Finally got to try the famous Haidilao! Came here with my family on a Saturday around 6pm and we were seated right away (have to wait for the whole party to be there to be seated). (Half an hour later the wait ended up being at least 2 hr so make sure to come early if you're eating on a weekend! Outside if you have to wait, there is a tray with little crackers to snack on as well as fruit and barley tea. The fruit tea was a nice light flavor and wasn't too sweet or artificial. The barley tea was a hot tea that tastes roasted. Once we were seated, our waitress gave us hair ties, aprons, and bags for our masks. We ordered on a tablet. My family ordered 2 of the Beef Short Rib + Seafood + Veggie Combos and another beef platter. We accidentally ordered the same meat as our combo, so our waitress kindly changed it to the flat iron beef for us. We also got the tomato, spicy pork, Tom yum, and miso soup bases. We all like the tomato and spicy pork the most! Tomato was my favorite--very flavorful and gave a delicious flavor to all the food. My favorite meat was the flat iron. Although the flavor of the dishes aren't too special here, you can tell the quality of the food is a lot cleaner and better than other places. We also all got sauces and some sides at the sauce bar. There's SO MANY sauces and toppings to choose from. There were also things like salad, honeydew, sesame red bean balls, and and red bean/rice dessert. But also keep in mind that they charge you for the sauce bar! If you check in on yelp, you can also get a free jar of plum juice (only one per table). Between 5 people, we found this was the perfect amount of food and it ended up costing around $145 before tip. We were also celebrating a graduation, so they gave us a Haidilao self heating hot pot as a gift ! I definitely recommend coming here for the service, experience, and food. It's not like any other restaurant I've been to. Diamond Jamboree also has plenty of parking in the structure. Parking in the lot might be a hassle if you're coming during meal times.
Dalica N.
Came here with my friends and had a great time! Our server Justin was the best, he even peeled our shrimp (thanks justin ur the best). They have many options and I thought it was cool how you could choose from four or two soup bases. They have a large variety of meat, vegetables, and seafood on their menu. The service here was really good, providing us with hair ties, aprons, and gloves to eat. The sichuan soup base was super spicy so I only recommend that to those who know they can handle a lot of spice. The tom yum soup base was my favorite too. They also have a sauce bar that is extra for those who want it (along with fruits). I would definitely come here again.
Lora H.
All staff was bilingual. Thank you so much! We can't wait to be back.... The food was really fresh and well prepared and the broths were full of flavor. It's so good that dine in is allowed finally.
Marianne M.
My 1st time at a HDL. The food and service lived up to the hype and expectations. We ordered the 4 option soup based. Tomato based and mushroom was my favourite. The seafood platter was fresh and meet platter looked amazing. One minor downside was we weren't able to make our own sauces at the station and had to customized it on a paper and the waitress made it for us. Not the same as we couldn't adjust the exact ratio we wanted but totally understand the reasoning as it was due to covid and hygiene purposes. All in all, great experience and would definitely come back again!
Tiffany L.
Recently ate at Haidilao for the first time to celebrate a birthday on a Sunday night. I would definitely recommend signing up for the waitlist as soon as you can because there are usually lots of people waiting to eat here that the waiting time can extend for at least 2 hours. First of all, I wanted to mention that I have never been as prepared for a meal as I was at Haidilao. To explain, we were given aprons, hair ties, small baggies for our masks, and hand wipes right as we were seated. Eating hot pot anywhere can be a messy ordeal, so it was very considerate of them to provide us these tools to avoid coming home with stained shirts. I must say that the customer service here is amazing and made our entire night. We had Iris as our waitress who was so attentive and accomodating to our requests. From setting up a mini birthday celebration to providing us a complimentary dancing noodle performance and even voluntarily peeling our shrimp, Iris truly made our entire dinner enjoyable. She even gave me cute lotus root earrings as a birthday gift and an instant hot pot pack. If she isn't the example of great customer service, I don't know who else could be. In regards to food, it was great. We ordered three different combos which essentially included a plate of protein (meat and/or seafood) and a veggie platter. It was pretty filling for a group of four. We got the tomato, classic spicy, tom yum, and one other broth. They were all great, but I would not recommend the spicy broth if you cannot handle extreme spices. Starting off, the burn isn't too bad, but after eating from it for a long period, it begins to really burn. We will be back. 100% would recommend coming here to eat and experience great service.
