Emperor Japanese Tapas Shabu Restaurant

In terms of quality, there is something to be desired from Emperor. However, being all-​you-​can-​eat makes it one of the cheaper spots, and is its redeeming value.
The menu is a checklist that you mark off what you want from. There is no lack of options, and has just about everything you might expect from a hotpot spot. A major issue is that the portions you receive are very inconsistent. They might send a large plate of beef, and a large plate of pork, then follow it up with a third plate with everything else you ordered, making the proportions very imbalanced… at least its not on the meat that they skimp out on.
There are plenty of soup base options, however, all of the flavors are rather weak, and herein lies the major flaw of this restaurant. We had 4 different flavors among our table, and none of them impressed, either being too bland, or just not have great taste. Creating a dish of your individualized dipping sauce is the best way to make it better.

Did not like the food. The food was not delicious, fresh, or high quality. It was not cheap either. That said, people were super, super nice — but then you cannot eat people can you :)))

All you can eat hot pot for under $ 20. I thought the quality of the food and the service was great.

All you can eat Mongolian style hot pot for 18.99. I was a little reluctant after checking Unilocal,but my friends said they loved it, so I decided to take a chance.
Everything was delicious, and the service was lovely. I can’t believe all the negative reviews! I went with a group of four. Two of our party spoke Cantonese, so maybe that helped. But, I (the white girl) was the first to arrive, and the staff were very welcoming.
They brought every item we ordered (which turned out to be WAY too much!), they checked on us and refilled our broth whenever it was low. The meat and veggies were all fresh and good quality. There were about a dozen different sauces and toppings to choose from at a self-​service bar. I liked the hoisin and garlic sauces the best, but the peanut and Szechuan spicy were both good too. The beef was excellent, and I also really liked the lotus root and wood ear mushrooms. Pumpkin was tasty too. (It’s kabocha squash – the Japanese pumpkin with the dark green skin.) I didn’t get too adventurous with the seafood, but my friends got shrimp, squid, fish balls, fish tofu, etc. and loved all of it.
They even bring little trays of chocolates with your check. What more could you ask for?

Emperor Japanese is probably rated a bit too harshly — on the other hand, I didn’t have an incredible hot pot experience there.
In terms of customer service, I felt that everyone was very attentive. Our pots were refilled quite often, our food was brought promptly, they noticed every time we ran out of something. You even get complimentary chocolates at the end!
A note, hot pot buffet is 18.99. But there was something about my szechuan soup base that was unsatisfying — not spicy enough, not «ma la» enough. This is probably because I’m natively from Sichuan and I have high standards for it. The ingredients, especially the meat, somehow did not taste incredibly fresh. The beef meat is so fatty, so I would go for the lamb instead.
I did like that you get your own individual pot though, so you never have to fight for the food (the most annoying part of hot pot).

Never again. I came here again last Saturday evening for ayce hot pot. I have NEVER been to a restaurant that does not give you all that you ask for. Not only that, they give you food you DIDN’T ask for. I refuse to believe it’s due to a language barrier. We checked off everything we wanted & still did not get it.
The customer service is atrocious. We asked repeatedly for the foods we ordered & they never brought them. Then they had the audacity to drop the check on the table before we were done because they were trying to get rid of us so they could close.
The gratuity is automatically included for whatever size table. Also, they don’t have a variety of seafood. No crabs, clams, fish, or mussels. The only seafood you can get ayce are prawns.
I really liked this place especially the peanut sauce. It’s too bad. I won’t be returning.

Came here a while ago and the menu is small, although its trying to impress. I dont know how you can get full off of the tapas because we definitely were not! Nor were the prices cheap. We’re in chinatown so definitely not coming back!

Service was bad, slow and waiters were not helpful at all. Me and my three girlfriends went there around 6:30, not that many people were there. We talk and laugh, not long after… one lady came over and told us to lower our voice! Seriously, we weren’t that loud! The awful thing was she said something very offensive! She said «only people from China are loud»!! WTF? None of us were from China! Will never go back again!
Service was bad, slow and waiters were not helpful at all. Me and my three girlfriends went there around 6:30, not that many people were there. We talk and laugh, not long after… one lady came over and told us to lower our voice! Seriously, we weren’t that loud! The awful thing was she said something very offensive! She said «only people from China are loud»!! WTF? None of us were from China! Will never go back again!

Service was slow and workers seemed disgruntled when you ask them for more dishes despite it being an all you can eat place. Total bummer for that. You pay $ 17 – 19 for all you can eat shabu shabu with varied soup bases — I guess you get what you pay for.
We had a large group of people 6 – 8, but 5 of us showed up early. They were able to seat us, but kept staring at us for the 10mins we had to wait for the rest of the group to show up. There wasn’t even other customers waiting!
Food selection wasn’t too varied — typical choices of fried noodles, chicken dishes, and pork selections. There is better out there. If you are in the and just need a place for soup, then this place wont hurt your wallet.

