K-POP music all night (Big Bang!!), LOL. I will definitely be back :) read more

Ibasaw - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

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Alright well during these hard times I really want to be fair when reviewing our restaurants. I believe it's important to support them as much as possible but I also have a duty to share my experience and give feedback. I'll start with the good stuff. Ibasaw is totally worth it. The food is well priced and the quality is great. We did the AYCE sushi and hotpot lunch and we went on a Sunday so it was $31.95 per person (extra charges for broth and sashimi not included). It was an amazing deal for everything you get. It's highly worth it. The sushi was fresh and delicious. The hotpot broth was one of the best we had ever had. They give you plenty of sauce and cilantro and scallions and garlic to spruce it up if need be. There are also ample ingredients available to choose from and cook. It's really unlimited. For someone who can eat ALOT (me) this is a dream come true. We got a lot of meat and veggies and apart from the Mala Beef tasting a little funky the rest of the ingredients were absolutely on point. On the other hand, make sure that you expect pretty bad customer service when eating here. The environment is not very welcoming. The employees seem a bit unhappy and it can cause the meal to feel a bit stressful. They make sure you are aware that you will be charged extra if you don't eat all of the food you order, and I totally get it, I can see how people would come here and waste unnecessarily. But there is a lot of emphasis put on this to the point that it makes it feel like you are treading on egg shells and are being watched. Also our waitress made us tip her more when we left. She was not happy with the tip and told us to add more. Again I completely understand with Covid these times are hard for everyone however if you make guests uncomfortable they will not feel inclined to leave a high tip. Overall I will go back here because the meal makes it worth it but I hope they will take my feedback regarding the customer service as I have seen a number of other customers complaining about the same thing. Don't let that stop you from going as you won't regret sitting down for this epic meal. read more

Ibasaw - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

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All you can eat hot pot and/or sushi. PROS: A sauce bar to make your own custom dipping sauces. Some appetizers on the bar, like seaweed salad and chicken feet. The hot pot is ok. For the price it's good. The space is big, and there are many tables. They even have TVs so you can catch a game. Just be prepared to ask them 5 times to change the TV to the huge sporting event, like the World Series that the Red Sox are actually in. Meats and veggies are good. I'd skip the pork. It was pure fat. The seafood isn't good. There's no more free lobsters either. I did enjoy the broth I had. CONS: staff is really unfriendly. You can't find them when you need them and often have to ask twice or three times for drink refills or napkins. Everyone at the table must get the same package. Meaning you can't just do the sushi price and your friend does just hot pot. In that case, you both get charged for the sushi and hot pot combo. My drink was so sweet. I could not even take more than a sip. It sat there all through dinner until the very end and the waitress didn't once ask why. So I paid for something I didn't drink. It's fine. Just wish they were more engaged with their table. OVERALL: It's probably 3.5 stars. For the price, the AYCE is nice. Service needs an overhaul read more

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Solid place for all you can eat hotpot. Note that it does not include all you can eat sushi. Service was attentive and all the vegetables, seafood, and meat were fresh. The tomato base was not a fan favorite for the table, but we did enjoy the mushroom broth. Plenty of parking. read more

The hot pot here is decent, reliable and reasonably priced for all you can eat. The specialty broths are a few dollars more but worth the extra charge. There is a sauce bar and cold bar, so indulge in as much of those until your taste buds and stomach are content. The service was adequate and attentive when I visited. After ordering and receiving the food, the servers came frequently to refill water cups and take away empty plates. The ambiance felt very casual and relaxed with today's hits (mostly pop songs) playing in the background. I chose the Chengdu hot & spicy broth and ordered a variety of meat, seafood, and vegetables during round one. I actually ended up ordering more than what I was willing to eat; nevertheless, I was able to finish with an uncomfortably full stomach because I don't like wasting food or paying extra charges. Of course, more often than not with all you can eat restaurants, there's a trade-off of quantity and quality. In this case, yes, the quality was not as good as other places in Boston but the food is potentially more abundant. Overall, it's sure to satiate your hot pot cravings as it did for me. read more

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Pretty good AYCE hot pot, the broth selection is always good however I do wish they had a bigger sauce bar.

