7 Fusion - Sherman Oaks

Dined at 7 Fusion with a date. Our server, Shannon, was extremely helpful in walking us through the new dining concept. The two choices for entrees were a stirfry bowl (which was priced by weight), or a hot pot. We both went through the fresh bazaar (the stir fry option) and we also ordered a lobster platter for our hot pot (which included a variety of seafoods). Sharing a hot pot is a great experience if you like the person you're dining with, and I highly recommend ordering one if you're going to take a date to this restaurant! The bar looks awesome and the staff was friendly.

Space is beautifully designed. Restaurant and bar are modern and quite sharp looking. Service was excellent. Manager was friendly and tried to be welcoming. That was the good. Now the not so good. Menu is quite frankly a bit weird. There are appetizers (the crab appetizer looks like tuna fish, tastes goopy and is awful), eggroll (tasted as if it was frozen and reheated. Entrees are in two categories: 1. A buffet where one selects proteins and vegetables to be cooked by a chef (sort of a Mongolian BBQ take) or 2. a shabu-shabu hot broth selection, where one chooses again either veggies or proteins to cook in a hot broth. The fresh bar/buffet was enjoyed by my co-diners, so no issue there. Unfortunately I chose the shabu-shabu with a vegetarian broth and mushrooms. The vegetarian broth actually looked like and tasted like dishwater. It was not fit for consumption. I simply ate the raw vegetables. There is a counter area with different types of sauces and seasonings, the idea being that patrons can make their own sauce for dipping the cooked shabu-shabu food. It’s entirely too much work with a less than stellar payoff; the concept of allowing diners to have “control” over their food and sauces seems admirable but here it simply is not executed that well.

I had eaten here once and enjoyed it. this time the waiter was less helpful and we didn't get what I expected.

The eating was fantastic I hope they stay in business we were there on a Tuesday night and it was very empty so please go it was just great

Food was excellent but some of the service was sketchy. Our waiter was terrific but it took over 10 minutes from ordering (at a table right next to the bar in an empty restaurant) to get my drink...which was so sweet, it was undrinkable. So it seems the bartender gets a 2. He and the manager spent lots of time chatting, although the manager was quite a good guy!