The Most Flavorful Hot Pot in Oakland

Shabu Time

★★★★★ 4.6 (643) • $$

"Perfect non-AYCE shabu shabu in the heart of Japantown, San Jose. Nice little place with friend and attentive service. The food is good, the meats and the veggies are fresh. We opted for the medium size of meat and that was plenty. I come up and get my tattoo at the shop a block up and been wanting to try Shabu Time for a while now. May have to stop in again when I fly up from LA for my next session."

Lau Hai San

★★★★☆ 4.1 (700) • $$

"I never want to go dine in for Vietnamese hot pot because my family makes it all the time, but my partner kept raving about it; so I had to try it. The name of this restaurant literally translates to "seafood hot", but they also serve different types of hot pots and Vietnamese dishes.Coconut sea snails (5/5): This is the perfect appetizer. It was very sweet creamy and succulent. Probably one of the best I've ever had.Seafood hotpot (5/5): i had to get this dish the restaurant is named after. It came with shrimp, squid, scallop, tofu, fish ball, clams, mussels , and other. Love the variety of seafood. It was very plentiful and the broth was the perfect sweet and sour.This place definitely blew my mind."

Zhangfei Hot Pot

★★★★☆ 4.4 (594) • $$$

"I'm typically not too big on super authentic Chinese hotpot but Zhangfei Hot Pot really changed that. What really stood out about this particular restaurant is it's extremely friendly staff. With the lunch's full house rush and only 2 younger gentleman running the entire show, it was clear how much they were hustling. Our party's requests were met with smiles and the vibes were so very chill. Seriously, this was some of the BEST customer service I've experienced at an Asian restaurant- which says a whole lot bc staff for the most part gives 2 shizzzzz about customer service. Lunch involved Zhangfei's AYCE. For $25/person, that was an absolute steal. Ordering occurs via QR code and the meal is cut off at a limit of 1.5 hours. There are a long list of items available but pay close attention to things that contain a charge next to it- these items are not included into the AYCE meal and will result in additional charges. Food:While there is a self serve condiments station for you to create your own dipping sauces and a station filled with snacks, sweets, and a few veggies, everything else is ordered via phone. As some Yelpers mentioned, getting your items can take quite a bit of time and you may not even receive parts of your order [which happened to us]. We let a few items slide but the staff is very helpful if you bring the missing items to their attention. We opted for the half/half broth combo and decided on Japanese Sukiyaki & Japanese Pork Bone. Sukiyaki was super sweet [too sweet for my tastebuds] but the pork bone balanced things out by mixing the two. The cuts of meat are decent quality and the servings are plentiful. 4 stars overall because the meal is really good but the time you are left waiting on items can seem unnecessary. +1 because the staff is so diligent and kind. This goes without mentioning but I am most definitely a fan."

Happy Lamb Hot Pot

★★★★☆ 3.9 (745) • $$

"This is our favorite hot pot place!! My favorite things are the crawfish mini lobster along with the best ice cream ever. The fatty beef is also delicious.I come here often but tonight I was celebrating my dad's birthday and went here. Oh my gosh, the best birthday dinner ever because they play music and sing for you and have these fancy light board to make the birthday person feel extra special!! The staff was waving the board around too hahahaha!!The manager is amazing, he's always checking in and making sure everything is good, listens to feedback and so professional!!! Exceptional food, experience, and service!! The staffs are all kind and nice!! 都是小帥哥和小美女 :)Come here!!! Especially if u have a birthday!!"

Mala Town

★★★★★ 4.6 (523) • $$

"BRING BACK TOM YUM SOUP BROTH. As frequenters who actually completed 3 loyalty cards between 2 people we ask nicely please, bring back tom yum soup. The new sukiyaki broth that replaced it is too sweet and the sweet and sour tomato broth gave me a horrible acid reflux. After they removed tom yum we tried it a couple more times but even the variety of the ingredients decreased. Sadly, we won't be coming back anytime soon. Maybe maybe maybe"

Shabuway Japanese Style Hot Pot

★★★★☆ 3.5 (723) • $$

"This place is so good and the meat quality is amazing. Staff is on point and gets things done. Super duper love this place. The hubs, Skye and Matthew and I love this place more than other hot pots because of quality."