We went there on a Tuesday afternoon. We've been here before but only had AYCE hotpot menu, which was completely mindblowing. You can order dinner menu at any time of the day, on any day. This will give you access to extra items, compared to the lunch menu (which is available only during lunch hours). We've ordered sushi dinner menu, which differs from sushi lunch menu because it gives access to sashimi. And you can combine hotpot and sushi order at the same time, which will result in a higher charge. The food was very good. Especially their salmon nigiri use quite fatty salmon, which gives it great salmon taste. Dragon roll was probably my favorite item, it contains shrimp tempura, eel and avocado, which turned out to be a great combination. Their eel has no bones. Wasn't very impressed with sashimi, so we would definitely be happy with a sushi lunch menu instead. I don't know if it has to do with the fact that raw fish is falling out of flavor for me, or because of the restaurant. It wasn't busy at all. Every second table is blocked, so all customers can follow social distancing from other tables. As always, I am very excited about AYCE places, but this excitement makes me eat too much when I actually come there. So my advice is to avoid overeating, even if the food is great. read more

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Awesome hot pot feast! Went here with a hungry group, we all went with the AYCE hot pot option (without sushi) - it's a great menu and everything is included (the usual sides and also meats, seafood). Fair price for the menu. Broths are really tasty, you do pay for them separate but the flavors are great and everyone can get their pick. Self-serve sauce station with good variety of sauce options. Different style than self-serve AYCE hot pot (everything brought to you) but that's kind of a plus especially in the time of COVID. Would recommend! Cannot comment on the sushi experience, but when walking around people's sushi looked good (lots of rice but that's standard for AYCE sushi). read more

Amazing flavor and quality! Loved our first experience there and the sauce bar. Will definitely return as regulars to get our soup fix!

Decided to try this place with my cousins last weekend and it wasn't too busy at around 6 pm. It's about $32 a person for sushi and hotpot on a weeknight. The sushi and hotpot was good and worth the money, but the only complaint is that they don't give you the actual amount of sushi you order. Specifically, my table of 6 ordered 30 pieces of sashimi, but only received about 20 pieces. This occurred on all three times we ordered. This is a huge downfall in my opinion. Other than that, I did enjoy the sushi as the rolls were not overloaded with rice. My favorite would have to be irashai roll because it's lightly torched. and drizzled with sauce (tastes like unagi sauce). As for the hotpot, I tried the kimchi and tom yum hotpot broths and they were both very flavorful. However, same with the orders of sushi, we barely got any meat or veggies for 6 people and it was a pain to have to continuously order more (we only ordered a total of 3 times) so I felt like we just didn't end up eating as much as we usually do. Lastly, you have to pay for bottled water because tap water is not complimentary there and the customer service was mediocre. Overall my experience was okay, but not as good as my experiences with other AYCE hotpot and sushi places. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to come here again. read more

Ibasaw - Salmon sashimi, yellowtail, Pink Lady Maki, and Irashai Maki - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