Chiang D.
It's so good that dine in is allowed finally. I like to prepare my secret source Everytime. Food is still tasteful and service is excellentPaula and Emily both professional and warm heart. I will go every week.
Jenni J.
I have been eating here every week for the past month not only because the food is amazing, but on top of that I found the best waitress anyone could ever ask for. Iris makes me feel like I'm coming home every time I come in, and today she did an excellent job setting everything up to make my friends feel at home as well. My bf is not a fan of hotpot, but he just officially became a FAN I definitely would come back and strongly recommend this dining experience for everyone, especially hot pot lovers like me. Thank you Haidilao & Iris
Angela C.
This place is pricy for a hot pot place but you definitely get what you pay for. Top quality meats and broths. My fav broths are tumyom and spicy beef. The dancing noodles are okay but I wouldn't get it again. It's a good one time thing to get if you're there for the first time.
Shaira T.
We went to Haidilao on a Friday night, and when I went, Orange county just reopened indoor dining! I had heard so many good things about Haidilao and I love hotpot so I was super excited to go. We placed our name down through Yelp and even though the wait was listed to be a while, they got to our name way sooner probably because there were less people dining out at that point. I removed myself from the list a few times as we were heading there but once we got there we didn't have to wait very much at all. They cleared out a table and got us seated pretty fast! Food was pretty good. We got a couple meat options, veggie combo and 2 soup bases. We got the beef soup base and the classic spicy and it was great. I love that you can choose up to 4 bases at a time! It was a pretty filling meal. They forgot to bring us one of our meat orders in the beginning but the staff were all really nice and got it super quick as soon as we asked. The service... oh man the service was SO GOOD. I have never had service as good as I had here at Haidilao Irvine. They gave us baggies for our masks, gave me a hair tie, made sure we were introduced to the food (it was our first time!), and even gave us hand sanitizer at the end before we left. The sauce stations are normally buffet/self serve but because of COVID, it's part of the menu you can order. Our server gave us a couple of sauce mixes that they liked which was great for us being noobs! As we left, they even gave us an instant noodle thing to try. I wish I remembered our servers' names because the service was just A1. 100% would recommend and come back. The food was bomb and I'd love to try other combos/soup base options in the future. The service makes it just even better!
Jenny M.
You are paying for high quality hot pot here, so lets get that out of the way - the prices will probably be steeper than most other hot pot places that you frequent. However, you are getting a good experience with solid service when you dine here. My FAVORITE sauce combo (you are welcome): ponzu sauce + garlic + thai chili. You can't self serve at the sauce counter due to COVID but that's a combination you should definitely try. If you like it, send me a message because I'm convinced we should be best friends. My usual hot pot selections: quail eggs, prime rib eye, chinese crullers/donut (don't let it sit in the boiling pot longer than 5 seconds or it will become ONE with the broth - you have been warned), hot pot noodles (2 orders) and the veggie sampler. Soup base ranking: Classic Spicy - OG, safe choice but YA BASIC Thai Tom Yum - More exotic, fun choice if you like flavoring your seafood and veggies in a different way with some tang Spicy Pork Soup Base - THE BEST. MVP of all soup bases. Gets better and better when you put more items into it. Miso - Forgettable unless of course, you are craving miso.
