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    Shabu En

    4.6 (601 reviews)
    Closed 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

    Shabu En Photos

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    SHABU EN ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Trendy
    Good for groups
    Happy hour specials

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    Recommended Reviews - Shabu En

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    Individual hotpot
    Thierry T.

    1. Service - our waiter was friendly and very attentive. I was surprisingly impressed. As you walk in, you're greeted by the team of hosts. At the table, order your broth and meat before going to the buffet table. Keep in mind that most everything at the buffet is raw (veggies and seafood) except for dessert, drinks, and the sauce station. Pay at the table when finish. 2. Price - as of May 2026, All you can eat adult prices are $24 for lunch, and $34 for dinner. 3. Ambiance - contemporary, white marble, shiny chandeliers, and plenty of booth seatings. This place looks classy. You'll be amazed as to how big the interior is. Dress code here is casual. 4. Food - pretty straight forward hotpot place. I like their SHIITAKE MUSHROOM Broth. I would say that would be a basic Chinese hotpot broth to try if this is your first time. I don't recommend the SUKIYAKI broth. The menu says that this is a popular broth for beginners. But you're basically cooking in sweet soy sauce. 5. Cleanliness - dining area was clean, buffet table would do better if they have an extra person manning the table. Tongs were sticky and food droppings on the table. The restrooms were humid and smelly. Something they can easily work on with a little more focus to cleanliness.

    Thuy P.

    We've been here many times and still like this place Food and service were good. The place is cleaned. Have many choices of seafood if you don't want only beef.

    Menu as of 2/21/26
    Jonathan V.

    We came to Shabu En for a friend's birthday and were not disappointed. This place has a lot of options for meat, veggies, and sauces and is all you can eat which is nice. Each person gets their own individual pot which is nice. Lunch is $23.99 and dinner is $33.99. Parking: Shabu En is in a big strip mall in Chinatown and has a large parking lot in front of the restaurant with free parking. Parking is easy to find. Ambiance: the restaurant is very modern and clean inside. The buffet line is well kept with items refilled constantly. All of the tables are sizable so you can fill up on all you can eat. Service: the servers here are very attentive and our plates were cleaned quickly. They have a tablet system that the waiter/waitresses use to place your orders. The meat came out quickly and our pots were refilled with broth constantly. Food: most of the items besides the meat are on the buffet. The buffet had veggies, dumplings, seafood, and dessert. They have 9 flavored broths to choose from and I went with the Signature broth which had a rich umami flavor. You are also able to switch broths which is nice if you don't like the first one you choose. Our favorite meats were the ribeye, short rib, and Wagyu round. The ribeye was fatty and marbled well and the short rib and Wagyu round had a lot of flavor. The brisket was a little tough and the other meats were a little lower quality as they became very tough after cooking for a short amount of time. The veggie and seafood selection was robust and had anything you could imagine. I enjoyed the shrimp and frozen dumplings. The shrimp were large and the dumplings soaked up a lot of broth flavor. One of my favorite things to do with hot pot is to drop potatoes into the broth and let them soak for a while. After a long time, they become soft and soak up so much of the broth flavor. They have a dessert bar with snow ice, coffee and cheesecake cones. Nice selection for dessert but I wish they had soft server or ice cream like some other shabu spots in town do. Overall, I would recommend Shabu En for its clean and modern interior, its large variety of food, and the excellent service.

    Eugene P.

    AYCE Shabu restaurant with individual pots. Good: - Clean interior. - Individual pots. - assortment of veggies and seafood. - fast at taking empty plates away. - Good sauce selection. Bad: - Meat quality is not the best. I expect some cuts of beef to be fatty but most of the meat is lower grade quality. It's normal for the soup base to accumulate fat, but this was on another level and that's because of the quality of meat. - Veggie quality is not the best. In my opinion, this is restaurant is not a Japanese style hotpot; it's more like a Chinese style hotpot. - Service can be improved. If you act like you don't want to work, customers can sense that. Also, servers should know the menu. I asked our server what the leanest cut of meat is and he said Rib Eye (wrong). - Parking is tough. Overall: I'm not sure what the hype is about this place. I've been to better Shabu places.