This place keeps changing their name from Ibasaw to 5 Spices and vice versa but I'm not sure if there is actually any change in management or staff with each name change. The building has always said "Ibasaw" but their ordering sheets say "5 Spices." This was my second time dining at this establishment and they have greatly improved since. It still bugs me that they charge for hotpot broth. However, I am willing to pay that extra $3 for a pot of that Cheng Du Hot & Spicy broth because it is legitimately the best hotpot broth I have ever had. I also love that they can make it extra spicy. That heat is awesome! The service is spotty but I love the food hence the 4-star rating. They are currently having a promotion where each person gets a free lobster when they are doing AYCE. My group of 5 dined on a weekday night for $28.95 AYCE hotpot and sushi. It ended up being about $37.69 per person with tax and gratuity included. For some reason they tacked on 18% gratuity despite us having a group of 5...I thought they only did that for groups of 6 so that was actually super annoying as the service we received did not warrant an 18% tip. We often had to flag down our server for additional ordering sheets to get more food. I mean, come on, it is a buffet. They should really give us new sheets every time they bring out an order. They did offer free mochi ice cream at the end of our meal but it was pretty mediocre. Their sushi is pretty okay quality - decent, actually, for a buffet. I really enjoyed their spicy salmon and spicy tuna handrolls. Salmon and tuna anything on their sushi menu is good. The ingredients for our hotpot were pretty decent quality overall. The vegetables were super fresh and the meats were frozen but that's the usual. Our favorites were the choice rib eye and angus prime rib. The seafood seemed fresh but we only got the lobster, mussels and scallops. 5 Spices has a decent range of ingredients you can order from dumplings to fish/cuttlefish/beef balls to quail eggs so our group was satisfied. read more

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Year's ago, I took a glance and one bite out of the food and told my partner I never wanted to go back. Recently, we heard the food has gotten better and I was craving a tomato broth soup base. My partner said let's give it another try and my life has been life changing. The service and freshness of the food has improved so much I've been back 6 times this month! It's nice having a good hotpot area on the North Shore. read more

I had family visiting from Canada during Christmas it was a table of 6 adults and 2 children. You'd think they'd bring out 2 x dishes of the same meats for both sides of the table. Then you are wrong. They will bring out the meats that's selected 1 plate each. So we had to take turns on what we wanted to eat. Now we feel like damn beggars. I would not take my family here in the future. We will either stick to Quincy or Chinatown. The bill came out to be close to 400$. Should have to beg for more food had they bring out food enough for 6 adults and 2 children read more

Pretty decent AYCE hotpot with standard sauce station. Service was great and attentive. I will come back again because their Mala broth is above average compared to other hotpot buffet places. I also had Tom Yum and that is okay. Great price for the quality, don't expect too much. read more

Got takeout and was blown away by the sushi quality!! It was delicious and the sauce pairing was amazing. I'll need to come in person sometime! read more

Ibasaw - Irashai Maki, Dragon Maki, Tiger Maki - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

This plus amazing. The service is top notch. Everyone is so friendly and happy to help or explain how to cook the items you pick. We came for our son's 13th birthday and he brought two friends. None of them had hot pot before but by the end of the night they were pros and said it was the best dinner! The meats/ seafood were excellent. We had 4 different broths. My husband loves spicy so he had a bowl with two different spicy broth. Ended up being too spicy so they helped us dilute it. Overall, the atmosphere, friendly service and the food was delicious! read more

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This place is okay, but it's not the best for non meat eaters, as the options are pretty limited... The food was okay, the broths were missing flavors (we had tomato & mushroom broth).. The staff is on point and really attentive. But the restaurant is not clean... I thought all you can eat $35 was a good price but realistically we'd spend about the same as some better place in town since they charge you for broth... Would I avoid it? NO! Would I run to go back? Neither read more

They were having a special 2 for $20 on a lb of Lobster so I stoped and got in on the deal. They have outside seating only during COVID and it's pretty spaced out in the parking lot. The food came out pretty fast it was just kind of dry, seems like it would be more of a wet seasoning on the lobster. The lobster is all broken down for you in a bowl, it was still good however just wouldn't get it again. read more

Ibasaw - Lobster - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

Great all you can eat hotpot place! It includes meat as well (unlike some other all you can eat hot pot places). You get a sheet of a paper and order from the table. The pots come with dividers so you can get different broths to share with others. There's also a sauce bar for you to mix your own. Definitely recommend! Also good for groups. There's an all you can eat sushi option as well, heard good things about it, but I haven't tried it yet. read more