High quality food and amazing service! Prices are a bit steep here, but the experience here is so different from other hot pot places. This was my first time at Haidilao, and I was blown away. They offer free snacks, tea, and a variety of games for you to enjoy while waiting to be seated. Upon being seated, they offer a bag for your mask, lens wipes, an apron to protect your clothing from splashes, and even hair ties! The women's restroom even had complimentary feminine products (and not the cheap kind that you generally get from bathroom dispensers). The staff was very friendly and attentive during our entire meal. They also bring out appetizers such as some fruit, corn, and peanuts. The ordering process is super easy too, since you place your orders on an iPad. The iPad stays with you the whole time, so you can easily add more onto your order throughout the meal. The iPad even updates your total, so you know exactly how much you're spending. Each item also has a picture and suggested cook time as well! SOUP BASES: We ordered the pork bone and spicy soup bases. Highly recommend both of these! I was happy with our choice and I think I'd choose the same bases the next time I come back. Obviously only order the spicy soup base if you can handle spice -- it was actually VERY spicy and had me coughing a few times. The pork bone had a much lighter flavor, and I enjoyed sipping on this one (especially after you've been eating for a while, and the broth has had time to absorb some flavors from your meats/veggies). MEATS: They offer a large selection of meats, although we just stuck with the trusty Beef Short Rib, which I feel like gives you the best bang for your buck. We got 2 orders for 2 people, but if you have a smaller appetite, you'd probably be fine sharing 1 order between 2 people (along with your veggies and other sides). VEGGIES: For veggies we just ordered Napa Cabbage since that's our favorite hot pot veggie. I feel like it has the best texture and does the best job soaking up the broth for more flavor. We started out with 1 order for 2 people, but that definitely wasn't enough. You'll need at least 2 orders. SEAFOOD: I love ordering the Fish Roe Balls whenever eating at any hot pot place, so of course I had to get an order of these too. These are basically normal fish balls that are filled with roe inside. Definitely recommend for any seafood lovers! DANCING NOODLES: They obviously aren't doing the noodle performance during COVID, but we still placed an order because we still wanted the noodles. The portion is pretty small but they tasted amazing -- just the perfect thickness and chewiness! Even though they didn't give much, I'd probably still order this the next time I come back. Be sure to check in to the Yelp waitlist to save yourself some time, since this place is pretty popular and wait times are generally pretty long. We went at an off hour (~3pm) and still had to wait about 30 minutes. You can also check in on Yelp to redeem some free plum juice.
Jade F.
We ate here 3 times last week while visiting during spring break: twice for lunch and once for dinner, all indoor dining. We joined the online waitlist on Yelp and timed it so that there was barely any wait when we arrived. They also offered complimentary snacks, drinks, and games outside, while waiting for your table. We've eaten at quite a few places since the pandemic and this place is extremely diligent with safety measures. There are hand sanitizers at every table. The tables and booths had good spacing. They even had clean bags to store your masks while eating. There are clean aprons you can wear to protect your clothes from splatter. Each table has a drawer filled with chopsticks, spoons, hair ties, and lens wipes. The food was really fresh and well prepared and the broths were full of flavor. The service from all 3 servers was excellent each time we went. The first time we went, we didn't know any better and just ordered the combo meat, veggies, and seafood platters so we could sample everything. On later visits, we ordered individual dishes as we didn't like some of the items in the combos. The best part was the option to have 4 different soup bases. Our favorites were the pork bone and the ma la (spicy) broth. They sell their soup seasoning packets at the restaurant and we've also seen it at 99 Ranch. Ordering is on an iPad and during dinner, the food was delivered by a talking robot. Once we placed the order on the iPad, the food came out pretty quickly. Because of the pandemic, they have to serve you the sauces and there is no dancing noodles performance. The bathrooms were also clean and stocked with diapers, feminine products, combs, floss picks, and mouth wash. Great dining experience!
Belinda H.
Excellent service and food. Wonderful experience. It was a little pricey compared to other hot pot places but the experience you get is so much better that the extra money is worth it! I highly recommend this restaurant and look forward to returning.
Tran N.
Excellent customer service! We keep coming back not only for the high quality food, but also because of the customer service. They followed strictly guidelines and measurements during COVID and thanks to that, we felt safe to dine in. Our wait staff, Paula, was eager to help and thoughtful that cared for each member of my family. Thank you again for your awesomeness. Tomato soup base was my favorite since it was flavorful and went well with both seafood and meat. The way the food was displayed was a great plus, we could feel how much effort they put into their dishes. Finally we have found our new favorite place to go for hot pot. Great place to take my family here to enjoy.
Joyce C.
Always such an amazing experience when I dine here, because of their friendly staff! Special shout out to Emily and Daniel who made our meal so enjoyable. Because of COVID, we can't get the dipping dishes on our own, but Emily went above and beyond to run around to get us all kinds of delicious sides dishes. By the end of the night, we received complimentary chips and she brought over some fruits to finish our meal! Wow! She was so tentative with everything she does, and made sure that we were satisfied with every detail. All staff was bilingual. Thank you so much Emily! We can't wait to be back!