    William L.

    This may become a new fav hot pot spot on rotation for me. I'm a big fan of individual hot pots where you can pick your own broth (or switch it up). Their menu has a solid selection and you can order a wide variety of meats to the table. On weekends it's dinner pricing all day, but you also get better cuts, like Top Blade or Ribeye.. One of my friends was a hot pot pro and suggested combining two broths! So I went in with the Duck + Shabu combo and it turned out pretty good. Pro tip: ask for a ladle, just makes grabbing stuff from your pot way easier. The vibe is modern with music playing, and it definitely gets busy during lunch. The sauce bar is well stocked, and the buffet has a nice mix of veggies and seafood. (I especially liked the noodle and mushroom options.) Each table has its own temperature control which was cool. The shaved ice for dessert is a must.. Loved the texture and I went a little wild with the gummy bears and jelly toppings. (Just means extra gym time later... or honestly, don't even think about calories if you're coming here) They also have a good selection of mocktails and cocktails, and happy hour. I tried a highball on special and it was pretty solid. Definitely worth checking out overall, the pricing was on par with competition around town. With a coke + tax and 20% tip, we're looking about $50 per person for dinner.

    Christina M.

    Overall solid ayce hot pot! Lots of good meat options a service was pretty fast- lots of folks checked in on us. We tried a variety of broths- the original is really fishy tasting as an fyi, for those who don't love seafood But I did like the sukiyaki which was really sweet and the tonkatsu. The duck almost had a pho taste which was pretty good too. A cool thing about this spot is that they have all you can drink Vietnamese coffee! For dinner maybe not ideal but for lunch this is super neat! I do wish that the place was it more clean and that there was more than one condiment bar as we had to wait often to get sauces. However overall had a good time! I think it's well worth the price and for cold weather it's perfect!

    Hayley F.

    Located among other restaurants and shops and in front of a big parking lot, Shabu En gets pretty heavy foot traffic. They have weekday lunch pricing, and for weekends, it is only dinner pricing. You can switch the broths as many times as you like with no additional charge. Meat ordering is on the last page of the menu. The vegetables, carbs, seafood, sauces, etc are in the middle. I chose duck broth which had a strong duck taste. I liked it! The self-service ingredients and the thin slices of mear were fresh. The desserts available were only cheesecake on a cone, shaved ice with various toppings, and Vietnamese coffee. I would love to see more variety of ingredients. Look out for the big banner beside the doors. It says, "Buy a Shabu En gift card. Win a Hermes bag or Louis XIII cognac." If you are interested...

    Buffet line
    Alex N.

    I've had my fair share of hot pot/shabu in the area, but after trying Shabu En, it's hard for me to go back to the other places. The price is about the same as the rest, but the experience marked it as my new favorite. Shabu En has the standard shabu self-serve buffet line for your carbs, veggies, and sauces, with a good selection to boot. At the table, you have 9 different broths to mix and match and choose from. Then comes my favorite part: the meats. Plenty of good quality beef to choose from without paying the premium price at other upscale places. The ending that seals the deal for me, worthy of earning my 6th star if I could give one, is their complementary dessert bar with delicious cheesecake cones and a build your own shaved ice station. I'll always be on the lookout for new dining experiences, but Shabu En will be a tough one to dethrone!

    Broths (very shallow)
    Linda T.

