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ANOTHER HOT POT RESTAURANT IN FREMONT?!?!? Boiling hot pot in Warm Springs area is probably my favorite, but because this new hot pot place is a little closer to me on the North side of Fremont, my boyfriend and I decided to give it a try. I looked on their Yelp, had some great reviews, and decided we’d pop in on a Friday night. Did not have a Yelp waitlist or any way to put our names down without physically being in the restaurant, so we called and asked how long the wait would be, or if the hostess would be able to put our name down for us since we didn’t want to sit and wait in the restaurant for 40+ minutes. They don’t do that, so you have to physically come into the restaurant to put your name down. The waitlist also lets you put your phone number down, but they do NOT call your phone number. You have to periodically come in and check on the list. The restaurant is pretty small, I would say it doesn’t seat more than 30-40 people at once, MAX. There are a couple larger tables for parties of 5-6, but most of their tables are for smaller parties of 2-4 people. The space is kind of aesthetic, with all white tables and a nice entrance area with cups for water, and a bookshelf. It was very well lit inside the restaurant, and was very noisy! We showed up around 8 PM, and didn’t get seated till around 8:40 PM or so. They close at 9:30 PM, and I think they stop seating customers around 9 PM. Service was a little slow, but understandable because this place is pretty new so I’m sure not all the staff have gotten the hang of their busy Friday nights yet. Something really cool though is that the manager is middle eastern (?) but he speaks perfect Mandarin. I love it. This hot pot place is not AYCE, but prices (for two people) came out to about the same as AYCE. After tax and tip we paid around $70-80. We split the large pot in half, but both sides had the house spicy broth. My boyfriend likes adding garlic, cilantro etc into his broth, so we split because I don’t like those in my broth. Waiter will also ask how spicy you want the soup base to me – we opted for mild spicy just because we weren’t sure how spicy the soup would be. We ordered 2 different beefs, one beef belly and the other marbled beef. We also ordered tofu, fish filet, fish balls, wide noodles and a Jia Duo Bao (herbal grass jelly drink). I didn’t know there was unlimited dessert until I just read some reviews right now.. guess I’ll have to go back again soon to try those desserts. They do have a sauce station with various different sauces, and it’s self-serve so after you’re seated, you can go grab some sauces. There is no limit to sauces. The beef is great, beef belly was my favorite. It was thinly sliced, great quality. Marbled beef was a little too thin for me.. once I dropped it into the soup, it kind of flaked off into several pieces. It was kind of impossible for me to pick it all up in one piece. Fish filet were great quality as well, and they do give an ample amount. Same with tofu, they gave us an entire long plate of soft tofu. LOVE. We didn’t order a ton of food, but it was definitely very filling. We will definitely be back soon, and many more times when winter starts coming around. Hopefully by then the lines won’t be as long anymore!!!! So glad I found my new favorite hot pot place, where I don’t feel like I have to stuff my face just to get my AYCE money’s worth :).

California Tofu Grill – Menu with Prices – 1993 W Malvern Ave, Fullerton

I didn’t go to this place for a while because I thought it was like a vegan/vegetarian restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s Korean food. I love tofu soup, I mean who doesn’t? For the most part tofu soup is pretty similar wherever you go so you can really differentiate which places are better by 2 things: side dishes and broth flavor. FOOD: 5/5 So the food here is standard. Lets start with the side dishes. The banchan here is good, they have good kimchi and they also give you a little salad. My favorite banchan was thechive pancake and the stir fried green beans. The pancake was warm and crispy so you know it’s fresh and the green beans were nice and crunchy. Also the little fish that comes with the soup was also freshly cooked. Crispy and hot when we received it. Now onto the main. I always get the oyster tofu soup, my brother got the bibimbap combo with cheese and ham tofu soup, while my sister got the beef patty combo with seafood tofu soup. As always, it was delicious. Extremely hot and bubbly, perfect amount of seasoning. The seafood really gives the broth a deep flavor. The ham and cheese was good as well, similar to army stew. The bibimbap was sizzling and stayed hot throughout the entire meal. The beef patties were really good as well. The server cuts it up for you so that’s nice. Sweet and salty served on a sizzling pan of onions so the grease gets soaked up. Everything was delicious. SERVICE: 4.5/5 The service here is better than some other Korean restaurants . The ladies were very sweet and they were constantly working. They seat everyone and bus their own tables so even though there were moments when I needed a water refill it was understandable. Overall this is a great tofu place, even if you’re not a fan of tofu soup there are plenty of other options. Great side dishes and entrees so I have no complaints.