I last reviewed this place in 2018 and gave it 5 stars. Hot pot was terrific, sushi was top quality, and the service was fast and friendly. What's not to like? A few years have gone by. This place is still here while many other AYCE Hot pot and sushi places have dropped by the wayside. I finally made it back to day, and I found that sushi was no longer provided with the AYCE price. While you used to pay about $35 for AYCE Hot Pot and Sushi, now you are paying $35 for just hot pot. The quality of the hot pot is still good, above average in the Boston area. Sushi is available, but a la carte. I was thinking about having a few pieces of nigiri. But the menu said Salmon nigiri was $7 for 2 pieces. So it would have been $14 for the 4 pieces that I wanted. I think there's a discount that would have brought the price down close to $10. But, well, I passed. Even $45 for my meal with very limited sushi didn't strike me as a good deal. So, I don't want to give the place a horrible review. But it was quite a disappointment walking into a restaurant planning to do AYCE Hot pot and sushi and then having just the hot pot. Feels lacking somehow. read more

A hotpot and sushi buffet with a large parking lot and close to Malden Center. We reserved for a group of 14 and were seated immediately. Usually restaurants don't sit you unless half or everyone is here, but they sat us down right away as we waited for others to come with menus. You can get just hotpot, just sushi or hotpot and sushi for their all you can eat. We chose the hotpot and sushi option and they will prepare your broth while you decide on the toppings for hotpot. After you order, you can go up to the cold bar and make your sauce and get some appetizer (seaweed salad, fruits, chicken feet, cha siu, kelp salad and other cooked and marinated meats). As we sat down, the meats, seafood and vegetables for hotpot came out all at once. That was quick! The sushi did take a bit of time, but we did order a lot as well. They don't mention it, but everything you order on the sushi mention comes with 2 pieces. They have maki rolls, hand rolls and sashimi for dinner. The server also came around with extra napkins and more menus without us asking. We had multiple rounds of sushi and hotpot, but do know that there is a time limit of 2 hours or so. A friend walked in with gifts and the manager asked if this was for a birthday and she said yes. We ended up getting 3 fried ice creams for the birthday girls for free! The servers also came out with a glowing birthday sign and birthday song. Very attentive and considerate on their part! This restaurant was very welcoming and perfect for celebrating birthdays and to come with family! read more

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Keep reading for my story--we really had dinner and a show. I came with my family yesterday, and we opted for AYCE sushi and hotpot. It was confusing because yesterday the restaurant name online and on Yelp was Five Spices House, but the sign said "Ibasaw" and now I see they have changed their name back... which is interesting and a bit of a red flag since some restaurants use this as a tactic in case business wasn't going well or there was a problem while using the old name. If they changed it to avoid my story being entered here, they certainly failed. Pros: -The selection of food on the hotpot menu especially was pretty extensive, and even included snow crabs and clams, which we enjoyed. -Quality of hotpot food is decent. Vegetables seem pretty fresh. -The herbal broth was delicious, and the spicy broth was very flavorful ( a little too flavorful and spicy, but it was nice) -There is a decent sauce station, though it is limited compared to other places I've been to for hotpot. Cons: -The sushi and sashimi was okay quality, but not the best, not that I was expecting much from AYCE at this price point. I would say it is a few steps below Yamato's in Allston/Boston but definitely edible. -The service was extremely lacking. My mom is a loud Chinese woman and even she felt like she had to wave and shout to get their attention most of the time. -Service was rude... I am used to Chinese restaurants having brusque service but they were also kind of ridiculous with the amount of times they mentioned the charges for if we didn't finish the food. I'll add to this later. -$3 extra charge per broth, and broth is shared with the whole table, not individual pots. -Ordering was kind of weird with the hotpot menu. For certain things like vegetables and miscellaneous items, they said they would give us the amount that five people would eat. However, that is kind of an arbitrary way to go about this, and sometimes we felt we were served too little or too much of certain items. I've been to hotpot places where veggies, mushrooms, noodles, etc were self serve and that seemed to work out well. Story time... In the middle of our meal, I looked down on my plate and saw a wriggling creature from hell mere inches from me. This thing was like nothing I've seen before. I have found insects, cooked and alive, in my food before, and this is the first time I have let out such a scream in a restaurant in my life. I backed away from the table, and my boyfriend instantly dispatched the monster in a napkin. I looked up, and the entire restaurant had gone silent, all eyes on me. It was actually hilarious, albeit embarrassing. I did some googling later, and I think the bug was an earwig, google if you want to imagine what I went through! I only wish I had taken a picture so I could do further research, but now I'll never be sure what it was I saw. I felt bad at the time and tried not to continue making a fuss afterwards, because I get it, sometimes bugs find their way into the vegetables and are not filtered out with the washing process. However, the way the staff dealt with the situation as a whole is what makes my rating so low. They did not ask what was wrong, ask if I was okay--there were no words of apology or acknowledgement AT ALL (we are Chinese and there was no language barrier). They merely asked us awkwardly if we wanted to change plates, after neglecting our table for so long (our plates were stacked with trash and crab/clam shells at this point, and the table was completely crowded with plates). At least my little fiasco got us better service for all of 20 minutes! The way they tried to damage control by covering up what went on immediately shows me this is a common occurrence, or they don't care about their customers at all. Near the end of our meal, a staff member even dared to joke about us being charged $1 per remaining sushi piece... Any decent restaurant would not mention this, and a good restaurant would have given us a discount because of the insect we found in our food. In the end, they presented us with the bill, with 15% tip already factored in. Laughable, considering how difficult it was for us to even flag a staff member down during our meal, even when they were standing a few feet away. If it was 20% I might have said something... Without the bug and service issues included, I'd say food was a solid 3-3.5 stars. If you can tolerate terrible service and are not afraid of bugs, this place is totally recommendable. If you are looking for good hotpot in the Boston area, I recommend Spring Shabu Shabu. If you are looking for good sushi, I recommend not going to an AYCE place, though Yamato is pretty decent in that regard. P.S.-I am fairly certain that if the bug came from my food on my plate, it was from the cold appetizers, so be careful in partaking. read more