Finally got to try the famous Haidilao! Came here with my family on a Saturday around 6pm and we were seated right away (have to wait for the whole party to be there to be seated). (Half an hour later the wait ended up being at least 2 hr so make sure to come early if you're eating on a weekend! Outside if you have to wait, there is a tray with little crackers to snack on as well as fruit and barley tea. The fruit tea was a nice light flavor and wasn't too sweet or artificial. The barley tea was a hot tea that tastes roasted. Once we were seated, our waitress gave us hair ties, aprons, and bags for our masks. We ordered on a tablet. My family ordered 2 of the Beef Short Rib + Seafood + Veggie Combos and another beef platter. We accidentally ordered the same meat as our combo, so our waitress kindly changed it to the flat iron beef for us. We also got the tomato, spicy pork, Tom yum, and miso soup bases. We all like the tomato and spicy pork the most! Tomato was my favorite--very flavorful and gave a delicious flavor to all the food. My favorite meat was the flat iron. Although the flavor of the dishes aren't too special here, you can tell the quality of the food is a lot cleaner and better than other places. We also all got sauces and some sides at the sauce bar. There's SO MANY sauces and toppings to choose from. There were also things like salad, honeydew, sesame red bean balls, and and red bean/rice dessert. But also keep in mind that they charge you for the sauce bar! If you check in on yelp, you can also get a free jar of plum juice (only one per table). Between 5 people, we found this was the perfect amount of food and it ended up costing around $145 before tip. We were also celebrating a graduation, so they gave us a Haidilao self heating hot pot as a gift ! I definitely recommend coming here for the service, experience, and food. It's not like any other restaurant I've been to. Diamond Jamboree also has plenty of parking in the structure. Parking in the lot might be a hassle if you're coming during meal times.
Came here with my friends and had a great time! Our server Justin was the best, he even peeled our shrimp (thanks justin ur the best). They have many options and I thought it was cool how you could choose from four or two soup bases. They have a large variety of meat, vegetables, and seafood on their menu. The service here was really good, providing us with hair ties, aprons, and gloves to eat. The sichuan soup base was super spicy so I only recommend that to those who know they can handle a lot of spice. The tom yum soup base was my favorite too. They also have a sauce bar that is extra for those who want it (along with fruits). I would definitely come here again.
All staff was bilingual. Thank you so much! We can't wait to be back.... The food was really fresh and well prepared and the broths were full of flavor. It's so good that dine in is allowed finally.
My 1st time at a HDL. The food and service lived up to the hype and expectations. We ordered the 4 option soup based. Tomato based and mushroom was my favourite. The seafood platter was fresh and meet platter looked amazing. One minor downside was we weren't able to make our own sauces at the station and had to customized it on a paper and the waitress made it for us. Not the same as we couldn't adjust the exact ratio we wanted but totally understand the reasoning as it was due to covid and hygiene purposes. All in all, great experience and would definitely come back again!
Recently ate at Haidilao for the first time to celebrate a birthday on a Sunday night. I would definitely recommend signing up for the waitlist as soon as you can because there are usually lots of people waiting to eat here that the waiting time can extend for at least 2 hours. First of all, I wanted to mention that I have never been as prepared for a meal as I was at Haidilao. To explain, we were given aprons, hair ties, small baggies for our masks, and hand wipes right as we were seated. Eating hot pot anywhere can be a messy ordeal, so it was very considerate of them to provide us these tools to avoid coming home with stained shirts. I must say that the customer service here is amazing and made our entire night. We had Iris as our waitress who was so attentive and accomodating to our requests. From setting up a mini birthday celebration to providing us a complimentary dancing noodle performance and even voluntarily peeling our shrimp, Iris truly made our entire dinner enjoyable. She even gave me cute lotus root earrings as a birthday gift and an instant hot pot pack. If she isn't the example of great customer service, I don't know who else could be. In regards to food, it was great. We ordered three different combos which essentially included a plate of protein (meat and/or seafood) and a veggie platter. It was pretty filling for a group of four. We got the tomato, classic spicy, tom yum, and one other broth. They were all great, but I would not recommend the spicy broth if you cannot handle extreme spices. Starting off, the burn isn't too bad, but after eating from it for a long period, it begins to really burn. We will be back. 100% would recommend coming here to eat and experience great service.