My friends and I came in around 9:40PM. It was pretty packed and everyone looked like they were having a good time. When we went in, they sat us down at a table. It looked cool because I never saw a stove that was integrated into the table. Then starts the worst time ever.
I’ll put it out in the most straightforward possible. Service here is crap. Seriously, just crap. I spoke Mandarin to them but they kept speaking to me in Cantonese as well as my friends. Luckily, we had Cantonese speakers in the group.
I decided not to participate in the all-​you-​can-​eat shabu shabu since I wasn’t that hungry so my friends checked off what they wanted in the list. It almost took them 15 minutes to take our form. I was just sitting there, furious from waiting. Then they told us, there’s no more beef. What? How do you run out of beef when you run a all you can eat restaurant? Can’t you just send someone to buy more? Beef is like one of the most important meat in shabu shabu/​hotpot…
Anyways, I wanted a dinner menu and one of the guy gave me one. Ready to give my order, I waited for one of them to come by and call them but a few of my attempts were ignored until finally one of them came and she then told me I have the wrong menu. Then she gave me another menu and 5 minutes later, a guy took my order. I told them, I wanted beef lo mein in Mandarin to see if they had some beef left but the guy just said, yes yes, lamb in Cantonese. I said beef again but he just ignored me. That pissed me off even more.
My order came around 5 minutes. It was seriously just a pot, filled with water boiled thin noodles with some cabbage and lamb meat. (Any meat) lo mein, if I remember correctly, doesn’t look like cup noodles. As you can tell now, I was pretty pretty angry. My friends didn’t even get there food yet by the time I got my noodles. I was just like what the f-​…
Around like 10:20PM, they finally started serving the food to us for the hotpot. They close at 11. Seriously, it’s like they were waiting for the restaurant to almost close before serving us food. Even the group that came in after us got their food. Also, when they were refilling the water in the pan, they only refilled one of our tables and not the rest. I was just like, is this woman blind???
I can keep on ranting about this crappy place and would definitely give it a ⁰⁄₅ star if it was possible. Avoid this place if you want to avoid a high risk of getting really fustrated…

OK. I am a Cantonese speaker so I have natural advantage of communicating with the wait staff there. I can see how frustrated you can be because even in my own mother tongue I have to repeat myself 3 times before getting the order right. HOWEVER, once beyond that point, you are in heaven.
1) Hong Kong style Wonton is as good as you were in Hong Kong, shrimp is fresh and literally bounce your teeth!!! For $ 3.95, you really can’t beat. I have been looking for REAL Hong Kong style wontons for years and neither I or my friends have any luck. It was a pleasant surprise to find the gem!
2) Scarlion pancake was nice and crispy
3) Terriyaki beef was more like salt and pepper on a grill but very good as well… may not be what you expected because it has the Chinese twist on it.
4) Roast pork lo mein was so good, my boyfriend who claimed to be full actually finished most of it $ 6.95
5) Baby octopus was very good for only $ 4.95 instead of $ 7 in other japanese place.
6) Pork kidney and liver in ginger scallion sauce $ 4.95. OK not many people are fan but they did make it right and the ginger scallion was exactly I remembered growing up in Hong Kong.
Our total with tips and tax was less than $ 34. PS. they put services charge already so anything beyond that is on you. I am thinking of going back already!

If Unilocal let me give this place zero stars, I would. Went back here because the boyfriend and his family were having a get together before school starts back up again.
First off, the orders that the boyfriend and I put in came AFTER our friend’s order. He came 30 minutes later and ordered 15 minutes after he came.
Second, when the boyfriend tried to get a hold of the waitress to inquire about our orders, she threw her pencil on the floor and used the excuse of her picking it up to completely ignore him and walk away.
The same waitress also told my boyfriend’s father that, «there’s a lot of other people who want stuff too. Just eat what you have for now» when he was asking about his orders.
Most of the time if we wanted something, we would either:
1. Have to wait 30 minutes for it
2. Ask two more other times
3. Walk to the back kitchen and physically ask for our orders (which one of our friends did).
The service here is atrocious. I have never been in a restaurant where the service was this bad. Besides the service, most of the food was still frozen when served. The beef balls tasted absolutely disgusting. Most of the fish balls were frozen. The only dish that we enjoyed was the beef.
I really suggest that you DO NOT COME HERE. If I had the time I would legit stand by the door and tell people not to come. It’s really not worth it at all.