Ibasaw - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

I had no idea that "Ibasaw" was "wasabi" backwards till someone pointed it out to me... mind blown. Ibasaw is a buffet style restaurant located in a corner of the Stop & Shop plaza a short walk away from the Orange Malden Center T stop, so parking is a plenty. A walk through the buffet area revealed that the prepared dishes covered two buffet lines, as did the hot pot, while the final fifth station against the far wall consisted of the sweets such as ice cream (3 flavors), a single dessert soup, some fruit, jello, and almond cookies. With a two dollar differential and the rather limited non-hot pot buffet options, the majority of us elected to go with the hot pot upgrade, and sat accordingly. Most hot pot places tend to offer a basic broth inclusive with the price and upcharge a selection of other broths. No so here at Ibasaw. Here it is $1 for their basic house pork based broth, and $2 for the rest, although refills are free. We entertained ourselves wondering if opting for hot water would be free, and what if we elected to boil our meal in champagne... We found it efficient to start the hot pot cooking while we began munching on the cooked options as the pot cooked. I neglected to mix up a sauce from the fixings provided at the buffet line, but found my meal tasty enough. For the hot pot, I like frozen tofu, but found that the sort they have here had an unfortunate tendency to disintegrate in the rolling broth - so don't set it and forget it... They also had a round dumpling with a filling that was a nice surprise taste sensation. The cooked section was nearly half Japanese style salad such as seaweed, and maki rolls. My hope for soft shell crab was denied, but I made do with the handful or so of cooked maki, having identified the ones with eel, tempura shrimp, sweet potato, and cream cheese. From the other prepared food line, I enjoyed the juicy light crisp fried oysters, plump crab rangoon, and sweet tasty beef teriyaki sticks. Some sections were better labeled than others. My tip for the dessert line is to add a scoop of strawberry ice cream (they didn't have vanilla) to your bowl, before filling it with the Taro Sago with Coconut Milk dessert soup. Yum! If you let the restaurant know that you're celebrating a birthday, they will gladly bring out a slice of cake gratis for the birthday celebrant along with an embarrassing attention grabbing song. We were stuffed, but a few of us sampled the lemon cake and found it nice and light, though the frosting was heavier and denser - perhaps buttercream based? Service was acceptable with both broth and waters topped off occasionally, and plates removed (please keep your utensils). As with all buffet places, please do not take more than you can eat. If you have too much waste, they have a sign posted that they may charge an additional $10.95 per pound. Adult Dinner Buffet Pricing: Monday - Thursday $25.95 w/o hotpot $26.95 w/ hotpot Friday, Weekend & Holiday $26.95 w/o hotpot $28.95 w/ hotpot House Broth $1 Special Broth $2 Kids 4-6 years $10.95 Kids 7-10 years $16.95 read more

