Shabusen

Arguably one of the worst all-you-can-eat Sushi/Korean restaurants in existence, but for some strange reason people still flock here to stuff their faces.  On two separate occasions, I've experienced food poisoning from the location on Granville.  Obviously, this place is not Japanese or Korean operated. 

BBQ beef ribs, just about the safest thing you could eat as long as you cook them long enough.

You're taking your life in their hands if you dare try anything uncooked here.

Okay, so, you're wondering why I'm being so harsh on this place?  Well, there are a few reasons.  First, the service really blows.  You'd think that since it's a Japanese/Korean restaurant, the staff might try to emulate the mannerisms and etiquette of a Japanese restaurant.....but not so.  At Shabusen, you are greeted with contempt, as if you are a nuisance, rather than their source of income.  The washrooms are disgusting and I had a peak in the kitchen and it's equally filthy.  The salad bar is a joke and here's where my story gets good.  On one of my early visits, years ago, I went like everyone else to stuff my face and get my money's worth.  At the time, I really wasn't concerned with quality as much as quantity....what can I say, I was a starving college student, working my way through school.  I stuffed my face with everything I could get my greedy little hands on, and even tried the shellfish.  Needless to say, that was a huge mistake because several hours later, I was puking my guts out......my college education wasn't quite good enough to help me put two and two together.

A few years later, I ended up going there with my brother and a bunch of our friends.  Most of us were still not quite over the all-you-can-eat craze so we were still going to places like this.  We had almost everything on the menu, including some shellfish.  Waddya know, hours later, I woke up in the middle of the night, returning everything I ate to the ocean (via white porcelain receptacle in my washroom).  I returned to bed, defeated, when I heard more wretching.  I thought it was one of those moments where you are being violated so badly, you distance your mind from your body and it sounds like someone else is suffering.  But no, that was my brother, puking up a storm of his own.  Images of filthy washrooms (and equally filthy sanitation standards of the staff and food workers) and shellfish left outside without refrigeration flashed before my eyes.  

Needless to say, I haven't been back since, and I wouldn't recommend anyone go there, unless violent projectile vomiting as a result of food poisoning is your thing.