They changed management and now they have all you can eat shabu, which sounds really great, until you go there and find out…
1. Service is TERRIBLE in every way possible — rude, slow, forgetful, you name it. No one gave us menus or poured us tea for a good 20 mins after we got seated. Even when I flagged down a waitress, she was like HOLD ON!
2. The menu they give you LOOKS like it allows you to specify how many servings you’d like for each item. We were a group of 6, so we ordered a bunch of things in varying amounts.
Another 20 – 30 mins until you actually get served.
3. Apparently, it does not matter how many servings you specify on the menu, or WHAT you specify. They probably brought out 6 out of the 10 different items that we checked off on the menu. All items come on a tiny plate, regardless of how many servings you actually asked for. For example, for a group of SIX PEOPLE, I asked for 3 servings of squash, and we got 5 pieces. I asked for 6 servings of spinach, and we got maybe 20 leaves. 5 servings of clams is about 5 clams. We kept on asking for more, and of course each time it’s at least a 15min wait, IF they actually bring it to you.
But in the end, I’m just glad that we got any food at all, because the other half of the things we ordered were not served at all. With all the waiting, the entire dinner took more than 2 hours.
4. With their tightly monitored portion control, we ate pretty much everything, but if you accidentally over-​order, they will charge you $ 10 for each lb of food wasted.
I probably won’t be going back there unless I have a serious craving for shabu in Manhattan (where there aren’t many good choices to begin with). It’s just not worth the hassle to deal with the ridiculous service there when the food is only mediocre at best.
I miss the old management, while the food was all a la carte and therefore more expensive, the ppl were always friendly and fast.

This place is probably the only all-​you-​can-​eat shabu place in Chinatown. I was utterly excited to go there after discovering the place through a friend’s facebook. All-​you-​can-​eat for $ 16.99 shabu is a deal!
Everyone except the person behind the cashier with glasses was super nice and they made sure you are enjoying your meal. However, the guy at the cashier was rude from the get go. He did not seem to want to tend to anyone’s need. By the time I had to pay. He did not seem all that interested to showing me my bill. On top of that he hovered over me while I signed off my charges to my credit card and then insults me when he felt my tips was not enough. I came with a party of 3 and only 2 of us had shabu. We ordered only 1 time for the shabu and ate everything we have ordered. I paid about 16% gratuity.
To be fair, the food was good. And the place was clean, but I would not go back to this place with such bad service. You’re better off going to Quickly’s to eat with a friendlier atmosphere.

This review is only for their shabu shabu. I’m always looking for a shabu spot in the city, that’s as good as the ones in California. I thought this one might possibly come close, because I noticed they give you your own pot for shabu! 2 stars just for that reason!
The shabu itself was alright, nothing spectacular, not very authentic either. The meat portion was small, the veggie portion could have been bigger. They dont give you any green onions, garlic, ponzu, or chili powder. I had to request for all of the above, and the waiter looked at me as if I was crazy. The sauces they gave were ok. They didnt have pure caps, so luckily for me, I brought my own :]
Overall the service, and food was alright, but I think I will stick to Shabu Tatsu.

The service was really attentive. They came to top off the soup in the middle of the meal. The seafood was really fresh. The four dipping sauce was good. At the end of the dinner, they give you a choice of drinks. I had the chrysanthemum cold drink. It cleans out the palate. It’s a Chinese thing. We had the seafood combination and a choice of meat $ 19.99 and choice of rice, udon, noodles. I had the lamb. If you are a meat eater, I don’t think you will have enough meat. For me, I felt really full after the meal. There were two shrimps, 2 small bite size salmon, clam, mussels, cabbage, tofu, mushrooms, etc. You each get your own pot so no cross contamination, unless you want to. The place was enjoyable.

This place wasn’t a bad alternative when it comes to fusion food. They have separate menus — asian versus western. I was just a bit upset that this restaurant replaced Almond Flower — a restaurant with a real modern twist to asian cuisine.
I remember ordering the foie gras and fried chicken. Vague memory of it but I really enjoy the fried chicken. It came over a bed of french fries which was fried to literally perfection and seasoned with salt and pepper. The fried chicken was indeed the surprise, it was marinated in ginger. So fragrant with every bite, it was not overwhelming with ginger either. It was definitely something new and worth remembering. The foie gras on the other hand was quite nice also — can’t say much about it since I don’t like foie gras at all.
The mango slushie was really good. I can taste the mango flavor and it came in a big tall glass. Overall a nice place to dine at, nothing special that really stood out except for the fries.