Volcano Soon Tofu – Menu with Prices – 2001 Coit Rd #300A, Plano

I don’t know why this place has such good reviews on here. I went here myself and let me tell you it was not as good as it looks. I usually don’t give bad reviews but I will give you my honest experience. I came here during lunch time with a family member and we both had tofu soup. I had the mushroom and spicy pork combo, and the other person had pork tofu. First off, I could tell the server was flustered. The restuarant was probably 50% or less full when we were dining. Our food came out and it was both the wrong type of soup. The server place the dishes in front of us and was making a mess. I saw the soup just swishing out of our bowls onto the table as she placed it down in front of us and she didnt even clean up the mess. Even though it was not much spill over, it was still a spill. I have no problem cleaning it up myself, but I mean for restuarant service, it is just something you should do as a service automatically. She says the dish is what we ordered but when we both actually stirred our soup around, the contents was all wrong. I recieved a seafood tofu soup instead of mushroom and the other girl got beef instead of pork. We had the server take it back to get the correct order. Presentation was sloppy as the seasoning they use was all over the top and sides of the bowl and the broth was all over the handles as well. What a mess. The soup was really bland and honestly not even worth my trip. The only reason I gave them some stars is bc the spicy pork was actually good, but for a place that is specializing in tofu soup and not having it good is just a straight up disappointment. Never coming here again.

Liuyishou Hotpot Flushing – Menu with Prices – 136-76 39th Ave, Flushing

Hot pot at Liuyishou was definitely an experience. My friend and I came here on a busy Saturday night and were seated after about a 20 minute wait. We were pretty hungry so ended up ordering way too much. We started the meal with panfried beef rolls which are essentially Chinese pancakes wrapped with thin slices of beef and sauce. They charge an extra $3 or so for the unlimited sauce and fruit/side-dishes bar which I think is worth it. The broths we picked were the original spicy beef soup base and non-spicy pork rib soup base. The beef broth was too spicy for me but the pork broth was really rich and flavorful. The hot pot ingredients we ordered included the beef/lamb platter, fresh tofu, king oyster mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, a-choy, and fish balls. Everything was really fresh, and the meat platter was more than enough for the two of us. Lastly, our waiters were attentive and terrific. This was the best hot pot experience I’ve ever had, and I hope one opens in Chicago soon!

House Of Shabu Shabu – Menu with Prices – 5394 Walnut Ave, Irvine

I had never been to House of Shabu Shabu in Irvine before and had heard good things. I was definitely curious but I am not really one for AYCE unless it’s KBBQ. However, I’m always up to try new places. There are no reservations at Shabu places so I fully expected a wait. You walk in and put your name on the list. A wait on a Wednesday night around 7:30 pm was about an hour for 2 people. There was a large party of 9 ahead of us and a bunch of smaller groups so that was why. My thoughts were, “Yikes, this had better be good.” We both went with the AYCE Special #1 ($21) because I’m not one to order Kobe style beef just to boil it in a pot. If you’re interested in the $30 AYCE special, they offer a lot more items in red to show you what you’re missing from the first menu. I went with the Kombu broth because I like to season my own water and yes, I knew what I was ordering. I thought it was funny that our server had to clarify with me that I was ordering water with seaweed. My date went with the Sukiyaki broth. The service was agonizingly slow. We placed 2 orders of meat per person (Angus, beef belly, Halal beef, white fish), edamame, gyoza, udon noodles (x2), salmon roll, and more veggies. It all came out at different times, which was understandable, but the length of time was a bit of a joke. I expect appetizers to arrive at the same time. They did not. The salmon sushi didn’t arrive until we ordered our second round of meat and to be honest, we had forgotten about it. I had to ask for hot drops since they weren’t offered when he poured the sauces. I like that they bring out the pots with hot broth so you’re not wasting your time waiting for the broth to get hot. During the second round, we ordered the pork tenderloin, Halal beef, and Angus beef. I also asked for soup base but didn’t get a bigger bowl. Oh well, I made due with what I had in front of me. At the end, we got a scoop of ice cream each. They brought us out the check after the ice cream and even though we were chatting after our meal, they started to clean up our station while we were there, indicating that they wanted us to leave but did not outright shoo us. There were still people waiting by the door so I understood that they needed the spots but it felt rushed when our service felt so slow just prior. The check asked us not to tip which means, it’s a great deal to eat AYCE here. However, it also can’t be helped that the service will always be slow. We were informed by the server that the staff does get paid more because they are not fighting for tips, which I think is awesome for them. The food was good. Would I come back? Maybe, but my favorite Shabu spot is just down the street and they have a better wait system than the one at HSS.

