Mo-Mo-Paradise

When Mo-Mo-Paradise opened its first location in Japan three decades ago, the idea of all-you-can-eat shabu shabu – boiled meats and vegetables served with dipping sauces – was so novel that the business’s very name signaled luxury to local audiences: “Mo mo” is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a cow’s moos, suggesting that the restaurant’s fixed price access to nearly unlimited meats would be heaven for beef lovers. Having visited a location in Tokyo roughly 15 years ago, we can attest that it certainly seemed special at the time, but the world has changed a lot since then: Chubby’s chains of quasi-luxury and high-end AYCE wagyu restaurants more decadently cater to the same audience, with All That Shabu, dPot, Dada Shabu Shabu, and Shinobu offering wide spreads of mid-tier meats at lower prices.

This isn’t to say that Orange County’s first location of Mo-Mo-Paradise is unwelcome – it’s just locally quite late to the craze it sparked in Japan back in 1993, and with its first US location in Rowland Heights nearly a decade ago, in early 2016. Replacing House of Shabu Shabu, which sadly burned down in mid-2023 at Irvine’s Orange Tree Square plaza, Mo-Mo now offers a mostly straightforward AYCE experience with two tiers: Momo ($30/person weekday lunch, $39/person dinners/weekends/holidays), and Wagyu ($55/person dinners/weekends/holidays). Momo offers 90 minutes of unlimited access to four sliced meats (chuck eye, boneless short rib, eye of round, and Kurobuta pork shoulder) at lunch or five (adding pork belly) at dinner, with the Wagyu tier offering three similar beef cuts (chuck eye, rib, and round) in fattier American wagyu variations. Guests can choose two of four total broths per table, including light tomato and pork tonkotsu broths, traditional dashi shabu shabu, or sweet and savory sukiyaki. Our photos show the tonkotsu and tomato broths, which arrive in a yin-yang boiling pot for cooking meats alongside bowls and bottles of ponzu, sesame gomadare, and spicy miso dipping sauces.

Two of Mo-Mo’s major competitive differentators are its self-serve buffet (“Farmer’s Market”) and beverage selection (“Drink Garden”), the former included with all meals, and the latter offered as an all-you-can-drink pairing for $3.55. While the buffet is quite limited by comparison with Mo-Mo’s rivals – almost everything is intended to be cooked shabu-style along with the meats – there’s a nice, large pot of wagyu beef curry and unlimited rice to snack on while you’re boiling meats, veggies, and noodles, plus three server-scooped ice creams for dessert; edamame and a salad are also available all day, with yuba rolls joining the collection during premium pricing hours. The steal of the meal is the Drink Garden, which includes access to four really nice dairy and dairy-free teas, seven premium sodas, and three toppings (azuki beans, coffee jelly, and lychee jelly). You can make your own drinks for way less than at plaza neighbors Heytea and Wushiland Boba, so we’d certainly recommend splurging for this add-on.

Another major difference with Mo-Mo-Paradise is the more authentically Japanese environment, which eschews Chubby Group’s over-the-top decor, hyper-aggressive service, and more elite plating for a more minimalist experience. Mo-Mo servers attend respectfully and reasonably to guests across the roughly 100-person dining room, which uses traditional and fairly neutral Japanese tile, stone, and wood motifs to accommodate everyone from families and friends to business colleagues in a clean, well-lit space that thankfully keeps attention on the food and people, rather than on dark, moody rooms, or on the plaza parking immediately outside.