    I come here too often that I purchased gift cards and entered their raffle tickets. Am I going to win? Most likely not but oh wells. I have tried every single one of their broths and my favorite of all of them: Mala Sichuan. Surprisingly not spicy so make sure you go to the sauce station an get more spice. The flavor is just perfect. If you want more of a pho broth, go with their duck broth. Spicy seafood broth is very... seafood. If you like to eat Asian seafood instant noodles, then this is your broth. That's the best I can describe it. Tom Yum is usually my to go broth but it doesn't have that lemongrass Tom Yum that I truly enjoy. Not bad, still my second choice. Tonkotsu is not bad and I would choose spicy. Sukiyaki is on the sweeter side and doesn't side with me. Shabu En Signature is also another good choice even though the first year they opened, my servers always tell me to not get it because it's plain. Lots of fresh vegetables, seafood, and noodle options here. Sauce stations now have suggestions on how to make your sauce so if you're not familiar with Japanese hot pot, do not fear. The individual pots make it easy to not cross-contaminate with others. Though, it is pretty low pot so you won't get much broths. Meats are thinly sliced but not crazy thin like rice papers. Speaking of rice papers, did you know they have spring roll wraps here by their sauce stations? I was unaware of this till this year that you can actually change your broth. Obviously, don't make it such a hassle for your servers. Changing it once or twice should be enough. Be sure to ask them to give you more broths before it burns. Don't forget to end your meal with a dessert... or two, or ten. No one will judge. This isn't Planet Fitness. To this day, my family and I enjoy this hot pot restaurant. Priced is right, it's clean, and you get a variety of food where it's not old. I am the girl with a full plate of seafoods... come say hi.

    Look I used my Yelp swag!!
    Salma S.

    Came to celebrate my daughter's birthday. Our waiter Heider was fantastic. Price is about $34 per person.. It's definitely a ton of fun quality of protein and veggies is great. And staff is more than happy to help you out. I know lunch is like $20 and to be honest I prefer dinner it's more but you have so many more options. Really really enjoyable. And FYI if you pick a flavor you aren't fond of you can switch out you aren't stuck with it !

    Kathy V.

    Decided to grab hot pot for lunch on a cold afternoon, and I'd say it mostly hit the spot. The price was fair considering the wide variety of options available. The sauce bar offered plenty of combinations to suit different preferences, and the soup itself was flavorful enough that I didn't feel the need to add extra seasoning. That said, some vegetable, meat, and add-on selections are limited to dinner service. On the plus side, they do offer a kimchi/pickled bar and a unique shaved ice bar for dessert, which sets them apart from other AYCE hot pot spots. In addition, they also had Vietnamese Coffee, but that station was kind of mid as the coffee was very water down compared to the traditional one. Service was decent--my soup came out quickly--but water refills were a bit slow during my visit. I did appreciate the thoughtful touch of them providing a small water bowl to rinse your fingers after eating seafood. The interior was very clean and spacious, making it great for groups. However, the tables can feel a bit small if your group likes to load up on multiple plates at once. Overall: Service: 4/5 Food: 4/5 Ambiance: 5/5

    Signature broth. Side dishes were also very tasty
    YD S.

    Been here more than 20 times. Our server, Vihn, was extremely helpful and attentive! Food was as usual, fantastic.

    Nini P.

    This was my first time at Shabu En, but I can definitely say it will not be my last! The meats came out quick and were great quality, and the vegetables and seafood tasted incredibly fresh. There were lots of broth options to choose from and I was pleasantly surprised that both my broth and the vegetarian broth were so flavorful. The interior was very clean and organized. The hostess and waiters were kind and efficient. My favorite part had to be the dessert though. There was a shaved milk area with toppings like mochi, popping boba, passion fruit syrup, and more. There was also Korean banchan, Vietnamese coffee, and a wide variety of sauces. Shabu en is my new favorite shabu spot in town and I'm definitely coming back!

    Tons of variety!

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    2 months ago

    Justin our server was amazing! Very helpful and respectful as this was my first time here! Amazing food, definitely recommend.

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    xavier was great and extremely helpful! he even brought out strainers and tongs to make our experience so easy

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    Shabu En Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Shabu En

    Do they serve alcohol?

    Yes they do! We ordered beers and mimosas

    Can i still go even if I don't have a reservation for that day?