Miga Korean Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 39033 State St, Fremont

This cute little family owned restaurant has a homey and warm feel, which makes me feel comfortable whenever I go. You may not find the greatest selection of kbbq here but they do have platters of short ribs, spicy pork, bulgogi, and other basic korean bbq meats available (although they are on the pricier side). What I do enjoy is their selection of more authentic and harder to find Korean dishes, like Korean Black Native Goat Soup. Food ordered: 1. Tofu Soup (5/5)- I’ve tried the beef, seafood, and vegetable tofu soups and they are all delicious and have plenty of fillings. Tofu soup also comes with delicious banchan! 2. Bbq Short Ribs Plate (3/5) – Not going to lie, but this is more on the pricier side of dishes at Miga respective to other establishments. Why? For $29.99, I can go to an AYCE Kbbq restaurant and get way more meat. The short ribs were tasty and the meat was tender, but if I wanted more meat, I’d seek other places for more bang for my buck. 3. Spicy Pork (4/5) – I was scarred from spicy pork after having refrigerator burned ones from another Korean establishment in Fremont. Miga’s helped me regain my love for spicy pork. The only caveat was that the plate was so hot that some of the meat was scalded on the edges. Not a lot were like this so no biggie though. 4. Seafood Pancake (4/5) – Good seafood pancake with the standard sauce. 5. Korean Native Black Goat Soup (5/5) – Now, this is it. In the Chef’s Special section of the menu, you will find this special dish. This is a more traditional Korean soup made with Native Black Goat, which is only grown from Korea. Okay so I know what you are thinking, Goat has that pungent metallic taste, but I’m telling you, this does not! Complimented with fresh herbs and a clean and light broth with vegetables, this is a must try dish. Note: Miga has a combo meal choice which easily fills a party of 2. This comes with a tofu soup and another meat dish of your choosing.

Little Dipper Shabu Shabu – Menu with Prices – 46573 Mission Blvd, Fremont

Habu tried Little Dipper Shabu Shabu? This Chinese individual style all you can eat (“AYCE”) hot pot institution is located in Fremont, in the far stretch of the (new) 99 Ranch plaza behind the Pink Pantherz Expresso coffee stand and serves up a decently “lit” all you can eat Shabu Shabu experience – do not let the name fool you – for a not-so-little appetite and a menu of delicious opportunities. Note 1: To avoid a long wait, you can request to be added to the virtual waitlist via Yelp. How does it work? The procedure: (1) Choose 1 of 7 soup bases: Mala (hot and spicy); beef bone; miso; tomyum; sour cabbage; chicken broth; and royal herb. Note 2: I tried the mala, the beef bone and royal herb and enjoyed them all. If you can handle spicy, mala is a great choice. The royal herb is not that strong as I had envisioned and made for a nice light broth option. You can’t go wrong with standard beef bone broth. (2) If you choose the ala carte menu option (the yellow menu), you may select items from the ala carte menu items. If you choose the AYCE option, enjoy the unlimited options on the AYCE menu (the white menu). Note 3: I highly recommend getting the AYCE option. For $29.99 per person, enjoy up to 100 minutes of intimate one on one you and Shabu Shabu time. (3) Cook the chosen food items in the broth and enjoy! Things I like about this place: (1) Clean atmosphere – I like that this restaurant is open, expansive, and clean. The decor is minimal and the air does not feel stuffy. Nothing crazy impressive on the design front, rather comfortably ordinary. (2) Attentive Service – The waiters were generally friendly, attentive and helpful to first time patrons. (3) Decent quality red meats and vegetables – The sliced beef and pork as well as vegetables were generally of a decently reasonable quality considering the price. (4) Individual Shabu Shabu – I like the fact that each person has an individual hot pot so a group can enjoy and share multiple different flavor profiles. It is also practically easier to control the contents of the hotpot and avoid gunk build up/burning. (5) Ecofriendly – I appreciate that the menus are laminated and filled in with erasable markers as to conserve paper. Things that could be improved: A) Need more menu options – I would have appreciated more menu options, particularly the addition of konjac, tofu puffs, and more varieties of vegetables. B) Soups could be improved – The soup quality was fair and tasted more on the synthetic side, overall missing the taste of natural bone broth. C) Poor quality seafood items – The seafood items such as the fish balls, squid, and fish are the frozen type akin to those available at ranch 99. They are not fresh. Must try items? The Chinese donut, tomatoes, pumpkin and king oyster mushrooms. Feeling a little dapper @ Little Dipper.