Yummi Tea Cafe

★★★★☆ 4.1 (421) • $$

"We've been coming here for years and this place never disappoints. Yay area - folks need to come here as frequent as possible. Every time we drive remotely in this direction we stop to get some great snacks and great drinks!!!"

Bacogai

★★★★☆ 4.4 (338)

"First I would like to start off with the service! As soon as we walked in, we were immediately greeted by the staff. First impressions are huge! As soon as we get seated, the table is set to perfection. 10/10We put in our order, I can't remember the names of our dishes but I will provide pictures for you.We had the salad with duck in it. I honestly would go back just for the salad alone. It had that a really nice bite to it. The shallots added so much flavor, and you know when you get a salad and sometimes they over dress it? Well that was not the case, it was dressed and definitely impressed. Had a squeeze of lime for that extra zing to it. Perfect! We also had the hotpot, and let me tell you! The soup base was flavorful. It didn't need anything. It had that sweet and sour taste to it, and the fact that you get to add extra little sides in it made it so good! Kayla our wonderful staff member told us to add bean curd, and that little bean curd soaked up all the flavor , and as soon as you put it in your mouth, the flavor bomb kicked in! So good The other item we ordered was a beef stir fry with rice noodle and lettuce, I am a big meat eater. The beef alone was epic, it was savory, and the rice noodles that comes with it was really good. It came with a dipping sauce, and just like the bean curd, the rice noodles packed all that flavor! This is definitely a restaurant you have to try. The whole setting of the restaurant was beautiful, from the cuttlery to the food it was amazing! Definitely a date night, a go to in alameda, a fun dinner with the family. I can't wait to come back to try other things on the menu. I'm sure they won't miss - (this means that they aren't going to fail for you people who don't know what that means)."

The Loft Shabu Sushi & Thai

★★★★☆ 3.7 (396) • $$

"The menu is mixed with cooked food and sushi, plenty of options for everyone. Salmon Tower is fresh and a great way to start any meal. The Pad Thai is probably the best we've ever had. The hot sake is a warm, soothing complement to the meal. The ambiance is cozy and the service is sweet. If you get a chance check out the art on the walls has a bit of humor. Will be back"

Mala Town

★★★★★ 4.5 (267) • $$

"Do not be like me and come here after a long day of not eating because you'll end up packing down a bowl for 2 meals! But also be like me if you don't mind delicious leftovers.The selection variety for the bowls here are great: they'll have most of the classic hot pot options with some few extra goodies I haven't seen elsewhere where and enjoy such as the fish tofu with cheese and mochi nuggets! With mild spice on the signature beef bone broth I could def feel a little numbing in my mouth but it's so flavorful.Their bottled drink selections were refreshing if you want a fun flavored drink like grape or pomegranate tea. Alternatively, they offer drinks on the side that are free next to the sauce bar.I'm already looking forward to my next time eating here! Definitely come with friends to bet on how much food each person will end up paying for based on the weight of their bowl."

Tastee Steam Kitchen

★★★★☆ 3.9 (317) • $$$

"Tastee Steam Kitchen is a "tastee" one-stop-shop for steamed or cajun-style seafood, hot pot, skewers, dim sum, and sushi. I most often get the mini hot pot or AYCE hot pot and would recommend both. For the mini hot pots, the Szechuan Spicy Pot is my favorite, with plentiful pieces of fish and beef swimming in a spicy soup. The Satay Beef Pot has a garlicky and sweet broth and is good as well, although I don't care for the grainy taro.For AYCE, I would recommend the Hot & Spicy and Herbal Chicken soup bases. They're flavorful enough such that you really don't need a sauce, but I do appreciate their expansive sauce bar. The meat quality is decent, and while I do like the fatty melt-in-your-mouth prime beef, my favorite is the sole fillet with its buttery texture. The skewers here are also good enough to satisfy a craving. The chicken, beef, and lamb skewers were generally well-cooked and juicy, but I left wanting a bit more spice and char flavor. The restaurant's interior is quite large and surprisingly well-decorated, so it makes for a nicer, quieter spot in Chinatown to bring family / guests or even catch a game on their TVs. I do think they are understaffed at times, so you may need to proactively flag down waiters. Finally, be sure to check the signage and menus for their monthly food and drink specials!"

