Tabu Shabu - Costa Mesa

Love this place and the staff is always on point. Food is epic and highly recommended getting the remaining broth turned into porridge.

solid shabu place!everything was fresh and delicious with great recommendations.very attentive, helpful and nice staff!loved the atmosphere and trendy aesthetic. not too quiet, but not too loud. we arrived before a little rush but love that they have a yelp waitlist.

As a huge fan of hot pot and shabu, I find myself always coming back to Tabu Shabu when I want quality shabu. The food quality is amazing from its meat selection to veggies, and the portions are generous. I eat a lot, so I always get the large beef belly with mostly all veggies and the udon, and it's definitely more than enough. The dipping sauces are amazing too and you can even add the spicy drops to them if you're feeling it! This specific Tabu Shabu is also the best because of the staff, and specifically the manager, Michelle. She is one of the sweetest individuals you'll meet and she is so attentive and helpful. She makes the environment so welcoming and is a big reason why I often like to spend my time here vs other shabu places. If you're looking for something warm and cozy while being in a good environment, this is the place to go to!

I came here on a Friday evening with my dad - we had to wait about 10-15 minutes, which wasn't too bad.The bar-like atmosphere was quite fun, and the workers were very hospitable. After ordering our food (we had to wait a while to order, which was a little bizarre) our items came out fairly quickly.The chili edamame was pretty delicious, so I would recommend that if you're looking for something to nibble on. For the shabu contents themselves. I wasn't a huge fan of the choice of spinach and carrots, mostly because I'm not a personal fan of carrots and because spinach is kind of hard to eat in a shabu setting (difficult to pick up a ton of leaves after blanching). I'm not sure if I could have substituted instead for more cabbage and pumpkin, but maybe next time I'll ask.I think next time I would also want to order a more flavorful broth, as I chose the unflavored kelp one without really thinking about. What is nice is at the end they'll cook your udon in the broth and serve it to you in a bowl (which is where the better broth would've been handy). Overall a nice place - fairly standard shabu in downtown Costa Mesa.

This is probably the best shabu in the Costa Mesa - Newport zone. You have to deal with 17th Street and the parking, but that is everywhere. Seems to be an easy walk-in early but the wait list does load up, hit the iPad at the door. Standard shabu offerings. I hit this often on my travels back to OC.

Never a bad meal. Period. Michelle is best in customer service. It's a little tight with the elbows though they can stand to take away a spot or two to make it more enjoyable .

Dining here is always a delight! Whether you're flying solo or on a romantic rendezvous, this place is the perfect spot for a delicious meal.

I went to Tabu Shabu for the power lunch special. The inside looks like most other shabu places, with a U-shaped layout of seats in the center. While the service was great and the broth was decent, I found the portion sizes to be way too small for the price. Additionally, the pots are positioned too far from the seat, making it somewhat inconvenient to cook and enjoy my meal comfortably as I found myself constantly reaching over. They offer the option to put everything into a bowl at the end, which helps mitigate the issue of the distant pot, but it isn't a perfect solution as thats when everything is finished being cooked.On a positive note, they do offer a nice array of condiments and toppings so that you can customize your shabu whatever way you want. Overall, it was an okay experience.

Tasty meat, attentive service, and quick turnaround. This restaurant location is in a plaza so there's plenty of parking, you can put yourself on a waitlist in advance. We were seated pretty quickly for a group of 4 on a weekend lunch, but if you find yourself waiting.. there's coffee shops and donut shops nearby. The seating structure is like a circle so you're not really facing your friends, it's a typical shabu place where you sit next to each other. Tbh, probably not great for larger groups. You can choose your meat type & size, broth, and sides. I went with the leanest meat and asked for a large because I was trying to hit a protein goal. The meat quality was really good, tasty and tender. I got the classic broth cause I get more excited about the sauces. (You can curate your own sauces by adding sesame, garlic, spice, etc which I really like. )Overall, really good meat and the rice was good -- the only thing I wished was if there was a larger meat option. I was surprised the large was around 6oz and I was still pretty hungry in the end.

Yes. Highly recommend. It's a must stop when you're in town. They also have multiple locations! Love love love