    Yes

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    The best largest Vietnamese buffet I've had over and over again. Everytime I come back they always…read morehave new added item. Every possible dish you can think of and all their portions are small. Not huge portion so you get full. Every noodle soup you can think of in small portion bowls. Super delicious and a must try for all their soup. They have vietnamese street food with grilled oysters. They have everything from chicken feet, to blue crabs, roasted duck, roasted pork belly, prime rib, sushi, banh xeo, banh knot, banh cuon, and some much more. Basically, all your traditional vietnamese dishes and some. They all have you traditional hot deserts, cold desert, sweet sticky rice, mango coconut sticky rice, panda waffles, coconut jelly, honeycomb sweet bread and many more. They even have a sugarcane, milk tea, and passion fruit tea station. They continuously refill the food and the food is always hot. They remove empty plates very fast and refill your drinks continuously. Super friendly staff and so many of them. Very large space and fast paced environment. Can get super crowded with lines for every serving station. Large parking lot with plenty of parking.

    Disappointed in what was offered for a Saturday especially for $33 a person. I've been going to Kim…read moreSon since I was a teen, and it seems to have gone downhill since Covid. If you want an assortment of everything Vietnam has to offer, then this is a great place to have that experience. But if you want the best of the best, visit and use Yelp to find the particular dishes you want. Typically Saturdays in the past were more expensive because of what they offered with seafood but there want much to choose from outside of mussels. There were shrimp dishes but in the past crawfish, crab, etc. were offered. The new-ish addition of the street food, Che station, and new desserts was nice but not for the price in my opinion. Not a bad experience but moderate compared to previous experiences to the old Kim Son experiences. I would return to let friends taste everything that Vietnam has to offer but not return if they had in mind what dishes they want to experience.

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    Umi Sushi & Seafood Buffet

    Umi Sushi & Seafood Buffet

    3.4
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    My parents like this buffet, so my dad wanted to have lunch on his birthday here…read more + Pretty decent selection of food in terms of sushi and Chinese cuisine. There's dimsum, some American food, Chinese classics like kung pao, sauerkraut fish, crawfish, pineapple fried rice, and just too many to count. + Several soups to choose from, including the hot & sour soup, which was really good! + Several juices and desserts to choose from. Juices were slightly on the sweet side, and at least the rose was mixed with jasmine tea. + Sushi looked okay, good if you're okay with 'buffet' sushi. + Really good weekday lunch pricing, only $23.99 for adults! - Sauerkraut fish and the black bean spare ribs looked good but were kinda disappointing. Fish didn't have enough flavor, and the spare ribs weren't steamed long enough to be tender and 'fall apart'. - The sign mentioned milk tea, but they didn't have any. I guess they didn't update it. All in all, probably one of the best Chinese buffets in Houston! Worth trying if you're in the area.

    Good service and clean. Food was okay; tasted and presented well…read more Restaurant was so cold that the servers were all wearing jackets and coats. So cold that it limited us from enjoying the meal I will not be going back because of the high levels of MSG in the food. It took 2 days to cleans it out of my system. If you can tolerate MSG, then it could be of good value.

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    Nice space
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    Quick and professional service. Polite host/waiter. Food was delicious with good portion to fill…read moreyou up.

    1. Service - the hostess and wait staff were outstanding and attentive. They filled your drinks as…read moresoon as it hit midway, and they took your plates away as soon as it was empty. When you come in, wait to be seated, order and pay at the table. 2. Price - approximately $15 a plate. 3. Ambiance - Classy restaurant. I love the white linen on the tables. Soft music, white and red walls with Thai decor. Natural lighting during the day with warm interior lighting. It appears that there has been a makeover to the restaurant. I like the new look more. It seems more upscale in appearance. Dress code here is business casual. 4. Food - I've had their YELLOW CURRY WITH CHICKEN AND WHITE RICE. Curry is a bit sweet to my liking, but overall, it was a good meal. Will have to try other dishes next time. Food presentation is nicely plated. Not messy or sloppy. 5. Cleanliness - dining area is clean. The waitstaff keeps this place in tip top shape. The only complaint I have, although not exactly about cleanliness, I would suggest that management take a look at the lock in the men's restroom. Although it was locked, someone was able to enter still. SUMMARY This is a petite Thai cafe. Everything about this place was enjoyable. I would definitely come back to try again and will highly recommend this place.