It's so good that dine in is allowed finally. I like to prepare my secret source Everytime. Food is still tasteful and service is excellentPaula and Emily both professional and warm heart. I will go every week.
I have been eating here every week for the past month not only because the food is amazing, but on top of that I found the best waitress anyone could ever ask for. Iris makes me feel like I'm coming home every time I come in, and today she did an excellent job setting everything up to make my friends feel at home as well. My bf is not a fan of hotpot, but he just officially became a FAN I definitely would come back and strongly recommend this dining experience for everyone, especially hot pot lovers like me. Thank you Haidilao & Iris
This place is pricy for a hot pot place but you definitely get what you pay for. Top quality meats and broths. My fav broths are tumyom and spicy beef. The dancing noodles are okay but I wouldn't get it again. It's a good one time thing to get if you're there for the first time.
We went to Haidilao on a Friday night, and when I went, Orange county just reopened indoor dining! I had heard so many good things about Haidilao and I love hotpot so I was super excited to go. We placed our name down through Yelp and even though the wait was listed to be a while, they got to our name way sooner probably because there were less people dining out at that point. I removed myself from the list a few times as we were heading there but once we got there we didn't have to wait very much at all. They cleared out a table and got us seated pretty fast! Food was pretty good. We got a couple meat options, veggie combo and 2 soup bases. We got the beef soup base and the classic spicy and it was great. I love that you can choose up to 4 bases at a time! It was a pretty filling meal. They forgot to bring us one of our meat orders in the beginning but the staff were all really nice and got it super quick as soon as we asked. The service... oh man the service was SO GOOD. I have never had service as good as I had here at Haidilao Irvine. They gave us baggies for our masks, gave me a hair tie, made sure we were introduced to the food (it was our first time!), and even gave us hand sanitizer at the end before we left. The sauce stations are normally buffet/self serve but because of COVID, it's part of the menu you can order. Our server gave us a couple of sauce mixes that they liked which was great for us being noobs! As we left, they even gave us an instant noodle thing to try. I wish I remembered our servers' names because the service was just A1. 100% would recommend and come back. The food was bomb and I'd love to try other combos/soup base options in the future. The service makes it just even better!
You are paying for high quality hot pot here, so lets get that out of the way - the prices will probably be steeper than most other hot pot places that you frequent. However, you are getting a good experience with solid service when you dine here. My FAVORITE sauce combo (you are welcome): ponzu sauce + garlic + thai chili. You can't self serve at the sauce counter due to COVID but that's a combination you should definitely try. If you like it, send me a message because I'm convinced we should be best friends. My usual hot pot selections: quail eggs, prime rib eye, chinese crullers/donut (don't let it sit in the boiling pot longer than 5 seconds or it will become ONE with the broth - you have been warned), hot pot noodles (2 orders) and the veggie sampler. Soup base ranking: Classic Spicy - OG, safe choice but YA BASIC Thai Tom Yum - More exotic, fun choice if you like flavoring your seafood and veggies in a different way with some tang Spicy Pork Soup Base - THE BEST. MVP of all soup bases. Gets better and better when you put more items into it. Miso - Forgettable unless of course, you are craving miso.
