Rememer you can always find us on the LV Infomer under the Local Interest section, http://lasvegas.informermg.com/ . We also have a Facebook page, (thank you for all of the new likes this week), so feel free to check us out, and like the page if you want to; we'd appreciate it, http://www.facebook.com/thenewlywedsguidetovegasrestaurants.
What Teray Says...
So this week not only did we do one of our favorite things, double date, we double dated with two of our favorite people Abbie and Marco. I asked Abbie if she could choose the restaurant being she lives over in the Henderson area, we don't frequent there as much being we live in the southwest. She picked Shabu Shabu on W. Horizon Ridge.
Shabu Shabu is located in a strip mall with a few other restaurants. Something I will say right away is to make sure you make a reservation, which Abbie did, because there are not many tables. There are three tables that sit four people to be exact and one long table that can be different couples or a big group. When we entered the restaurant the hostess immediately said she could not seat us until 8:30. We told her that was fine because that was our reservation time. She was not understanding that we didn't care that we weren't seated right away. Due to the confusion, we decided to wait in the car.
When we went back in Abbie and Marco arrived and we waited about 10 minutes until being seated, being people were finishing up. I was looking around at what everyone was doing while waiting. Shabu Shabu is Japenese hot pot, so in other words, it's Japanese fondu, which is pretty awesome if you ask me.
While we were having great conversation and enjoying the company, Abbie and Marco explained to us about hot pot as did the waitress. It was the first time Brett and I have been so I know I was happy for the explanation. We read that there was a sharing fee and we did our best of getting around that by each ordering something we would like and then dropping it into each other's pots secretly, dare devils I know.
For the main portions we got shrimp, scallops, pork, beef and chicken. It also comes with unlimited veggies and rice which is pretty cool. The salad is the first thing that they bring while you wait for the water in the pot to heat up. The waitress then brings out the veggies and other courses and shows you how to cook the food with your chopsticks. It is pretty cool, you only need to leave the meats and fish in the pot for about 10 seconds. The veggies, you dump them in right away and let them cook for longer.
You also get three sauces to choose from, peanut sauce, a soy type sauce, and a spicy sauce, which alone is out of control spicy, but on food it is amazing. My favorite was the peanut sauce. I really would put everything as my favorite, the food was delicious. Of the main portion of the meal, I really liked everything equally.
For dessert you could choose ice cream which the girls didn't do but the boys did. As for the service, it was pretty good, nothing to write home about, but I did appreciate the demonstration of how to cook the food. The price was amazing, it was under 100 dollars for the four of us, not including tip.
Overall, I would rate Shabu Shabu a 4 out 5 and would like to return to try something else off of the menu, because I bet it would be as good. The thing that brought the rating down was the service, otherwise I would have given it a 5 out of 5.
What Brett Says...
This week we were going out to eat with a couple that we are friends with, they just moved back to Vegas from the Bay area. We told them to pick, it helps us get outside our comfort zone and in this case got us to an area that we inadvertently neglect. They chose a place I had never heard of and a type of restaurant I never even knew existed. They picked "Shabu Shabu Paradise" on West Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson. Shabu Shabu is a Japanese Fondue restaurant.
I'm kind of torn when it comes the restaurant itself; I have nothing to really compare it to since I had never even heard of Japanese fondue. It is part of a strip mall, the overall size of the restaurant is pretty small. What I can tell you I did not like was the layout of the place, the minute you step through the front door you standing over people eating. There isn't really anywhere to wait to be seated either, theoretically you could wait in the hallway to the bathroom. There were only a handful of tables, most for four people and one larger that could accommodate a group. In the tables are built in electric burners which heats up your water; our table had two burners. As for the atmosphere, it was pretty nonexistent. Everything was pretty boring, you have the cook top tables and people watching to fall back on though.
From the minute we walked in the door I knew we would be getting horrible service, I'm beginning to wonder if it is bad service or just a cultural difference. Then I remember we are in America so I don't care if it is a cultural difference, offer better service. We had a reservation for 8:30pm, Teray and I walked in around 8:15pm. instead of being greeted or asked anything the server yelled from 15 feet away (across multiple tables) that it would be 45 minutes for a table. I informed her that we had a reservation, she replied with "at 8:30." Teray and I went back out to our car till 8:25pm, considering we now felt awkward. As we went back inside we noticed a table was open, before we were sat a couple walked in and was immediately sat...no yelling or talk of a reservation. At 8:30 the couple we were meeting arrived, we were told we would have to wait for another table to open up, apparently the couple that was sat was more important than us. It wasn't long before we were sat. Not knowing what to do the server, the yeller, took time to teach us how to cook the food. The downside to this was that she kept touching all of our food and kind of getting in our faces. Luckily she was good about getting us vegetable and drink refills. She was a better server then a host, not really great at either.
Now to the food. As the customer you do all the cooking at your table. everything is cooked in boiling water. You are given an assortment of vegetables and tofu, you simply put it in the water for several minutes. We ordered shrimp, scallops, pork, steak, and chicken for our meats; you pick a piece up with chopsticks and move it around in the water for a certain number of passes. Once the piece of food is cooked you dip it in one of three sauces. I guess this is a safe business plan since they can't get blamed for the food being cooked wrong. All the food was pretty good, it wasn't the most filling but it was good. There is quite a bit of work involved with eating Japanese fondue, I would compare it to eating crab legs.
