Went there for lunch today April 1st, it's Monday! When we're finished and going to pay . They told us it's a Holiday so instead of $25.99 per person we were charged for $33.99per person ???. We also have they're coupon after 10 meals we'll get one for free. Since it's their holiday they weren't horn the coupon either. None of those are on their Adds at all. It's not a honest place. Do Not recommend!!!
Matt Fisher
No frills, great value, high quality AYCE hot pot
Noreen S.
It's all you can eat. All fresh items are in the refrigerator, and you go and grab what you'd like. There isn't much waitress help because you grab your own things to cook. She just came and took our order for the soup choice and brought our sodas. It's clean, and even as we seen people leave, she sprayed and disinfected the table and area.
zhehao zhang
Love this restaurant a lot. Nice and cozy place. Delicious dishes and great services. Will come back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
luvya liang
The service was excellent.
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 5
Anita L.
We came here for a lunch on a weekday, AYCE was $25.99. This hot pot place was unique in that you only order a few select ingredients from their QR menu which they will bring to your table. For other ingredients, you go to the fridges that they have located against the back wall, grab a plate, and help yourself to the items in the fridge. Everything is individually put on a skewer (hence the name of the restaurant). At first, I thought this was quite wasteful - why not have multiple of the same ingredient on one skewer? But then I realized the idea is for you to put the food items directly into your hot pot broth with the skewer and then use the skewer to take it out when the food is cooked through. We thought it was a cool concept but then realized the drawback is that the skewers get in the way of you trying to dish up other items in tandem. Some of their items would have been better bbqed in my opinion - for instance, they had a lot of spicy beef options, rolled around an assortment of veggies. This would have tasted better on a bbq instead of being boiled in the pot - the meat was quite tough to eat. They have a DIY sauce bar although it's not as extensive an assortment of ingredients that I've seen at other places. They have a couple of options for dessert such as sesame balls, oranges, and some type of jelly dish. You can also choose to add on to your AYCE meal with items like green onion pancake, rice, etc. Overall, it made for an ok meal but not our favorite hot pot place.
David V.
So we were debating on what to eat and I remember this new spot that took over the old "Manila Express" that had been a staple here for over 40+ years! Anyway, we decided to give this place a try and boy what a find! 1st, we arrived just before 6pm and the place was empty, no patrons. Wifey and I looked at each other and said, so what, let's give it a go. Nancy, who was very nice and helpful, welcomes us in and seats us right away explaining how to order and making suggestions on the2 broths to try. We got the mild spicy and their popular chicken and blck mushroom. We ordered sliced beef, pork, and lamb. We then got a good helping of skewers of mushrooms, broccoli, shrimp, beef with veggies, fish balls, and tofu. On top of that we ordered onion pancake, fried tofu, chicken giblets, and lotus root. We left completely full and our palets happy, totally glad o have visited this establishment. It def will be part of our go-to restaurant rotations moving forward.
Connie S.
I've been to many hot pot places, but none where the meats and vegetables are on skewers! On New Year's Day, we came here for lunch. I assume we were charged the dinner price of $35.99 for AYCE because it was a holiday. A QR code on the table allows you to order broth and other sliced meats and vegetables. Additional side dishes are available for selection but are not included in the AYCE. There is a sauce bar alongside an array of appetizers, including sesame balls, cucumber salad, and seaweed salad. Across the sauce bar are fridges filled with meats, veggies, and seafood on skewers that you can help yourself to and incorporate into the hot pot. For the broth, we got the half-and-half tomato and the original. Both broths were tasty and became even more flavorful as we cooked the meats in them. The ordered beef were more tender than the beef on the skewers. As for the skewers, I enjoyed the enoki wrapped in pork. We were very pleased with the attentiveness and friendliness of our waitress. I enjoyed my dining experience overall.
Janet Chen
1. No service: we got our chopsticks and plates by our self because there is only one waitress serving all tables. Wish I could give 0 zero if I can.2. Poor quality food: feel sick all night…3. No AC: Daly City… Such a cold night and no AC, have to wear my down jacket to finish the dinner. So ridiculous.4. Tastes so bad: They ADD WATER to your broth. Make your broth taste like water literally.5. Missing item: ordered one fried rice and never got it served. Still include it in my final bill though. Gotta ask the server to correct it…….—I am very disappointed and will never come back
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
I'm Makayla
Very good and very filling ?The store staff are also very nice!
