saboten

the good:

- i ordered the mixed set composed of a deep fried shrimp, 300g of tenderloin and crab cream croquette. super love the croquette and the shrimp!
- i enjoyed the super fresh cabbage.
- the place is great. it is nicely decorated, semi-japanese feel.
- fortunate enough to arrive exactly 6pm. we were able to be seated immediately. after we finished eating, quite a long waiting line outside.

the bad:

- service is quite slow. one of the waiters is quite rude actually. he tried to clean up my plate while my wife is still eating. when i asked him to wait until my wife is done, i saw him make a face. however, other servers were nice and accommodating.

- food plating is sloppy. see picture for proof.
- maybe they should increase the 300g tenderloin included in the mixed set.

the plus:

- it is zomatogoldparticpant. hence, you get to save in your bill. we only paid 480 pesos for 2 mixed set. such a great deal!

zomatogolduser and saboten is very sulit! we are very full, place is very neat and lighting is very warm for the eyes. food is always good and i have nothing much to say because saboten has always been one of my favorites! next time we will try the shabu shabu!

consistently one of the best katsu place since 2014.
and they got even better with the zomatogoldexperience.

highly recommendable.

customer service is very commendable.

quality if food is high and outstanding.

definitely value for money.

looking forward to more visits.

edit: they changed their zomatogoldpolicy. you can get a set, but the free dish should be ala carte :(

giving this 5 stars because the food is now affordable with zomato gold!

dishes are amazing, but the wait for the table can be disheartening (there was a time when we waited for almost two hours). get the tuna katsu or the curry if you’re looking for something different.

food - 5/5
ambience - 4/5
service - 4/5
value for money - 5/5

used my zomatogoldhere with my officemates. was not disappointed. the food we ordered is the saboten special set (2pcs buy-one-take-one on zomatogold). serving was plenty, and for its price, i recommend it. definitely will go back here soon.

we usually eat here because we like the place, service and the food - fried pork cutlet with unlimited cabbage salad, rice, misu soup and pickles. the store also honors zomatogoldpromos and have a menu to our liking. lately we noted a slight change, they now serve your toasted sesame seeds already grounded, we miss the mortar and pestle for grinding the sesame seeds, it was a ritual that is part of meals in saboten.

it was my first time using zomatogoldand got curious about saboten's high rating so my friend and i tried it yesterday. their katsu was really good and tender. the service was also good. they were very polite and accommodating and very generous in giving refills. i got confused at first on how 1+1goldperk works but good thing the server explain to me the terms and conditions on my app. i should've read it in the first place. we will definitely come back to try other katsu.

this for me is the best japanese restaurant in the metropolis that offers serene ambiance, appetizing menu, and super delicious bento/set meals. highly recommended is their specialty set named yuki or snow. this bento is served with unlimited cabbage and pickles for the sides, two salads, pork loin or chicken karaage as appetizers, unlimited rice and miso soup, two deep-fried shrimp and one rolled cutlet for the main dish. you can choose from asparagus, cheese, or plum cutlet. lastly, it also comes with a dessert of either vanilla or green tea ice cream to complete your dainty meal. . aside from this, you can also choose from the other two specialty sets of tsuki (moon) and hana (flower), and other signature set menus to cater your taste and appetite. lastly, you can maximize your dining experience with their 1+1 o food every you dine at saboten using your zomatogoldmembership.

tried to use zomatogolddeal 1+1 on food, server said that the free item now is to choose from the a la carte menu of the sides.

this is our go to japanese place

must try:
the unlimited cabbage, rice and miso soup
anything they fry here is yum, recommended is the chicken cutlet set
curry chicken set
clay pot chicken set

place is usually packed on weekends

staff are attentive and courteous

price is fair to what you would get plus the zomatogoldpromo!

next time,pls comfirm me the order before the manager starts to claim that zomatogoldis not available.because the manager's claiming was based on the incorrect order info when you staffs have shared.

ala carte only for 1+1 for zomatogoldmember

i dined here twice in a span of 5 months (the first one was last april and the second visit was last september 2019). i used my zomatogoldon both visits and here was my experience:

on my first visit (april 2019), i was able to use my 1+1 food privilege. no specific food item for the second order (shared sets are excluded) so my husband and i got the rolled cutlet meal and a katsu curry meal for him. we only paid for the one with the higher price.

on my second visit (september 2019), i dined there again with my husband and brother. saboten has changed their terms on the 1+1 privilege - the main dish available for the second item are a la carte cutlets (3 choices: tenderloin, loin and chicken cutlets). rice, soup and cabbage are charged with additional fee. i'm not sure if this is still the same or they have changed their terms again. no complaints though as every restaurant has their own terms on using the zomatogoldprivilege.

food was superb. i love the rolled cutlets with cheese. line is long especially during lunch time but staff is organized in handling the line. service was just okay - hard to call their attention and they sometimes forget your request.

this is our second time to use zomatogoldat saboten. our previous experience was fantastic, our plus 1 dish was a regular dish in the menu and service was good. on our second visit though, the plus 1 dishes were limited to ala carte tenderloin/loin only so we had to buy an additional cup of rice. the service in this visit can be better. our server, mo, was disappointing. we got all our food including the soup but no soup spoon was given. we asked for it a couple of times, the soup got cold already but he never got back to us. we also asked him to replace our high chair because the seat belt was broken and he never got back to us on that either. same with the water. other staff accommodated our requests however it took a long time since they have their own tables to serve as well. when we got our bill, our free dish was charged to us. the manager, majo, went to our table and corrected the billing. we talked to her about mo's service and she was very apologetic and was nice enough to give us a kids eat free voucher with minimum of p1,000 bill to make up with the bad experience. overall food is good but service needs improvement.

one of the good katsu places in the metro. the sets are bang for the buck; the tenderloin/loin katsu are always crispy yet juicy, the miso soup is never bland unlike in other restos.

it's just a bit disappointing that they changed the zomatogoldprivilege. we used to get 1+1 on sets, but they were only offering an ala carte katsu as the free dish during our recent visit. you have to pay extra 200+ php to make the ala carte into a set.