Overall I would say this is something to try just to say you have tried it. I would hope the experience would be different at an establishment that offers better service. Not knowing if another Japanese fondue place exists in town you might just have to go here. I find it kind of annoying having to do all the work, I though more would be done. I was expecting dipping into sauces not cooking raw meat.
Food/experience rating: 4 out of 5
Establishment/service rating: 1 out of 5
What Abbie Says...
My husband, Marco, and I had been planning on joining Teray
and Brett on their blog date since the day we moved back to town a couple of
months ago. Being the mother of a two
year old, I was in need of a night out, and looking forward to some grown up
conversation. Teray asked that I suggest
a place on my side of town since they had been frequenting restaurants near
them. (We live on the south end of town, in Anthem). It didn’t take long before I thought of Shabu
Shabu Paradise.
I had driven past this restaurant located at the corner of
Horizon Ridge and Valle Verde dozens of times and wanted to try the Japanese
Hot Pot cuisine since the day it opened.
I had the amazing experience of trying Chinese Hot Pot while I was
visiting a good friend who spent a year teaching English in Ningbo, China. I had it a second time in San Mateo,
California (a town known for it’s tasty and authentic Asian food) while I was
living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I
wondered if the Japanese version was different from what I had already tried.
Teray and Brett arrived at the modest establishment before
us. Since there was really no
traditional waiting area, they looked uncomfortable standing in a small corner
just feet away from a table of people that were already eating. It became even more crowded and awkward when
Marco and I joined them. It was a long 5
minutes before someone acknowledged that we had come in and took us to our
table.
The restaurant was small and simple. “Paradise” was not a word that came to mind
when I looked around. It was one large
open room with a few four top tables and one very long table that could be used
for a large party or shared by smaller parties. Either way, the tables did not
allow for much intimacy or privacy during the meal.
Hot Pot tables are all modified to have a hot plate built in
to them. We sat at a four top table, so
there were two hot plates each to be shared by the person sitting across from
you. Hot Pot can easily be described as
Asian fondue. Having tried it in the
past, I knew a little about what to expect.
The server, an informative, “matter of fact” Japanese woman,
brought out two pots of what I believe to be water and placed them on each hot plate. The pots had a divider down the center so
that each person had his or her own water to cook from. She then dropped in a small sponge like
substance, which she explained would season the water. As we first looked at the menu, we felt a bit
overwhelmed. Once we located the combo
deals, each priced at under $20 per person, things started to become clearer. We did ask our server for clarification and
she seemed a little annoyed that she had to take the time to explain what most
people that frequent the restaurant must understand already. We kept our questions brief and finally decided
to try a few different things including chicken, beef, pork, shrimp and
scallops. As the meal progressed, the
server became friendlier and less annoyed with the four first time patrons.
As we waited for our broth to boil and our meats to arrive,
we dined on a green salad, included with each meal. The server placed in front of each of us our
three sauces. One was spicy, one was a sesame peanut, and the third was some
kind of citrus flavored concoction. I
didn’t care much for that one. It was at
this time that I learned the distinct difference between Japanese and Chinese
Hot Pot. Chinese Hot Pot comes with flavorful broth that could also be eaten as
a soup. Japanese Hot Pot relies on dipping sauces to provide all the flavor. I
did not taste the Japanese broth by itself. Perhaps it was the fact that we
were not provided a bowl and spoon that lead me to believe it was simply to be
used as a means to cook raw foods. Since I drowned most of my food in the tasty
sauces, I’m not sure it would have even made much of a difference had the
server not added the sponge with the spices.
It certainly didn’t change the appearance of the water.
The server then brought out a bowl of rice and a “vegetable”
plate of cabbage, noodles and tofu for each person. We found out later that we would get free
refills on the rice and vegetables.
Shortly thereafter, our thin strips of raw meat arrived with
our plates of scallops and shrimp. The
server showed us how to hold the meat between our chop sticks then “swish” it
around in our broth to allow it to cook and then let us know how long to cook
each item. I decided it made the most
sense to simply dump my entire plate of uncooked veggies into the broth so that
I could fish them out with the different meats I chose along the way. As the meal progressed, we became more
graceful with our “swishing” and finally got the hang of things. After a second round of rice and vegetables
we were finally content. I decided to
pass on dessert, but Marco and Brett each enjoyed the only dessert on the menu
- a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience at Shabu Shabu Paradise. It was a good meal, with excellent
company.
The food was good, but because of ambiance and initial
service, I would rate this restaurant a 3.5 out 5.
If you aren't lucky enough to have a Patty's Closet near you, remember you can always shop online at shop.ilovepattyscloset.com. Also, make sure to check out their FB page which is linked above. They post pictures of the new shipment items on Tuesdays and Fridays, so you definitely have to check it out!
Until next time, cheers to love and happiness. <3
