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Kim Shabu

4.3 (321 reviews)
ModerateKorean, Hot Pot, Buffets
Open 11:00 am - 11:00 pm
Updated a few days ago

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Live Current wait: under 5 minutes

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KIM SHABU ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Moderate noise
Good for groups
Good for kids

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Recommended Reviews - Kim Shabu

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Reviews With Photos

Seafood bar
Emily K.

We had the AYCE for Saturday lunch and it was a very satisfying meal. The seafood, veggies and sauce bar was clean, fresh and neatly organized, and I like they have two types of house sauce ready, cause I often don't even know what I need to mix to make a good sauce. The meat was good quality and tender too, and I loved the house broth. The house porridge at the end was definitely a cherry on top. 10/10 highly recommend it!!

Patricia T.

It pains me to write this as I was truly excited to check out this place. I was in Koreatown and was looking for places to eat and this one had great reviews. It should've been a red flag already coming in with no customers in the restaurant, but I gave it benefit of the doubt. No issues with customer service as everyone was incredibly nice. When I was sitting at the table; I noticed a cockroach on the wall. Not wanting to alarm my parents I decided to ignore it. Thinking back, I really should have told them and gotten up right away because it made me iffy and anxious the entire time. Surely enough, my intuition was correct. After we got our food, I noticed the cockroach (don't know if it was the same one on the wall earlier or not) casually walking on our table where all our food was. Now I can't ignore it anymore and told my dad there's a cockroach right next to your plate. We flagged down the owner and told her about it. She was very apologetic and moved us to a different table and offered a discount to our bill. But during the entire time I was hypersensitive and on high alert for the bugs. It really just ruined my appetite and I couldn't find myself enjoying my meal at all.

Jo-ann H.

Went for their lunch on a rainy day and the price was super reasonable. It was around $21ish per person with 6 meat options to choose from (#6-12). The restaurant was pretty clean, and all the veggies were fresh. Honestly, it's one of the cleanest AYCE hot pot spots I've found so far. The staff were also very friendly and welcoming, which made the experience even better.

À la carte menu
Ashley D.

A good option for AYCE hotpot in the Memorial City-Bunker Hill-Little Seoul area with very reasonable prices, especially for lunch! It's a quiet and clean place, and the front still has the Noodle House. Our server was very friendly and helpful, and I believe the manager also routinely came out to check on us (she also seemed friendly). Compared to places in Bellaire/Chinatown, it has less options for sides, but I think the quality makes up for it. My ONE advice: DOUBLE UP ON YOUR MEATS! The portions of "single" meat plates are much smaller than other hotpot places. The pic I've included is when we doubled up on our meat orders.

Menu
Liz N.

Returned to visit the shabu AYCE experience and new concept. Everything was very good and they definitely got busy as the morning progressed. Good options from the buffet line. Very nice employees! I got the house broth and my favorite cut of meat from the lunch menu was #7. Clean restaurant and will def be back

Peter X.

Quick service, friendly staff, and $30 AYCE dinner. I do recommend the dinner menu for the additional meats. This place is good for the price although I wished there were more options at the bar such as more veggie options and seafood. Pro tip: at the end of the meal, get some handmade noodles to soak up all that flavor from the broth!!

AYCE HOTPOT
Jeannie K.

Kim Shabu is my happiest find of 2024 in Houston. This used to be a soup noodle place and has since been completely remodeled. It now offers - dare I say - the best individual hotpots in Houston. That's a bold claim given we have so many hotpot spots. So what do I base that on? 1. The variety of items. The seafood and veggie+ bar is impressively varied, and with 12 cuts of meat offered for dinner, Kim Shabu gives you permutations and combinations of concoctions between veggies, meats, seafood, carbs, and sauces. Don't skip on the rice cakes and the hand-pulled noodles towards the end. 2. The freshness. This is unbeatable. I don't know how they offer so many items and yet keep them all so fresh. I probably ate a pound of mushrooms and crown daisy each, and don't get me started on the meat. So fresh and so good. Such good quality. 3. The flavors. Both the House and Beef broth are delicious. While my pot tasted like really thick mushroom soup by the end of the meal, the broth was good from the get go. The sauces were also spot on. The avocado sauce was so good and spicy, and I also enjoyed the soy-based House and Ponzu sauces as well as the black sesame sauce. And the peanut sauce. And the ssamjang. I ate a lot of sauces. Service was also prompt. I'm really happy with this find! Edit: Turns out that I really disliked my experience here prior to the remodeling, but definitely go and support this new hotpot gig. The Shabu is fantastic.

