All You Can Eat Hotpot in Toronto: $92.99 Wagyu at Dai Maru
By Michael · October 13, 2026
For Rina’s birthday, our first meal in Canada this trip was all you can eat hotpot at Dai Maru Shabu Shabu (大丸) in Scarborough. It’s a Japanese-style hotpot place, and we’ve eaten there maybe six or seven times. We keep coming back for one reason: the wagyu.
Here’s the bottom line. We picked the $92.99 wagyu tier for the two of us, and our boys (Spencer is 3, Archie was 11 months) were $3 each. That came to $191.98 CAD before tax and tip. The beef was as good as we remembered, the sukiyaki broth surprised us, and the foie gras and desserts didn’t do much for us.
We filmed the whole visit: watch the episode.
Quick facts
- Place: Dai Maru Shabu Shabu, Scarborough
- What it is: all you can eat Japanese-style hotpot, one pot per table with two broths
- What we paid: $191.98 CAD before tax and tip (2 adults on the $92.99 wagyu tier, 2 kids at $3)
- Good for: a birthday or special dinner, beef lovers, families with little kids
- Good to know: Canadian debit or cash only, 2-hour limit, drinks included
How the all you can eat tiers work
When we sat down, our server walked us through three dinner tiers:
- Premium: $41.99 per person
- Wagyu: $92.99 per person (what we got)
- Japanese wagyu: $145 per person
The menu we checked lists the wagyu tier at $92.99 Monday to Thursday and $94.99 Friday to Sunday and holidays. Kids 0 to 4 are $3, and kids 5 to 10 are $32.99. We went on a Tuesday.
We didn’t go for the top tier. We think the regular wagyu is good enough for us. Near the end of the meal we also talked about the cheaper ways to eat here: we remembered lunch as about $29 all you can eat, and the regular dinner at around $41, which still comes with chuck eye steak slices we like. Check current prices before you go.
You order from the menu and the food comes to the table. There’s also a self-serve sauce bar. Michael built his with garlic, cilantro, sha cha sauce (沙茶醬) and a raw egg. Sesame paste and sesame oil are there too.
The broths
Each pot is split in two. We picked tomato on one side and sukiyaki on the other.
The tomato broth is the one we always say is just good soup. A server even brought us a bowl of it to drink on its own, with a little minced meat in it. It’s very flavorful.
The sukiyaki broth was the surprise of the night. It has a sweet flavor, and the beef cooked in it was Rina’s favorite thing at dinner. We’d only had sukiyaki here once before, the first time we came, and neither of us remembered it being this good. Our guess is that it’s the combination with the wagyu.
One small tip from Michael: keep the beef on one side of the pot. Beef leaves a lot of floaters after it cooks, so this keeps the other broth cleaner.
What we ordered and what it was like
The wagyu: US and Australian
The wagyu tier gave us a choice of US wagyu or Australian wagyu, so we got one of each to compare. The marbling on both was beautiful, and every round after that looked just as good.
We cooked the US wagyu in the tomato broth first. It melts in your mouth. The Australian wagyu went into the sukiyaki side. It’s cut a little thinner, and with that sweet broth it was the one we kept reordering. Honestly, they’re both really good. Rina said it best halfway through dinner: just the beef is enough.
The onsen egg
One of Michael’s favorite things here is the onsen egg, a soft, half-cooked egg. He dips the beef in it, and in the tomato broth the hot beef starts to cook the egg a little. No sauce needed.
Seafood
- Scallops: there are two kinds. The one listed as premium turned out to be our least favorite. We preferred the regular one with the edges on it, which felt a little crispier.
- Abalone and whelk: both came in the first round. Whelk is a kind of sea snail.
- Snow crab legs: two legs per order. Michael wasn’t sure two legs was worth the effort of cracking, but by the end we both liked it, and Rina peeled it for us.
- Oysters: these were really big. Rina prefers small ones.
Squid ink dumplings
They’re completely black. Michael dipped one in his egg and found it pretty good, with little pieces of squid inside that give it a bit of crunch.
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Appetizers
The appetizers here are usually pretty good, and they change with the season.
- Honey pepper chicken wings: honey, a little garlic and a lot of black pepper. Spencer said it was too peppery. Michael finished it and liked it.
- Foie gras: served on a cracker with pineapple and a red wine sauce. It didn’t have much flavor. Rina’s review was “no comment.” We wouldn’t order it again.
- Takoyaki: probably pre-made and heated up, but Rina always likes it.
- Fried rice cake with a brown sugar dip: a little sweet one Rina ordered near the end. It was good.
Drinks
Drinks are included, and this is where we learned to read the menu. Michael just ordered a pineapple juice, then found out the fresh teas were part of our tier too. Rina got the yuzu honey, which is bubbly and a little sweeter. We also tried passion fruit, which wasn’t very sweet, a little bitter and pretty refreshing. Alcohol costs extra.
Dessert
This was the weakest part. The ice jelly wasn’t very good. The almond milk pudding had a really strong almond flavor and was creamy, and Archie liked it. We were a little disappointed overall, because they used to have crème brûlée and soft-serve ice cream, and now the ice cream comes in regular cups.
Eating here with a baby and a toddler
Archie eats everything now, as long as it’s not too salty. At this dinner he had shrimp, beef and corn. Shrimp and beef are two of his favorite foods right now. He didn’t like the crab. Spencer had his sauce bowl, his toys and a lot of beef.
Halfway through, Archie needed a diaper change. With the van in the parking lot, Michael and the boys just walked out, changed him in the van and came back. When we asked Rina at the end what her favorite part of her birthday dinner was, she said “the 10 minutes that we left.” Then she said the beef in sukiyaki.
For us, a meal is good when we ate well and the kids did well. This one was both.
Practical tips
- Bring Canadian debit or cash. No credit cards. A lot of restaurants we go to in the Greater Toronto Area work this way, so our first stop after the border was a TD ATM.
- Watch the clock. Seating is limited to 2 hours, according to the menu.
- Don’t over-order. The menu says leftover food is charged at $10 per 100 g.
- Little kids are almost free. Kids 0 to 4 are $3, which makes this a lot more doable for a family.
- Coming from the US? The bill is in Canadian dollars. When we did the math that night, it worked out to roughly 30% less in US dollars.
We drove up from Rochester that day and crossed at Niagara Falls on a Tuesday around 5:30 pm. It took under three minutes, and the officer just asked a few questions. Then it was about an hour and a half to Scarborough.
If you’re planning your own trip, every place we eat this season goes on our free Toronto Food Map.
Our honest verdict
For us, Dai Maru is worth it for the wagyu. With tax and tip it’s around $100 CAD per adult, so it’s a special-occasion dinner, not an every-week one. The beef, especially the Australian wagyu in the sukiyaki broth, is why we come back. The tomato broth, the onsen egg and the squid ink dumplings are good too.
What we didn’t love: the foie gras had little flavor and the desserts were a step down from what they used to have. And we did not order the $145 Japanese wagyu, so we can’t tell you if it’s worth the extra. We’ll be back, maybe for the cheaper lunch or a regular dinner next time.
FAQ
How much is all you can eat wagyu hotpot at Dai Maru?
The wagyu tier was $92.99 CAD per adult on a Tuesday. The menu lists $94.99 on Fridays, weekends and holidays.
Does Dai Maru take credit cards?
No. It’s Canadian debit or cash only.
How much do kids pay?
Kids 0 to 4 are $3. Kids 5 to 10 are $32.99, according to the menu.
This was the start of our Toronto and Markham food tour. Next up, we start eating our way around the Greater Toronto Area. Watch the Dai Maru episode on YouTube.
