Joy Yee Noodle Plus

I can't believe its been almost four years since I last returned here. My most recent experience was definitely much more memorable because we ordered the shabu shabu.  The fatty meat is sooooo good! Overall everything was delicious after it was cooked in the seafood broth.

The food came with tray of different sauces that were deicious.  Unfortunately, we realized they did not have trays for each table when we were told we had to share our tray with the next table.  Sharing the sauces with another table was awkward and uncomfortable for us. I definitely recommend getting more trays for the sauce.

The cost for one order of the shabu shabu was approximately $18-22.  Its really affordable when shared with others.  We added more food with another plate of fatty meat, cabbage, spinach, mushrooms, and udon noodles.  We also ordered california rolls and shrimp tempura.  Between the three of us, all the food with tax and tip came to $21 per person. Good stuff! Looking forward to re-visiting soon!

A Japanese offshoot of the main Joy Yee's Asian style. This place focuses on sushi and shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot). If you're a fan of the traditional Chinese hot pot but think its reserved only for groups of 3 or more than this is perfect for you. Its like a miniature hot pot for 1 or 2 people. Also unlike Chinese hot pot this one basically comes with whatever style you ordered (beef, seafood, fish...etc) If you wanted something extra you have to order it on the side. I personally prefer this style to chinese hot pot because I like drinking the super concentrated broth at the end, its packed with flavor and really intense.

The Setup: Basically you pick one of the two base soup broths they use. The seafood is really rich and tasty and the beef is also just as good. Then you order the set you want, we went with the land and sea so they gave us a preset number of stuff. (1 tray of beef, 2 shrimp, 2 squid, 2 giant oysters...etc) It usually comes with a vegetable basket with some clear noodles and stuff too. The sauce is mix your own so they just give you like10 condiments and you experiment your own way.

My absolute favorite part is the end. I purposely save room for the end where when we are about done we dump a clump of clear noodles into the broth to sop up the flavor and drink the condensed broth that we just cooked all that goodness in. Its awesome.

As usual with Joy Yee's they have their giant selection of freezes and fruit smoothies and boba teas. They recently started offering the spherified juice balls which I think is a neat touch.  

Also there's a fish pond built into their floor so you can walk over it and stand on top of a bunch of fish swimming around.

Overall, I think this place is an interesting and tasty diversion from the usual fare found in Chinatown (Cantonese, Szechuan, dim sim and whatever BS Tony Hu is cooking up.)

Shabu Shabu is definitely perfect for a cold day.

The food is light and tasty.  We love it.  This is the only shabu shabu place we frequent.  The price is right too.  

Unsure about other reviewers' comments re the service but I am guessing it is a cultural gap - Chinese servers aren't as bubbly as the American ones.  The service here is AWESOME.  

A must-go in China Town.