Roxanna V.

This place never fails. Went in January and very recently with family and friends. Our visit in January was with a large party with some being vegan and non vegan. It was a wonderful experience all around. They have plenty of vegan options here and highly recommend for anyone wanting those options. They have no problems answering any and all questions as to what is and isn't vegan. The meats are always fresh, as well as the buffet. Hands on my favorite place to go and always highly recommend. The service is always wonderful. If you are looking to go for lunch and not dinner there options are half of what is offered for dinner but they are still great options.

Katie A.

First time here and had a great experience! It's very clean and well laid out. The service was great and the owners are so sweet. So many options to choose from the food bar. The broth was a bit bland and I couldn't figure out how to spice it up just right but there are a lot of great sauce options. It really is a great price for the quantity and quality of the food. I will definitely be back.

front counter
Chris W.

Previously Korean Noodle House, Kim Shabu is a lovely family-owned hot pot joint out in Spring Branch. The clean, minimalist decor as well as the unassuming menus are endearing, but don't let that fool you - among shabu shabu restaurants, it holds its own against more bombastic peers in Chinatown and Katy. Here are my thoughts on our experience: Meats and soups: For dinner, choose from any of the 12 cuts on the list, of which 9 are beef, 2 are pork, and 1 is chicken. Everything we had was fresh and well-portioned; I loved seeing all the beautiful trays hit the table at once, then stacking them up high as we devoured slice after slice of meaty goodness. Most of us ordered either the deeply rich house broth or lightly savory dashi soup, which were also both excellent and complemented the shabu shabu options well. Buffet: You'll find your typical selection of Asian veggies, shellfish/seafood, tofu, mushrooms, and noodles out here. Reflecting the restaurant's Korean roots, you'll also see an extensive banchan station (I wish the kimchi had gotten refilled)! The sauce bar has both prepared mixes and basic essentials for you to create your perfect dip. The dessert and hot food sections were fairly limited, but you're not here to eat too much of that here, are you? Service: Our server was quick, efficient, responsive, and attentive - perhaps more so than at any other hot pot restaurant I've been to! I guess it did help that the place was pretty light when we went late on a Friday night. In short, while it may not have some of the more expansive options that other places do, Kim Shabu more than makes up for it with solid mainstays and excellent, personable service - I wouldn't hesitate to go back if I found myself in the area!

Andrew C.

On the corner of a strip mall, this hot pot place isn't huge but can seat parties of two to larger groups (there's a separate room with big tables). Each person gets their own pot and it's one price for AYCE - with discounts for senior citizens (10%) and kids under 4 eating free. Broths are House (chicken, beef, pork), dashi, beef, pork, chicken, miso or veggies. I went with the house but honestly - like with most hot pots the flavors at the end are all muddled. The have a buffet bar with the most neatly stacked and assorted vegetables and items for your hotpot - including kimchis etc. They also have a section for rice and some items that go well with rice . . . and a separate area with fruit and a whole ice cream section. Meats are very very thinly sliced - which means they cook in a matter of seconds. You can get two plates of meat per person (roughly 10 pieces), but you'll likely need to order some more as you go. Staff was so courteous and helpful and very kind. We even got some candy canes since Christmas was just around the corner. This place is definitely a bit of a neighborhood gem.

House broth
Quynh-Anh V.

I liked how everything at the veggies and seafood bar was chopped nicely, and the porridge at the end was great and for only $1! But the broths are not super flavorful (which is probably suitable to Korean people's tastes), and they don't have crab sticks!!! which is big for me. Also the meat is chopped a little too thinly so it falls apart really easily. The staff seemed nice though and everything was very clean.

Patrick L.

This restaurant has great flavor broth, and a good selection of meats. I wish there was more sides available.

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1 year ago

So fresh, love the prices! Can't wait to come back in the future with my family. The service was excellent!! The broth was amazing

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3 years ago

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2 years ago

This place is amazing! Always fresh. Great service. Good sauce options. Really cute party rooms.

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3 years ago

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2 years ago

New shabu restaurant near the house. Everything was super clean, organized and tasty! Definitely will come back again.

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4 years ago

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Page 2 of 9

Ask the Community - Kim Shabu

Is it only Shabu or can we still order the noodle soups?

