Miyabi Shabu Shabu & Grill

Orange County has so many options for shabu shabu that there’s no need to patronize merely “okay” places; there are pretty great restaurants at the mid-range to ultra-premium price points that have proved popular here for years, catering equally well to high-end wagyu fans as those seeking to boil more affordable grades of beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and seafood. So when we say Miyabi Shabu Shabu & Grill (aka Miyabi Shabu & Grill) is an okay-to-good place for shabu shabu, you might think there’s no need to read further.

But Miyabi offers more than shabu shabu; it’s a local rarity, combining a shabu shabu experience with grilled Japanese-style meats and actually good appetizers, offering a more distinctive dining experience than any traditional Japanese shabu spot. Guests can order either all-you-can-eat shabu shabu and barbecue at one of four price tiers, or go a la carte with whichever meats and other dishes sound appealing. While we’ve seen the “shabu and grill” combo before at dPot’s Buena Park AYCE location, Miyabi’s entry level price point is more aggressive, and its quality is good enough across the board to make visiting worthwhile.

Miyabi is physically small for a restaurant of its scope, occupying a central space in the same Irvine plaza as Chinese and Taiwanese restaurants ranging from Crispy Rougamo and Kingchops to Noodology and Zhangliang Malatang. Across main and semi-private dining room spaces, roughly 50 people can sit either at bar seats or tables, the latter notably including both integrated induction burners and gas grills. A large meat slicer at the bar allows guests to receive thinner slices better suited for cooking in shabu broth or thicker slices for the grill; unlike many shabu places, each meat plate is sliced to order, which can take some time.

During dinner hours, Miyabi’s $39 Bronze AYCE tier offers eight protein choices ranging from American wagyu beef belly and prime angus top blade to Japanese kurobuta pork belly and jidori chicken breast, New Zealand lamb, mussels, and shrimp. The Silver $59 tier adds nine higher-end beef and seafood items, $74 Gold adds another seven – focused on Japanese A5 wagyu (with various per-item ordering limits) – and $110 Diamond loosens caps on four of the Gold tier’s wagyu meats, eclipsing ultra-premium wagyu shabu chain Mikiya in pricing if not variety. Eight shabu broths, 17 side dishes, and five total ice cream and mochi ice cream desserts are also part of Miyabi’s AYCE experience; most of the items are available separately at a la carte prices. While those prices are so high during dinner hours that we wouldn’t consider buying by the ounce or pound – $102 for a pound of angus ribeye – limited-time discounts on a la carte lunch specials are sometimes advertised on social media.

It’s worth underscoring that Miyabi’s $39 entry-level dinner AYCE price is very competitive with dPot’s – lower by $8 at time of writing – though the comparison isn’t 1:1. Despite overlap in their proteins, dPot’s focus is Korean, including popular shabu options from tteokbokki broth to galbi meat, KBBQ proteins such as bulgogi and spicy pork, and steamed dishes including kimchi and beef tongue. Miyabi’s almost entirely Japanese menu is lower on spice, focused (non-exclusively) on flavors like miso, sukiyaki, yuzu, and heavier on deep-fried appetizers such as tempura, chicken karaage, takoyaki, fries, and squid legs. But non-fried options such as egg custard, kimchi, edamame, and salmon carpaccio are also available and quite good, except for the somewhat underwhelming spicing and fermentation of Miyabi’s kimchi.