TOP POT

★★★★☆ 4 (301) • $$$

"Absolutely my favorite Top Pot in this part of town. The wait times are low or non-existent during the times we like to eat. Substantial portions of any of the foods that you order, and they are fresh. The size of the pots are large and can accommodate a lot of food. They can fit small and large groups easily, too. We once had a group of 14 and we were able to sit together! Yay!Minus one star for two specific reasons: They're the most expensive hot pot in this part of town, and I wish they would always turn on the vents on top of any active table."

MiMi's Kitchen

★★★★★ 4.7 (206) • $$

"Food? Excellent quality and a great value! My partner had the sizzling short rib rice, and I had the sizzling eel rice. Both were taste sensations! The server was a very sweet, soft spoken young woman who advised us to not touch the cast iron bowl and to mix in the house made sauce into the rice. Even after 20 minutes, the cast iron was still hot which gave the rice on the bottom a crispy, chewy texture that we loved. The short ribs were Hawaiian style. The eel melted in my mouth. Other folks were having fried noodles, sashimi, a tower of cucumber slices, ramen, and all of it was beautifully presented. The menu is only available by QR code. It is somewhat limited in comparison with other Asian restaurants. I like that they stick with the sizzling dishes, pressed sushi, noodles and soups. Do what you do best! They do! It's delicious! Interestingly, they don't have hot tea. It was a crisp day, and I really would have enjoyed a cup of genmaicha. However, they serve a beautiful carafe of water with lemon slices. Service? The servers, and bus boy were obviously young family members. Nevertheless, they were friendly, efficient, and professional.Ambiance? This is a family friendly place ringing with the joyous giggles and screams of children, all of whom are well behaved! The decor is kind of in the style of a classy day care, but it's totally appropriate for this family eatery. We live in Salinas, and came up to drop off a car at Carvana. I searched for restaurants in Blossom Valley, and came up with MiMi's. What a find! We'll definitely come here again!"

Old Street Chengpan Malatang

★★★★★ 4.6 (114) • $$

"We have been Malatang fans ever since we used to frequent Bow1 in Newark (RIP). Had been meaning to check out old street for some time and finally made it out during lunch today! Both our bowls were $20 and it was a lot of food! It is a solid spot, but I was not blown away. Pros - large portion- quality of meat (thin beef!)- good spice on the spicier options- sauce bar- easy to customize - friendly serviceCons- no photos on app for ordering and some items are named super similar- flavor of broth could be stronger - soup was not piping hot, but rice cakes and a few other items were overcooked"

Hotpot Nation 鍋天下

★★★★☆ 3.9 (140)

"As we've been meaning to try Hotpot Nation for awhile now, my wife brought me here last night to celebrate my birthday. They have a Yelp Waitlist, but as we arrived early around 5:30pm, there was still plenty of available seating and no wait necessary. Service was very friendly and helpful, and our waitress made sure to run us through how to order. She recommended ordering the soup base first, which I highly recommend to everyone while you're deciding the rest of your order. As the base does take a bit to heat up.We opted for the House Special Colagen Pork Marrow Broth, which was VERY rich and flavorful. Highly recommend this one if you're uncertain which to choose. The charge the soup by the number of people at the table, even though everyone is just sharing one pot. They have several platter combos to choose from, which are much more economical than choosing individually. We opted for the meatball platter, which had a nice mixture of different protein types within. And ordered several meat and veggie plates separately to supplement. All of the ingredients were very fresh, and tasted great! And the sauce station had a nice, diverse amount of sauce options and condiments to mix and match from. At the end of your meal, you can even ask for a take-out container to take home the delicious broth!The place did start to fill up quickly as we progressed through dinner, so it is recommended to come early."

Cape 7 Cafe

★★★☆☆ 3.2 (124) • $$

"To the point: this place is great.There are a number of reasons for this. First, the food is fairly good, but keep in mind the menu is vast here. From Chinese BBQ to all-day breakfast and sandwiches, there's something for everyone, but the quality across the menu can vary. My wife had the BBQ and I had the club sandwich, both were stellar. My wife, who is very picky when it comes to "authentic" Chinese food, was extremely satisfied with the taste and quality. The service was also quite warm and attentive. Our waitress was so friendly and worked with us to find the items on the menu we'd love.The place is big, and there's plenty of space. Not too loud either so it's easy to have a conversation. I thought it was nice they had three televisions showing various programs appropriate for different ages.Overall, I'd say give this place a chance. I can see where the more negative reviews are coming from, but honestly my experience couldn't be any further from that. I certainly intend to return."