Grand Chinese Hot Pot – Menu with Prices – 6967 Victoria Dr, Vancouver

I wish I discovered this restaurant sooner. I am not one to usually go to AYCE hot pot, but from now on, this is where I will go. For $18.98 per person, you can order an unlimited amount of standard hot pot dishes from their menu. I enjoyed the sliced beef, sliced lamb, yam noodles, bean curd, lettuce, watercress, napa cabbage, tripe, and dumplings. Their meats are sliced super thin, although the beef is a little fatty, the quality is very good for AYCE. For the meat, it counts as 1 plate per order (see picture). The dumplings, despite being frozen, were so fresh and tasty, I think this was one of my favourite items here. I think they had pork and chives inside. The vegetables we ordered were all fresh, crisp, and recently washed. Some other items we ordered included meatballs, chicken liver, squid rings, baby octopus, and wontons. Sadly, a few things were sold out that day, so it may be better to dine earlier. The soup base is an additional charge of $8 for a regular size or $10 for a large. For the 3 of us, the regular was enough, and likely 4 could share too. You can get half/half broth, at half the price each. So for example, we got half a side of satay broth for $4 and half of the coriander & 1000 year old egg broth for $4, totaling $8. It’s nice that they don’t charge for half/half. I also really liked the satay broth. The items cooked in there had a lot of satay flavour after cooking. From the selection of sauces, you can choose 2 per person. There isn’t too much selection here, and weirdly, soy sauce is not an option. We just went for satay and their peanut/sesame sauce. They have some popular combinations as well, which I may try next time. The only thing is, service is a little slow. While we were there, there was just 1 waitress handling the entire restaurant. So, if we wanted to put in extra orders or ask for a soup or drink refill, it can take some patience. But I don’t mind at all, seeing as there is a 2 hour limit and hot pot is a slower style of dining anyway. The restaurant is nothing fancy, very minimal, but it is clean. I wish that air circulation was better, though, because my clothes definitely smelled like hot pot afterwards. For the 3 of us, it came to about $25 per person after tax and tip. That’s after splitting the cost of soup. At this price, and considering typical AYCE quality, I will definitely be back!

Rice B B Go – Menu with Prices – 3291 Independence Pkwy #400, Plano

Great small size Korean restaurant. Super friendly greeting as I walked in to the restaurant as it is very traditional thing that Korean people do. I ordered the Bento Box on the menu. You have to order your dish at the counter. You have to do yourself on your drink and getting your silverwares to your table. While I was waiting on my dish, I tried the free two soups: miso with small diced tofu and the seaweeds soup. The miso was your blonde with small diced tofu. This soup needs some salts for tasting. The seaweeds soup is shredded seaweeds in a very light broth that could need some salt or other sauce such as soy sauce with vingeretta. My bento box has two meats that I had chosen were beef and spicy pork that were served with rice, salad, fruit and 2 dumplings as it is very common items inside the bento box. I started the fried fumbling. It was crispy and it was very tasty. Perfect seasonings inside for the two dumplings. The light soy sauce and vinger was balanced sour and salty. Side salad were from shredded cabbage in white and purple with a very light spicy mayo dressing. The spicy pork were cooked very tender with right amounts of spicy so it was too spicy. Beef needed more seasoning as it was missing something to make it as a wow factor like the spicy pork. The Kim Chi was very traditional with perfect balanced seasoning. A small price for a good meal for this community eaters. I give a 4 out of 5 stars.

Pokelicious – Menu with Prices – 7414 W 119th St, Overland Park

Best poke restaurant in town! So many options to choose from- fish, sauces, and toppings. I made my own bowl with the sushi rice and the different salmon (smoked, spicy, etc) options. It’s obvious they use extremely fresh fish and toppings that are flavorful! They make all the sauces by hand and they have korean bbq and tofu bowls as well for those who dont like poke. They also serve local kombucha and even free fruit/veggie infused water. I always worry about portion sizes with poke places, however pokelicious gave me plenty of food and i could barely finished my bowl. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very cute and lively. Everything was very clean and the lighting was beautiful. It isn’t too big so it may be difficult to sit with a large group but they utilized the space very well to seat a lot of people. The staff was pleasant as well and they all seemed to love their jobs and the chef is super passionate about what he does and the food he serves. I highly recommend this place for those who want a good poke bowl for a great price and fast service!