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Finally my favorite restaurant reopened after the peak of pandemic. I am so glad that the owner, manager and all staff members are talking good care of customers and observe the highest hygiene standards. Also the hot pot is the same delicious. Fresh meat and seafoods with spicy broth are the best matches. The staff members are very polite and friendly. Our table of four enjoyed the dinner. Definitely will come back again when the all you can eat sushi comes back. read more

Ibasaw - All you can eat sushi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

A all you can eat hot pot place. We came at 10PM. The staff is quite diverse and can converse in mandarin, English and Cantonese. There was one pot that was shared and it was hard to continue ordering as the staff kept hiding because they were clearly cleaning and wanted to get home by 12AM closing time. They were very nice and helpful though with even serving oranges to us to go. The sushi rolls were all 30% off which was a plus. You have to pay $1 for the jasmine tea bags they provide though. read more

If you're coming for sushi only, do not come here. This review excludes hotpot as my party didn't get it and I understand that this place is a big hotpot place, but my party and I assumed that just eating sushi would be fine. The price is around $32/person for sushi only and with this price, we assumed the sushi would be of good quality as this is pretty steep imo. Selection: the selection is very general. This isn't one of those places with appetizers and lots of small little things like shuaimai, spring rolls, seaweed salad, etc. it's only has some sashimi, sushi, rolls, and handrolls. It's very basic for the price. Photo attached. Taste/quality: nothing special or amazing. It was just average. The shrimp tempura had only a small piece of shrimp. A lot of rice on the tolls. The wasabi was of low quality - the fake super green type you buy. The ginger was red and dry. Overall the food was very underwhelming and not worth it. Time: this is the biggest issue. We got our first plate 30 -45 minutes in after ordering. We only have 3 people in our party and we did not order a lot as we don't like to over order but are under the assumption that you can order more often. We were soooo wrong. The first order came so late in. We put in another order maybe 5 minutes after receiving our food as we saw how long it took. And guess why we're writing this review... because I'm still waiting for my second order of sushi. We arrived at 6:45PM and it is now 8:30PM waiting for our 2nd order for 3 people. Unbelievable. We're probably not even going to put in another even though we're still hungry because we don't want to wait another hour. If you're coming if or sushi only, do not do not read more

Ibasaw - Sushi AYCE - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

Came here for hotpot with my boyfriend and he said many chinese come here so it has to be authentic. But food here is NOT fresh at all, beef just breaks apart after you dip them in hot water, enoki mushroom gave out really plasticky smell and whats worse was theres a dead BUG, yes a BUG in the the watercress we ordered. See picture for reference. We called the waitress, she came, looked at it as if it happens EVERYDAY and took the plate and left. No apologies, no explaination, nothing. You are a hotpot company, the only thing you need to do is to wash the vegetables !! Anyways, if you want to eat low quality food $24 per person or eat bugs do come here! read more