Simmer Huang

★★★★☆ 4.2 (66)

"We had no business coming to newpark mall other than to get niche Christmas gifts. By the end of our mall run we were needed sustenance and decided to go with the first place we saw. It was somewhat empty when we walked in, so we weren't sure what to expect but it ended up being a great experience! I liked that they had a massive wall screen streaming people cooking lol. Sometimes it's nice to just sit in silence with your partner and watch people cook. The screen up top felt gratuitous but didn't bother me much, glad I was sober lol. Here's what we ordered: Beef noodle soup: everything you want in a light soup in this cold weather. The broth was rich and the meat was so tender. I'm simple with my soup, so meat, noodle, and some veggies worked perfect for me.Dan Dan noodles: good flavor, but maybe a little too oily. Super delicious when mixed right.Lamb skewers: yum, crisp on the outside and tender inside. and flavorful with all the spices. Chicken skewers: this was the same as lamb but in chicken form lol. It's just as good but I preferred the lamb.Service was friendly and attentive. It was easy to order with the QR code. Will be back for that soup!"

ZSX Szechuan Rice Noodle

★★★★★ 4.7 (40) • $$

"We were on the way to Redwood City from the East Bay and decided to stop by here for lunch since I saw that they had just opened not too long ago. And I am so glad we did! There was a lot of parking available so we were able to get a spot right in front.The crispy pork was so good with the seasoning it came with! Out of everything we tried, the crispy milk roll was probably my favorite. The outside was nice and crispy while the inside was creamy and soft. It was also not too sweet. I wouldn't mind eating this every week! Looking forward to coming here again and trying their other dishes and desserts!"

Ben Ben Restaurant

★★★★☆ 4.2 (38)

"So I am torn between a three and a four, on one hand, I do like the fact that the hotpot is very homey, like how we used to do it when I was a kid. But on the other hand, some things should not be put in the hotpot. Pro: Self-service Sauce BarQuality of sliced meat (beef, lamb and pork belly)Personal pots that heat up quickly.Con: Everything is self-served (bowls, water, etc).Some cuts and veggies are not hot pot choices (cubbed steak, iceberg lettuce)Limited choices and no description in the app for phone ordering.For the price ($28 for AYCE) and service, it is nice but there isn't any interior redo from the previous restaurant. The tables (6 top) are a little weird, as some have 6 burners but only 4 chairs. I wish there were other veggies like bok choy, chrysanthemum leaves (crown daisy/tong hao), more mushroom choices, and fishballs with roe. Also, some apps would be nice. I did like the sliced Beef #1, lamb, and pork belly, but there were cuts like cubed beef that were tough after cooking. The veggie plate had thinly sliced lotus root which I liked but I can't stand cooked iceberg lettuce. It is a very Chinese thing, but I rather have many other cooked veggies."

Tanghuo Kungfu Mala Town

★★★★☆ 4 (16)

"After a lot of anticipation, I finally tried Tanghuo Kungfu Mala Town. The restaurant was smaller than I expected, but the decoration was really new and there was a lot of people there.This restaurant operates on a system where you choose which ingredients you want to be added to your malatang through an ingredient bar. You can pay by weight and choose your soup base.For around 1.7lbs of food, I paid $27. I chose the malaban option which came with peanut and sesame sauce. The flavour was good and the ingredients tasted very fresh. They offered a good variety of ingredients to pick from! I definitely recommend the quail egg and the fish ball with fish roe inside.Malatang is perfect for colder weather so definitely make your way down there in the next couple of weeks. You will feel warm and satisfied."