We stopped by for dinner, $35.99 all you can eat. The restaurant itself is tucked in the back of a small plaza. Our server was friendly and refilled our broth regularly. You can choose two broths, we got the house spicy soup and the black chicken mushroom. The broths were very flavorful, the house spicy soup was definitely spicy. The sauce bar is serve yourself, and they also have some free Chinese appetizer items. The skewers are also serve yourself from a fridge, there was a large variety from rolled beef, to seafood, to vegetables. You put in an order through your phone for sliced meat, although the quality of the meat wasn't as good as I thought it would be. The sliced meat was labeled as fatty beef/lamb/etc. but the meat was all fairly lean. They also have some side dishes that are extra costs, rice is $2 which was a bit surprising considering you could get noodles for free. Overall I like the variety of items, and the skewers are a nice fun addition to regular hot pot.
Edwin L.
My favorite ayce hotpot place so far! Definitely deserves a bigger following than the other places nearby there's literally never a wait while places around there are packed with 1h+ wait whilst being worse than Gu's. Everything here is delicious, but if I had to choose then it'd be the shrimp paste. You gotta scoop it out yourself though so it's a bit more work than the skewers.
Mark M.
We've had hot pot many a times, but never so fun than having them skewered. Just by looking at photos from other reviews, you wonder what's with all them sticks?!? We didn't know how to order, but the server was very helpful. Turns out it is all you can eat for a flat rate. There are items on a menu you can order as well as selecting individual skewered items in the glass refrigerator. Personally, I think the meat on the menu is a little tender than the skewered meat, so maybe go that route. You can supplement with other skewered veggies and seafood items though. I felt bad when we took the chicken organ, it was a whole skewer for just a single piece of kidney or something. Maybe put 3 pieces? They also have a make your own sauce station. However, this place seems pretty Asian authentic as there were some items that I had no idea what it was - like bean sauce? It'd be great if they showed a sample sauce recipe that would help jump start your tastebuds. Oh fyi - when the server asks you how spicy you want your soup base, medium is pretty spicy! They have other options too that aren't spicy at all. All in all, great to try. Ambiance not as fancy as other hot pot places, but they have a wide variety of items.
Victoria L.
Food isn't too special but the warmest waitress and sincere heart to make the best food. Will definitely on my "to-eat-list"
Austin Huang
It was great when it first opened, then it started going downhill. Food selections are getting very limited, and the quality… you can literally tell the food is not fresh. Me and my friend both felt sick all night after eating dinner there, not like food poisoning sick, but just not feeling very well in our stomach. Anyways, never coming back.
Went there for lunch today April 1st, it's Monday! When we're finished and going to pay . They told us it's a Holiday so instead of $25.99 per person we were charged for $33.99per person ???. We also have they're coupon after 10 meals we'll get one for free. Since it's their holiday they weren't horn the coupon either. None of those are on their Adds at all. It's not a honest place. Do Not recommend!!!
No frills, great value, high quality AYCE hot pot
It's all you can eat. All fresh items are in the refrigerator, and you go and grab what you'd like. There isn't much waitress help because you grab your own things to cook. She just came and took our order for the soup choice and brought our sodas. It's clean, and even as we seen people leave, she sprayed and disinfected the table and area.
Love this restaurant a lot. Nice and cozy place. Delicious dishes and great services. Will come back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The service was excellent.
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 5
We came here for a lunch on a weekday, AYCE was $25.99. This hot pot place was unique in that you only order a few select ingredients from their QR menu which they will bring to your table. For other ingredients, you go to the fridges that they have located against the back wall, grab a plate, and help yourself to the items in the fridge. Everything is individually put on a skewer (hence the name of the restaurant). At first, I thought this was quite wasteful - why not have multiple of the same ingredient on one skewer? But then I realized the idea is for you to put the food items directly into your hot pot broth with the skewer and then use the skewer to take it out when the food is cooked through. We thought it was a cool concept but then realized the drawback is that the skewers get in the way of you trying to dish up other items in tandem. Some of their items would have been better bbqed in my opinion - for instance, they had a lot of spicy beef options, rolled around an assortment of veggies. This would have tasted better on a bbq instead of being boiled in the pot - the meat was quite tough to eat. They have a DIY sauce bar although it's not as extensive an assortment of ingredients that I've seen at other places. They have a couple of options for dessert such as sesame balls, oranges, and some type of jelly dish. You can also choose to add on to your AYCE meal with items like green onion pancake, rice, etc. Overall, it made for an ok meal but not our favorite hot pot place.
