The House Wins

Such a sad phrase when referring to gambling.
Luckily, that's not the case.
By "house," I mean "Shabu House." (If you need a little preface, see my earlier post: Shabu-balaboopy) In the battle between the Shabu House and Mums, I declare the Shabu House the winner. By no means is it a undisputed, hands down type of victory, but there are a few things that give the Shabu House the 1up on Mums.

Taken mid January, here are some Shabu House photos.

Dipping sauces

Kobe Beef

Drop it in...

Shake it up...

**side note: here is a cooked piece of meat that I dropped in my dipping sauce. it reminded me of a particular Japanese meat dish called, "momiji." It's a beef dish that comes with a vinegar based sauce that you can soak or dip the beef in. It's crackin'... The downside is that I have only found it served at this Japanese restaurant in San Bruno called, "Akagi." Many people appreciate Akagi for their speedy service and decent tasting bento boxes, but other than that, a Japanese food fanatic would rather spend his or her time elsewhere with higher quality Japanese food. BUT, I challenge someone to find me somewhere else where they serve a momiji dish and if they serve it just as good as Akagi. I'll go there and order their momiji any day.**

Plate #1

Plate #2

I scream two top hit off

Quality of food (I should say meat really), the Shabu House takes the cake.
Mums is not bad, but it's thick, like many other places that serve shabu.
You may think that thick is a good thing - in this case, I feel it is the opposite.
The Shabu House's thinner slices of Kobe Beef are more savory.
Like that line in Sunset Park, "...it's butta baybeh..."
On top of that, the Spicy Miso broth beats the plain water broth used at Mums.

You can have the same all-you-can-eat meal with better quality meat for a cheaper price.

But I can't just bash Mums, it's definitely a restaurant I'd go back to multiple times.
Here's the other side of the fence...
One thing that makes Mums a worthy Shabu House competitor is the service.
They have a staff of maybe 8-10 people running the floor. They don't stick to one table, they help ALL tables. And they do a good job floating around, gauranteeing that whatever service you need at the table will be taken care of. Meat, vegetables, beer, sake all come out almost instantaneously.
The service at the Shabu House isn't bad, however it isn't great either. Two brothers work as the main hosts (they look like twins almost), along with a team of maybe 3-4 waitresses. I'll admit, sometimes they forget about things or take a little longer than I'd like to refill my water. But patience is a virtue. They're not that bad all the time.

My conclusion:

If you just want quality in meat, go to the Shabu House.
If you're interested in the all you can eat special and you're not concerned with beer and sake, go to the Shabu House. Usually there's instant seating at the bar (usually, meaning if it's not full...obviously).

If you have a medium to large sized party and you want the all you can eat AND drink special, go to Mums. Everything seems to be larger. Unlimited sake and beer. The sake's not too shabby and they serve beer in the Chris Raw size bottles. By that I mean the 32oz. plus size bottles - not the regular 12 oz. one's you would normally order.

Choose up.

- Raw