Thiên Ã?n Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 7304 101 Ave NW, Edmonton

Thien An is a new Vietnamese restaurant to open us in this neck of the woods. Not much is in this area except we did pass Pho & Bun a few blocks west on the way back home. There’s plenty of room to park and they even have a lot in the back. We came on a late Monday afternoon so there were only a few tables occupied. The inside is new and quite spacious. The menu is massive but the southern Vietnamese soup (hu tiu mi) and beef stew (bo kho) caught my eye. – Fresh salad roll with tofu (V2) ($6.00 for four) – these were nicely done. Slightly warmed, freshly made and with a good peanut dipping sauce. – Veggie noodle soup (V9) ($10.50) – O’s converted to partial vegetarianism so it was veggie soup for her. She liked the broth and it looked like a satisfactory amount of tofu, vegetables and noodles. – Hu tieu nam vang (H2) ($13.00) – smelled great. You choose either egg noodles or rice noodles. I asked about it and you actually can get a mix, so I tried both. You get a variety of meat (beef, shrimp, squid and ground pork) but a bit more meat and noodles would justify the higher price point. That being said, the broth was solid and had a sweetness to it similar to what you find in a wonton/egg noodle soup. What I found interesting was the shape of their bowls. The top part of the bowl forms into a square shape. Odd. Good first experience. I’d come back to try their bo koh and other pho options. 3.5 stars.

Meisiu Cafe – Menu with Prices – 7622 Dodge St, Omaha

Best authentic Chinese I’ve had in town. When most people think of Chinese they think of American dishes like sesame chicken or general tso chicken, this isn’t the place for the that kind of food. The staff was extremely friendly. We tried the #2 and the mapo tofu (which is a dish rarely done well) and it was absolutely amazing!!!! The broth was rich and full of that amazing Chinese five spice flavor and the beef in the soup just melted in your mouth. The hand pulled noodles were so good, the texture was great and they had the perfect amount of chewiness. The soup came with a tea egg, a side item and a water, which at it’s price point is really good. Now the mapo, for real, if you’re a fan of mapo then this is the place to go. Mapo is one of my all time favorite dishes and I’ve been so disappointed trying to find good mapo in town. THIS IS hands down THE BEST MAPO TOFU IN OMAHA right now. We also go the Meisiu chicken togo at the end of the meal and it’s so tender and flavorful. This is the kind of place that we need more of in Omaha. A small menu with focus Great authentic food Amazing friendly staff and a chef that knows how to cook some seriously delicious food. This is 100% my new favorite Chinese place in town.

Thai Diamond Bar.B.Q. – Menu with Prices – 9581 Foothill Blvd, Rancho Cucamonga

Ordered some thai food via grub hub from here. Food came in a timely fashion. I ordered the following: 1. Thai bbq pork spare ribs- these were good. Large pieces. Tender. Flavoring though was so so, wish it was bolder or spicier. But it fell more on the bland side. But I do appreciate the tenderness of it. 2. Garlic and pepper beef- thinly sliced beef. On the tender side as well. But flavors were really lacking. Couldn’t taste the garlic at all. A good amount of beef though compared to peppers. 3. Fillet of fish in mint leaves- not spicy at all. Ok size fish pieces. Fish was cooked well. 4. Coconut soup- this soup made my review go from a solid 3 star to a 4 star review. You get some thai places, where there coconut soup is just so spicy, it’ll burn your mouth. Some places are just so spicy it actually detracts from the flavor. Yes this one was about a 4/10 on my spicy level, but it really allowed me to taste all the flavors. The coconut, the lemon grass, the depths of flavors. It was a flavor explosion in my mouth!! I had it with chicken, which was tender and delicious. I can see myself ordering this soup on a cold night or if I’m under the weather. It was truly one of the best thai coconut soup I’ve ever had!!! Overall I didnt actually go in so there’s an aspect of this place I didn’t experience, but I definitely wouldn’t mind coming in to try other traditional thai dishes such as their pad thai, fried rice, and definitely their coconut soup again!!