According to a new sign on the door, TOP Shabu Shabu will open the week of March 8. It's located at 114 Atwood St. (map) in Oakland, the former location of Pizza Sola.
The Pitt News, the student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh, ran a profile on the restaurant in January:
Andrew Khoo, the restaurant’s manager, said although they named the new restaurant after Shabu-shabu, a Japanese style of dining, yet Top Shabu’s hot pot style is traditionally more Chinese.
Customers will order a “hot pot” and whatever meats and vegetables they would like to eat, which servers will bring to the table. Customers will then cook the food using the hot pot, a metal container filled with broth and heated by an electric coil, and eat their food at their table. In hot pots, the food is cooked while the pot simmers. Thinly sliced beef is the traditional choice, Khoo said, but Top Shabu will offer a variety of meat and vegetable options.
“All food is cooked at the table,” Khoo said.
According to Khoo, Top Shabu’s bar will offer Asian-inspired drinks.
“We have a 10 tap system from the previous owner,” Khoo said. “We’ll also have a variety of wine and a large variety of liquor for unique mixed drinks. The mixed drinks will have an Asian influence. For example, melon liqueur is used a lot in China.”