Restaurantji Recommends
High quality food and amazing service! Prices are a bit steep here, but the experience here is so different from other hot pot places. This was my first time at Haidilao, and I was blown away. They offer free snacks, tea, and a variety of games for you to enjoy while waiting to be seated. Upon being seated, they offer a bag for your mask, lens wipes, an apron to protect your clothing from splashes, and even hair ties! The women's restroom even had complimentary feminine products (and not the cheap kind that you generally get from bathroom dispensers). The staff was very friendly and attentive during our entire meal. They also bring out appetizers such as some fruit, corn, and peanuts. The ordering process is super easy too, since you place your orders on an iPad. The iPad stays with you the whole time, so you can easily add more onto your order throughout the meal. The iPad even updates your total, so you know exactly how much you're spending. Each item also has a picture and suggested cook time as well! SOUP BASES: We ordered the pork bone and spicy soup bases. Highly recommend both of these! I was happy with our choice and I think I'd choose the same bases the next time I come back. Obviously only order the spicy soup base if you can handle spice -- it was actually VERY spicy and had me coughing a few times. The pork bone had a much lighter flavor, and I enjoyed sipping on this one (especially after you've been eating for a while, and the broth has had time to absorb some flavors from your meats/veggies). MEATS: They offer a large selection of meats, although we just stuck with the trusty Beef Short Rib, which I feel like gives you the best bang for your buck. We got 2 orders for 2 people, but if you have a smaller appetite, you'd probably be fine sharing 1 order between 2 people (along with your veggies and other sides). VEGGIES: For veggies we just ordered Napa Cabbage since that's our favorite hot pot veggie. I feel like it has the best texture and does the best job soaking up the broth for more flavor. We started out with 1 order for 2 people, but that definitely wasn't enough. You'll need at least 2 orders. SEAFOOD: I love ordering the Fish Roe Balls whenever eating at any hot pot place, so of course I had to get an order of these too. These are basically normal fish balls that are filled with roe inside. Definitely recommend for any seafood lovers! DANCING NOODLES: They obviously aren't doing the noodle performance during COVID, but we still placed an order because we still wanted the noodles. The portion is pretty small but they tasted amazing -- just the perfect thickness and chewiness! Even though they didn't give much, I'd probably still order this the next time I come back. Be sure to check in to the Yelp waitlist to save yourself some time, since this place is pretty popular and wait times are generally pretty long. We went at an off hour (~3pm) and still had to wait about 30 minutes. You can also check in on Yelp to redeem some free plum juice.
We ate here 3 times last week while visiting during spring break: twice for lunch and once for dinner, all indoor dining. We joined the online waitlist on Yelp and timed it so that there was barely any wait when we arrived. They also offered complimentary snacks, drinks, and games outside, while waiting for your table. We've eaten at quite a few places since the pandemic and this place is extremely diligent with safety measures. There are hand sanitizers at every table. The tables and booths had good spacing. They even had clean bags to store your masks while eating. There are clean aprons you can wear to protect your clothes from splatter. Each table has a drawer filled with chopsticks, spoons, hair ties, and lens wipes. The food was really fresh and well prepared and the broths were full of flavor. The service from all 3 servers was excellent each time we went. The first time we went, we didn't know any better and just ordered the combo meat, veggies, and seafood platters so we could sample everything. On later visits, we ordered individual dishes as we didn't like some of the items in the combos. The best part was the option to have 4 different soup bases. Our favorites were the pork bone and the ma la (spicy) broth. They sell their soup seasoning packets at the restaurant and we've also seen it at 99 Ranch. Ordering is on an iPad and during dinner, the food was delivered by a talking robot. Once we placed the order on the iPad, the food came out pretty quickly. Because of the pandemic, they have to serve you the sauces and there is no dancing noodles performance. The bathrooms were also clean and stocked with diapers, feminine products, combs, floss picks, and mouth wash. Great dining experience!
Excellent service and food. Wonderful experience. It was a little pricey compared to other hot pot places but the experience you get is so much better that the extra money is worth it! I highly recommend this restaurant and look forward to returning.
Excellent customer service! We keep coming back not only for the high quality food, but also because of the customer service. They followed strictly guidelines and measurements during COVID and thanks to that, we felt safe to dine in. Our wait staff, Paula, was eager to help and thoughtful that cared for each member of my family. Thank you again for your awesomeness. Tomato soup base was my favorite since it was flavorful and went well with both seafood and meat. The way the food was displayed was a great plus, we could feel how much effort they put into their dishes. Finally we have found our new favorite place to go for hot pot. Great place to take my family here to enjoy.
Always such an amazing experience when I dine here, because of their friendly staff! Special shout out to Emily and Daniel who made our meal so enjoyable. Because of COVID, we can't get the dipping dishes on our own, but Emily went above and beyond to run around to get us all kinds of delicious sides dishes. By the end of the night, we received complimentary chips and she brought over some fruits to finish our meal! Wow! She was so tentative with everything she does, and made sure that we were satisfied with every detail. All staff was bilingual. Thank you so much Emily! We can't wait to be back!