We went there last night, Father's Day, and it was horrible dinner =( I saw a hair on our marinated beef and another one of our bowl. It was terrible!!! I want to get out but oh well, i don't want to spoil my husband night. Instead, i talked to the waitress about the "hair" thing and she said "so, you don't want this?". Absurd!!!! Definetely, i don't want this! In my mind, " are you nuts???!!!" , but she said, i can replace. She didn't =( We waited, until we're tired for the replacement and we asked another order form.

I say, it was pricey for $23 for the same menu on happy hour/late dinner on mostly japanese restaurants in Granville and Metrotown. C'mon, the customers deserve more food than that. For dessert, jello only??!!! Coffee jello??? That's cheap =<

Poor service and unhealthy food (because of the hair). I will not go back on Shabusen Burrard anymore.

I heard alot about Shabusen and finally decided to try it for lunch. I arrived at 1pm and from the moment I walked in, my greeter snarled at me and waited for a few minutes.

Service.
Horrible, unfriendly, poorly trained, rushed and not attentive, and from a variety of servers. I was told the wrong information for the ACYE, that I could only order once from the sushi and put only 1 in the slot. When I inquired about the portions, the next servicer told me it was unlimited and you can ask for 1 or several. The people who arrived at the sushi bar at the same time as me, received better service and got their food quicker. When I order my food, I asked 5 times for coca cola, which turned out to be Pepsi, no water did arrive and by the time I received my Pepsi, it was at the end of my meal and declined it. I waited 25 minutes at a sushi bar for something to arrive, when the people next to me got their food in plenty of time. The only cool part, I got to talk briefly to Vancouver Canucks hockey players leaving and they made suggestion to me, what was good.

I ordered Salmon & tuna nigiri, chicken teriyaki, smoked salmon, cucumber, avacado and tuna roll. I didn't like the smoked salmon, the taste was salty. The Salmon was tasty, I was amazed with Tuna, and prefer Salmon, but not this time. The Chicken Teriyaki was okay, since it arrived toward the end of my meal on luke warm side and the rice was cold. The cucumber, avacado and tuna roll were good, but some fell apart when I tried to eat it.

The price for lunch was under $12.00, I disputed my bill with the pepsi arriving at the very end, and they took it off the bill. I didn't like how I tried to get attention from my servers, repeat my beverage, wait longer than the other people and service absolutely sucked big time. I have to wonder how little they got paid, would explain in poor serive.

Horrible, terrible service and I doubt in my life time I will return.

Made reservations for a late dinner at Shabusen and was told to be on time or early as they close at 10:30, early i find for downtown vancouver on a weekend. Got there early and despite having reservations we had to wait till 9:45 to get seated and from then on the meal was rushed, we ordered quickly but food was slow to come out and we ended up ordering more than we wanted as the original orders never came out. I saw them discourage people from eating there who arrived at 9:30 a strange business decision if you ask me, since the restaurant was not that busy.

The food was average for an all you can eat, hot food came out cold and lacked taste in alot of accounts.

I don't think I'll be back here any time soon, rather go elsewhere for better service and food

My fiance and I come here at least once every couple of months, and their concierge service has been fast declining. The guy "Alan" that runs the "waitlist" is rude and grumpy. We had been waited for a table for 2 for approx 20 mins, and after us was another table for 2 waiting. When a table that seats 4 became available, he skipped by us and offered it to the group of 4, without even acknowledging us. This place has a lot of seats, and I think that we should have been offered the table first, since we did arrive about 15-20 minutes before the group of 4. We ended up sitting at the end of an 8 person table that had another couple at the other end 20 minutes later! So really, the group of 4 could have sat at our table no problem, and waited their turn like in any other restaurant.

The servers/waiters are great, so if you bear through the painful wait at the entrance, the food makes it somewhat worth the wait.

This place would be so much better if they had some at the entrance with some CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS.

When I decided to go to a AYCE place, I don't expect much. That's why I think Shabusen has provided a above average atmosphere/food/service quality for me. Even though there is no such thing as presentation of the dishes, but the food is always fresh. The service was so so besides you occasionally ask for tea/water refill when the waitress sent orders, there wasn't much service. And the value was a bit over average, but you get what you eat. Large variety made up the price for sure, so good to go there with friends with big appetite. I like the ambiance though, not hip nor traditional, roomy cause I get private room doesn't matter what time I go. Overall not bad AYCE place.