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    Iyara Thai Cuisine
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    Royal Buffet

    Royal Buffet

    3.3
    (29 reviews)
    0.4 mi
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    The difference between Royal Buffet (君臨閣) and other Chinese buffets around this part of town comes…read moredown to size and variety. The plus side (#1) is the abundant parking, practically guaranteed seating, and options that skew on the more authentic side of things. The downside is knowing the limitations that come with affordably priced buffets and quality of food. The official entrance is from the parking lot between Vinh Hoa (#2) and the massage. Plenty of folks will also enter from the back, which is through the Dynasty Plaza mall and takes a bit longer. It then becomes a question of stairs (parking lot) versus an escalator (mall). At $18-24 (lunch to holiday pricing), the prices aren't too steep for AYCE food. Kids 3 and under eat free but are otherwise subject to $13-14 per person. Non-water drinks are $2.39 a person, so definitely get as many refills as possible. The place is as massive on the inside as it looks on the outside. Window side seating offers an elevated view of Chinatown, but don't focus too much on the excessive finger prints along the windows. The seating is so abundant that almost any size group should have zero problem finding space. There is also a large private room that is ideal for special functions, equipped with TVs and a sound system. Food wise, it's a hodgepodge of all food types. Here's a breakdown in the stations: Mongolian Grill / Noodle Soup: This is a combo station where one can customize their stir fry. I had decent results with lo mein, an egg, some vegetables with beef slices. The person cooking drizzled sesame oil, soy sauce seasoning, and water and each time it took around 3-5 minutes. The noodle soups are a bit more standard but the options here are the noodle options are wonton noodle, beef noodle, seafood noodle, and beef pho. I wouldn't recommend ordering the latter. Fruits & Salads / Cold Dishes / Seafood: A standard selection of cold fruit salads, which is unsurprisingly the least exciting part of the buffet. I'm impressed with the variety of the sushi on the seafood end, but the presentation and fish quality is extremely mediocre. It won't deter most folks, since most people perceive value by loading up on the rolls. When in doubt, shoot for the sashimi. Entrees: With the exception of the eyesore dim sum and standard fried food selection, there is a solid selection of hot food. The weekend offerings is probably the best they'll have, but some standouts here included the thin ribeye slices, a solid mapo tofu with a kick, well seasoned clams, fish slices, pork spare ribs, a very solid steamed fish, and several varieties of fried noodle. Folks might enjoy the Chinese-American selection, which should have all the classics (sesame chicken, beef with broccoli, marinated chicken wings, etc.) and then some. Serviced as a decent job of clearing tables, offering water refills, cleaning the food counters, and replenishing empty trays. I appreciate some small touches, such as their multicolored plates for different selections, bathrooms, and well marked labels. Buffet lovers who are in it for the thrill of copious portions will likely enjoy what's available here. __________ (#1) Aside from one's waistline. (#2) https://www.yelp.com/biz/vinh-hoa-houston