Hi, thank you for your message! Yes, you can still order the noodle soups! But we are out of internet… 

I used to love the kimchi from Korean Noodle House. Do they still sell kimchi to go, and is it the same?

Yes, we are the same owner and make the same kimchi every day!

Are you the same owners as Korean Noodle House?

Yes! My parents are still cooking in the kitchen!! We just changed our menu to All You Can Eat Shabu… 

Do they have ponzu sauce?

We do not have ponzu sauce yet, but we have other house-made sauces taste similar. We will actually add ponzu sauce soon, too!

Are there gluten free items on the menu?

Yes, they have some rice dishes which are gluten free.

View All 8 Questions

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Yuk Dae Jang might be my new favorite Korean soup spot. The broth alone is to die for! Very rich,…read morecomforting, and packed with authentic flavor in every bite. I had the spicy seafood soup with fresh noodles, and it was spectacular. The noodles were cooked perfectly and soaked up all that incredible broth. The mix of shrimp, mussels, and squid made it feel hearty and well-balanced. I also tried my friend's beef short rib soup, which was just as delicious, definitely ordering that next time. The banchan really impressed me too. The kimchi had the perfect crunch and might be some of the best I've had. The fish cakes and scallions were also on point. The space is small but great for lunch or a casual dinner. Service was friendly, restrooms were clean, and overall it was a great experience. I'll definitely be back.

Went to Yuk Dae Jang and got super lucky because they were hosting a collab with Morii coffee, so…read morewe got a discount on our meal. Got the seollangtang, bulgogi, and bossam. The bossam was delicious, plentiful with a good mix of sides. The bulgogi was sweet and a large portion. The seollangtang tasted a little strange to me but was full of meat and noodles. Service was quick and the restaurant was quiet, but played kpop over the speakers. It was a good place to chat. I remember liking their galbijjim the last time I was here. Overall, great place for classic Korean food that can be hard to find elsewhere!

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I'm always on the hunt for some quality, spicy, rich jjamppong. Paik's Noodle in Cypress seals the…read moredeal... even more than the Spring Branch location. This spot is located in a small plaza next to a busy trampoline park, and inside, it's very clean and well maintained. Each table has a menu of the offerings WITH pictures (so you don't have to scour Yelp like I usually do for pictures....). The waitresses come by to help answer any questions if you have any. To be honest, I think the menu tablets are a bit overkill since they have a small enough menu to look though, but it is good for people who aren't familiar with Korean food or the establishment itself. What's nice is you can get many of the dishes with noodles or rice as your starch of choice. 10/10 Jjamppong - the broth is flavorful, seafood rich, and noodles perfectly bouncy. SOO good. I couldn't finish the whole bowl, so it's easily shareable. 7/10 Chicken Fried Rice. It's expensive for the amount of rice you get. Flavor is good, but there's not a lot of chicken. Would suggest an appetizer as well if you want to stay full. This location does not have unlimited pickled radishes like the Spring Branch location. All in all, I really liked the food - I'll only really come back here for the noodle soup, but that's enough for me since they specialize in both the jjamppong and jiajangmyeon.

Fast with great service. We went to Paiks Noodle and tried the Jajang Rice which includes a plate…read moreof white rice topped with the Janjang sauce which is a semi sweet, savory like black bean sauce with an omelette and side of Jjamppong soup. The soup was hot and a little spicy with seafood like mussels. This is a great lunch option because service is so quick and it's super filling. The parking lot is huge so there's plenty of parking

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Paik's Noodle
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I love this spot! The staff is very friendly and excellent upscaled service grilling the meat…read more Always feel very full and satisfied from the food. I typically can share a single order of meat and sides are very affordable. No complaints and lunch menu is very affordable!!

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Interior
Interior
BORI - Montrose
Out front

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Out front
Korea Garden Restaurant

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Our family has been coming to Korea Garden for years, even before Korean BBQ became so popular…read more A couple of things have always been consistent for us: we pretty much order the same dishes every time (kimchi stew, galbi, bulgogi, and more recently the scallion pancake), and we always leave satisfied. The side dishes are delicious, the meat is delicious, and the soup is delicious. We've also ordered seafood and pork dishes in the past, and they were excellent as well. I especially appreciate the cozy, family-friendly atmosphere of the restaurant. The servers are always kind and attentive, and in over 10 years we've never left without looking forward to coming back again and again.

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My spread getting ready for the grill
My spread getting ready for the grill
Bulgogi bento box
Bulgogi bento box
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Kim Shabu - korean - Updated July 2026

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