So we were debating on what to eat and I remember this new spot that took over the old "Manila Express" that had been a staple here for over 40+ years! Anyway, we decided to give this place a try and boy what a find! 1st, we arrived just before 6pm and the place was empty, no patrons. Wifey and I looked at each other and said, so what, let's give it a go. Nancy, who was very nice and helpful, welcomes us in and seats us right away explaining how to order and making suggestions on the2 broths to try. We got the mild spicy and their popular chicken and blck mushroom. We ordered sliced beef, pork, and lamb. We then got a good helping of skewers of mushrooms, broccoli, shrimp, beef with veggies, fish balls, and tofu. On top of that we ordered onion pancake, fried tofu, chicken giblets, and lotus root. We left completely full and our palets happy, totally glad o have visited this establishment. It def will be part of our go-to restaurant rotations moving forward.
I've been to many hot pot places, but none where the meats and vegetables are on skewers! On New Year's Day, we came here for lunch. I assume we were charged the dinner price of $35.99 for AYCE because it was a holiday. A QR code on the table allows you to order broth and other sliced meats and vegetables. Additional side dishes are available for selection but are not included in the AYCE. There is a sauce bar alongside an array of appetizers, including sesame balls, cucumber salad, and seaweed salad. Across the sauce bar are fridges filled with meats, veggies, and seafood on skewers that you can help yourself to and incorporate into the hot pot. For the broth, we got the half-and-half tomato and the original. Both broths were tasty and became even more flavorful as we cooked the meats in them. The ordered beef were more tender than the beef on the skewers. As for the skewers, I enjoyed the enoki wrapped in pork. We were very pleased with the attentiveness and friendliness of our waitress. I enjoyed my dining experience overall.
1. No service: we got our chopsticks and plates by our self because there is only one waitress serving all tables. Wish I could give 0 zero if I can.2. Poor quality food: feel sick all night…3. No AC: Daly City… Such a cold night and no AC, have to wear my down jacket to finish the dinner. So ridiculous.4. Tastes so bad: They ADD WATER to your broth. Make your broth taste like water literally.5. Missing item: ordered one fried rice and never got it served. Still include it in my final bill though. Gotta ask the server to correct it…….—I am very disappointed and will never come back
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Very good and very filling ?The store staff are also very nice!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
We stopped by for dinner, $35.99 all you can eat. The restaurant itself is tucked in the back of a small plaza. Our server was friendly and refilled our broth regularly. You can choose two broths, we got the house spicy soup and the black chicken mushroom. The broths were very flavorful, the house spicy soup was definitely spicy. The sauce bar is serve yourself, and they also have some free Chinese appetizer items. The skewers are also serve yourself from a fridge, there was a large variety from rolled beef, to seafood, to vegetables. You put in an order through your phone for sliced meat, although the quality of the meat wasn't as good as I thought it would be. The sliced meat was labeled as fatty beef/lamb/etc. but the meat was all fairly lean. They also have some side dishes that are extra costs, rice is $2 which was a bit surprising considering you could get noodles for free. Overall I like the variety of items, and the skewers are a nice fun addition to regular hot pot.
My favorite ayce hotpot place so far! Definitely deserves a bigger following than the other places nearby there's literally never a wait while places around there are packed with 1h+ wait whilst being worse than Gu's. Everything here is delicious, but if I had to choose then it'd be the shrimp paste. You gotta scoop it out yourself though so it's a bit more work than the skewers.
We've had hot pot many a times, but never so fun than having them skewered. Just by looking at photos from other reviews, you wonder what's with all them sticks?!? We didn't know how to order, but the server was very helpful. Turns out it is all you can eat for a flat rate. There are items on a menu you can order as well as selecting individual skewered items in the glass refrigerator. Personally, I think the meat on the menu is a little tender than the skewered meat, so maybe go that route. You can supplement with other skewered veggies and seafood items though. I felt bad when we took the chicken organ, it was a whole skewer for just a single piece of kidney or something. Maybe put 3 pieces? They also have a make your own sauce station. However, this place seems pretty Asian authentic as there were some items that I had no idea what it was - like bean sauce? It'd be great if they showed a sample sauce recipe that would help jump start your tastebuds. Oh fyi - when the server asks you how spicy you want your soup base, medium is pretty spicy! They have other options too that aren't spicy at all. All in all, great to try. Ambiance not as fancy as other hot pot places, but they have a wide variety of items.
Food isn't too special but the warmest waitress and sincere heart to make the best food. Will definitely on my "to-eat-list"
It was great when it first opened, then it started going downhill. Food selections are getting very limited, and the quality… you can literally tell the food is not fresh. Me and my friend both felt sick all night after eating dinner there, not like food poisoning sick, but just not feeling very well in our stomach. Anyways, never coming back.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3