Let me preface this review, to save people some time — out of a group of four, two people had an upset stomach after, one was gassy, and last one was uncomfortable enough at the end of the meal that he vomited before he left the restaurant.
We should have known better — a weeknight, and we walk in, and it’s empty other than staff eating dinner. Not a good sign.
Electric burners on tables showcase that this is a place for shabu shabu.
You get little split containers of soy sauce, a sesame sauce, a Chinese BBQ sauce, and a bit of chili pepper sauce. No garlic? No egg? The first has some scallion and sweet taste to it, the second two taste like the cornstarch they mix to thicken and water it down with, and the last isn’t altogether appropriate for the hotpot kind of chili.
The basic meal comes with a place of spinach, enoki, nappa, four pieces of tofu, a small piece of pumpkin and one of taro, two slices of daikon, and you can choose which meat (s) you want. I chose lamb and beef (#4). Watch out for the veggies — they didn’t do a good job washing most of them, we found much sand on our vegetables, and had to send it back to get them freshly washed.
The broth is a basic meat bullion broth. Which is to say, some translucent (not clear) broth with some unknown meat bullion cube thrown in it (likely chicken). Making it spicy or adding any kind of «additional» flavor is $ 2 or more. I chose pickled mustard — they just threw a little bit in, it looked like the rest of the people’s broth. The ma-​la version (very spicy, in theory) was just a small bit of chili oil. Not nearly «la» or spicy, as it were. Feels like a joint that if you don’t know what you’re ordering for the first time, well, this is what you get. Overpriced, this is. Other places, you get plenty of spices and other ingredients for the broth — like the Quickly just across the way (as much as Quickly is a chain, it’s also got a better broth than here, by far).
My friend said the chopsticks smelled funny — like being too old, in a musty place for too long, but my own seemed okay (or maybe I wasn’t sensitive enough).
One okay part — the grilled squid with some sweet teriyaki dipping sauce was okay, a little tough, but still better than the shabu shabu.
I ordered a bubble tea, too. Too heavy on the jasmine tea, the bubbles went from soft to hard — normally something overnight — in about 2 minutes. I’m not joking. They undercooked it… I drank one gulp of it and had to spit it back into the cup.
The inability to create-​your-​own-​sauce (a key for great, authentic shabu shabu and hot pot), the lack of a good broth, a lousy bubble tea, and a price that seems a bit too high — with a 15% gratuity thrown on the bill automatically — $ 110 for four people eating the base orders of shabu shabu that wasn’t really good at all, for relatively high price for Chinatown — I have to say, don’t eat here! There are much better options elsewhere, and save yourself the aggravation of getting an upset stomach.
Service was somewhere between okay and annoying — the manager kept commenting about how it was «Chinatown» to our comments about everything from the cleanliness of the vegetables to the smell of the chopsticks. Not exactly great customer service there.

The weather is getting cold and it is time for Shabu Shabu. Looking for a new place to try and end up with this in Chinatown. The restaurant is not crowded on a Monday night. The décor is nice and upscale comparing to the surrounding restaurants in Chinatown, high ceiling, exposed brick wall, dark wood furniture and nice stoneware.
Ordered the beef Shabu Shabu dinner set for $ 14.
— pot of soup (not just water) sitting on top of hot plate, not sitting into the table. The control has only 2 settings (high or low). The soup based was good and kept drinking them after the meal.
— beef — 4 stars, a plate of fatty goodness, looks at the photo and they gave you a big plate of it too.
— Chinese napa cabbage
— watercress
— golden needle mushroom
— 2 small soft tofu
— one Chinese black mushroom
— a small piece of winter squash (wish it is bigger)
— a small piece of corn
— included one portion of noodle from a choice of 4 (udon, thin ho fun, mei fun and green noodle)
The only complaint is the condiment. For Shabu Shabu, one would expect to make your own sauce from various condiment. This restaurant provides only 4 small plates (soy sauce, sesame sauce, sa cha sauce and hot sauce) for each person and no station for you to get more.
Will come back at another cold night…

This is one of the best Shabu Shabu/​Hot Pot/​Dah Bean Lo restaurants I’ve been to by far in New York City. Although I’ve heard through the grape vine that Grand Sichuan is also good but have not been there.
The burner is electric not gas. Yet the pot itself contains your choice of soup rather than water as the soup gives the veggies, meats, or seafood flavor. The quantity of veggies, meats, poultry, etc are just the right amount. It’s good for group events as food is the ultimate international ice breaker because as humans we all need to eat in order to survive. It is rather very pricey for dinner as it’s approx. $ 26.00 per person without any drinks, thus the four stars rating. Service is attentive yet friendly.
The staff speaks Cantonese and Mandarin which is great for our Meetup group as we were all learning/​practicing our Canto.
The name of this restaurant is certainly a mouthful for its length: Emperor Japanese Tapas Shabu Restaurant.