Ibasaw - Bug veggie - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

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This place used to be ibasaw and is now 5 spices house. It is still a sushi/hot pot buffet but I think this is so much better. I would recommend coming here for a special meal once in a while but it is quite pricey. Lots of options, but not as many as the Chinatown hot pot buffet. Loved their seafood choices including crab, shrimp, scallops, octopus and fish fillet. They also have a large variety of vegetables many types of mushrooms. I did not really like their greens - they were not very fresh and had many blemishes. I also really liked their cold bar - they have chicken feet and pig ears for the buffet! Hard to find that in Boston. They don't have many starches - only noodles, vermicelli, and rice. They also don't have much dessert options, only a few fruits. Service is really good actually - one of the best services I've received in a Chinese restaurant. They were very attentive and quick to refill our waters and take away our plates. I don't really understand why there was an extra charge for the broth - I don't think that was necessary. The weekend dinner meal ended up to be around ~30$ per person. This place is very close to the orange line Malden station. I will probably be back in the future but it will definitely be for a special event as it is quite expensive. read more

My cousin heard good things and wanted to try this seafood hot pot joint. Ironically, we ordered more meat and veggies than actual seafood. For brother, we went for Tom Yung (spicy) and Creamy White, which was perfect when things got too heated. There's a sauce table where you can mix and test out what sauces you like. I thought the food was okay and was a bit hard to enjoy because of the watchful eyes. Although chopsticks should be second nature for me, I struggled that night and I can see them looking and making comments because I used my hands to put items in the broths. I shall return at some point and redeem myself! read more

My wife and I are trying to find every single dim sum spot within 20 miles of us and have ventured out to strange locales recently like Lexington to find it. So here is another solid option on Chinese New Year weekend, knowing that the typical cart service type places will be packed to the gills. We had a large party with her family but were seated immediately, as they have tables already made up for those that need it for like 8-10 people. It was crowded because of the holiday but nothing overwhelming, there is plenty of room between tables so they don't cram too much into this old Applebees space. While the sushi was lackluster and not something I returned to more than once, the dim sum was on par with the better locations in the Boston area. I thought the chicken feet were excellently seasoned and they continued to bring out fresh batches. Tofu skin wraps? Just as good as Chinatown. Eeeemmm, jook! The shrimp on a stick were the star of the show for me, perfectly presented with the head still on and deep fried, I'd return just for these bad boys. I think the thing I was most upset about were the ice cream options. No red bean or green tea?! We didn't try the hot pot because it didn't make much sense to add on with all of the other hot buffet options that were readily available. They could just do away with this and it wouldn't matter one bit to our large party although I saw others in the restaurant actually utilizing it. It's nice to see something redeeming in the old Applebee's building that isn't actually a national, crappy chain. This isn't the best food you've ever had but it is pretty high up there in terms of the quality you get from a buffet, especially for $16 at lunch. read more

It's a little confusing that they go by 2 names but at least when you put it in maps it gives the same location. This is a pretty good AYCE sushi and AYCE hot pot. I didn't try to sushi, but I did try the hot pot and it was actually pretty good. I like the fact that the broth was pretty tasteful and the menu had a variety of different items. A lot of places do not have AYCE crab included soo when i saw that on the menu I was pretty shocked. Love the idea of making my own sauce. read more

Ibasaw - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

Ordered from uber eats today and WHOA this is delicious, fresh sushi. We got the $60 sushi/sashimi platter and it was supposed to come with edamame (my fave) but it came w a seaweed salad (my least fave) so I docked a star. We will 100% be ordering again. Still eating it and looking forward to our next order! read more

Ibasaw - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

The environment is terrible, the service is poor, and the ingredients are not fresh. Not recommend. read more

Ibasaw - unfresh meat - Sushi Bars Near Me - Malden, Massachusetts

this is my favorite restaurant in the Boston area. very good hot pot and sushi. the staff is very nice. the hot pot is my favorite. it's fun and interactive. all you can eat for one price. the veggies are always fresh and delicious. same with the meat and fish options. I appreciate that they give you a water jug to refill glasses at the table. they have a topping bar with everything you could ever want including hot sauces, soy sauces, fresh garlic, etc. at the end of service they give you fresh orange slices and ice cream. I come to the restaurant at least once a month because of how wonderful it is. it has a spacious parking lot if you drive and is close to the orange line if you are commuting. overall, a very wonderful restaurant:) read more