    I'm reviewing from the POV of an allium-free vegetarian. The owner of the now closed Pine Forest…read moreworks here and they have an entire two rows (?) of vegetarian food that he is in charge of. It's pretty decent and takes up almost 50% of what they offer, so not bad if you follow a vegetarian diet. Do note that you pay the same price regardless of what you eat. Likely not food allergy friendly; we fed my kid with the food allergies before we came. This place is fairly new and is on the second floor of Dynasty Plaza. A decent amount of parking but it can fill up fast during the busy hours as there are a lot of restaurants there. We initially scouted out the place a week before and it was almost empty, but we did go during the slow hours. This time, I met up with my omnivorous friend at noon and there were a good amount of tables that were occupied. It is a huge space so if it were smaller, it would seem busier, but most people spread out. It's about $18 per person for the weekdays and about $24 per person on the weekends. Kids are around $11 each. This price does not include the beverage station/drinks but you do get complimentary water. There's a sign saying you can't stay for longer than 2 hours. You pay first and then seat yourself... almost. Someone came with us with our waters and asked us where we wanted to sit and placed our drinks on the table. We chose a more isolated place. They don't have actual napkin dispensers. Every table has soy sauce, sriracha, and a bag of napkins. No caddy. Very casual. They offer a lot of different foods. You can order stir fry/noodles that they make just for you, there's an international section consisting of fried chicken, fries, even a few soups, a sushi section, fruit and salads, the 2 vegetarian sections I mentioned earlier, and a dessert section. I honestly just focused on the vegetarian and dessert sections. The food was good as expected. Less greenery than one would think when you think of vegetarian food but there is some. I thought it was pretty good except for the fact that I could only eat one full plate, but I managed to sample almost everything in that one plate. They've got things you might recognize from Pine Forest but also items that are new, so that is nice. They have an interesting shaved ice section, but the ice is sitting there... but the ice bed it's on isn't cold enough to keep it from melting. I like the idea, but the execution could be much better. They have small diced fruit, beans, and grass jelly as well as random liquids you can add on (syrup)? I think that they could definitely provide bowls of fresh shaved ice (the guy manning that counter looked pretty bored) and offer more toppings where the platter of shaved ice is. The dessert section is a bunch of cakes, but they do offer individual cups of Blue Bunny ice cream (vanilla, strawberry, chocolate). My kid loved the mango one the most. She ate 3. I thought the mocha (?) one I tried was on the dry side. My friend got a chocolate one and she agreed. Overall, pretty decent if you go for the vegetarian items. The price of $18 isn't terrible, especially if you eat more than me. However, I'm not sure if it's worth it to pay $24 on the weekends. My kids don't eat a lot; my daughter only ate a few bites of the rice noodles and 3 mango cakes. There's a reason why we don't bring them to buffets. BUT if you've got a big eater for a child, then go right ahead. I definitely think drinks should be included. It's a BUFFET. As for the meat items, my friend said they were okay. The seafood could be more fresh. They should label better though. Some sections have labels but they're mostly wrong. The restrooms are sound the side and we're pretty clean. I like how they have a lower sink for kids/wheelchairs. They definitely have some things to improve on and iron out overall. The Pine Forest owner did say that they might get rid of the vegetarian section. Once that happens, I guess this place won't be an option for us. Not sure if that will mean they'll focus on more meat items, but perhaps they should perfect/improve on what they already have if the reviews I've heard on those are mediocre instead of doing too much.

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    Royal Buffet
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    Sweet Pot K-kitchen

    Sweet Pot K-kitchen

    4.4
    (311 reviews)
    8.1 mi
    $$

    I came here the day after Thanksgiving and wanted to give it a try with my family. The place was…read morecompletely empty and only one server was working. I get it - it's right after the holidays so staffing could be short. The server we had wasn't exactly enthusiastic, just did the bare minimum. Dishes piled up and we weren't asked about refills. You'd figure because there was only 1 group that the service would be attentive, but nope! The food that we ordered from the kitchen were all super fresh and delicious. My favorites were the bulgogi gimbap, eggroll (tiny rolled egg omelette), and chicken wings! They come out super hot - loved them all. The hot buffet bar was not filled at all, some were even just empty. I found it disappointing that we didn't get to try a lot of their items. The hot buffet bar was really scarce, I mean, just fried dumplings and fries but they were refilled really slow and some never had refills. The boba bar was empty and never filled. The DIY ramen station was closed off. I tipped only because I felt like I had to, but the service was abysmal. I would come back but maybe for lunch instead of dinner. Hopefully service improves.

    I'm so glad that I finally got to try sweet pot! It's so great to try a bunch of foods that you…read morenormally wouldn't order at non ayce places. I think for the experience the price was well worth it! I recommend you upgrade and do the 28.45 dinner portion as you have full access to the menu. My favorite dishes were the fried pork belly- so crispy and yummy And the rose broth pot was so savory and sweet- would love to get this again. Service was fantastic! The owner and Nathan were amazing! Inside is really cute and and great for bigger groups.

    Photos
    Sweet Pot K-kitchen
    Sweet Pot K-kitchen
    Sweet Pot K-kitchen

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    Shabu En - hotpot - Updated July 2026

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