Jong Ga House

★★★★☆ 4.1 • $$$

"It was date night when we showed up for the first time at Jong Ga House (or more like "date afternoon" since I made the reservation for 2:00 PM). It doesn't seem like much from the outside and that's ok since we are very into "mom and pop" places. As we walked in and waited to be seated, a friendly server greeted us and walked us right in. Immediately brought in the menu with water. I guess we looked like we've been there before because the server asked if we were ready to order just as she returned with the nine servings of "banchan" (side dishes in Korean). It was perfect for us since we were already hungry and it was easy to choose from the items on the menu. We started off with the ribeye, spicy chicken and boneless barbecue ribs. Ufff! The chicken and ribs were delicious! The ribeye... could have been better. It was not as tender as I expected or as tender as the chicken and ribs. The portions are considerable and my wife and I were getting full. We ordered two more items, the pork belly (flavorful) and the shrimp (tender and just the right amount of salt (of course it was... we seasoned it.) I don't know if it was the owner but she came towards the end and was surprised that we didn't want to order more. lol. What can I say, we're not heavy eaters. Though, we can appreciate great food at a reasonable price and fast friendly service. Would we come back?? Definitely! For another date night and with the kids too. PS. Reservations are highly recommended, especially if you want to be seated at the grill station."

Taichi Pot Shabu Shabu

★★★★☆ 4.4 • $$$

"I was in a party of 7 and we had a 7PM reservation on a Sunday. Unfortunately that day the yelp reservation system glitched so we had to wait for 45 minutes. After they told us to get ready, we had to wait even more since they were not actually ready. We waited for over an hour in total - by the time we started eating, it was already 8:40. We split our party in two to sit in two separate tables to make everything quicker.The staff was very nice to us since they knew we had to wait for such a long time. They offered to let us order three broths. However, the kitchen wasn't fully in sync so the person who took our order told us that we only got two broths. I didn't care and we ended up getting a mala broth and a garlic tonkotsu broth. I like how they have sauces tableside so we don't need to get out of our seats. The food was pretty decent and had good flavor. I especially liked the mala broth. We went with the ultra menu and mostly ordered wagyu and lamb to get our money's worth. Both cuts of meat were good. The broth refill is just pouring hot water into the soup so it does get a bit diluted.We thought that they were going to stop serving us at 9:20 since they close on 9:30 on Sundays but they were aware of our situation and kept serving us. We stayed 20 minutes past closing and I appreciate the staff for staying a bit later to deal with us. The owner stopped by to chat with us and he was very nice. He was made aware of our situation and apologized. Even though our interaction was brief it was clear that he is passionate about this restaurant. He talked us into getting one last plate of meat even though I was full and also gave us some mochi ice cream.Even though my experience was very atypical and I was very tempted to give a lower review due to the wait time, the quality of the food and the lengths the staff went to ensure that we were happy justify a 5/5."

One Pot Shabu Shabu - Cupertino

★★★★☆ 3.9 • $$$

"We ordered the Kobe meat and a kurobuta shoulder and scallops. The pork shoulder was delicious. The broth is the house special. I come back specifically for this broth soy milk + miso. I have been to other hot pot but non had this broth combination. Yummy. Next time I will get a bigger portion of the pork shoulder."

Happy Lamb Hot Pot

★★★★☆ 4 • $$

"My friend and I came here for dinner , originally we were going to eat next door at hipot but it looked so empty we went to happy lamb. I've gone to a few different happy lambs and this one doesn't have the self serve veggies /noodle option . You have 3 rounds for the ayce and they bring the food to you, I guess this is fresher / cleaner and doesn't have as much food waste compared to people grabbing food from a self serve bar . $29.99 for weekday / all day weekend ayce . They charge 99 cents for the sauce bar, which I personally think is kind of silly. The sauce bar didn't have as many options as other happy lamb places I have gone to either. We only ordered one round of food, it was more than enough food for two ladies . The meat and veggies were all really fresh and I'd recommend this location to anyone who wants hotpot. When we left at 7, the restaurant filled up so come at 6 if you want to be seated fast ."

Superhot Hotpot & Korean BBQ

★★★★☆ 4.2 • $$$

"What a great experience at Superhot. What I loved best about kbbq and a hot pot combo is there are endless combinations and that's exactly what superhot gave us. There's an all you can eat option which is roughly $45 per person. Endless meats from red wine lamb to spicy pork to octopus, side of soup for your hot pot and anything you wanna put in it. Everything was affordable and kbbq is always just a fun time. There is a side bar that's help yourself so you don't have to ask for multiple sauces and such. All in all the service was wonderful, parking is a breeze and the establishment knows what it's doing. Def adding it to my list to return."