Shabu place open in H Sq

[fredid]

In the site of the old Cafe Paradiso, corner of Winthrop and Eliot, near Charlie's Kitchen. They said they've been open a week; the place was light and airy, lots of booths, felt much bigger then the cafe.

[hiddenboston]

Glad to hear that they have opened. BTW, the place is owned by the same person who owns Spice Thai and 9 Tastes, both of which are in the square.

[yumyum]

And both of which are pretty mediocre. Bummer.

[hiddenboston]

Maybe third time will be a charm for them....

[bachslunch]

Gave them a try shortly after they opened, and they seemed (if we're being charitable) to have some opening jitters.

They had a lot of trouble getting the broth pot going hot enough. It was initially way too low, but even when turned up to its highest setting, the broth never even got to simmer stage, just steaming. Attempts to check on this (and there were many) were made by staff who really didn't seem to know what to do here. As a result, it took a solid while to get anything cooked.

Had a veggie plate -- things were OK, though have had fresher leafy items at Shabu-Zen. The tofu pieces provided with the dish were of a very soft tofu type that was hard to pick up with chopsticks without severing into pieces and tended to disintegrate when cooked in broth. They need to use a firm, not soft, tofu here.

And when someone came by to put more broth in the pot filled with vegetarian broth, one hopes it was more of the same and not their default meat-based broth for those who are purists about it.

No complimentary tea was offered here as is the case at some other restaurants of this sort.

Service was friendly -- water glasses were promptly refilled.

[Prav]

What is this place's name?

[bachslunch]

It's called "Shabu Square."

[Taralli]

Yes, bigger because they enclosed the outdoor dining space on Winthrop.

[yehwan]

Yeah, I noticed it as I drove by yesterday. Did you eat there? Good to see a shabu place on this side of the river.