Checked out this location again for my friend's birthday a few weeks ago. Good Korean BBQ and All-You-Can-Eat for the price.

Food - Korean BBQ is always good. Sushi, rolls and sashimi could be better. The teriyaki steak and teriyaki beef was not very good. Chewy and tough consistency. I remember the food being better.

Service - Fast and courteous. Orders almost always come very fast. Almost too fast, if you ask me.

Ambiance - Love the BBQ in the middle of the table. Love that there are "boat booths" at this location. Other than that though, not much other noticeable decor.

Food - The foods were OK. Not too bad but some tempuras were cold.
Value - It was worth a visit. But probably not coming back for another AYCE here.
Service - The staffs did not forget the orders. But looked very tired. (Lack of Staff??)
I would recommend this restaurant if you want to fill up your hunger with cheap food. But I'd rather visit Japanese AYCE if you want to eat sushi and tempuras.

BBQ was outstanding. The sushi was fresh and delicious.I was surprised they served toro sushi as well. Service was also solid for an "all you can eat". Mind you they charge 10% of your bill as "service charge", so you do not have to tip them.

You can really get your money's worth if you are hungry.

Definitely going back for lunch.

Went there the first time couple years ago and even though the service wasn't that great, at least the food was pretty good that I wanted to go back again. Been there couple more times and it has been going down hill. Just went there again Friday night and it's gonna be my last visit. The food was gross: the piece of "toro" looked so dead (and it's raw fish... u want me to eat that? i don't think so!), got a piece of bone in salmon sashimi which I didn't expect, (coz it's not a big piece of sashimi so I just put the whole piece in my mouth and start chewing and swallowing... all of the sudden felt a piece of bone sticking into the back of my throat... almost made me throw up...) couldn't tell what's in that "special shrimp roll", got absolutely no prawn in "prawn tempura roll" (only got the tempura batter, no prawn inside.) salad sauce taste horrible, beef for BBQ looked like it's been soaked in that liquid for a long time. Speaking of beef, the teriyaki and black pepper steak was chewy and tasteless - it's just a piece of boiled (in water) of beef with some sticky "teriyaki" or "black pepper sauce" on it. The bean tasted rotten, and the Jap Chae (Korean noodles) was either undercooked or was left in the fridge for too long that it became tough.

I just don't get it. This place is so busy!! There's no one single time that I didn't have to wait for a table. How can the food be not fresh?! If the food is good, I could neglect the host bad attitude (never seen his smile and the "toneless" way he speaks makes him sound impatient) especially when the place was busy. It's kinda sad coz as I said, I did like the food and I had a great time first time visiting, that's why I wanted to go back. Maybe they got another chef... I don't know... Anyways, I really see no point of going back again; rather spend my $50 (AYCE at night for 2) on pizza or Hortons or MacD or Tiffany or LV (okay I do know that I need more than that $50 if I wanna buy something from the two stores... ) than putting junk in my mouth. By the way, their "shabu shabu" menu sucks; just go to T&T or H-mart and buy their pre-pack if you want hotpot really bad.

The food:
We did the AYCE Japanese only. It was the typical AYCE quality. Nothing special, but nothing particularly worse than any other place. Don't expect to receive exactly what you ordered. We got items we didn't order, we had orders missing, the quantities only sometimes matched what we requested.

The people:
Most of the staff seem to be frantically trying to keep up with getting the food out to the tables and avoiding all eye contact if possible. Calling them or waving from anywhere farther than 5 feet from them was ineffective. Definitely understaffed and what staff they did have lacked service skills.

The price:
Standard pricing.

The place:
The layout of the place was surprisingly nice. They seat quite a few people, and yet, from any particular table, you don't notice most of the other diners except for those immediately around you. They lack enough smaller tables and frequently seat you with other people to share a larger table. Other than that, it was quite comfortable.

Other:
The washrooms were of acceptable cleanliness, however were lacking in toilet paper. The couple we shared the table with opted for the BBQ and did a good job burning most of their food to a charcoal crisp. This is obviously no fault of the restaurant, but it definitely tinged the taste of my mediocre AYCE Japanese food. Perhaps the solution is not to share a table.

The verdict:
There's a chance I'll return to try the BBQ menu if I happen to be in the area, but definitely not for the AYCE Japanese.